Everyone would like to work in a collaborative environment. However, to create such an atmosphere, you need to maintain a professional, yet friendly atmosphere with your colleagues. Sadly, rarely any workplace operates that smoothly since people have different expectations, personalities, and communication styles. What can you do about it?
Instead of hoping the problems will go away on their own, consider all the ways you can solve them. Improving communication is a fantastic start since it will benefit the entire team and work productivity. But what are some of the most effective ways of improving team communication?
1. Attend assertiveness course
Being assertive means confidently speaking, standing up for yourself, and setting healthy boundaries without feeling guilty. This type of communication can help your team have more purposeful conversations, reach an understanding and successfully complete the tasks. But is it something you’re born with?
Definitely not! Assertive communication can be learned. Therefore, when the opportunity arises, suggest your team attend such a course and learn all about ways of communication, tips, and tricks. Practicing assertive communication will lead to more honesty and better conflict resolutions in the workplace. On top of that, it can help you improve communication in your private life as well! A true win-win situation.
2. Encourage feedback culture
Knowing at every point what your task is, is the main part of a successful team. When each team member knows exactly what they are supposed to do, tasks run smoothly and are completed with ease. Therefore, feedback culture is crucial if you want to achieve your goals. How can you implement it?
Whether you lead a team or are just a team member, asking for and providing feedback when given the chance is fantastic. Encouraging feedback culture is one of the ways of boosting business efficiency. Additionally, feedback can also be of use in communication. So, next time when you’re having trouble communicating with someone, consider asking for feedback on your communication style!
3. Organize team bonding
Being part of the team includes working towards the same goal. The truth is, you probably won’t adore each and every member of your team, but you can be civil and professional. To help your relationship and improve the communication within the team, organize some team bonding activities where you’ll get to know your colleagues better.
For instance, you can go out for lunch together as a team, or hit the movies. It doesn’t have to be anything formal. In fact, an informal environment can help those shy team members loosen up and improve your overall communication. That’s why hanging out with your team is desirable, but not necessary!
4. Use tools
Face-to-face communication isn’t the only option and some may not consider it the best option at all! If you work in a remote team or hybrid environment, those claims are reasonable. So, instead of organizing a virtual meeting every time, you need to contact your team, use digital tools that can improve the quality of your communication.
Since most remote teams work from various time zones, live communication may be challenging. Keep the entire team in sync and up to date by using engagement apps that allow you to share information, chat and transfer files whenever and where ever. Find out more here about all the benefits such apps provide and implement them in your daily communication strategy.
5. Be open to diversity
Having opinions is somewhat natural. That’s simply the way our brains think. We force people into different categories to avoid unexpected situations. However, this may lead to prejudices, which is certainly a trait of a toxic workplace. You want to avoid that, don’t you?
To prevent prejudice from forming, give diversity a chance! Even though teammates may have a different skin color, accent, sexual orientation, disability, or something else, it doesn’t mean that they are a bad person or employee! Be open to diversity and learn how to communicate with different people. Not everyone will have the same communication style as you, especially if they come from a different cultural background.
Conclusion
These are only some ways that can help you improve your team communication. By giving these techniques and strategies a try, you’re not only helping your team but also improving the business efficiency, productivity and are more likely to achieve the desired result. So, what are you waiting for? Now is the right time to improve in-house communication!
