– Communicate unto the other person that which you would want him to communicate unto you if your positions were reversed.— Aaron Goldman
Team communication is a critical success factor, whether it is a sports team like Ghana Black Stars or an organisational project team. To develop trust, communication should be honest. Teams that don’t communicate effectively waste time and energy doing unnecessary things.
Employees must frequently communicate and exchange information and documents. In addition, they want senior management to listen to their concerns, suggestions and comments. Similarly, managers want to make sure that internal marketing campaigns, company reviews, employee news and other important messages reach every employee. By meeting the needs of both parties, a good corporate communication strategy strengthens the bond between employees and facilitates the sharing of information. Now the big question is, how can you streamline your business communications?
Communicating as a team in a relaxed organisational atmosphere
The following organisational communication strategies can help resolve workplace conflicts and facilitates a smooth exchange of information across your company:
- Design a corporate communication plan
Once you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. If you don’t have an internal communications plan, drop everything else and create one first. Without a plan, you won’t have a clear road map to implement effective communication in your business. The planning process starts with having a clear understanding of your communication goals and audience; and then conducting an audit of the current communication campaigns and channels you have in place. This is followed by determining your communication schedule and channels for the next six or twelve months. A great strategy will enable you answer key questions, including:
- How do you make your messages more relevant and engaging?
- Which communications channels should you be using?
- How can you ensure the right content reaches the workers at the right time?
- What roles will your C-level executives play in workplace communication?
- How will you encourage employees to engage in two-way conversations?
- Inspire one-on-one conversations
Not all concerns can be properly discussed in a group. For example, you may want to address a personal complaint or performance issue. And in such cases, it is much better to start a private conversation. A one-on-one meeting gives you the chance to read the worker’s body language, know their communication style, and get visual cues on how to proceed with the interaction. Even if you don’t have a specific conversation, it’s important to regularly schedule personal time with employees. Because it helps you understand them and communicate with them more effectively. So, be sure to add this corporate communications strategy to your arsenal.
- Invent a little humour
Workplace communication is usually a serious endeavour. You often convey information that’s intense. Whether you’re discussing a problem or setting goals, laughing and cracking jokes may seem out of place. But a series of serious interactions can put workers in a negative mind-set. And it affects how they interpret and draw conclusions from the information shared with them. When a meeting gets too heated, people want to leave as soon as possible, which hinders the flow of information. Although it’s not always possible to avoid a stressful conversation, levity can help you a lot in pushing your company’s communication strategy forward.
Lightening the mood is an important skill that helps you defuse tense situations and relax everyone involved in the communication. So the next time you’re communicating something to your employees, try to make them laugh. Also, if you’re worried that your jokes won’t be any good, then you’re focusing on the wrong thing. It’s not so much about making clever remarks as about trying to make people feel relaxed and comfortable. In fact, research shows that people welcome any kind of levity as long as it’s not offensive or hurtful.
- Encourage a two-way communication
Effective communication is supposed to be a two-way street. An organisation cannot reach its full collaboration potential if information flows only in one direction – from top management to the rest of the workers. If employees can’t ask questions or discuss the information conveyed, then you aren’t communicating. You’re commanding. You’re giving orders and expecting workers to follow them. Surely, some directives are absolute and non-negotiable. But you can’t rely on this approach all the time when working with today’s skilled, talented professionals who thrive in an environment of autonomy. Instead, the right company communication strategy is to invest in creating a receptive space where workers can put forth their concerns, share suggestions, and feel heard. And make sure those inputs are acted on. Not brushed under the carpet.
Listening to feedback doesn’t just help your employees feel valued. It also helps you clarify your message. You may think your communication is crystal clear but still miss some aspects critical to help others understand the information. Two-way communication can fill those gaps.
- Bring consistency in your communication
All your communications – whether written or verbal, both internal and external – should be at the heart of your company brand and workplace culture. Additionally, it should have a unique and consistent voice that reduces the chance of ambiguity and unifies your workforce. Such a voice also helps to communicate in the right spirit, and avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. But the more people participate and contribute to your organisation’s communication, especially from different locations and time zones, the harder it is to maintain a unified voice. So you need a set of consistent guidelines, formats and best practices that everyone can refer to when creating content. And you can prepare the same in the form of a communication style guide.
Once you have clearly established communication guidelines, train your Communications Department and other stakeholders on how to put these guidelines into practice for future communications.
- Make use of visual aids
Different people have different learning styles. Some are comfortable reading pages after pages of text, some want to listen on the go while others need something to view, like a video. Regardless, almost everyone gets enticed by imagery. Presentations and infographics help people wrap their heads around the given information. So, using colourful posters, charts, and graphs to distill complicated ideas is one of the best ways to make your message clear and memorable.
There are many ways to use visual aids in workplace communication. For example, if you repeat certain messages to your employees or answer the same questions over and over again, you can save time and effort by using a visual aid to share relevant content. Do you have someone in your ear every 10 minutes with a question about the holidays? Plan a vacation calendar that employees can control themselves. Bombardment of requests for printer passwords? Print them in large letters and stick them near the machine.
- Organise effective communication training for your staff
We have spent a good chunk of our lives communicating with others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re good at it. For example, many employees have such a logical, fact-based communication style that they often forget to take others’ emotions into account. Others often get carried away by feelings and miss key details. And the gaps in communication lead to conflict, ambiguity, and workplace politics. So, in any organisation, effective communication should be proactively taught and encouraged. And it should be a vital part of the training programmes you have in place for workers. Great communication training helps teach your employees how to keep their emotions in check and present their ideas clearly and comprehensively.
- Conduct more open sessions
Meetings are considered boring, especially when only one or two people are talking. You’ve probably been through many places where you were just expected to participate and listen. But that doesn’t mean all meetings are bad. A meeting is just a tool. And like any other tool, you can handle it effectively or poorly. So, from time to time, you should organise an open meeting with all the employees of your company or certain departments. This meeting has a fixed agenda, and each employee is encouraged to talk about their work, their experiences and any concerns or suggestions. Scheduling such open sessions regularly will not just improve communication, but also help you get a pulse of different teams and your overall culture.
Credit
https://www.lifesize.com/blog/communication-strategies/ [Assessed January 18 2023]
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingorganizationalcommunication.aspx (Assessed Jan 19 2023]
15 Strategies for Effective Communication in an Organization
https://joinblink.com/intelligence/organizational-communication-strategies/ [Assessed Jan 21]
https://www.insperity.com/blog/effective-communication-strategies/ [Assessed Jan 21 2023]
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/communication-strategies-effective-organization-826.html
About the writer
Ebenezer is a Development Communicator with experience in International Development Consulting, SME co-creation & development research and innovative financing.
You can reach him via [email protected] & [email protected]
