When you’re running a business, your internal communication is just as vital as major functions like marketing and customer service. Your team is the glue that makes your company stick together and ensuring that the communication within your business is effective will only aid in your growth.
However, getting your team to communicate effectively with you and with one another might be trickier than it seems.
Here are a few tools and tips you can implement to improve your internal communication.
Knowledge Management
Implementing a knowledge management system will allow for the storing, retrieving, and sharing of knowledge across your company. A system like this is a great way to organize the collective knowledge of your team and allow for innovation, brainstorming, and more effective performance from all members.
Staff will be able to quickly and easily access (and add to) your company’s bank of knowledge and learn the information and skills they need to in order to perform at their best.
Effective Collaborative Platforms
Of course, day-to-day communication is just as important as knowledge sharing, if not more so. Your staff needs an effective way of communicating and collaborating in a way that’s quick, efficient, structured, and centralized.
Keeping all communication, meetings, phone calls, tasks, etc. all in one central platform makes it easy for everyone to know what’s happening and what and avoid miscommunication or lost information. Seek out project management or collaboration platform that will work for all your team members.
Weekly Meetings
We’ve all grown accustomed to working from home and communicating via email, but having regular face-to-face communication is still vital for a well-functioning team. Even if your weekly meetings happen over video calls, getting to chat amongst one another about the week is a great way to pinpoint any issues or congratulate good work.
As a business owner, this is a great way to stay up to speed with what’s happening with each of your team members and will further allow them to build better connections with one another.
Create Openness
If you want your team to communicate openly with you, you’ll need to make yourself accessible and approachable. Let your staff know that you’re there to assist them with any issues they might have, to offer advice or even hear them out about complaints.
If a staff member requests to have a meeting or a quick conversation with you, prioritize fitting them into your schedule. When your team feels heard and valued, they’ll be more likely to communicate with you which will improve the overall dynamic of your internal communication.
Plan an Event
A team-building event doesn’t necessarily need to involve trust games or obstacle courses. A simple holiday party of post-work drink at a nearby pub is a great opportunity for you and your team to get to know one another outside of the office and connect on a different level.
Learning and understanding one another better in these contexts can only make for improved communication within the workspace and will give your staff something to look forward to as well.
