Let’s face it – we all get frustrated with our coworkers from time to time. And, often, miscommunication is a big culprit. Maybe you think to yourself, “I don’t understand why he keeps asking me the same questions when I’ve answered them a hundred times” or “I wish she would get our team’s input before she completes the internal project every month, but she seems to just move forward without incorporating our feedback”. Whatever your team’s dynamics may be, one thing is pretty certain – clearer communication can help streamline processes, avoid confusion, and lead to more effective partnerships and project development.
In his Forbes article, “Never Leave Internal Communications to Chance in Midsized Companies”, Robert Sher explains, “A Towers Watson study (Capitalizing on Effective Communication – How Courage, Innovation and Discipline Drive Business Results in Challenging Times, 2010) concludes that companies with highly effective communication practices enjoy 47% higher total returns to shareholders compared with the firms that are least effective at communicating”. Think about it – if employees can communicate clearly with one another, it makes sense that they can execute their work more effectively and enable greater company success, too, right? But, how do you achieve this success?
In this article, we’ll explore some of the ways your team might consider incorporating internal communications practices to help boost team performance. While team dynamics can vary greatly across diverse industries, these practices are some of the more general ways in which you might consider getting (and keeping!) your team on the same page.
Craft an Internal Communication Plan
This is a specific document that houses all of the messages your team should be communicating and all of the ways your team should be delivering those messages most, or all, of the time.
Think about one activity you might do every month like writing a company-wide newsletter. Your communication plan might include a 12-month calendar outlining all of the topics of the main articles, the person(s) in charge of writing, publishing, and distributing them and the process for executing all of the above. This document should exist not only to help the current team, but also to help anyone who may join the team in the future – it is a manual for how to execute routine projects.
Host Brown Bag Lunches
To share information with your team in a more casual environment. Have an issue that keeps coming up? Think about some FAQs (frequently asked questions) that you can document and host a brown bag lunch for your team to come and discuss those FAQs. Brown bag lunches work best for small group environments when attendees are welcome to ask a lot of questions. But, don’t forget the “leave behind” – this is a document (maybe those FAQs neatly documented) that you can send back to your team members’ desks with them as a friendly reminder to follow certain processes. Bonus! Follow-up with attendees to see how things are going one month after the lunch and incorporate any feedback into an upcoming brown bag event.
Monthly Newsletter
Start a monthly, team-centric newsletter that is distributed not only to team members, but also to anyone who routinely interacts with that team. Sure, you can draft articles about the industry as a whole or how your company just won an amazing award, but don’t forget to include any information that will directly enable your team to be better understood – think about including upcoming ways to communicate with your team, how your team is changing a process next month or how other teams can interact with your team in more effective ways … use the platform to both educate your audience AND communicate your needs.
You don’t need to go all in by incorporating 10 new ways to communicate with your company – you just need to think about where and with whom you should focus your energy to maximize your results. And, don’t forget to practice these communication systems routinely – it’s not enough to host one brown bag event or craft one process document. Strong internal communication programs must be fostered on a routine basis – company dynamics and projects are constantly changing, so communicating with employees must reflect those changes, too.
This article was written by Samantha M. Carroll, CEO of Once Upon A Brand, LLC and was originally published on the Catalant Blog.