Many people know that communication is important, but not many realise that they are not particularly communicating effectively or as they should. For most, communication is limited to certain fields outside of the hard sciences. For example, it is not uncommon to find someone from the engineering field saying they are typos and grammatical errors are not their forte as long as they are getting their measurements rights. BUT I beg to differ. A grammatical error or typo can be the different between a 1bn dollar deal and getting 1m dollars because you typed “m” instead of “b”. So what really is communication?

At the very basic level, communication is the transfer of messages from a sender to a recipient. However, beyond that, communication should aim to solicit a response especially in the case of business. Effectively communicating with fellow professionals and contractors would easily save you a lot of trouble. Effective communication is vital to the successful completion of any construction project given that good communication can improve teamwork and lead to better project collaboration. Poor communication on the other hand can result in misunderstandings, delays and problems down the road.

There is a game that many of us played at one or other point in our lives. The telephone game. I cannot remember a single time that I participated in the game and the message was delivered as it was originally stated. The game involves communicating a message to a large group of people, usually standing or sitting in a circle. The trick to the game is that the message must be passed by whispering it into the ear of the next person in line who then whispers it into the next person’s ear, and so on, and so on, until everyone has heard it. The messenger cannot repeat the message and the last person in line must say aloud what they heard. The message in most cases gets misheard a few times so by the time it gets around the room, “I like watching series repeats on television” gets turned into something like “I like peanuts and tea”. Sound far-fetched? In reality this is what happens when communication does not happen effectively or as it should. The various interruptions – also known as noise – can be in the form of inaudibility, language barriers, grammatical errors and so on.

In the interest of keeping this short, sweet and easy to digest, I will now list a few pointers to consider for effective communication for those of us who are in the construction industry.

• Establish clear lines of communication i.e. who is in charge of what, define the chain of command.
• Consider – what is the best communication medium or method for your particular setting?
• Be an active listener; for example, try not to interrupt the person who is speaking in instances of verbal communication, rather try to understand what they are trying to say.
• Be concise and clear the very first time you communicate. You do not always have the opportunity or time to explain yourself better. This is especially easier when it comes to emails – you have the opportunity to think before clicking the send button.
• Facts, Facts, and Facts. Stick to these, knowing that within construction your personal feelings and opinions are not ideal, unless specifically called on to share such.

It is probably no surprise that communication can make or break a relationship, and relationships are not limited to romance or friendships. Professional relationships within construction require effective communication in order for projects to be successfully executed. One last tip that I can leave you with in considering effective communication in construction is this: always document and record all communication you have on a construction project. In the case of written communication, filing should be done of all communications for later reference in case there are any disputes or need for clarification later. In instances of all oral communication, make notes of what was discussed along with dates and times of these conversations and where possible, document these, and send out an email to everyone involved in which you briefly summarize what was discussed.