How to manage team communication in 2022

Effective task management needs good team communication, especially in a remote work environment. Every aware manager will ask themselves this question sooner or later. Good project communication can increase the chances of completing projects. Here are 10 ways to improve team communication.

1. Effective team communication equals a clear message

Team communication must be founded on a clear message. Start from the purpose of a project: present it as a measurable outcome. For instance, if the goal is to reduce electric energy consumption while maintaining production at the same level, it is advisable to set a specific figure, "Energy consumed in the workplace decreased by 7%."

When delegating tasks, make sure that everyone understands their tasks. Even if no one is asking about anything, there may be team members who do not know exactly what they have to do. It is your job, then, to ask the relevant questions and make sure that everything you want to convey is clear and understandable.

Efficient delivery of messages will make work easier and faster, especially in the remote work environment. If you use a proper task management application, every time you delegate a task, the relevant team member will be notified of it automatically through the system. What is more, the team member will find all the necessary information in the task itself, which will facilitate its completion.

2. Ongoing internal communication

Not everyone remembers to communicate with their team regularly. You cannot count on smooth and problem-free execution of assigned tasks, always on time.

Make inquiries about the needs of your team members. If you know that someone does not hand in reports on time, remind them of it a day before. Such communication can be greatly facilitated by a special messenger – you can use external applications of this sort, e.g. Facebook or Google Hangouts, or deploy a comprehensive solution for task and project management with a built-in messenger.

It will improve your project-related communication. An example of such a solution is IC Project. In addition to the messenger, it allows adding comments to specific tasks and setting notifications. These features streamline and accelerate communication greatly.

3. Team communication from a distance

Employees often see meetings as not constructive because they take a lot of time and are not very effective. This is because time is needed not only to attend the meeting but also to reach the meeting room, wait for everyone, etc. Studies show that short, over-a-dozen-minute meetings are the least effective.

Therefore, if you need to say something to your team members, do it by phone, e-mail, or internal messenger – it will facilitate the process of communication in your team. If, however, a meeting is really necessary, consider a video conference. Organizing one should not be any more difficult for a business that operates in the age of modern technology.

4. Improved team communication through constructive feedback

It is common knowledge that nobody likes to be exposed to criticism. Unfortunately, feedback is necessary to let people know when they do something wrong. That being said, it has to be reasonable. Prepare for such conversations. Do not limit yourself to listing mistakes. When giving feedback, it is worth mentioning to your team member a task that they completed with a good outcome and saying that you count on them to keep on doing their tasks in that way.

Efficient team communication means saying exactly what was done wrong. Apart from that, though, it means giving advice and guidelines to allow one not to repeat the same mistakes. Make sure you use easily verifiable figures and facts. The same applies to meetings induced by, for instance, low sales. Instead of saying that the sales have dropped, say that the sales are lower by 20% compared to the previous year and indicate things will improve in the next month. How to improve team communication? By giving figures, the tangible and measurable are more memorable.

5. Better group communication and individual consideration

Bonding goes well with communication. If your team members like each other, communication will be easier. This is why it is worth getting to know them. You can all do personality tests, which will help you understand each other and reveal the personality types you are. These are just a few examples of practical personality tests.

They allow you to deepen your understanding of the motivations driving individual team members, what keeps them moving, and their preferred communication styles. Also, remember to treat others as you would like them to treat you. Effective team communication is based on respect. You should not be condescending towards others. Team members should be treated as equals and partners. They should be appreciated and encouraged to share their ideas.

6. Openness and communication

The principles of efficient team communication are simple – your team members have to know that they can always count on you and that you are a part of your team. This is why efficient communication demands that you make it easier for them to contact you. If you work in the office only a few hours or days a week, on an irregular basis at that, set specific hours when you will always be available in case someone would like to visit you and have a talk.

In addition, it is worth creating a separate communication channel in your internal messenger. All project team members must have access to it and receive messages quickly. Being available also means being ready to talk about the ideas of your team members, having discussions, and brainstorming. All that makes your team members feel like one whole and encourages them, even the more introverted ones, to voice their opinions and ideas.

7. How to improve team communication?

Introducing some constant points into a project workflow will help keep it regular. It will also facilitate information flow within your team. Not everyone is willing to share their current progress and project work on their initiative. Introducing such regularity may enable us to do just that.

For instance, a weekly meeting always held at the same time and on the same day of the week can be used to discuss the progress made over the last week and the tasks for the next one. A good idea might also be to introduce daily reports on completed tasks, handed in at the end of the day. Such a solution will allow obtaining the necessary information and reaching out to team members who would normally not take the first step to talk or make contact.

8. Preparing memos is one of the best means to improve team communication.

Methods for better team communication include preparing memos. This is important for several reasons. It will help avoid unnecessary stress and misunderstandings, make it easier to maintain the hierarchy of tasks, and it will teach order. If everything is confirmed on paper, it will also lead to smoother information exchange in your team.

9. Use your voice tone to communicate at work.

As a manager, you need to have some tact and know when to say certain things and when not to. Sometimes you may wonder how to improve information flow in your enterprise, while it would be best if you, to put it bluntly, said nothing at all. Criticizing one person in front of others may disrupt your communication.

The person being criticized may feel hurt, which will make them reluctant to talk to you in the future. Not only that, others will see your tactless behavior and grow more distant from you as a result. Take care of your voice as well, so that it radiates your kindness and smile. It will also come in handy in your daily life: you will simply become a more approachable person.

10. Importance of proper information flow format

Strive to inject some freshness into your relationships with your team members. It might be a presentation of important data that is actually interesting, not just a tedious Excel chart. Such information, presented ingeniously, will be remembered more easily, and people will generally be more eager to listen to you.

We hope that these 10 tips will help you improve your team communication.