We are going through a time of change that has us relying more strongly on remote work and online tools for businesses than ever before. Knowing how to communicate effectively and efficiently is more important than ever to guarantee the success of any business.
Importance of Communication
Effective communication in the business context allows people to feel part of the team. Instead of just being an employee they feel like part of the structure of the company. When people are on the same page and they understand each other and the expectations of the overall process and projects, projects move quicker. People become more efficient because they know who to talk to, where to get the information from, who’s in charge of what and what they’re in charge of.
When people are part of something and they feel that they are valuable to the team, they work harder. They want the company to succeed because the company’s successes and failures become their own failures and successes. If they feel connected to the business, they want to make a positive impact. And great communication allows them to know how they can do that.
Benefits of Good Communication
Good communication allows your team to complete projects quicker. When people are aware of how the whole company works and they know who is responsible for what part of a project they can lean on each and not waste time trying to figure it out by themselves. They get more efficient with their time because if they have a problem they know straight away how to communicate it and with whom.
Communication allows each team member to understand the roles of the others and how it relates to their own. If you have two sections of your business that never talk to each other, then they have no idea what’s going on.
Suppose an employee has a client in front of them who is having trouble. When they are trying to serve them through that process, they are going to be much more accurate in how they serve that person, knowing how the rest of the business is structured. If they are just given a script, then they are not going to be accurate in the way they serve that client because they don’t know how the big picture works.
How to create an environment of good communication
The team leader will give an idea of how something should be accomplished. But when the team has good communication, they create something that you never could have even dreamed of. And that’s why the trust between the team members is so important. When you and your team are effective in communicating, you easily built trust. As a team leader, you have to know all your team member’s roles, their strengths and weaknesses, so you can help establish this environment.
It is very important to understand that communication has two pieces to it. It isn’t just telling people what to do, you need to be ready to receive and encourage feedback. When people feel that they are being heard and that their voice matters, they will bring quality to the table. And I hope that is what you want as a leader.
Regular communication is a must, but do not have meetings just for the sake of having a meeting. Use time wisely. It is important to be clear on responsibilities and be open to feedback, but be concise. When planning a meeting, think about “Who needs to know what?”, “Who needs to be a part of the decision?” and let your team take ownership of specific areas of the projects that they have a direct impact on.
Another key point in creating great communication is to boost morale. If you use a team communication tool such as Slack, you can use your General channel (or dedicate another one) to random chats about silly stuff. This will allow your team members to connect in another way other than “just work” and it will help build good communication. Don’t forget that PRAISE for a job well done is also a valuable way to boost morale. Find out how they like to be acknowledged (they may each need a different way – not everyone wants to be acknowledged publicly). Send gifts on special occasions and team celebrations.
What is the most efficient way to implement good communication? Through SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), Processes and Systems. That is how you create consistency and guarantee that everyone knows what they are doing and how to do it. You can usually tell that your SOPs need some attention when people are constantly asking the team leaders “How do I do this?”, “How do I do that”, or when someone isn’t there and no one else can figure out how to do they did their work. If you want to make your SOPs rock solid and get amazing results from your team grab a copy of the Instant Outsourcing Bundle, you’ll get over 100 tasks to outsource right now with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) documents ready to be customized to suit your business.
Speaking the same language
When we have a company we usually end up creating words and abbreviations which make up a “language” we use daily. Sharing industry words and lingo with your team, and most importantly with new members, is essential to guarantee good communication. If someone doesn’t know the “language” that is spoken inside the company they might get confused and not understand what is going on. If they don’t know that two-way communication is acceptable inside the business they might not ask.
Share the company created words (for example IOB = Instant Outsourcing Bundle for us in Geeky Girl). Make sure everyone is on the same page and has no doubts about what’s being said. It will not only prevent people from feeling lost, but it will also create a sense of community, that people will want to feel a part of and they understand each other. This will contribute to an environment that creates ownership within the team.
One of the places that I worked for did a very good job of training every single employee in the “7 habits of highly effective people” by Stephen Covey. It was amazing because every single person understood those 7 habits. So when someone walked up to somebody else’s desk and said “I really need your help”, they could simply say “I’ll put that in this quadrant, because I have these other quadrant things to do”. And they didn’t need to explain anymore because everyone knew what that meant, they knew what a “quadrant” was. Training is huge when it comes to communication so that people can understand what is part of the company culture. If you are someone who relies on books, resources and jargon to create a communication system you need to make sure that everybody understands what those words mean.
Communication isn’t just verbal
Verbal communication is what we’ve been talking about mostly up till this point, the one-o-one conversations and the chats. It is a really important part of communication but it isn’t the only part.
Non-verbal communication is all about the things we say with our body language or our facial expressions. It’s also about “how” we say things rather than what we are saying. The way we convey a message also communicates a lot. It is little things that can show you are really enthusiastic about someone’s work, or maybe it is how you notice that a team member is uncomfortable with something and you get the chance to go ask them about it.
And finally the written communication. That’s where we find our SOPs, processes and our systems. It’s information you can refer to at a later time and it helps to create consistency and to facilitate training.
To have great communication you can’t focus on just one of those, you have to pay attention in every part of the structure that compounds your communication process.
Who is responsible?
Everyone! Every person is responsible for the overall effective communication of business, whether you are a leader, you aspire to be a leader or whether you are in an entry position. Everyone is responsible.
The team leader has an overall responsibility to know the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Having those one-on-one interactions, encouraging two-way feedback and showing appreciation so that the team can learn how to communicate and feel comfortable are the foundations of a great communicator. It is important to be a good communicator because the team will take their lead from you and the team will only be as effective at communicating as their leader is.
When it comes to managing the overall communication strategy for the business, it might not be the CEO or the team leader that takes the lead. It might end up being something that a Project Manager can bring to the organization. As a person with that skill set, I am able to come into your business and help you create an environment of great communication inside the company. I help businesses to keep all those channels of communication open.
If you are interested in improving communication inside your business, I’d love to see if I can help! Let’s chat!
