Internal Communication Growing Pains and How to Solve Them
David Mizne, Marketing Communications Manager of 15Five.com drops in this week to guest blog and tackle team communications. A great read for leadership teams looking to improve the culture at their dealerships continually. Have a look!
A lack of communication is often the root cause of an unhealthy bottom line in business. Even worse, it could be the reason behind a poor reputation in your vertical. Better internal communication can help businesses avoid many of the pitfalls suffered by those expanding into new markets or growing to meet the demand for their products and services. This can include anything from resourcing new promotions to low employee retention rates.
Below are some of the most common communication problems businesses face as they grow, along with some simple steps to avoid them becoming an issue for your business. Let’s dive right in.
Where Are We Going?
If you don’t know where you’re headed, how are you going to get there? A clear purpose for the business and your employees is critical to staff motivation. Creating an employee development plan helps your team work toward shared goals and take responsibility for getting the business from where you are to where you want to be. Additionally, creating goals for the company overall also helps to keep people motivated and united behind a collective cause.
A clear mission statement should clearly define your business goals. Have your company leaders get together to answer a few simple yet searching questions about the business. Who are you, and what do you stand for? Why are you, and your teams, motivated to turn up each morning and give your best to the business?
Distill the answers to two or three easily understood sentences and distribute them across the business. This helps increase employee engagement and rally team members around your company.
Initial Engagement
How are new employees introduced to your business? New recruits should be given a brief induction to help them understand company culture, protocols, and core operations.
Best practices and the resources necessary for their role should also be identified and made available to them on day one. Doing so encourages commitment and engagement, both of which drive productivity.
Any Questions?
Great communication is all about asking questions to the right people and getting answers. This will never happen if people are unaware of who does what and why within your business.
Employee directories, collaboration sessions, and companywide briefings give your workforce the chance to get to know who’s who. It also provides opportunities to get the information needed to meet the challenges of projects or to complete everyday tasks.
Open-door policies further support internal communication by enabling staff to share concerns, ideas, or ask questions when they arise. Providing the space and encouragement for workers to communicate when they need to helps your business and its leaders unleash the power of the minds you employ.
Sharing is Caring
Shared resources are a must-have for any sized business; they enable all involved with the company to access common assets and FAQs while negating the need to recreate the same work across teams. Staff should be encouraged to continually add to and update these resources. This will ensure that they continue to be of value to the firm and teach important skills or share information wherever possible.
Get Out and About
Workplace relationships are somewhat one-dimensional if colleagues never meet off the job. Genuine, supportive relationships are built on a variety of shared experiences and foster better communication as a result.
Getting teams out of the office for team-building exercises or just a bit of fun together in a different environment will pay dividends. You will see an uptick in communication, collaboration, and the promotion of a supportive and innovative workplace.
Communication is the cornerstone of success for any business and it forms good working relationships that drive motivation and staff engagement. Take heed of the above tips and you will be able to navigate around the common pitfalls that come with poor internal communication.
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15Five was created from founder David Hassell’s deep desire to help people reach their fullest potential at work. Even during David’s early days as an entrepreneur, he was always soliciting ideas and feedback from employees and colleagues. He responded with his own ideas, suggesting things to study or programs to take that would help people grow personally and professionally.
Since 15Five was founded, this employee feedback system has evolved into a beautifully designed product. Over a thousand successful companies are reaping the rewards of increased employee engagement, productivity, and retention while helping to fulfill David’s vision for work to be the place where people become their greatest selves.
