Problem Solving and Communication: How It Works in Your Business

Many see communication as the glue that binds teams together and enables them to work successfully. Without clearly expressing ideas or business goals, how would you expect individuals to execute them effectively? While this might seem like a no-brainer for some business owners, many still are not aware of the advantages of good communication within an organization.

One of these benefits of effective communication is problem-solving. Effective, clear, and constant communication can resolve some of the most challenging problems your team and organization face. However, every business owner, team leader, executive, or manager should know certain aspects of business communication when utilizing it to solve problems.

Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute dedicates itself to providing practical and professional insight to businesses to help bolster growth. Our coaches believe that communication and problem-solving go hand in hand when you want to increase performance to reach your goals. Contact our business coaches when you want actionable advice to grow your team and business.

[Related: Picking the Best Business Coach]

The Basics of Communication & Problem Solving

Before you try to solve problems within your company by simply talking to people, you must first understand “the communication pie.” This pie chart breaks down the individual factors of interpersonal communication. This communication model states that communication is:

• 55% non-verbal, including eye contact, posture, facial expressions, etc.
• 38% tonality, which includes pitch, pace, volume, emotion, etc.
• 7% words

Non-verbal and verbal communication is just the start to understanding how we communicate with one another. Another vital aspect of interpersonal communication is an individual’s learning style. This is categorized as how a person absorbs and processes information explained to them. The three learning styles include:

• Visual learners – take in information visually and often visualize scenarios in their minds.
• Auditory learners –understand and process information primarily by hearing it.
• Kinesthetic learners –comprehend information physically, including hands-on exercises and physical expression.

With this basic understanding of how we communicate with each other, you can start to learn how communication helps with problem-solving.

Communicate at Everyone’s Level

To start utilizing communication when problem-solving, you need to tie in your employees’ communication and learning styles. This involves learning the different communication styles of your employees and peers as you’ll want to present problems in a format that they will engage with and properly process. Basically, you’ll want to communicate with them in the way that is recognizable to them.

There are many ways you can start speaking to the people in your organization to accommodate everyone’s learning styles. For example, you can:

• Be flexible when outlining expectations for assignments
• Be open to questions
• Clarifying information when necessary
• Develop individual plans based on their styles
• Play to their strengths
• Take time during meetings to explain the same information in different ways so that everyone can understand it

For problem-solving with communication to be truly effective, you must understand everyone’s communication styles, which is the foundation of problem-solving.

Building Trust and Ownership

When using communication as a form of problem-solving, the last thing you need to know is to build trust and ownership within your team. To do this, leaders need to be open to differing perspectives. Leaders do not have all the answers and need to rely on the judgment and input of staff members.

As a result, there will be disagreements within your team, as everyone will have their own unique way of handling a situation. Healthy conflict is essential when communicating to solve problems. Conflicting viewpoints and explanations for one’s reasonings will bring diverse solutions to the table, which can help resolve problems more efficiently.

Lastly, individuals need to take ownership of their ideas and solutions. Team members should not feel uncomfortable sharing their thoughts or fear conflict. For communication in problem-solving to work, you must communicate to them that they are open to expressing their ideas.

Hopefully, you have cultivated a workplace culture where personal accountability is critical. If not, Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute has worked with many organizations to promote and prioritize workplace accountability. Contact our coaches today to learn how this could bolster your workplace culture.

[Related: How to Make Personal Accountability a Core Value]

Contact Wolf Creek BGI Today to Integrate Communication with Problem Solving

Do you want to integrate communication styles with solving problems within your organization? Then contact Wolf Creek BGI. We will help analyze the different communication styles of your staff members and create an action plan suitable for effective problem-solving. Contact us today at 225-219-8866 when you are ready to see how communication helps with problem-solving in your business.