If you’re committed to increasing effective communication with your team, read on for tips you need to begin implementing to find success and keep everyone happy.
Communicate Through Summarization
Active listening in communication is all about seeking to understand. It’s imperative to ensure everyone is on the same page. Miscommunication happens too often in businesses and can be easily alleviated by practice summarization.
“Summarization or paraphrasing is an active listening skill that involves repeating back what a person has communicated,” explains Max Ade, CEO of Pickleheads. “While this type of communication can feel repetitive, it’s the most effective way of preventing a misunderstanding. The process involves actively listening to a person speak, summarizing and repeating back what they’ve said, and confirming understanding between the group.”
How does this look in practice? Ian Heyman, Founder of Male Drip Protection shares, “It can look different for everyone, but one way to approach it is to have a touchbase with your team where you all practice paraphrasing. By repeating back how each of you understands a concept or conversation, you can avoid many miscommunications. This can lead your team to be more productive because everyone is clear on what you’re working towards.”
Summarizing as a communication skill takes practice. For leaders, it’s best to lead by example and kick off this strategy. It will take time to get everyone on board and accustomed to this method of communication, but it will be incredibly beneficial overall.
Set Clear Agendas for All Meetings
One of the biggest complaints many employees have regarding meetings is that they take up too much time and are ineffective. This tends to happen when meetings are not properly planned and executed. The best method for ensuring meetings are beneficial for the team is to have clear agendas outlined well in advance.
“You can never be too over-prepared,” says Max Schwartzapfel, CMO of Fighting For You. “When you host a meeting, consider putting together a cohesive, clear agenda at least three days out. Doing so can give your team time to prepare any deliverables, questions, or thoughts beforehand. Trying to communicate on the spot can leave room for missed information, and no one wants that.”
It’s often very easy for meetings to get out of hand. “Timed meetings with strict agendas are a great way to ensure you actually get things done,” shares Karim Hachem, VP of eCommerce at Maxine of Hollywood. “Map out a timeline for each topic and have someone track time so you stay on schedule. You can also leave space at the end of meetings for for questions; this time is also a great way to determine if a topic needs more attention. Timing meetings helps make sure you hit everything you want to discuss while figuring out what needs further communication."
During meetings, ensure that your team feels free to open up about what’s happening in the business. Make space for questions, invite lively discussion, and include everyone in the conversation. When you have an open-door policy, this should be the norm and your team will be eager to share their thoughts.
Host Periodic Touch Bases
When your team is busy doing the work, communication can often fall to the wayside. But without that communication, the work will suffer. It’s important to leave time in your team’s workload to touch base. This could be in the form of one-on-one, project-specific teams, full teams, or otherwise. The frequency of which is something you can determine to meet your specific needs, as long as you ensure that all touch base meetings are effective and not simply sucking up time.
Christy Pyrz, Chief Marketing Officer of Paradigm Peptides says, “Consider having leaders meet with their team one-on-one every month. You don’t need agendas for those meetings. Instead, you can use it as an open communication period to discuss the employee’s work, mental health, growth, and general ideas for the business."
If you’re noticing team morale is decreasing, consider adding in touch bases to get the team on the same page. “Seeing a drop in team morale? Try hosting a touch base meeting,” shares Melissa Rhodes, CEO of Psychics1on1. “Keeping the touch base group small—about 5–6 people—makes it an even smoother process. Everyone should be able to speak freely about their ideas and thoughts.”
Create a No-Judgment Zone
A primary reason many employees don’t feel free to speak up at work is due to fear. They worry their words won’t be taken seriously or they will experience repercussions. If you’re serious about increasing communication with your team, you need to create a judgment-free environment to do it.
“You never want employees to be reprimanded for using their voice,” explains Mary Kay Bitton, Head of Product Innovation at Flo Vitamins. “It’s essential to value everyone’s opinions and ensure each person feels safe to speak their mind.”
If you want to create and foster a no-judgment zone with your team, implement an open-door policy to invite your team to voice their thoughts. Provide a safe space for them to do that, such as in a meeting or one-on-one. Keep everyone on the same page with the policy and ensure everyone is abiding by the precedent. You want to ensure that nothing goes on behind the scenes that lead your team to question whether this policy holds value or not.
While your business may have an open-door policy, some people may not feel up to sharing their thoughts openly with a big team, so it’s wise to offer an alternative solution. “A key factor in ensuring people feel good about speaking up is giving them the opportunity to speak in a way that feels safe for them. You can do this by encouraging people to book meetings with someone they want to discuss private topics with. You can also have an online suggestion box to allow employees to submit their concerns anonymously.”
With any new policy, implementation takes time, and building a culture will require consistency and time. Keep at it, and eventually, it will become the norm. “It’s important that you continue your efforts, even if you don’t see immediate improvement,” says Ryan Delk, CEO of Primer. “As most of us know, good things take time, so keep pushing forward, especially when it feels challenging.”
Keep Everyone Informed of Company News
To make everyone feel as though they belong in the company, you want them to stay informed of all the goings on – even if it doesn’t directly affect their position or role. This is a key strategy in team-building and also ensures everyone stays up-to-date on current company news, including goals, accomplishments, and even the tough stuff.
“A wonderful way to ensure everyone is informed while not keeping things too serious is to have a company newsletter,” shares Justin Soleimani, Co-Founder of Tumble. “It might start out of necessity, but it can quickly turn into a way to boost morale. Of course, you still want to share updates about the business, but you can also include uplifting stories about the team, celebrate milestones and birthdays, and more.”
Another benefit of internal newsletters or weekly email roundups is that they cut down on meetings, ultimately improving productivity. “If you feel like you and your team are spending too much time in meetings, consider trying out a weekly email roundup,” says Brittany Dolin, Co-Fouonder of Pocketbook Agency. “Much of what you cover in meetings may very well be able to be communicated through an email. You can try sending out weekly updates with summaries of what’s happening. It’s a great way to share news while also providing something concrete to reference in the future if needed.”
When you have big teams, especially, and want to ensure everyone has the information they need regarding the company, consider finding a solution to distributing the information with full-fledged detail that can be referenced. This cuts down on gossip and avoids miscommunication.
Conclusion
You definitely don’t want to cut corners when it comes to team communication. When poor communication becomes the norm, it will take extra effort to break the bad habit and implement a long-lasting solution.
The best way to get started is to build a small task force with members of your team from all levels. Brainstorm a plan on what the end goal of communication will look like and then strategize the steps it will take to get there. Communicate this new culture with the team and get everyone onboard. It’s a win-win for all.
