Increasingly, we’ve been hearing a lot about how internal communication among employees of a company is important to business success.
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Good internal communication has innumerous advantages. It cultivates a strong culture, enhances collaboration, streamlines results and can even improve morale. In today’s diverse business landscape, creating clear communication channels can overcome generational, gender and cultural differences to create cohesive teams and ultimately, successful outcomes.
However, how many times have we heard that good communication must be deliberate? Considering these ideas to intensify your communication efforts to create a happier, healthier workplace.
1) Be Present
Endeavour to be mindful and focused during conversations. Listen. Listen. Really listen, so that you can respond more thoughtfully, and minimise misunderstandings. The person you are having a conversation with, is important. And respect, above all, should be at the heart of your communication efforts.
2) Use Present-Day Collaboration Tools
Mass emailing the whole company may get your message misinterpreted or even ignored, which can cause confusion and irritation among the employees. Modern communication tools like Skype, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp allow you to quickly disseminate information to relevant groups of people. What’s more, you can ask your team how they prefer to communicate and adopt methods that work best.
3) Recognise and Praise Success
“Recognition is not a scarce resource. You can’t use it up or run out of it.” – Susan M. Heathfield, HR Expert, About.com
The slightest amount of praise can go a long way, especially in this day and age where employees want to feel valued and appreciated. Through your group collaboration tool to communicate with your team, you can announce individual or departmental successes. This can help with your team morale, which in turn, boosts your company’s productivity and growth.
4) Build Trust and Confidence with Small Talk
Who says small talk is all bad? It can be so much more than just casual socialisation. Managers can get to know their teams better by taking part in spontaneous and carefree conversations from time to time. Genuine interest about a teammate’s activities outside of work can provide amazing insights and even bring people closer together.
5) Invest Time in Training
Many nuances of communication are unclear, and specialised training will help employees understand each other better while clearly laying out expectations. Companies like the one I lead, Right Impact, a people development company that believes that people are the most important asset in any organisation, provide relevant and objective-focused solutions to overcome specific human resource-related challenges. One of the tools that we provide to our clients, the Emergenetics Profile, helps to prevent and possibly eliminate undesirable workplace conflicts.
Nevertheless, communication should be intentional, and inherently part of the company culture. Managers and top-tier leadership can set a good example by initiating positive engagement efforts with employees. Quick response time also encourages employees to continue on with the efforts that top-tier leaders have put into play. When employees hear back from their managers fast, they feel valued and understand that their questions or concerns are important.
When internal communications work well, employees end up being so in tune with the business and may even begin to tell your company story for you, plus, they’ll take pride in doing it. Remember, good communication is good business!