To make any business work, you need three things: collaboration, project management, and alignment of expectations. Come to think of it, these have their common denominator — communication. Practically everything in business starts with communicating the company’s goals, then pursuing them with a dedicated team.
When you are pursuing such goals, you are still communicating with a team. With this realization in mind, you need to make time for building an easy-to-use yet efficient office communications system. That way, everyone will always be on the same page and you can promote efficient workflow and high-quality output.
Some office managers and business leaders struggle with this, however, especially if they are working with a large organization. Regardless, you need to stick to what is essential and important. The backbone of an office communications system is mutual understanding and a goal to make things better.
Here are some of the pointers that will help improve your office communications:
Establish a simple protocol
Like any other business procedure, office communications should follow a seamless flow. This ensures that communications are recorded, and that each party is transparent regarding it. The flow does not have to be too complicated, as it will certainly make room for bureaucratic dilemmas.
It can even go like this: If your employees want to talk to you, you can encourage an open door policy that allows them to go directly to you. However, to control the number of requests, you may ask them to book a schedule with your executive assistant.
Use technology
Finally, you need to understand that technology plays an important role in communication. This is especially true and apparent when you are running a remote business or an offshore operations team.
The Internet is one of the most important things your office should have, and this should also cover the Cloud. Other than the Internet, you may want to invest in a reliable office phone system.
Encourage questions
Communication is about exchanging thoughts and ideas. Through that exchange, a collaboration will start, which is good for the business.
To encourage such product exchanges, you should encourage people to ask a question. Your employees may be shy or afraid to ask questions because they may think that their opinions will not matter. Make them realize that their opinions actually matter by telling them about it. Better yet, ask them to ask questions.
Inspire feedback
Other than encouraging your employees to ask questions, you also need to ask them for feedback. You have to take some time to gauge your performance, and you will need to get it from the people you work with. Inspiring feedback is also helpful to the improvement of operations. This is why you need to include in your communications system performance reviews and performances. It is one effective way of encouraging transparency.
These are only some of the things to keep in mind if you want to improve your office communication systems. You can seek the help and advice of your stakeholders and team members.
