5 Tips to Implement for Greater Team Communication
As a business owner, you have a lot to balance – and a large part of that is understanding how to use your assets wisely. Any guesses at what your #1 asset is? That’s right: it’s your team.
Just about everyone would agree that team communication is vital to having a more productive and profitable business. But all too often, people say those words without offering a clear plan of how you can create greater communications without many changes.
I’d like to change that. Today, I’m offering 5 actionable tips you can implement quickly to achieve greater team communication!
Tip #1: Set Regular Check-Ins To Discuss Client Matters
Do you find that check-in calls tend to fall by the wayside? You’re not alone. This is actually a common pain point among business owners, and the answer is to calendar it in. Determine ahead of time to prioritize these check-ins and the communication that goes with them.
This is a great chance for your team to come together and share the strategic plan and tactical plan and delegate out who shall do what by when. It’s also a chance to raise if things are not going as planned.
Tip #2: The Art of Delegation
Delegation sounds like an easy thing, but it really isn’t. This is a skill that must be honed by everyone on the team. By taking a little time add specificity to the project the timelines and the end results you want you’ll cut down on frustration and wasted time and energy.
If you have trouble delegating – or if you find that your team isn’t delegating – don’t hesitate to dig a little deeper. Successful delegation requires being able to offer clarity on the task and being able to trust that the person can deliver. If this isn’t happening, it’s often a case of not having the right systems in place. This can be fixed!
Tip #3: Be Careful Of Vague Terms That Can Carry Several Meanings
When it comes to team communication, it’s essential to make sure that everyone is working with the same vocabulary. Your team may not have the same context you have!
In my days as a law firm owner, I once asked a paralegal to help me prepare exhibits for an upcoming deposition. Unfortunately, there was some misunderstanding when she heard the word “exhibits”…and she prepared trial exhibits, not deposition exhibits. (They are two very different things.)
It wasn’t until about 8:30 PM that I realized she had pre marked with numbers all of the various exhibits, which is what you would do for trial, but not what you do for depositions. As the attorney of record that needed to be prepared for the depositions the next morning, I spent the next two hours re-photocopying the documents with blank stickers so I could insert the exhibit number as I use them.
Talk about a lot of wasted time, energy, money, and frustration. There was a silver lining, though: we created a more solid system so that never happened again!
Tip #4: Create Time Buffers to Handle Urgent Tasks and Corrections
As a former legal malpractice defense attorney, I have witnessed many errors that happen as a result of last minute or reactive responses. By building in some time cushions, you will give your team and opportunity to catch errors and do a great job the first time.
Business owners tend to be very ambitious and action-driven. We like to get things done now. While this isn’t a bad thing, it is important to balance that with what your team can execute well. There are a lot of details that go into a lot of the tasks that you need done, and giving your people the time they need to handle those details is essential.
Tip #5: Everything Is Made Common by Written Explanation
Use written Systems to create Clarity! I really can’t emphasize this enough.
When you provide your team with strong systems, you are equipping them with the clarity they need to perform their job confidently. This includes the policies (why you are doing it), coupled with procedures (the how) and the various checklists and templates and examples and scripts. Together, these create an incredible amount of clarity for your team on how you want it done and how they can get it done in less time!
Strong team communication isn’t something that just happens. You need to be intentional about developing and encouraging it, but these 5 tips can help you streamline the process. It takes time and effort, but when you achieve it, you’ll find that everything in your business will run much more smoothly!