How to achieve and maintain effective communication at work

Currently, various methodologies have emerged to streamline the management of work teams and flows, but they all have something in common: effective communication at work as the basis. Without it, it is impossible to design and execute a strategy that really eliminates factors that slow down production, since others would be generated due to misunderstandings and lack of order in the information.

No matter what industry your company works in or what position you hold, the ability to convey ideas clearly and understandably, as well as actively listen to our colleagues, is crucial to fostering collaboration, productivity, and professional growth.

Actions to achieve effective communication at work

Although we are constantly communicating, largely due to new information technologies, which provide us with instantaneousness, it does not mean that we are communicating correctly. We waste many hours on social networks, we are not selective with what we consume and, sometimes, we are even capable of believing false news that we ourselves share.

Well, this also happens in work environments. Would you like to know what to do to achieve better communication at work? Various strategies can be carried out, some more elaborate than others, and which require more time than others to be internalized, but, starting today, you can put into practice the ones that we indicate below:

• Decide where to communicate, when and on what topics: if you want to get closer to your staff and manage to integrate, at the beginning, above all, you must plan the meetings with colleagues. Analyze what their interests are, when they are most receptive, what are their opinions about a certain topic, etc. Some very good tools to unite templates are: Slack or Teams.
• Be collaborative : awaken your empathy and contribute to the work of others as long as they need it. Collaboration is the basis of effective work.
• Speak face to face whenever you can : speaking in person will always avoid misunderstandings, since in any type of chat it is not easy to interpret the tone of the interlocutor or his gestural communication. In the case of organizations that work remotely, a conversation on the phone could always be more interesting and better than by email or chat.
• Try to be aware of your body language and tone: it’s not just what you say that counts, but how you say it. For example, you must pay attention not to cross your arms or not to make gestures that denote disinterest.
• Always offer feedback: many times, in the middle of a discussion, we make the mistake of listening to respond, not to understand. Therefore, make an effort to pay attention, calm down and give an assertive response in the event that it is not easy to reach an agreement. If instead of closing you down, you make more than one proposal, your least opponent will have to give weighty arguments.
• Include data and real training in your speech: when we enrich a conversation with irrefutable information, the opponent must pay attention to it and reformulate their arguments. For example: Imagine that your superior is questioning your performance, but you have a history of all your work and results that confirm the opposite.
• Think who you should aim at: before you shoot, aim. This means that if you have an important message to convey to someone, do not dilute it by telling the wrong people, be accurate and safeguard your information.

How can we measure the quality of internal corporate communication?

Now that you know how to improve internal communication at work with these simple tips, it’s time to ask yourself if it’s really being effective. You can find out this by doing surveys among employees regarding their satisfaction with their communication, checking if they are up to date with the corporate news that is released or analyzing the effectiveness/cost of the channels used.

Discover the best tools to measure internal communication

• Newsletters: with this tool, you will be able to count subscriptions, opening rate, click rate, shared content, clicked content… this information is very valuable to know if corporate news is of interest to employees.
• Intranet: for example, if you have an intranet as a tool for your company’s internal communication, you can analyze which content generates the most engagement according to the metrics.
• Corporate blog: you can measure the number of impressions, unique visitors, page views, time spent…

Have we already convinced you of the importance of maintaining effective communication at work? There are still more advantages!

Just in case, you still think that it is not so essential for productivity, we leave you with some of the many reasons to work on internal communication:

• Improves teamwork: encourages collaboration and the exchange of ideas among team members. This facilitates problem-solving, increases efficiency, and strengthens working relationships.
• Increase productivity: Clear and open internal communication allows employees to better understand their roles and responsibilities. By having access to the necessary information, they can perform their work more efficiently and avoid errors caused by misunderstandings.
• Drive innovation: When employees feel comfortable sharing ideas and suggestions, creativity and innovation in the workplace are encouraged. Effective internal communication facilitates the generation of new proposals, the identification of improvement opportunities and the implementation of innovative solutions.
• Strengthens Engagement and Motivation: Proper internal communication allows employees to feel valued, informed, and an integral part of the organization. This creates a sense of ownership and increases engagement and motivation, which in turn has a positive impact on productivity and talent retention.
• Improves the work environment: being transparent and effective in communication contributes to a positive work environment. Employees feel more comfortable expressing their opinions and concerns, which reduces tension and conflict. In addition, an atmosphere of trust and openness is promoted, which facilitates problem-solving and teamwork.

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