Balanced communication in work teams: An interactive intervention study in the public sector

Introduction
The aim of this combined quantitative and qualitative interactive study is to investigate if training in balanced communication can improve the learning climate, role clarity, engagement, atmosphere at work, self-rated health and mental wellbeing in work groups . The study combines knowledge from occupational medicine with organization science. The base for the intervention is a model for balanced communication presented by Losada and Heaphy (2004), that includes three bipolar dimensions: positive/negative, inquiry/advocacy and self/other. A balance between self/other and inquiry/advocacy, together with a high degree of positive encouragement was interrelated with high performance in work teams.

Methods
The qualitative part is interactive. Eleven workplaces in the public sector have been involved in an intervention process including training using the specific method of balanced communication, during about 10 months in eight training sessions. In the quantitative part of the study we have measured by questionnaires the effects on learning climate, role clarity, engagement, atmosphere at work, self-rated health and mental wellbeing before and after the training. The analyses were done using hierarchical linear models to account for the clustering of subjects within workplaces. We allowed the effects to vary between the workplaces and used predicted changes in the three bipolar dimensions and compared them with predicted changes in our outcomes using linear regression. Confidence intervals for those regression coefficients were estimated using 1000 bootstrap replicates.

Results
The findings indicate that improved balanced communication, especially using positive comments and including others in the discussion, positively affects the learning climate, role clarity, engagement, atmosphere at work and mental wellbeing. No effect was found in self-rated health.

Discussion
Many factors at work have an impact on wellbeing and productivity, one of them is communication. Positive encoragement, asking questions and promoting information seeking, consider other peoples needs are all important factors for a balanced communication at the workplace.