Communication is a vital part of any workplace. However, unprofessional communication can create issues and negatively impact relationships between coworkers, managers, and clients. Understanding what constitutes unprofessional communication and why it should be avoided is key for maintaining a respectful and productive work environment.
What are some examples of unprofessional communication?
There are many different examples of unprofessional communication that should typically be avoided in the workplace:
- Using insulting, discriminatory, or offensive language
- Sharing confidential information without permission
- Spreading gossip or rumors about coworkers
- Sending angry emotional outbursts via email or chat
- Publicly criticizing or undermining coworkers or managers
- Ignoring, interrupting, or talking over others
- Failing to communicate important information
- Using excessive profanity or vulgarity
- Making inappropriate jokes
- Using condescending or sarcastic tones
- Sending unnecessary or too frequent emails/messages
- Communicating when angry, frustrated, or emotional
- Being dishonest or purposely misleading
- Using poorly worded or unclear messages
- Avoiding difficult conversations
- Failing to listen to others
Why is unprofessional communication problematic?
There are many reasons why unprofessional communication should be avoided in the workplace:
- Damages trust and relationships – Unprofessional communication like insults, rumors, and dishonesty can severely damage working relationships by breaking down trust between coworkers.
- Creates a toxic culture – Widespread unprofessional communication can foster a divisive, unsupportive, and even hostile work culture that negatively impacts morale.
- Reduces productivity and focus – Unprofessional behavior like venting anger or avoiding difficult conversations distracts from work and consumes energy.
- Leads to misunderstandings – Unclear, emotionally-driven, or overly terse messages often result in misunderstandings that cause problems.
- Damages company reputation – Profanity, insults, or sharing confidential information in communications with external clients or partners reflects poorly on an organization.
- Opens liability risks – Improper communication around harassment, discrimination, safety, or confidential data exposes a company to potential legal repercussions.
- Escalates conflict – Lashing out emotionally or publicly criticizing others can turn disagreements into major conflicts between coworkers.
- Undermines leadership – Managers engaging in unprofessional communication lose respect and authority.
How can unprofessional communication be avoided?
There are several strategies both individuals and organizations can implement to avoid unprofessional communication:
- Provide employee communications training on professional standards.
- Establish clear company policies for communications and conduct.
- Intervene early with guidance when issues first emerge.
- Model professional communication as a leader.
- Don’t respond immediately when emotions are high.
- Focus messages on facts and solutions, not venting.
- Avoid speculation and keep messages precise.
- Seek to understand rather than judge people.
- Address issues privately and constructively.
- Listen carefully and be respectful of others’ perspectives.
- Take care to craft clear, courteous, and complete communications.
- Be transparent and honest in all communications.
- Keep confidential information protected.
- Intervene when witnessing unprofessional conduct.
Examples of professional vs. unprofessional communication
Comparing examples of professional and unprofessional communication helps illustrate the differences:
| Professional Communication | Unprofessional Communication |
|---|---|
| I apologize for missing yesterday’s deadline. I underestimated the time required, but I will work extra hours to get the report done by tomorrow morning. | Sorry the report isn’t done. I’ve just had so much other crap to deal with this week and Bob didn’t get me the numbers till late. |
| The client had some concerns about the design draft. Could we schedule a call to discuss and align on revisions? | The client HATED the design draft. Who was responsible for this awful work? |
| I noticed a mistake in my last email regarding the Johnson account numbers. Please use the updated figures attached. | My earlier email had wrong account numbers. Please just ignore it. |
As these examples illustrate, professional communication is respectful, solutions-focused, and aims to constructively resolve issues. Unprofessional communication tends to be accusatory, emotional, or lacks important context and clarity.
Best practices for professional workplace communication
Some best practices for maintaining professionalism in workplace communications include:
- Be clear and precise – Craft messages with care to accurately convey meaning and avoid misinterpretations.
- Stay positive and constructive – Keep a positive tone focused on solutions rather than venting frustrations.
- Avoid assumptions – Seek clarification rather than making assumptions about intentions or meanings.
- Choose medium carefully – Consider if an email, chat, call or in-person discussion is most appropriate.
- Edit before sending – Review and edit messages before sending to improve clarity and tone.
- Follow policies – Know and abide by organizational policies regarding communications and conduct.
- Adapt your style – Adjust your style based on the norms and culture of your workplace.
- Protect privacy – Do not share others’ personal or confidential information without permission.
- Be timely – Respond reasonably promptly to requests and messages requiring a reply.
- Be honest – Provide truthful information and do not purposefully mislead or misinform.
How can organizations promote professional communication?
Organizations can take several steps to establish norms and expectations around professional workplace communication:
- Set clear guidelines in an employee handbook covering communications policies, codes of conduct, harassment, confidentiality, social media use, etc.
- Ensure leadership models professional communication.
- Provide training for employees on professional communication skills.
- Coach managers to address unprofessional conduct in a timely and constructive manner.
- Establish protocols for diffusing emotionally charged conflicts.
- Remove unprofessional internal communication on public forums like Slack or emails.
- Mediate disputes involving unprofessional communication between coworkers or teams.
- Evaluate professional communication skills during performance reviews.
- Create awards or incentives to recognize professional communication.
- Be consistent in enforcing policies through proportional consequences.
- Solicit employee feedback on improving work communications.
Consequences of chronic unprofessional communication
If unprofessional communication becomes frequent or severe, various consequences can result, for example:
- Relationship breakdowns and lower trust between coworkers or teams
- Increased employee conflict requiring intervention
- Higher turnover from strained work culture
- Formal employee complaints of harassment or discrimination
- Legal issues or regulatory fines due to policy violations
- Reputational damage if public communications are unprofessional
- Weaker company performance from communication breakdowns
- Lower customer satisfaction and damaged external relationships
- Managerial time consumed addressing unprofessional conduct issues
- Employees disengage and morale deteriorates
Conclusion
Maintaining professional communication in the workplace is crucial for creating a respectful and productive work environment. Organizations should provide clear guidelines, training, and enforcement mechanisms to minimize unprofessional communication. By avoiding insults, rumors, emotional outbursts, and other unprofessional communication, employees can improve trust, resolve conflict constructively, protect the company’s reputation, and focus on shared organizational goals.