The Importance of Technical Communication in the Workplace and how to ace it?

Collaboration has been the backbone of human progress for the last ten thousand years when the cultivation of wheat and barley began in Northern Mesopotamia. Mankind’s problem statements have become increasingly difficult to solve with each passing second, minute, day, month, and year. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the nature of human collaboration has been mechanized more and more. It comes as no surprise that almost all of the problem statements we work on today involve complex technology and jargon. What collaboration essentially boils down to is communication. This is why it’s important for workplaces to have communication protocols that will govern and spearhead collaboration in a technological setting.

There are various mediums of communication, with writing and speaking being the most popular ones. The principles important for effective communication through both mediums overlap for the most part. For simplicity, we shall be focusing on such principles.

Less is more. While communicating with the intention of explaining a complex idea it’s intuitive to use simple language. A lot of times, the stakeholders overshoot what they want to convey, and it leads to ideas being misunderstood, which is worse than not understanding them at all.

This might be unintentional or intentional at times when the speaker wants to impress the audience with their command of English (which can be a local language too). This comes to hurt the speakers at the end of it all, especially in technical discussions, because a misunderstood idea is worse than none at all. On the other hand, a well-thought-out piece (in the form of writing or speaking) pierces through the room with ease. This also highlights the importance of patience in the form of articulation.

Protocol for Languages. IT workspaces have been one of India’s most pivotal industries. It thrives with its workers contributing from different parts of the country or the globe. Having a common language mandate for all official or collaborative communication helps to get information across much faster. Being a part of a team at “MnR”, where few members do not speak Hindi, I understand the importance of such a protocol first hand. In addition to effective communication, this also prevents any feelings or qualms about alienation from the rest of the team. This not only helps those who don’t speak the common language but also those who might speak different versions of the same language. A funny incident comes to mind when a coworker was talking about getting vaccinated and leaving their current location for someplace else-

Coworker: “Main duusri vaccine lekar jaaunga”

Me: “Lekar kyu jaaoge? It needs to be refrigerated. “

Coworker: “Arre I meant lagva kar jaaunga”

Me: “?????”

Listening is paramount. Often, any discussion about effective communication is tunneled from the perspective of a speaker and not a listener. This is funny because communication is a two-way street; “a dialogue!” Listening carefully and breaking down what has been said not only helps you understand what is being said but also gives justice to the speaker’s efforts. Often, humans in the workplace are biased towards what they want to say and reiterate their points, which makes the conversation redundant. Effective listening not only helps expedite the collaborative process but also helps the listener understand the bigger picture of the problem statement they’re working on.

Conflict resolution. Disagreements have been a part of human societies since ancient times. Workplaces are no exceptions. We always have to be extra careful while dealing with these situations. Disagreements about subject matter help perfect the nooks and crannies of problem statements. Which, in the long run, helps everyone do great work. But in the midst of all this, it’s important to not go off the rails and be more argumentative than needed. Especially in the day and age of remote work, where we often lose out on the ‘human’ touch of conversations. It’s a good rule of thumb to keep the conversation inclusive of all the stakeholders without letting anyone get alienated through arguments or, worse, ignorance. While it’s acceptable for different coworkers to have different capabilities and knowledge, what’s unacceptable is throwing shade on someone for it. At the end of the day, every employee of the company wants to learn and grow, and the activities aforementioned go against that.

Keeping in mind these principles, it is a great idea for companies to have a communicational framework that will define the protocols to be followed in any official discussion. As discussed before, communication in the workplace happens through different media and different situations. It must be kept in mind that any such attempt at such a protocol must be done with extreme caution. Because if done correctly, it can expedite all the official processes, and on the other hand, if done incorrectly, it can lead to inefficiency. In my honest opinion, such a framework should reinforce the principles mentioned above, namely-

• Simple and concise communication.
• A common language spoken by all the team members will be used.
• Empathetic language should be spoken among the team members regardless of their position in the hierarchy.

Such a framework should also disincentivize people from-

• Verbose and jargon-filled communication.
• The argumentative tone of communication.
• Taking up too much attention from the audience, letting others speak their point of view.

After all, good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.

Thank you :)

Written by: Rohan Chhokra, GET, DBSC Team.