You won’t need to be told how important it is to enjoy clear and concise team communication and if you can apply those disciplines into the culture of the company it can stay with you as your team increases in size.
It can sometimes take a root and branch overhaul to sort out your communication strategy and using initiatives such as providing team members with Push to Talk systems and encouraging people to take ownership of their responsibilities.
Your company will have the potential to prosper if it enjoys a great communication strategy and here are some ideas and suggestions to help you achieve that aim.
Every team needs a leader
Even in a democracy, you need leadership and there is little doubt that leaders have the capacity to set the tone within your organization.
The way to lead others in this situation would be to set agendas and then encourage debate and input from other team members.
If one person is making all the decisions and not listening to what others have to say it can stifle communication over time as people will decide it is not worth saying what they think.
Leaders need to take control but they also need to encourage and acknowledge the need for open communication.
Make sure everyone knows their role
A classic catalyst for communication breakdown is when there is a lack of clarity when it comes to the role everyone in the team has and their list of defined responsibilities.
If no one understands exactly what is expected from them and what their specific role is within the team that can quickly lead to overlapping between people and tasks being duplicated as a result of this lack of allocated responsibilities.
Make sure you have the right team communication tools
As well as clearly defining what every team member is expected to focus on it is vital that there are procedures in place and tools used to enable communication to flow between each member of the team.
There are various software packages available that aid communication within an organization and these can be more effective and less cumbersome than simply exchanging emails between each other.
There is little doubt that when you have the right tools and software in place so that all your team communications are being channeled through one system it will help to streamline that all-important flow of information.
Regularity breeds familiarity and improves communication
There are a number of advantages attached to holding regular meetings to strategize that involve all team members.
Firstly, it will allow you to get to know each other better and encourage a greater level of collaboration. In addition, it gives everyone the chance to provide their input at these regular meetings.
Put a time limit on these team meetings and try to keep the session to about 30-40 minutes so that you don’t waste too much time and the focus is all about getting any issues sorted within that timeframe.
To ensure that you adhere to these guidelines it would be sensible to appoint someone to set an agenda for the meeting and monitor the amount of time available to resolve each topic of conversation.
Distribute the agenda to all attendees before the meeting so that everyone can prepare and prepare what they want to discuss in advance.
Subscribe to the philosophy of teamwork
If there is one thing that can quickly create a communication breakdown within a team environment it is when certain members of the team feel that their input is not valued or they don’t command the sort of respect they feel they deserve.
It pays to understand that every member of a team is there for a reason and that means they all bring something to the party. It is clear that some people will hold higher rank and status than others in the team as that is a normal hierarchy structure within an organization.
However, when it comes to seeing a project through to its conclusion in the most efficient way possible it often requires an approach that allows lower-ranking members of the team to feel that their input is just as valued as the opinions of others who hold a higher rank.
Where a number of companies fail in their communication strategy is when the opinions of more senior members of the team seem to hold considerably more weight than someone who is more junior to them.
When it comes to teamwork and good communication through collaboration the opinions and suggestions put forward by any team member, regardless of their status within the organization, need to be heard and respected.
The bottom line is that you can’t realistically expect to create a strong team ethic and promote great communication if there is not an element of mutual respect that exists between each other.
Recognition is a key aspect if you want to improve communication
When an employee is happy in their work it is good news all round as this positivity often helps to encourage the level of collaboration required to achieve great communication.
The route to employee satisfaction is heavily influenced by recognition.
What this means is that when an employee feels that their hard work and loyalty is being recognized and rewarded it will have a positive impact on teamwork and communication levels.
It doesn’t have to be all about money when it comes to rewarding team members and another way to do this would be to give someone greater responsibility and deeper involvement in a project.
If you can work on recognizing and rewarding employees it can have a profound impact on how well everyone communicates with each other. A team that consists of happy and committed workers will always have an advantage over a team that lacks motivation and contains a number of people who feel that their input isn’t valued or acknowledged.
Achieving great levels of communication within your organization requires a number of strategies to align so that there is harmony and efficient flow of information between team members.
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