There is no formal research conducted - but if it is, you will come to know that within each organisation millions of interactions take place on a daily basis. And 9 out of 10 interactions fail because of lack of poor communication or what we loosely term as misunderstanding. Of course, wou don't need a research to tell you that!

So where do these interactions take place? They take place everywhere; during the hiring process, during the on-boarding process, when peers interact, when boss-subordinate connect, when people speak across different departments, and also while interfacing with the customer. Interactions are like God; you will find them everywhere. The only difference is one can notice when interactions happen.

In the world of manufacturing the word ‘Muda' (A Japanese term for waste or wastage) is very widely known. And the Japanese mastered the art of waste reduction. Anything or any process that doesn't add value towards selling something to a customer is considered as a waste and needs to be reduced. The eight forms of waste are widely known in the manufacturing space. But this very important soft skill has been grossly ignored that leads to all the forms of waste that we know.

Let's call this form of waste as ‘workplace interaction'. Just like every manufacturing organisation has a written SOP on how to manage different forms of wastes, we recommend that a SOP be written for managing this form of waste at workplace. Imagine when communication is not clear, how much of wasted energies we create at the workplace.

The author is Member, Key Leadership Team, DDI India.

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