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A successful business is largely dependent on effective workplace communication. No matter what industry it is you are working for, effective communication is required for people to understand their responsibilities and duties in the workplace while also building relationships with others as well. Good communication in the workplace ensures employees have the information they need to perform well, builds a positive work environment, and eliminates inefficiencies. Effective communication should accurately convey information while maintaining or improving human relationships. $($Staff$,2023).$

Having great effective communication, especially when you$$re leading other people, is a MUST in order to get whatever needs to get done. As someone who used to work in a hierarchical organization $($the military$),$ communication is very much needed as you often tend to pass any information to those above you on a daily basis.

Clarity is an important aspect in the military when communicating. If you pass misunderstood information to others, you will likely get blamed for it as you were the one who conveyed the information to them in the first place. If you know, in the military, getting blamed for something means you being accountable for it$.$ If you$$re the one in charge, making sure everyone knows what they$$re doing is really important, so make sure you are clearly communicating with them in order to get the tasks done.

Clear information is also what you need in order to report any important information to those in charge of you. The way the military works, or the way it did for the Marine Corps at least, we have what we call $$formations$$ every Friday which is basically where you report in to your current company commander when you$$re in charge of a section of Marines. In civilian terms, you can call it a meeting. In these meetings, we report in as $$platoons$($which are small military sections$),$ and each platoon has its own section leader which are to report accountability of their Marines. During these meetings, section leaders are to report any important information to those of higher rank and those of higher rank receive the information and pass it on to those above them. It$$s our way of communicating with those of higher authority so if we ever need something from them, this will be your chance to do it so be clear and direct to them.

Another effective communication technique as a leader is being an active listener. As a leader, you must be able to comprehend your people in order to understand their viewpoint. In order to do this, you must be willing to give $100\%$ of your attention to them and demonstrating that you are listening to understand them. Active listening is when you not only hear what someone is saying, but also attune to their thoughts and feelings $($Gallo$,2024).$ The importance of listening to those we lead is important to show that we actually care for them. Having Marines that look up to you, go to you for guidance, and admire the way you lead, means you$$re doing a good job because they trust you which means, you have stablished good communication with them. It means you have been listening. Becoming a leader is easy in the military. In this organization, anyone and everyone gets to be a leader at one point, but actually having the skills and traits of being a good leader is different. It$$s easy to identify those good and bad leaders too. Just by looking and hearing the conversations they have with their Marines, you will see that those that don$$t care don$$t even attempt to let their Marines explain to them their point of view. This is the part where leaders fail to listen.

Having and understanding nonverbal communication is also an important part when active listening too. According to research, nonverbal cues can have between $65$ and $93$ percent more impact than the spoken word $($Contributor$,2023).$ Observing and demonstrating the basic and simple things like facial expressions, eye contact, and body language from and to your people can show that you are listening and understanding what they are trying to tell you without actually using words or spoken language. Even though these may be very simple things, they can and often do$,$ say more than our words.