Communication in the workplace plays a vital role in generating ideas, building relationships, and helping a team to overcome challenges. Check out these seven fantastic tips for improving workplace communication.
1) Use Conference Calls Regularly
Conference calls allow many people to communicate at the same time over the telephone. That means everyone involved with your company can talk to each other from any location. Dispersed teams and clients can connect and share information easily, which can only be a productive step in business communication. You can hold small meetings with management or hold conferences with a large number of remote attendees. For instance, with the free service Freeconferencecall.com, up to 1,000 people can communicate with one another. Find out more about the best conference call services available, so that you can improve your workplace communication.
2) Regularly Communicate with Your Team
The more communication management has with their employees, the more valued the employees will feel, and the better their work ethic and productivity will be. Many companies make the mistake of only communicating with employees at annual reviews. Managers and team leaders need to communicate with their teams much more often than that. So, schedule one-on-one meetings once a month so you can keep up-to-date with how your workforce thinks and feels.
3) Provide a Platform for Anonymous Feedback
Often, employees are hesitant to make complaints or share their feelings openly for fear of consequences. The solution to that problem is to provide a platform for anonymous feedback. Tools like Officevibe allow employees to give honest feedback. By using such platforms, you can improve communication and solve problems before they get out of hand.
4) Use Team Building Games
One of the best ways to encourage active communication on a team is to use icebreaker games and team building activities. Taking a moment to have fun and get to know one another allows for better communication when it is time to get on with the task at hand.
5) Encourage Social Interactions
Managers and team leaders may like to see their teams with their heads down, focused on their work. But if employees do not have the opportunity to communicate with each other daily, their enjoyment of work can dwindle, and productivity can become reduced. By allowing employees to eat at their desks at lunchtime, for instance, you enable them to build strong relationships with one another.
6) Use Visuals During Meetings
Lengthy meetings can become unproductive because attendees can lose interest quickly if a manager is talking for ages. By introducing visuals to a meeting, the audience will pay more attention and understand what is being said much more effectively. Use PowerPoint presentations or papers with lots of imagery to communicate better.
7) Do Not Over-communicate
If you communicate too much, especially outside of office hours, it can be detrimental. Keep the number of emails you send outside of work hours to a minimum. The more employees can switch off from work when they are at home, the more invigorated they will be for the next day’s work. Promoting a healthy work-life balance encourages better communication in the workplace.
