As the corporate paradigm of the previous century disappears from the American workplace, communication skills are increasingly seen as the crucial glue that holds a corporation together. Shorter employment cycles, performance-based pay, and increased diversity mean that communication in the workplace must be effective, in order to quickly convey information and motivate a wide variety of people. Clear, effective top-down employee communication isn’t enough; successful corporations must also find ways to ensure positive, productive communication between peers. Here are five tips for managers who hope to establish healthy team communication.
1. Set a good example. Team members will base their behavior on the models provided by management. As a manager or executive, your communication skills must be especially sharp in order to positively influence (and hopefully inspire) your employees. To set a good example, be open to all ideas, support your team members, and set clear expectations. Finally, don’t let your communication skills tarnish; stay current on business communication strategies.
2. Conduct a Communication Audit. PeopleMetrics’ Employee Engagement tools can help managers and executives identify breakdowns in communications. In addition to gathering employee feedback, PeopleMetrics helps analyze intra-team communications and map how information moves through your organization. Your goal should be to discover where messages get trapped, so that communication processes may be improved.
3. Encourage team members to be enthusiastic about their work. Research in employee engagement shows that passionate, enthusiastic employees provide better customer service. In fact, engaged employees attract engaged customers, and higher customer engagement results in higher profits. Be excited about your work, and encourage employees to be excited about theirs.
4. Help team members feel respected. Set clear behavior expectations for your team. Let them know that you expect them to treat each other with respect. If a team member feels disrespected and isolated, do your best to bring them back into the fold. Speak privately to employees who make others feel excluded. A respectful environment is the best for encouraging creative, productive work.
5. Listen to your team. We’ve all heard that true communication is a two-way street, but as managers, it can be difficult to turn off the bullhorn and actually listen to employees. Not only will listening to your employees uncover unique ideas on how to improve your company’s performance, but it will also provide a good example of effective employee communication for your team members. Employee engagement management is an effective tool in gathering, analyzing, and acting on employee feedback.
As the Harvard Business Review tells us in Leading Teams, “Communication is the key to keeping a team productive and functioning smoothly.” By following the steps above, you can improve peer-to-peer communication in your organization’s teams.
~Monica Nolan, Account Manager
Additional Resources:
Top Ten Sources of Workplace Stress, and How to Fight Them
Costco Case Study: Employee Passion Increases Employee Retention and Customer Engagement
Tags: Business communication, effective employee communication, employee communication, employee engagement, engagement management, Human resource management, intra-team communications
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