communication

How communication methods can impact company culture

Andrew Richardson at Badgemaster discusses how to encourage good communication within your business, and how to create a great company culture for you and your employees

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ommunications is vital to a successful business. Effective communication means people will feel comfortable talking to people at all levels of the business.

Communication is essential to create productivity within a business, and allowing each employee the freedom to ask what they like creates strong work relationships in your organisation. Poor communications in a business, however, can lead to unmotivated staff who will question their own confidence and abilities.

If you are in a management position, be approachable. You do not want your workers to be scared of you, as this will not help your business. It has been found that team members that have a manager that is approachable will have the confidence to contribute ideas.

Talking about how poor communication can cause problems in a busines, HR advisor Fred Holloway says: “You can tie back almost every employee issue – attendance, morale, performance and productivity – to communication.”

Being a strong manager means being a strong communicator. Being able to communicate with your team means you will be able to manage them better when delegating tasks, motivating them, and ultimately building relationships with them. You will understand which tasks they will be best at, and how to motivate them in a way that they will respond positively to.

Andrew Richardson,
Badgemaster

Creating effective communications 

Establishing strong lines of communication will encourage employees to talk to whomever they need to within the business. This will help with co-operation on tasks. In turn, this ensures that a task will be completed in the most efficient and effective way possible.

On a personal level, knowing each member of staff’s name is a simple way to strengthen connections and encourage communication too. You can have a more personal conversation, and they feel like you have cared enough to learn their name. Your customers will know your staff members’ names because of their name badge, so you should too.

Having regular one-to-one meetings with each member of staff is a great way to open communication. Telling the employee what progress they had made recently will give them the confidence to see their work is being appreciated. This also gives you the chance to raise any concerns you may have about their work, and be able to fix them.

One-to-one meetings also allow you on a personal, private level to speak to your employees and be able to help them with any problems they may have in and outside the business.

In group meetings, this is a great time to talk to your entire staff. Informal group meetings can be hugely beneficial too, as they allow employees to shout out any questions or concerns they may have. Praising individual employees during this time will also give them a bit of spotlight in the company.

Overall, communication is vital for all parts of the business. Having employees comfortable enough to speak to who they need to in the business allows the business to run more effectively.

It has been difficult to communicate well with many employees now working from home, but businesses are retaining those all-important communication lines using software such as Microsoft Teams to create virtual offices.