By Oscar Waterworth
Communication is the blood flow of every business and it’s also a critical workflow aspect, which requires time and active effort to streamline and optimize. Unfortunately, many up-and-coming brands fail to take communication seriously and such an oversight usually costs them a lot in the long run, since it can punch deep holes in productivity, growth potential and bottom line. If you want to stay on the safe side of your business endeavor, it may be a smart move to establish a culture of communication as one of your company’s main pillars. Don’t know how to pull it off? No worries: here are a few smart tips to follow if you want to set your brand’s communicative efforts on the right and well-voiced track.
Internal Communication Channels
Active communication between all relevant workplace links is critical for long-term productivity, favorable bottom line, and business sustainability. In this light, prompt exchange of information and timely feedback are a guarantee of quick resolution of all potential issues which may arise in the line of work. To speed up internal exchange of information, facilitate collaboration, reduce response delays, and boost overall efficiency of communication, you can use an intranet or live messaging system instead of conventional e-mail.
Weekly Reports and Reviews
For peak communication ease and efficiency, direct reports and performance reviews should be presented to the staff on a weekly basis, and preferably accompanied by face-to-face meetings. To avoid stress of one-on-one sit-downs and ensure peak team engagement and communication efficiency, you can organize informal weekly get-togethers: it will allow you to fill your team in on relevant details and casually discuss ways to boost output, minimize waste of resources and other critical performance- and workflow-related aspects.
Monthly Staff Meetings
Face-to-face meetings are a go-to communication mode for monthly and quarterly presentation of reports and key information roundups. For this reason, it might be a wise move to stage staff meetings at least once a month and update your team about vital business decisions, initiatives, performance metrics, and key concerns and priorities for the forthcoming period. Strive to make monthly meet-ups enjoyable, avoid bossiness and leave criticism for one-on-one meetings: after all, you’re supposed to set a positive example for your team.
Regular 360° Reviews
A 360° review is another smart communication tool many businesses use to dial up productivity and bottom line and secure long-term expansion, and it’s also an internal communication mode which helps managers solicit feedback on an employer’s skills and performance from other team members. Using 360° reviews, managers are able to provide positive and constructive feedback to each and every team member based on the analysis of comments and remarks submitted by their coworkers, superiors and subordinates.
Annual Performance Reviews
In addition to monthly and quarterly reports, annual performance reviews can help managers adjust the course of business conduct, scale results and provide critical feedback to their teams. If you’re about to stage a one-on-one meeting to discuss annual review of an individual worker’s performance, aim to make the ambiance formal yet amiable, accentuate the positives and offer a range of constructive tips on ways the employee can optimize performance and exploitation of company’s resources in the year to come.
Anonymous Staff Surveys
Surveys are another critical tool for gathering employee feedback that can be used to hack peak performance, identify problematic workflow aspects and eliminate glitches and conflicts. If you want to create an environment in which your staff will voice their views openly, make the survey anonymous: that way, all team members will feel comfortable speaking their mind, which is vital for gathering information about chief challenges and room for improvement. Feedback obtained from surveys can make the difference between a timely business conduct tweak and shutdown.
Informal Social Outings
Last but not the least, don’t overlook the power of informal get-togethers after work hours. The trip to the local bowling alley or a casual sit-down over a pint of beer can be a valuable source of insights about potential problems and solutions to chronic issues managers can use to fine-tune their approach to certain aspects of the workflow. In addition to that, social events outside work hours are a cost-efficient way for managers to foster close team bonds and collaboration across departments, so don’t overlook team building if you want to dial up communication at work.
Up the Game
Are you ready to take your brand’s communication to the next level? Use the instruments above to set up a tight communication network and streamline exchange of information between vital links in the workplace hierarchy puzzle, and your company’s sustainability and growth will be as safe as well-communicated messages. Good luck!
Oscar Waterworth is a writer and a senior editor at Bizzmarkblog. He frequently blogs about the latest developments in the tech, marketing, and business industries. To stay updated with Oscar’s latest posts, you can follow him on Twitter.