Why Communication in the Workplace is Important
If you’ve ever worked in a business that suffers from poor communication, you know full-well just how important it can be. Workplace communication is a vital aspect of operating a successful business. And in the modern age, sending, receiving, and managing large amounts of information must happen seamlessly between your team members. By fostering an effective communication system, managers can vastly improve logistics, and better comprehend their employee’s talents and skillsets. And by understanding their staff better, management will be able to more accurately delegate tasks to those that are right for the job.
In truth, it doesn’t matter the industry or your chosen field; communicating effectively is one of the most tangible methods of ensuring success. It has been noted in studies that 70% of all workplace mistakes occur due to poor communication. Statistics repeatedly show that developing clear instructions and orders can improve efficiency and reduce errors.
Techniques for Communicating Effectively
Creating and maintaining adequate workplace communication is highly challenging but can produce fantastic results if harnessed correctly. To help you navigate improving your workplace communications, let’s talk about some techniques for effectively communicating with your team:
1. Meetings
Regular meetings allow employees and managers to understand their responsibilities and efficiently approach them. There is no better way of improving communications than by hosting face-to-face meetings.
2. Keeping Communications Short and Sweet
Any successful manager knows that keeping discussions short and to the point can vastly improve overall productivity. On the other hand, hovering over a single topic can degrade and complicate its overall importance.
3. Clarification
When things are confusing, it’s never a bad idea to speak up. And conversely, your staff having abundant questions about a topic is a fantastic skillset. You want your employees to have a clear understanding of the issues at hand, and giving them the information they need will improve overall communications and reduce the possibility of mistakes.
4. Communication Styles
Refining your communication style can improve your company’s overall effectiveness. And the best way to do that is by establishing a routine that allows team members and potential clients to know what to expect in terms of how you operate.
5. Open-Minded
Keeping an open mind about topics and discussions is a skill that will allow your employees to convey ideas more effectively. Unfortunately, no one is being helped when your employees are too afraid to speak up!
6. Listen
One of the most crucial skills to have, regardless of the context or the situation, listening will give you the advantage of understanding any given topic and allow your team to feel more at ease about expressing ideas and opinions.
7. Seek Feedback
The quickest way to improve any skill set, communication included, is by allowing feedback. Accepting positive criticism will allow you to develop and improve, no matter what you’re doing.
8. Build Trust
Developing trust between you and your employees is an excellent method of improving overall communications. When team members trust the ideas and advice of their colleagues, they’re statistically shown to work better with fewer mistakes.
Effective Communication Tools
If you expect to communicate well, you’ll need the proper tools for the job. And with many teams working from home regularly, the need for better business communication tools is essential. Some of the most effective means of business communications include:
1. Video Conferencing
The era of video meetings has arrived. With modern hosted phone services and VoIP technology, communicating with your team is easier than ever.
2. Messaging
Messaging services such as instant messaging and SMS messages allow workers to quickly communicate with one another without harming efficiency. Additionally, messaging systems enable managers to disseminate information to colleagues more effectively.
3. Phones
If it isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it. That is, unless you can improve it! Business phones are one of the best ways teams can communicate. And with the features of hosted phone systems, employees can seamlessly communicate from their desk, from home, or on the go.
4. Email
It’s a classic method of communication for a reason! Email may be a longer form of communication compared to texts or SMS messaging, but it has its benefits. Emails provide an excellent paper trail and give team members an easy way to collaborate on larger projects.
The Benefits of Good Workplace Communication
By now, it may seem obvious that having a good communication system will allow your business to work more effectively, but let’s take a deeper dive into the benefits of developing suitable internal communication methods.
1. A sense of community
Communicating well with your employees and clients will cultivate trust, develop a sense of community, and work more effectively toward common goals.
2. Productivity
Statistics show that having a well-informed staff that works together efficiently can generate up to 47% higher returns!
3. Establishing a mission
A good communication system will ensure that your company establishes an overall vision.
4. Improving overall knowledge
Having a well-informed team is a fantastic step toward success in the business world. Your business relies on your employees making intelligent decisions, and fostering their expertise can only benefit the company in the long run.
Looking to Improve Business Communications? IDeACOM NC Can Help!
Improving your communication is an essential part of operating a successful business. It doesn’t matter the field; having a staff that effectively communicates, shares information, and heeds important advice makes them unstoppable. And failing to foster your communication skills can result in significant output losses. In fact, it’s estimated that corporations lose $37 billion each year in lost productivity. So how do you ensure that your business runs smoothly and communicates well? You call us, of course!
IDeACOMNC has years of experience providing business owners in North Carolina with turnkey technology solutions. From the coast in the East to the mountains of the west, our experts have over 60 years of experience providing customers with business phone services, high precision thermal imaging cameras, VoIP phone technology, network cabling solutions, managed IT services, and more!
So whether you’re interested in our state-of-the-art telephone services, or you’d like to invest in our camera and surveillance packages, we can help! Give us a call today at (336) 854-4455 and let us streamline your business!