How to Improve The Internal Communication at Your Business?

A focus on internal communication is important for any organization if you want it to function effectively. Good internal communication is also integral if you want your employees to consider your company a nice place to spend hours of their day and the work that you do to be worth their blood, sweat, and tears. The employees should feel that they can communicate freely with their colleagues as well as the management team of your business. This kind of easy, trusting work relationship simply creates better results and maintains the motivation of the employees.

Many workers nowadays agree that good communication in the workplace plays an important role in their productivity when performing their jobs and according to researchers, they’re absolutely right to think so. A study has shown that poor and ineffective communication can be the main reason for not being able to deliver productive results on time.

Are you a business owner or in charge of your company’s communications efforts, and are you struggling with getting internal communication to run smoothly? Then you’ve come to the right place. Down below, you’ll find our best suggestions for how you can improve the internal communication of your business if you think it’s currently lacking.

You need to communicate the mission and vision clearly and distinctly

In order for your internal communication to run smoothly, you must first make sure that the communication from the top down is as clear and informative as it can be. If the management of your business is clear and open with the rest of the company, the employees know what is going on and where the business is headed.

It’s always a good idea to inform and be communicative about the company’s vision and values since these things can have quite an impact on the employee's understanding of what is happening. This can boost their motivation and later on their productivity.

You’ll have to regularly make it clear to your employees where you’re headed, informing them as much as possible as decisions are being made in management. With this knowledge, they can communicate with each other more effectively with the same mission in mind and reach shared goals together.

Invest in the right tools

Another important thing to do is to invest in the right communication tools for your business. Ensuring that you have the right equipment makes it much easier for your employees to communicate frequently and effectively with each other – even when they are not sitting in the same place physically. This is becoming more and more common, especially in the wake of the pandemic forcing many of us to work remotely and opening our eyes to alternative ways of working. A survey from 2015 revealed that a majority of employees actually prefer flexible working hours and the ability to do their jobs remotely.

This may not come as a surprise, but the survey also revealed that a surprising number of employees stressed that a motivator is a better communication tool. The survey found that 85 percent of employees use more than one device to communicate at work – and taking this into consideration, it’s clear to us that there needs to be room for flexibility. The use of multiple devices and the right communication tools will play a huge part in ensuring this.

Additionally, workers on pretty much all levels have a need for instant communication. Therefore, the importance of good messaging software is more significant than ever before. Today, there are a lot of options that will satisfy this need. For this reason, it’s important to do your research before you go out and buy one and start implementing it. Make sure it’s the right one and that it meets all the needs of both you and your employees.

For example, any chat app can offer features like chatting, audio/video calls, file exchanges, and so on, but if a team chat app, such as Troop Messenger, can improve team communication and boost work productivity, then you should surely make it your official team chat app.

The importance of knowledge sharing

Finally, it can be a good idea to create an online platform on which your employees can share all their valuable knowledge with each other. This is also a good way to make sure that each of your employees can stay up to date on the news within the company on their own and always know exactly what is happening on a bigger scale. This platform is furthermore an excellent place to keep them updated on the industry in general.

By providing them with a platform on which your employees can share the knowledge they possess and communicate with each other, you will also create a room that can help ensure that they stay eager to involve themselves in their work. All of these things help to maintain a sense of community, which can make a crucial difference in the environment at the workplace.

Get to know your employees and ask for their opinions

While you may think you know what’s going on in your company, how in tune are you actually with what’s going on with each of your employees? When you really know the people who work for you, you can also trace your way back to the root of a communication issue way easier.

In order to ensure that you’re staying in touch with your employees, try setting up regular meetings with them. These meetings can be either in-person or remote meetings every few weeks, e.g. over a Skype or Zoom connection – depending on what is most convenient for both parties. When you’re in these meetings, make sure to catch up with what they’ve been working on and ask for their opinions and suggestions.

As the boots are on the ground, your employees will often be way more in touch with which processes are working and which can be improved. Ask them if they have any suggestions or things in the workplace that are bothering them.

Your employees’ opinions can also help you make decisions based on their preferences, thus improving their workflow and productivity. For instance, if you’re planning to switch to a new instant messaging software, ask your people which they prefer. After all, they are the ones who will have to introduce it into their existing work routines – and by asking them for their opinions and preferences, you avoid wasting precious time on a new tool that won’t work for them.

Of course, the above pieces of advice are just our suggestions for how you can improve the internal communication of your business. Depending on which type of business you’re running, you may be facing communication challenges that simply aren’t issues in other industries.

We do, however, believe that our advice will be relevant for a big majority of businesses out there looking to improve their internal communication. If you find implementing all of the tips at once overwhelming, just start small. Sit down with your employees, and figure out where the biggest issues are – and once you’ve addressed these, you can move on to fine-tuning your communication even further. Before you know it, your business will be a well-oiled machine with clear, frequent, and effective internal communication.

Conclusion

Improving internal communication is vital for business success. Clear channels, open dialogue, regular updates, face-to-face interactions, and feedback loops can enhance collaboration, productivity, and employee satisfaction. Prioritizing effective communication fosters a cohesive work environment and drives organizational growth.