Efficient communication is key to the success of any business, regardless of the size or industry. Strong communication at work is what validates employees. It lends to them their motivation, inspiration, and therefore, productivity.
This productivity is what drives your business.
It’s what keeps your team members sharp. It’s how we avoid missed deadlines, messy email and slack trends, poorly scoped projects, and drawn out feedback… It is the fundamental force behind a company’s interworkings.
And yet it’s often overlooked by company leaders.
We’re each well aware of the importance of efficient communication, but that’s not to say we practice this in our organizations. Knowing the significance of something doesn’t necessitate the practice. But then again, perhaps this oversight isn’t your fault.
Perhaps you assumed you were effectively communicating, yet your team and partners may say otherwise. Regardless if this is you or not, it’s in our best interest as leaders to stay on top of our communication skills. That said, today we’re bringing to you this friendly reminder on the basics of efficient at work communication.
Let’s dive right on in!
Skill and Practice
Establishing a culture of efficient workplace communication takes knowing the basics.
Efficient communication requires both parties to understand the emotion and intentions behind the information being transferred. It also requires the speaker to convey their message in a concise and clear manner. It calls for transparency.
Both parties must be on the same level field during the exchange (i.e, understanding the emotions and intentions). The speaker must be clear in their messaging. This will allows transparency to be established. And therefore, the communication and be made effective.
This does require some skill and training to become an effective speaker. The primary is for one to be self-aware, the second skill is to be empathetic, or have empathy. Acquiring these two skills, or rather, traits can be both learned or innate in some.
Nevertheless, it is in your best interest to practice and learn how to be more self-aware and empathic. These two skills are how you can become a more effective communicator. They are the foundation of building a culture of efficient workplace communication, not the sole factors.
They are only the basics, and so, they should be built upon. In order for you to create a culture of workplace communication, it requires you and the leaders within your team to develop techniques to implement in the workforce. This is what will allow you to create a culture of effective communication.
Efficient Communication Requires Technique
It takes time to build on your communication skills. The first is to acknowledge the need to be transparent, self-aware, and empathic during your conversations. A conversation should follow the foundation you’ve set naturally as your recipient more than likely will mirror your communication.
That said, as a leader seeking to create a culture of efficient communication in the workplace, employees will mirror their leadership. Company culture stems from management or its leaders, and therefore you if you happen to be the company’s leader.
Why does this matter? Effective communication is what drives the success of a company. It’s what gives them that edge amongst marketplace competition, and it’s what motivates and drives productivity amongst employees.
Okay, so how do we apply this as a technique? Fair question.
You as a company leader should follow forth in being transparent, empathic, and self-aware. Seek management and team leaders who innately have these traits or are teachable. In regards to your team or employees, having a strategy is ideal.
Utilize a Strategy to Improve Workplace Communication
When we say strategy, we’re speaking in terms of utilizing tools to aid in the improvement of workplace communication.
You and your company’s leaders are the ones who set the tone for communication. Employees will mirror. However, strategy-wise, it is in your best interest to employ certain tools in your workflow.
This is to ease communication and eliminate communication barriers. In turn, it will help foster a culture of efficient communication. So what are the tools?
1. Social intranet software
You need social intranet software. This will cover the issues of communication barriers. Social intranet software creates a portal for everyone to access all relevant information.
We’re talking documents, contacts, company news, and so on. This software helps with transparency. It eliminates communication barriers and potential miscommunication.
How so? The portal, when employed correctly, aids in delivering all important information to team members.
2. Discussion boards
Some social intranet software already has built-in discussion boards, nevertheless, it is still an important tool. Slack encourages employees to engage in discussion.
We must state that Slack shouldn’t be used as the primary source of communication. It can become a bit of a nuisance when implemented into workflows incorrectly.
Rather, employ this as a device to supplement the need for extra conversations. It is again a perfect medium to aid in eliminating communication barriers as it encourages team members to engage in discourse when desired and needed.
3. Digital workflow platforms / collaboration tools
Digital workflow platforms or collaboration tools are an absolute must. Having a platform that eliminates noise is what will help also eliminate communication barriers and ease communication. An online platform for task management, scheduling, projects, and so on integrated into your company’s workflow is a must.
Miscommunication is a product of a lack of information, confusion, or both. Integrating a platform that consolidates tasks, scheduling, and projects into one dashboard that can be accessed by all team members is ideal for any company currently experiencing gross miscommunication.
Efficient Communication at Work Inherits Skill and Strategy
A strategy is what secures the success in creating a company with efficient communication.
A social intranet software, discussion board, and digital workflow platform are key to securing effective workplace communication. Used together alongside team leaders with the mentioned communication skills/traits, are what will guarantee smooth and proactive workplace communication.
Secure Your Company’s Success
If you and your team are seeking a digital workflow platform or need to transition to one more productive and unique to your needs, actiTIME is the platform. We are an all-in-one dashboard that provides companies, like yours, solutions. We’ve helped thousands of companies with their communication at work by optimizing their workflows and we want to help you today.
Contact us we’d love to answer any questions you have. Our platform allows teams to manage project scopes, assign tasks, track time, and analyze business performance in a simplistic, user-friendly dashboard. If you like, request a free demo and get started.
