The importance of team communication
Posted: 2 September 2016 at 11:01 am | Author: Laura Morris
How often have you had a conversation with a work colleague that would have been useful to have known earlier? Infuriating isn’t it! However, I’m sure we’re all guilty of this at times, finding something out but not thinking to pass it on or share it with the team. It is easy to do, you think to yourself “oh I must tell such and such about that” and then time moves on, your busy and you forget until a later date.
Being the person who is kept in the dark is frustrating, particularly if it means you’ve done unnecessary work or had to research something, only for it to be revealed that someone else already knew the results! It can be extremely demotivating. Likewise if you have been told an action is going to happen and then everything goes quiet, you’re left wondering what the latest update is!
As a team leader it is your role to assist with improving this internal communication in order to minimise rumours on the grapevine and assist in the smooth running of your team. Therefore the question remains how can you facilitate this when you are busy yourself? Below are a few tips to consider.
Lead by example
It is important that within your role you show your team how you want communication to be done. Share your own knowledge; ensure you demonstrate an open door policy to encourage two-way communication. Perhaps hold a brief weekly meeting just to ensure that anything important is disseminated.
Make use of metrics
Consider an automatically updated dashboard everyone can access which demonstrates the key measurements. This ensures that everyone is committed to achieving the same goals. If this isn’t possible perhaps a quarterly report with visual information such as graphs would be more appropriate.
Plan external events
This is particularly important if you have new team members or a larger company where not everyone in each department is familiar with each other. Nothing will prevent internal communication more than if people don’t know each other! If everyone feels more comfortable then they will be far more likely to talk and understand who needs to know what!
Want to learn more about becoming an effective leader? Check out CAW Business ILM Leadership and Management courses or call 01480 422060 for more information