Dealing with an uncomfortable sustained note of miscommunication on your team? Here’s the good news: with the right supports in place, you can easily get everyone singing from the same page.
Current data suggests that this effort is worth the investment. Teams that communicate effectively boost output by 25%—and additional data from the same study found that team members who felt included in communication were five times more likely to report higher productivity levels.
We’ve put together 10 tips to boost collaborative communication in your organization, starting today. Read on to learn more and help your team reach perfect harmony.
1. Standardize Communication Channels
Clear and collaborative communication begins with a consistent structure your team follows anytime they need support. Managers can spearhead this step by choosing and reliably using specific platforms for specific conversations. A good example of this step in action would be a team choosing to use Slack for quick updates, as opposed to Zoom (which they’ve chosen to use for standup meetings or longer 1:1 discussions).
2. Set Guidelines for Response Times
Hitting a sour note of miscommunication isn’t ideal for any member of the team. To avoid this, many leaders choose to set standard guidelines and expectations around response times, keeping everyone respectful, aware, and as efficient as possible.
Doing so has many benefits, including improved communication, increased efficiency, enhanced accountability, reduced stress, and greater consistency. It can also help your organization navigate through times of transformation and change.
3. Train Teams in Active Listening Techniques
Although we’ve been utilizing listening skills since infancy, many adults still struggle with this essential competency. Active listening focuses on fully understanding the speaker’s message—both verbal and nonverbal. Consequently, it helps prevent misunderstandings, fosters clearer exchanges, and builds stronger relationships. Training in this area can ultimately lead to more effective problem-solving and collaboration.
4. Foster Inclusive Discussions
Collaborative communication is rooted in mutual respect. Fostering inclusivity during meetings encourages all team members to let their voices be heard. If your team has difficulty using the time equally, consider intentionally rotating speaking opportunities, or using structured standup-style check-ins.
5. Share Information Regularly
Most leaders under communicate far more than they overcommunicate, so don’t be overly concerned with sharing too much information with your team. In addition, executives and higher-level managers should encourage team members to provide ongoing updates on goals, progress, and challenges. When information flows freely up, down, and across the organization, a culture of transparency and trust is created.
6. Encourage Feedback Loops
Fostering a culture of transparency and trust simultaneously creates a positive feedback loop around encouragement and feedback. Ideally, your team should work in a culture where feedback is not intimidating—it’s expected. The understanding should also be that this feedback is constructive and tactful, always providing praise for what’s going right and steps forward for areas of improvement.
7. Schedule Regular Informal Catch-Ups
Formal meetings are important, of course, but so are regular, informal (perhaps virtual) catch-ups. Teams thrive and gain confidence where true connections are found, and managers should take every opportunity to forge such connections. Make sure, however, that these conversations are less about checking up on people and more about checking in with people.
8. Host Team-Building Activities
Virtual team-building activities are invaluable to your team members. Beyond connecting them and encouraging open, collaborative communication, they give insight into how each person on the team thinks and works. By using these activities to focus on collaboration over competition, leaders can help their team build critical skills for both individual and collective success.
9. Use Collaborative Tools
Collaboration and communication should carry through to every instrument your organization uses. Tools like ClickUp, Google Docs, Slack, and others make it possible for your teams to work in real-time as if they were next to each other in the conference room. They’re worth your consideration.
10. Record Meetings and Share Notes
Not everyone can make every meeting, but everyone benefits when they’re singing off the same sheet. Recording virtual meetings and sharing notes among team members ensures that everyone, including those located abroad, stays updated on key information.
Find Perfect Harmony By Fostering a Culture of Communication
Communication is the rhythmic undercurrent of every successful company. It drives growth, fosters trust and goodwill, and directly combats subpar performance and attrition. Managers and leaders should view effective communication as a critical workplace “difference maker” and invest adequate resources to ensure that it’s demonstrated with every interaction.
At Right Chord, we believe that effective communication requires ongoing testing and tuning. If your team is experiencing communication breakdowns or barriers, connect with us today. We’ll work with you to create a culture that’s composed of notes of trust, alignment, and transparency. Contact us today for a free consultation.
