Seven communication sins every practice should avoid

Avoiding seven common communication errors can boost the productivity of the average medical group by 80 percent.

So claimed Skip Weisman of Weisman Success Resources, a Poughkeepsie, NY-based consultancy. Weisman outlined the "Seven Deadliest Communication Sins" for attendees at the 2016Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) annual conference.

Communication leads to three possible outcomes, he said. It can increase trust and build a relationship, slowly erode trust and the relationship, or instantly destroy trust and the relationship. Favoring the first possibility over the other two takes constant effort from practices, he said.

Weisman cited reports by Towers Watson, ComTIA, Cognisco and Siemans which found that the average employee wastes at a good amount of time per day because of poor communication. To this point, Watson outlined seven communication sins that practices commit, killing productivity and ultimately, income:

You can avoid these seven deadly sins by instead making sure your communication is prompt, direct and respectful, Weisman advised.