Avoiding miscommunication will save your career.

Doesn’t miscommunication in the workplace remind you of the childhood game 'broken telephone'? An important project is completely messed up because it turns out that somewhere along line, there were unclarified misunderstandings.

Miscommunication is a common occurrence in the work environment, which at its best can lead to embarrassing mistakes and poor performance. At its worst however, miscommunication can cost you your job, or result in irrevocable company losses.

Bringing miscommunication closer to daily office life, think about instances where a colleague’s or even your own expertise has been called into question due to miscommunication? Your whole career could potentially come tumbling down in front of you in a split second.

A common cause for workplace miscommunication is assumptions. Most people assume that when they communicate, the recipient already knows the background or the seemingly obvious bits of the conversation, omitting such details. This can be a huge mistake, especially if the recipient remains in the dark, or has the wrong idea.

Here are some helpful tips to keep you from making communication mistakes:

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a junior or in a management position; if there’s something you’re unclear about, asking for clarification will ensure you’re on the same page as the rest of the team. Having a clear idea of what’s expected of you will also avoid you having the wrong end of the stick and save you a lot of time.

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Recap the expected end-result. When your manager or an employee you ask you to do something, do you know what you’re meant to accomplish at the end? At a meeting, share what you understand to be your end of the project. This will help you know what your impact to the project is, and give your team members the satisfaction that you know what’s expected of you.

Let people finish their own sentences. We’re all guilty of finishing off other people’s sentences. But according to leadership expert, Marshall Goldsmith, no one likes to be cut halfway. Ending people’s sentences results in miscommunication and wastes time as the speaker doesn’t say everything they want to say and in the manner they’d like to say it.

Have you been in a situation where there was miscommunication? Let us know how you dealt with the incident?