This is a guest post by Jess Cooper.
Did you know employees' productivity increases 25% when they feel connected in the workplace? To establish a connection among employees, you need effective internal communication. Its quality reflects on the health and stability of the organisation.
If your team members communicate poorly, then they can't provide satisfactory customer service. For this reason and many others, you should invest in employees' communication skills.
Here are 8 tips you can use to give their communication a boost.
Tip 1. Teach Employees to Communicate
We all know communication is the basic skill everyone has. But, when it comes to effective communication, that's not the case. Bad communication leads to misunderstandings, mistrust, and workplace problems. With the right approach, your employees can learn how to become better communicators.
All you have to do is organise communication training. Throughout the training, employees will master a variety of skills. For example, oral, written, and non-verbal presentation skills or active listening. Also, they will understand all the communication protocols the company has in place.
Tip 2. Shape a Communication Policy
Usually, most communication takes place during meetings. For more efficient communication, you can send an email instead of holding a meeting. In addition, frontline and remote workers would appreciate continuous access to the newest information. That's why your company needs a communication policy.
The internal communication strategy should reflect your company's vision and values. It should connect all departments thus encouraging knowledge and information sharing. This way, the credibility and trust within the company will increase creating a powerful employment brand.
Tip 3. Encourage Dialogues
Internal communication requires a strategic approach involving a continuous encouragement of dialogue and information flow. For instance, you could organise obligatory one-on-one meetings or daily check-ins. As a manager, you'll gain insight into your team's workload and job satisfaction.
During these meetings, ask them about their personal and professional goals. Then, as their leader, help them achieve their aims and expand their skill set. When sharing any information with employees, try to be as straightforward as possible. Avoid swamping the employees with information.
Tip 4. Prioritise Feedback
Most HR managers think communication is all about delivering business messages. But, communication is a two-way street and as such plays a crucial role in your strategy. Passing down information from CEOs to employees is important. However, listening to employees matters as well.
On the one hand, it builds trust and boosts productivity. On the other, it allows the board and managers to address concerns straight away. Also, they can prevent possible issues within the team and improve working conditions. It's important to act on the received feedback. Otherwise, the employees might think their opinion doesn't matter to you.
Tip 5. Make Safe Communication a Part of Corporate Culture
You can give communication tools to employees to use but if the environment isn't safe, all your efforts are in vain. For good communication, employees need to have a safe environment for interacting. Such an environment encourages opinion sharing and discussions.
Employees should also feel free to explore difficult topics and clash opinions. This is a great way for your team members to get to know each other. It also reduces the chances of misunderstandings and arguments within the team.
Giving employees a voice builds transparency and the relationship with employers.
Tip 6. Avoid Jumping to Conclusions
Some managers tend to jump to conclusions. It could be the reason for ineffective communication in the workplace.
For instance, if an employee fails in a given task, it's wrong to assume it's because they're slackers. Instead, find out why they underperformed. Ask the employee about the task and their workload and get to the bottom of things. They might have a hard time adapting to a new position or a personal problem could be messing with their focus.
So, listen to your employees and give them a chance to explain before you make an assumption.
Tip 7. Explain the Importance of Tasks to Employees
It might sound silly, but explaining why employees do their tasks is important for many reasons. For example, it allows employees to tie their work to corporate objectives. They can understand how their role contributes to achieving business or organisational goals. In turn, it builds their self-confidence and gives value to their role in the organisation.
Then, when employees get essential information about their work, they can immediately ask questions or ask for clarifications if necessary. Otherwise, they might hesitate to ask or start assuming putting the project in danger.
Tip 8. Strive for a Common Goal
There's nothing better than a common goal to bring a team together. Talk with your team members and set communication goals to pursue. The goal can be anything from practising active listening to assertiveness.
Also, set a deadline. This way the goal becomes achievable and realistic for everyone involved.
It's important to include all team members in activities. They can even use this opportunity for personal growth if they set goals of their own. Everyone involved should make sure the goals are measurable in some way. The employees will feel more special once they achieve the goals.
All in all, internal communication is the key to improving employees' productivity. With our tips, you'll unlock the communicative potential of your employees and create an efficient work environment.
Get you and your team the skills to communicate effectively!
About the author
Jess Cooper is a part-time journalist and blogger based in Sydney, Australia. She is an energetic and highly motivated person with plenty of interests. The most prominent areas of interest include makeup and cosmetics, fashion, style, event organisation and decoration, healthy food, fitness, learning languages, pursuing a career as well as home improvement.
Jess loves learning about new things and having the chance to combine those insights with her ideas and spread them to the world. She enjoys having a mindful and well-organised, healthy life, filled with all kinds of different activities and interwoven with close friendships.
