Corporate communication is one of the trickiest aspects in any workplace. No matter what size your organization is, communication is one factor most companies need to work on. This is especially true in this day and age, where remote and hybrid work is slowly becoming the norm rather than the exception.
So, you should do everything possible to implement excellent communication practices in your company. Bad communication leads to inefficiency, employee dissatisfaction, and low functioning. It not only makes work difficult, it also prevents your company from reaching its best potential. So, you need to make effective communication a top priority. Here are a few tips which will help you improve this.
Send out email updates
Make sure your employees are up to date with all the major goings-on at your company. Whether it is record profits, new market entries, or upgraded services, your team members need to know. Run a weekly email update newsletter for this purpose.
Use the corporate email templates to create this newsletter and share updates. You can even highlight employee and team successes in this publication. Include a section for a short note from the CEO, one for data updates, one for recent photos, and one for stellar performances. Use this newsletter to keep everyone updated about overall company goals, and to make them feel valued with recognition as well.
Hold monthly town halls
Town halls are a great way to talk face-to-face with employees and clear the air. Have the higher management give updates, and also share what goals the whole organization should work towards each month. In addition, leave out some time for employee questions and feedback.
Let people get answers to any confusion or questions they may have. Also, the town hall can serve as a platform for people to bring up new ideas the organization can work on too. Have employees create proper presentations for these suggestions, and then have everyone vote on what they can try out. A monthly town hall works well for getting everyone in one place, and working towards aligned goals.
Have weekly team meetings
Teams need to work on the same page as well. Make sure each team has regular weekly meetings where they share updates with each other. These meetings should have clear notes which state what they have been working on and what they will work on.
In addition, teams should also talk about how their work fits in with the overall goals of the company. This meeting should take place at a time suitable for everyone. This is tricky with global teams, so it is essential to have a shared corporate calendar, with available time slots and shift timings clearly displayed.
Incentivize good work
Few things help people communicate better than being recognized and valued. So, you need to work on effective ways to incentivize high performers. Whether someone closes the most sales, or finishes a particularly tricky project, you need to recognize and value them.
Employee of the month programs are a great way to do this. Share the winning employee or team’s photos on your platforms, both internal and external. Also give them a prize, like gift cards, a bonus, or even tickets to a coveted event.
Set clear expectations
Communication does not work if there are no clear expectations on either side. You need to work with teams on what expectations to set for each employee. A clear job description and quarterly goals will work well in this regard.
Make sure both managers and employees are familiar with these expectations, and work together to meet them. Supportive managers are essential for this purpose. So, there should also be clear expectations from the managers on how well they take their teams forward.
Incorporate efficient feedback loops
You can’t just set expectations and leave it at that. Incorporate effective feedback loops to really make things work. Your internal communications platform should have a section where employees and managers can give feedback about each other and the company. This should also include a self-reflection section, so that individual goals can also be determined.
These feedback loops should be explored on a quarterly basis, and feed into the performance appraisal process. This will not only help you figure out promotions and salaries, but also meet company goals in a more efficient manner.
Give constructive feedback
Any feedback given should not only be statistical. It should be constructive, and help employees and managers figure out what to do better. This feedback should give clear ideas of what the person can do to improve their work and meet their goals.
It should also suggest what projects and tasks they would be good at, and encourage them to participate in them.
So, it is important to improve corporate communication at your workplace. There are many ways to do this, so you should incorporate these and take your company to the next level.