Communication is essential for the smooth running of any organization. However, most workplaces still struggle with communication, leading to misinterpretation and lack of unity among the various teams in the office.

It becomes even challenging since the workplace is a melting pot of cultures and personalities. Read on to find out the causes of poor communication in the workplace and what you can do to foster effective communication within the organization.

Sometimes even the best employees miss the mark.

Maybe they've got something going on in their personal lives. Perhaps they're feeling a little under the weather. Or it could just be an off day, when the coffee spills, rush hour traffic stands still and things don't get much better when they finally make it to work.

This is where your managers are supposed to shine.

Americans are dying for a paycheck. Not just figuratively, either. They are literally working themselves to death. And, in the process, they're slowly strangling productivity and profits.

According to the Mayo Clinic, stress leads to a long list of physical and emotional issues --headaches, fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, and feelings of being overwhelmed. None of which are good for your employees or your bottom line.

Few words can inspire fear in a workplace like the word "change". An employee that hears their normal routine is going to be changing often gets worried about what that may mean for them and their future. It can be worrisome for them to not know what might be happening. This situation is where a great manager can shine and show their employees that workplace changes can be adjusted to relatively easily in the long run.

Generational differences in the workplace can cause communications difficulties. For most of us, our sales and marketing margin of error – no matter how low – is unacceptable in today’s business culture. Compound that percentage by adding generational gaps to the equation and you’ve got a marketing and/or workplace situation that needs to be managed; quickly.

Like a toxic cloud, negative attitudes can seep into every corner of an organization. What starts as a bad day in one office can sap the morale of every member of your team. This slows productivity, leads to high-turnover, and if left unaddressed, can cause significant damage to your brand in the eyes of industry peers and consumers.

If your company is experiencing high employee turnover, low content brand, and persistently disengaged workforce, then it is time to focus on the leadership styles applied by managers within your organization. Providing leadership training to managers helps them improve on important managerial and leadership skills.

In the workplace, it can sometimes be difficult for colleagues to maintain a professional composure. While this usually manifests as small annoyances and petty disagreements, workplace conflicts can turn into much bigger problems. Workplace conflict resolution experts at the University of Oklahoma estimate that managers spend at least 25% of their working hours attempting to resolve issues between coworkers.

Good communication skills, both oral and written, are essential to the effective operation of a business. So often these days, managers themselves may be deficient in knowing how to foster good communication among team members. Public-facing employees may also lack good communication skills when dealing with clients.

Critical thinking skills are an important part of business as problems will always crop up and there will be a need for creative solutions. Critical thinking in a business setting can help employees better understand how to think outside of the proverbial box and make good decisions regarding what has to be done to get the job done. Let's take a look at what your employees could learn through a formal course on critical thinking.