How To Improve Team Communication

If you run a small business or manage a team, then you will know how important good communication between team members is. Without it, your employees may not enjoy the working environment, staff sickness may rise, and your business may suffer. There are ways that you can help to improve team communication, from group bonding activities to making your staff meetings more effective. Follow these tips to make sure your team is at the top of their game and communication is fluid and effective between them.

Improve everyday office interactions

Perhaps you find that your staff meetings are often unfocused and run longer than anticipated, eating into the working day. There are numerous ways to try and make them more productive, such as removing all the chairs from the room to get the blood pumping and keep the energy high. Also try to set clear goals, a concise agenda and a time limit at the start of the meeting and make sure you put someone in charge of chairing the meeting, ensuring they stick to the agreed upon agenda and time limit.

Fun team bonding activities

It is likely that your team could benefit from a fun night out and a chance to discuss things other than deadlines and budgets and get to know each other outside of their work roles. Plan a fun team bonding activity, such as an escape room game or karaoke night out and watch communication improve and productivity increase as a result. Greenville Escape Room can create a thrilling environment for your team to work closely together to escape an adrenaline-pumping set-up such as an airplane hostage situation or an international spy game. If you’d like a calmer option, then plan a night out at a karaoke bar, after work drinks or a team dinner in a nice restaurant paid for by the company. By paying for or putting some money towards the cost you can make your employees feel appreciated and valued, and thereby boost their motivation and commitment.

Encourage a culture of communication

Lead by example and encourage a culture of good communication with your employees. Make it clear that taking a full lunch break away from your desk is encouraged, and set up a communal eating area with a relaxed feel to it, for example, install comfortable armchairs or a ping pong table. Regular breaks from work can actually increase productivity, so this is a way to not only boost team communication and morale but also see your staff’s productivity rise. Hold monthly feedback or one-to-one sessions with your employees to make sure that any issues are discussed. Ensure that staff members are aware no topics are off limits in these sessions, and they can raise any problems they may have, or discuss anything that may be impacting upon their work. If you are concerned staff are not always being open and honest in their feedback for fear of repercussions, then create the option for anonymous feedback by installing a feedback box in the foyer, encouraging people to write any concerns down and drop them in the box. These can then either be looked at privately or discussed openly in a staff meeting without anyone feeling the spotlight is on them.

Thanks to Ana Apostolska