Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar? Eight out of ten of your team members show up for a meeting, with the other two saying they didn’t know about it. Or, three key employees end up using an outdated invoice because they did not hear about the new one. Or, when it’s time for that all-important teleconference with a new client, your marketing manager doesn’t show up because she did not realize it was today.
What these unfortunate situations have in common is a lack of communication. Somewhere along the way, important people on your team didn’t receive vital pieces of information that resulted in what could be big blows to your business.
Fortunately, improving communication on your team is not that difficult to accomplish. There are a number of types of technology that can allow you to stay in touch and make sure that no one misses out on anything important. Check out the following ideas:
Look into instant messaging
Instant messaging can be a very effective way to communicate with your employees and entire team member. With an instant messaging (IM) program, you can see which workers are signed in (and hopefully at their desks), which ones are working outside of the office and who is at lunch. You can typically communicate together much faster than emails, and if you need to reach a specific member of your team with an update on a project, you will know at a glance at the IM program if she is in a meeting or at her computer.
Invest in 5G wireless technology
If technical difficulties seem to be getting in the way of successful interaction with your employees, it is probably time to invest in state-of-the-art technology that will help improve communication. For example, 5G wireless technology isultra-reliable and incredibly fast. If you and your employees rely on smartphones to touch base, 5G wireless devices will have peak data rates up to 20 Gbps; in plainer English, if you are sending updated reports and or other info to your employees, they will get them immediately. In addition, 5G promises lower latency for a quicker response time — even when users are on the go.
Set up an internal blog
If you and your team like to brainstorm ideas and give updates about projects, an internal blog is a great way to be sure everyone is connected and can offer their input. The advantages of an internal blog are numerous, including promoting an open discussion and collaboration among your employees, connecting everyone from different departments and keeping everyone up-to-date on the latest information about a project, meeting or teleconference. There are a number of internal blog apps that are ideal to manage internal communication. BlogIn is a great internal blog option that lets everyone share news, ask questions — like “when is that important team meeting again?” — and share ideas about current projects.
Don’t forget email
Yes, there are fancier and more “techy” ways to communicate with your team. But as you look into some of these other options, don’t forget the classic email as a way to improve communication in the office. In order to be sure that your emails are not lost in the shuffle, make it a policy to send out an all-team email on certain days of the week — for instance, Monday and Thursday mornings. By not filling up your teams’ inboxes with messages, they will know that when an email does come in, it is important. If you have employees working at a variety of locations, email can bring you all together and it’s a great way to send out company updates, status reports about projects, reminders about important meetings and company events and other info.
No matter which methods to improve in-office communication you choose, you don’t have to feel like you have to shoehorn yourself into one option. For instance, if it’s been awhile since you have sent out a company email, announce your intent to do regular email updates, and then invest in 5G wireless technology to be sure your team receives the messages on their phones. Experiment with different tactics, and in no time missed meetings and deadlines should be a thing of the past.
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
