10 ways to master team communication in your organization

‍

Without these components, employees will be less inclined to use the apps, resulting in less communication and collaboration.

Moreover, it would be best if your communication platform allows you to communicate in multiple ways - providing safe chat, calls, and video conferencing solutions.

Lead by example

If you are a leader or manager, you are responsible for setting up the stage for your team’s communication and collaboration patterns. Since only 1 in 3 employees say that their leaders communicate efficiently, it is no wonder that 75% of workers believe effective communication is the most important leadership trait.

Set the rules

Setting the rules is necessary for effective team collaboration and communication. It is good to have a communication handbook that team members can always access.

Define which channels you use, how to approach resolving conflicts, when team meetings are being held and more.

Make time for team bonding

There is a legit business reason for encouraging social interaction between team members. Why? First, it improves company culture. Second, social interaction outside of the workplace is responsible for 50% of the positive changes in communication patterns between coworkers.

‍

Active listening

Active listening is one of the most important communication skills. Improving team communication is much more effective if you are listening - pausing, reflecting, and rephrasing what is being said in order to ensure everybody is on the same page. It is no wonder that it’s one of most sought-after sales skills!

Diversify communication channels

When working remotely, using only one communication channel can get tedious. For example, 38% of employees report feeling exhausted and 30% stressed after a full week of virtual meetings.

Moreover, imagine communicating only by email. It would probably be much harder to align the whole team, right? Therefore, work on improving team communication by diversifying communication channels.

Have 1-on-1s

Don’t always talk to your team members in a group. Although team dynamics are #1 priority, people should feel comfortable to voice their opinions in a more private setting as well. Improving team communication relies on developing interpersonal relationships, too.

Give and ask for feedback

The best way to improve team communication - and performance - is to encourage open feedback. Normalizing giving praise and providing constructive feedback is crucial to team dynamics. Moreover, feedback should go in all directions - meaning that managers should be open to it, too.

However, remember that the optimal ratio of positive to negative feedback is 5 to 1 if you want your team to excel!

Set up a virtual water cooler

As mentioned before, non-work communication is important for improving working teams’ communication. This is why it is good to have a virtual water cooler or a chatbot that creates random interactions between employees even when working remotely.

Our own chatbot here at Rocket.Chat is called Koko. It asks us to answer random questions or participate in random one-on-one calls, which always creates fun and casual conversations you would experience in an on-site setting.

This is also a great way to build your company culture!

The cost of poor team communication

Why is it important to excel at team communication in the first place? The truth is that it can legitimately hurt your business. Since we can expect more hybrid and remote work environments, improving team communication is essential to build trust among team members and enhance collaboration.

Yes, poor team communication can be costly - here are some specific examples.

Decreased collaboration

When teams don’t communicate as well as they could, they will collaborate less, and outputs of their collaborations will be of lesser quality.

On the other hand, collaborative businesses are 70% more likely to innovate than non-collaborative ones. Moreover, collaboration leads to more engagement, less employee turnover, and higher profits.

Poor employee engagement and performance

The way employees communicate shapes their performance and results. As 28% of workers believe, poor communication is the biggest reason why projects fail.

In the long run, ineffective communication can lead to decreased employee engagement. Employees will simply avoid communicating with their peers if they feel it doesn’t lead anywhere, which will also affect the quality of projects.

Stress

When teams don’t communicate effectively, team members get frustrated. According to research, ineffective communication causes stress for 80% of employees.

Increased workload

When team communication is ineffective, it creates additional workload for team members. They lose time finding the right information, and there is a high probability of duplicating tasks.

Lack of innovation

One of the greatest advantages of digital workplaces is enabling employees to collaborate effectively. However, when team communication is inadequate due to different reasons, employees will less likely engage in brainstorming sessions and similar activities.

In sum, poor team communication can lead to decreased innovation - and innovation is one of the most important elements in business success.

Ready to own your communication?

By now, you should be convinced that effective team communication is at the core of every business success! However, it is of utmost importance to ensure that your workers can communicate and collaborate in a safe way.

Moreover, if you are dealing with sensitive customer data, cybersecurity and data protection are probably on the top of your priority list.

Check out why Rocket.Chat is one of the most secure messaging and collaboration platforms on the market and get in touch with our team for a smooth & safe collaboration experience.