8 Ways to Improve Employees Communication

1. Identify Any Problems

Are there are any obstacles preventing your employees from communicating with each other? Any number of factors could be holding your team back; from personal issues, to tech problems.

Try observing how your employees communicate with each other; don’t spy, but keep an eye and an ear out for trouble. Allowing them to interact naturally will give you a more honest, and thus clearer, idea of what needs to be addressed.

2. Tackle Problems, Not Personalities

When it comes to personal issues between employees, it can be difficult to figure out the right way of dealing with them.

The important thing to remember is not to allow emotions to rule the office. Reminding your employees of the importance of professionalism, can help them to focus upon setting any personal feelings aside.

However, if there is someone causing trouble, then get your HR department involved as soon as possible, and always remember to stress the severity of workplace harassment.

3. Don’t Let Difficult Tech Get in the Way

If your team’s communications are reliant upon anything tech related, then you need to ensure that your systems work for them.

Technical difficulties are only going to get in the way of your employee communications, either get your IT department to fix things, or consider changing to a different system.

Perhaps you’ve introduced a new communications system that your employees are having trouble understanding. Try using something simple instead, such as popular business messaging app; Skype for Business.

4. Develop a Company Identity

Having a clearer idea of your company identity, can give your employees a better sense of how to communicate with each other.

Giving your employees something to stand for can encourage a greater feeling of camaraderie, and thus, improve internal communications. Also, try introducing more opportunities for teams to collaborate, as working towards a shared goal often helps to boost good communications.

5. Create a Better Office Environment

Working in a more open-planned environment has also been proven to help with employee communications.

However, providing some closed-off spaces for private meetings and a chance to grab some peace and quiet, is also important. In addition to this, encouraging light conversation over the water cooler or at the lunch table could help improve relations between employees as well.

6. Provide an Intranet

Creating an online space for employees to communicate with the company and each other, can develop a greater sense of collective workplace identity.

Having an intranet, for example, provides more ways to convey important messages, organise events and communicate across your entire organisation. You could also consider sending out a monthly or weekly company newsletter, educating employees about the bigger picture and spreading any good news.

7. Reward Good Communication

Rewarding good communication, whilst discouraging troublemakers, is a simple and very effective system.

Provide opportunities for employees to praise each other; such as an end of quarter prize for referred employees (we have one!), or provide a suggestions box with an incentive for contributing to it (we have one of those too!).

8. Organise Social Events

Providing ways for employees to socialise with each other outside the office environment, can help to establish stronger relationships and thus better communication.

By organising events such as company dinners or parties, or encouraging employees to organise events amongst themselves; summer barbecues or trips out, can help encourage a greater feeling of kinship.

Implementing any of these simple changes, could have a significantly positive effect on your employee communications, and thus, their happiness and efficiency. But it’s important to remember that different methods may work for different teams; there’s no catch-all.

For more advice on how to make positive changes to your business, have a read of any of our other articles.