Odds are you’ve heard the phrase, “Communication is key”, whether it pertained to your work life, a relationship, or a friendship. While having advanced communication skills is crucial to personal and professional growth, it goes much deeper than just “being able to talk to people”. As an employee, having strong communications skills can go as far as earning you promotions faster than others, as well as regular salary increases. As an employer, hiring a workforce full of great communicators has a full spectrum of benefits - the most popular being higher productivity, employee retention, increased profit, and improved customer relationships.

What are the different methods of communication?

Remember how I mentioned that having strong communication skills is more than being able to easily converse with people? There are actually 5 different methods of communication: 

• Verbal - this includes communicating face-to-face, over the phone, through video messages, etc. 

• Nonverbal - this includes communicating via body language, eye contact, gestures, etc. 

• Visual - this includes communicating through pictures, images, graphs, maps, etc. 

• Written - this includes communicating through books, emails, text messages, letters, the internet, etc. 

• Listening - To many people’s surprise, active listening is one of the most important types of communication. In order to properly and accurately respond to someone, we must first be intently listening to what they’re saying, and what they need from us. 

What are the benefits of hiring strong communicators?

Build a more unified workforce & brand

Whether you’re hiring executives, managers, or entry-level employees, being a clear communicator is crucial to being a team player. If you set the standard of recruiting and hiring candidates with strong communication skills, there will be fewer misunderstandings, clear and concise goals, an increase in shared values, and a better representation of your brand altogether. After all, the foundation of a successful business is its employees, so it’s important they form a cohesive bond and achieve organizational alignment. 

Improved productivity & growth

With strong communication between departments comes improved trust and fewer fires to put out - allowing your employees to focus on company growth. Clear communication in the workplace leads to greater problem-solving capabilities and partnerships, so much so, that productivity increases by up to 25% in companies with connected employees. 

Higher customer retention and engagement

Strong communication skills are imperative for any position, but especially for customer-facing employees. Positive customer service experiences are one of the biggest factors when attracting and retaining customers. It’s no secret that customers are going to be more loyal to businesses who can (1) prevent issues with products/services (2) quickly fix any concerns on behalf of the customer in a polite and genuine way. How important is the customer experience? According to the Temkin Group, companies that earn $1 billion annually can expect to earn an additional $700 million in revenue, within 3 years of putting customer service first.

How can Bryq help recognize communication skills in the hiring process?

At Bryq, we know it can be difficult to recognize communication skills in candidates from only a resume and interview, so we’ve created the Communication Indicator. By adding the Communication Indicator to the Bryq Talent Assessment, customers will be able to better gauge their candidates in terms of warmth, liveliness, social boldness, privateness, and self-reliance. Bryq’s candidate reports are easy to understand and will clearly explain how each candidate measures in terms of communication, among other key skills relevant to your roles.