Human interaction is the most important aspect of any business venture. It heavily influences everything from productivity to sales revenue. As such, mastering both internal and external communications is vital. This is true no matter where the workforce resides.
43% of U.S. employees work remotely at least some of the time, according to a Gallup study. The number is higher with the rise of more independent contractors who work as part of the gig economy. With the rise of remote work arrangements, organizations need to consider how to communicate important messages to these staff members. When developing your internal communications strategy, make sure all employees receive the information they need, not just the employees who come in to the office each day.
Making Communication the Heartbeat of Your Business Operation
When communication is under control, managing the business becomes a far simpler task. Here’s how to get it right in just five easy steps.
1) Become A Leader
Employees provide the engine to drive your business to success. Nonetheless, it’s your job to steer them in the right direction. Acquiring the mindset of a team leader will result in far greater employer-employee bonds. In turn, you’ll be able to mold your team into what you want them to be, which will boost performance levels. Moreover, it’ll give you a better chance to identify any issues from workplace bullying to individual dissatisfaction. This establishes a far stronger platform for success.
Leadership is an essential part of business communication. Are you steering your team in the right direction? Click To Tweet2) Focus On Collaboration
Teamwork makes the dream work. However, it’s very difficult to achieve this when the team is disjointed. Team away days are a great way to bring colleagues together. Meanwhile, initiatives such as cycle to work schemes can enhance the camaraderie. This can be supported by a positive break room environment, as well as supporting charitable causes that the team care about. As a result, you should find that productivity also improves. This can also extend to the customer experiences, not least in terms of consistency across the team.
According to America’s Charities Snapshot Employee Donor Research, 71% of surveyed employees say it is imperative or very important to work where culture is supportive of giving and volunteering.
3) Utilize Digital Communications
Digital connections can replace a host of different interactions to provide greater speed and clarity. Staying in touch with employees, suppliers, and clients is easy with an icloud.com email account. This is especially true when setting up email notifications. Video conferencing is another hugely beneficial tool that can replace long journeys and expenses. When your website and social media pages utilize automated chat bots and online customer care links too, efficiency will soar. The benefits are felt by all.
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4) Streamline Team Meetings
Even when the business is powered by digital communications, you will inevitably hold team meetings in person. This is one area where a lot of companies are guilty of wasting time and money while also drifting away from the key topics. Learning to keep meetings to 20 minutes, which is what the big guns like Google do, can change everything. Still unsure? Then add up the 40 minutes saved each day and multiply it by the number of employees in the meeting. If that doesn’t underline the potential impacts, nothing will.
5) Be Transparent With Everyone
Clear communication links between businesses and customers are crucial. You can use a surveymonkey.com form to gain insight into what clients truly think. When this info is used in the right way, it can help improve your levels of service as well as the products. Similar ideas can be used to learn more about the employees and what they want from you as a boss. Above all else, you need to encourage people to use their initiative and make suggestions about how the business can improve. It can only support your bid for success.
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
Building a strong team is so important. Communication is key!
We have had problems with communication in the past and it definitely had a negative effect on our productivity and morale.
I’ve been there, Julie. Managing communication is a process in and of itself, and can be accidentally overlooked.
I agree with what you said, Miss Kemya and I would go even further with the time allocated to meetings. I would aim to get to the point where we could have a meeting in less than 5 or 10 minutes. It takes time to get there, lots of practice and everyone needs to know what they should be doing and how to prepare for these meetings, but just imagine how clear things would be if a company only needed such short meetings?
You said it, Kyle. Just the thought of short, action-based meetings makes me smile. We lose so much time and productive energy attending countless meetings. Less is usually more in this case, am I right? Thanks for commenting!