When you want (or rather, need) things to go smoothly and for your business to be productive, you need fantastic office communication – when you’ve got that, teams can collaborate without any problems, ideas can be explored (and people will come up with them in the first place), and projects can move forward without any problems (or at least, the problems that do come up can be solved more easily). But when communication breaks down, even the best teams with the best ideas can find they get confused and, ultimately, inefficient, which is the last thing anyone wants.
So, if you think your office communication needs a bit of a refresh, you’re not alone – but by the end of this blog post, you will know what to do about it. With that in mind, keep reading to find out how to upgrade your office communication to improve everything.
Know When Email Isn’t Enough
When you think about it, email is probably the most important part of office communication, or at least it’s the element people think about first if you were to ask them about it. The thing to remember, however, is that although email is crucial in many areas, it isn’t always the right or best option, and long email threads can easily get confusing or be misunderstood. The key is to ask yourself if a topic needs a lot of back and forth communication to get to the bottom of things, and if it does, or if you need to put a point across without any room for error, a face-to-face solution is probably better. That could be a video call or a phone call for example, where you can easily ask and answer questions and get everything clear before any work begins.
Working out the right way to communicate and not just firing off an email and then forgetting about it, while the recipient is confused about exactly what you meant is sure to save time and reduce misunderstandings that lead to errors. If you put together a guide so everyone in your team knows when email isn’t enough and what to use instead, that’s going to speed things up even more.
Modernize Your Tools
Your office’s communication tools might have been brilliant a few years ago (or perhaps decades ago – it won’t always be the first thing on your mind to replace them if they’re working), but what if, despite the fact that they’re pretty much still doing their job, they’re not as good as they could be? The fact is that if you’ve got outdated systems, they’re going to slow everything down, and that’s where a lot of your problems might lie – it’s not what you’re doing exactly, it’s the way you’re doing it.
Luckily, it is possible – and easy – to upgrade whatever it is that’s causing you a problem. For example, what about your intercom? It’s a small part of your office setup, and that’s possibly why it may not have come to mind until now, but what if that little piece of equipment is holding the key to speeding things up? And what if an intercom conversion could improve it so you save time and no longer have to worry about communication issues?
When you upgrade systems like these (look around and you’ll find there are a few to consider), you’re getting rid of potential communication barriers you didn’t even know existed, and that’s going to do all kinds of positive things, like speed up decision-making, and basically bring your communications into the 21st century (never a bad idea when you’re running a business, no matter what you might be selling).
Rethink Your Meetings
Meetings have a bit of a bad reputation in the office, and that’s for good reason – a lot of the time they drag on for no real reason, there aren’t any clear objectives, and, as the meme goes, it really could have been an email. That’s bad enough when the team is remote, but if they have to come into the office to be in that meeting, they’re not going to be happy about it. Not only aren’t you getting your message across, but you’re not endearing yourself to your employees either, which could lead to some of them quitting, or at least not putting their all into their work.
Of course, some meetings are absolutely necessary, but what about changing them so their structure is better and people won’t mind having to be involved in them so much? Try shorter, more focused meetings, and don’t have people sitting down – standing meetings are popular because they tend to be done with more quickly, people get to the point faster, and standing is actually good for the brain and the body. Make sure you always create (and distribute) an agenda before the meeting so everyone knows in advance what it’s all about, and you could end up with a powerful communication tool rather than something everyone dreads.
Create A Culture Of Clear Communication
Why does miscommunication happen? There are a number of reasons, but a lot of the time it’s going to come down to vague instructions or assumptions, and when people get into those habits, it’s hard to come back again. That’s why it’s vital to develop a culture of clarity in your business, meaning everyone has to say that they mean clearly and concisely, and waffle just isn’t allowed.
Yes, that is easier said than done, and we won’t deny it – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Some of the things you can do include making sure everyone understands (and practices) active listening, for example, and always summarize the key points in the discussions you have or the meetings you’re chairing (or even attending – it’s a good habit to get into, after all). Plus, why not just ask if everyone understands and make it clear that it’s fine to say no? That’s far better than just sending everyone off with instructions that they have to keep checking with you about (or, worse, they don’t check with you and get it wrong, which wastes a lot of time).
If you’re not sure what to do, it can be wise to hire an expert to train you and your team in better communication in the office and help you put some ideas in place to make it happen – it’s far better to get it right as early as possible, but if you need to change things because it’s not working, it’s really never too late.
Set The Office Up Right
You might not realize it, but the physical setup and layout of your office might be causing problems with communication (or vice versa – the way you’ve set everything out might make it a lot easier to communicate).
An open plan office layout, for example, is definitely a great way to make sure people find it easier to collaborate, but on the negative side, it can also be a distracting place to work because it’s noisy and busy. In that case, having an open plan space makes sense, but you should also add some quiet spaces or rooms where people can go if they need to focus more. Giving everyone the choice means they’ll be more productive and if that choice offers them great ways to communicate, that’s got to help as well.
Have A Feedback System
Good communication isn’t just about sharing information, although that’s part of it – it’s about listening too. We talked about active listening above, and that’s vital, but having a good feedback system in place is going to really improve things as well – you’ll be amazed at the positive difference it makes. In the end, if you can take feedback from your team (who are willing to give it), the workplace and even the business as a whole is going to be better for it.
Feedback is a chance for everyone’s voice to be really heard, and since it can be done in loads of different ways – formal surveys, suggestions boxes, informal one-on-ones, and so on – everyone should feel comfortable getting involved. The last thing you want is for your team to have a problem and not feel that they can talk to you (or a designated manager, perhaps) about it. That’s just going to make them miserable and it’s not going to solve the problem.
Of course, you won’t be able to help with everything or change every little thing, but if there are things you can do and actions you can take that will make a positive difference, it’s important you do it. Not only does that mean you’ll make a difference to your office and business, and perhaps become more successful as a result, but you’ll show that you care about your team and take their opinions and ideas seriously, so it’s going to help no matter what way you look at it.
Final Thoughts
Upgrading your office communication in whatever way makes sense to you isn’t just about having the latest equipment (although that can definitely be helpful!). What it’s really about is making an office that’s comfortable and where people can work together successfully, and if you can get that right, you’ll definitely be on the right path.
