‘In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly,’ Mark Sanborn.
How many times have you thought that communication in your project could be more effective and help achieve results faster? Building a proper communication will bring you the desired performance.
The problem could be obvious, or it might reveal itself after long profound reflections. Either way, you shall determine the issue to resolve it. Performing the 5 fundamental steps you’ll identify what could be improved to reinforce your staff communication. However, you shall bear in mind that each case is special, meaning, solutions that work for one company might be pointless for others.
#1. Ensure your team proper functioning
Is your team cohesive? Do you feel they lack understanding regarding cultural or any other disparities?
No company prospers for no reason. The secret of progress lies in common objectives, strong team spirit, staff self-confidence. Putting those together, you build so-called staff emotive intelligence. Thus, a team’s deemed to be malfunctioning, when it lacks one or a few aforesaid characteristics.
Your personnel synergy isn’t easy to build. To create a more highly-functioning team look carefully at your staff. Their ability to work in coherence is subject to individual connectivity.
Proper team development also requires precise goals, progress evaluation indicators, top-quality training courses, decision-making capacity, relevant encouragement, open corporate culture.
#2. Assist your people with applying virtual communication means
Nowadays, we clearly observe the shifting from in-person activities to the virtual business, when the staff is scattered spatially with the necessity to keep in touch through advanced technologies.
Remote working staff might experience certain difficulties, say:
- the difference in timezones;
- slight misunderstanding evolving into significant issues;
- scarcity of communication, as well as excessive communication and messages, overloading;
- technologies malfunction.
Multiple UI/UX design companies have their staff working remotely, therefore, the owners apply diverse techniques to support their employees making them feel comfortable.
Solutions to tackle the problem depend on a particular issue you’re experiencing. We suggest you few options to guarantee smooth virtual communication:
- Plan in-person meetings. Researches prove the necessity of personal interactions for staff working via advanced technologies.
- Consider time zones while planning. Apply certain tools, say, OfficeNinjas, to inform the personnel of those timezones, determine specific “office open hours”, facilitate callings, standardize the calendar, hold fewer meetings and take advantage of messages.
- Establish the Guide to identify your expectations on technology application. Create appropriate practices to specify in what way certain communication tools shall be applied to comply with your company’s requirements. Consequently, your staff can appeal to such a guide when required, and new members can view the document either.
#3. Remove all possible cultural obstacles
When hiring an international team find enough time to turn the staff cultural diversities into your advantage. Issues might occur in different definitions of the working culture and decency. Moreover, cultural prejudiced opinions and stereotyped attitudes might damage people connectivity discouraging them speak freely.
Have you heard of reflective listening? Ask your staff to reflect you in a written form key points of the task given by you to be sure it’s properly understood. Additionally, set up training sessions on cultural sensitivities. Informing the staff on various national differences shall better their communication.
Wonder what you can do right away? Avoid culturally sensitive lingo company-wide.
#4. Support your team in receiving & providing feedback
Feedback – no matter if it’s praising or constructive criticizing – is an indispensable element of adequate communication. There’s a risk the staff providing negative feedback might seem like a belligerent party, while a person receiving it may simply start defending him/herself. Then the feedback is actually pointless.
The lesson won’t be learned unless the feedback provides all the necessary details on the subject. Giving the overall or general feedback, it’s unclear what to work on. To ensure the process effectiveness, ask your team for more details.
Advice to PROVIDE constructive feedback
- arrange the right setting to make the process comfortable for the two parties;
- present objective information with relevant details and examples;
- after communicating the feedback, devise the plan of actions for parties to have the right understanding, as well as expectations.
Advice to RECEIVE constructive feedback
- don’t take a defensive posture. There’s always room for improvements, so take advantage of it;
- admit being mistaken, thus, people take you as a reasonable and sensible individual;
- in case some points aren’t clear enough, ask for more clarifications.
By the by, reflective listening shall help with proper feedback receiving as well.
#5. Make sure your digital tools contribute to better the communication
Choosing the right tool is only halfway to streamline your team communication. After the system having been implemented, remember to continue efforts to unite your team and to reinforce their communication. We’d offer you a few key advice:
- avoid considering digital tools as a worthy substitute for in-person meetings. When in need of serious discussions, direct communication is preferred;
- think twice before sending the message. Being a manager you set the pace for a respectful and civilized communication company-wide;
- be wise on how and when to communicate. Be an example for your personnel to counterbalance work and personal life avoiding after-hours messaging;
- don’t misuse your tools. Over-communication is as harmful as lack of it;
- provide the proper training to familiarize your staff with new tools.
Valuable communication instruments
Looking for specific solutions? Consider the best options you have in 2019.
- com
- Ryver
- Slenke
- Teamwork Chat
- Slack
- Zoho Cliq
- Flock
- Gmelius
- Fleep
- Rocket Chat
To compliment everything mentioned above, we present to you the four ways to enhance your team communication.
Software to manage projects
Such software shall serve for the team to monitor operations and projects’ development. To prevent any confusion, as well as to keep every involved employee updated, project managing instruments shall provide each staff member with clarity on current issues. That’s required to manage projects efficiently.
Cloud
The cloud technology facilitates the operations. Remote personnel can easily access team documents. Such accessibility is crucial to prevent possible frustrations and forced delays working on the projects for out-of-office staff.
File-sharing software
Such technologies are designed to simplify file sharing procedures to guarantee each staff member deals with the most relevant and up-to-date file versions. Given solutions better collaborative processes, and enhance employees’ digital working spaces due to possibilities to delete unnecessary emails with numerous files attached.
Video conferences
Having offices dispersed throughout the world that’s quite challenging to hold in-person meetings. The mentioned approach ensures messages sharing, it builds spaces to encourage productive discussions and eliminates probable obstacles caused by communicating in writing.
There exist a huge diversity of tools to “upgrade” your team communication. Go ahead to find your particular case solution.
