What is the secret of a happy relationship?
You may say all sorts of things: this, that, and so on. But when you observe carefully, it boils down to one fact — you communicate perfectly.
The situation with the workplace is not much different either. If you ask the same question, what is the secret of a successful workplace? The answer would be the same, communication!
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you have to ensure that you communicate well with your team; just like in a happy relationship.
Just to inform you, 86% of employees and executives say the lack of effective collaboration and communication is the main cause of workplace failures.
So, good team communication is not about being nice. The very success of your business depends on it. It affects every aspect of your business from team performance, work quality, and timely project delivery to company culture, finances, and employee retention.
In this post, I have shared the seven-team communication tips that help you work together easily and effectively.
Seven tips for effective team communication
Effective team communication boosts productivity, employee morale, engagement, performance, and job satisfaction. Here are seven practical tips for effective team communication:
1. Document everyone’s responsibilities
The purpose of communication is to bring clarity to everyone’s mind. Clarity about role, responsibilities, business objectives, job expectations, and any other work-related aspect.
The best way to ensure this is to document everyone’s responsibilities. Clearly define what is expected of one and how one’s effort is going to impact the company’s objectives.
This will help them better understand their roles and responsibilities and how they contribute to the company’s goals.
2. Choose dedicated channels for communication
91% of businesses use at least two messaging apps.
This is at least, but usually, businesses use more than two apps.
For example, a chat app for real-time team communication, an audio/video calling app for conferencing, and emails for official communication.
Apart from that, people collaborate on tasks within a project management software in use. Some people even collaborate directly on cloud-based documents and files with document comments.
Thus, you need to choose the right channel dedicated to a specific type of communication. It helps you streamline team communication.
3. Establish clear guidelines for team communication
When you are using multiple channels for team communication, one of the major challenges that arises is communication scattered across multiple channels.
This increases the chances of miscommunication. Therefore, it is very important you establish clear guidelines on when to use the given platform.
For example, If you need a leave approval, the request should be sent using emails; not via chat or verbal communication.
At the same time, for regular work-related one-to-one or group conversations, you should chat; not email or video calls.
Like this, you need to define how and when each channel is to be used and what is your primary channel of communication.
4. A defined feedback system
When you have the right tools, guidelines, and clarity, your team can work frictionlessly. But to reap the advantages of effective communication, you need to take team communication to the next level.
The first step to do so is to create a defined system of feedback. There are endless articles and guides published on this. But essentially, you have to do three basic things: listen to your employees timely, take actions to address their concerns, and inform them of what you expect of them.
Establish a system of feedback. Clearly define:
- Who will take/give the feedback
- When to take/give feedback
- What will be the method of feedback
- The goal of feedback
- Who to pass the feedback
This will help you consistently improve, resolve the issues early on, and promote trust.
5. Addresses concerns immediately
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is they try to avoid the matter or take too much time to respond rather than addressing the concern immediately. This results in a lack of trust by employees for the employer.
If you are not genuinely interested in solving the problem, the next time, the employee will hesitate to speak. This results in disengagement and eventually leads to employees leaving the organization.
According to the study, 56% of workers say they value a strong company culture over higher pay.
So, it is very important to address the issues as soon as they are brought up, provide assurance to the employees they are heard, and try to find solutions to work together effectively.
6. Create a culture of open and transparent communication
Experts over the globe vouch for an open-door policy. It says anyone can walk to the management with issues they are facing with their work. It is all about creating a psychologically safe environment for the employees where they speak about the issues without the fear of repercussions.
This happens when you receive feedback positively and respond to feedback in a manner that encourages employees to speak openly.
It takes time to create such an environment and requires training. Especially for managers and team leaders as they play a key role in creating a culture of open and transparent communication and building trust. But it is highly beneficial for businesses as issues get resolved before escalating to big trouble.
7. Conduct fun team activities
Effective team communication is not all about formal methods. Informal methods such as office outings, team lunches/dinners, monthly events, rewards and recognition ceremonies, and water cooler conversations are some of the easiest ways to boost team engagement.
It also provides a platform for those employees who are less involved in social interaction to build good relationships with team members.
These are some practical tips you can follow. Now, let’s look at the advantages of making efforts to improve team communication.
Advantages of improved communication
Effective communication provides numerous benefits to a business. Have a look at some of the key advantages.
- Better work quality: When there is a free flow of information and exchange of ideas between team members, it helps you produce the work of the best quality.
- Improved performance: When everyone has a clear understanding of their roles, project objectives, and job expectations, it helps them perform better.
- Improved productivity: Streamlined communication across the organization with dedicated channels and clear guidelines helps you find information quickly and work efficiently, resulting in improved productivity.
- Prevent escalation of conflicts: Conflicts escalate when you do not have a mechanism for effective communication. Effective communication ensures everyone is heard and issues are resolved in a civilized manner working together.
- Increased engagement and better client relationships: Good communication improves engagement, which results in increased job satisfaction. When your employees are happy and have a culture of transparent communication, it reflects in your client relationship management and digital customer experience.
The bottom line
Improved communication is not some fancy concept. It is the basis of successful business. It helps you run your team frictionlessly, keep your people happy, and make your work life easy.
Invest consciously to improve team communication. It will lead to positive effects on every other aspect of your business and reap exponential returns in multiple ways.