5 Ways to Improve Communication with Your Team
If you want to grow your business, you’re not going to be able to do so alone. It’s just reality – eventually, you’ll need to have a solid team running your systems and helping you drive forward toward your goals. They can produce the work and even many great ideas, but it’s up to you as the CEO to provide the direction and vision for growth.
This can only be done through strong communication. Unfortunately, this is often the first thing to go by the wayside when things get too busy. This is often when you need the support of your team the most!
To prevent your communication from falling apart, there are some key structures and systems you can put in place that will make it much easier to keep things on track. Keep reading – I’m happy to share what we do and why!
Boost Team Accountability with Weekly KPI Scorecards
Keeping your team accountable can be a challenge, especially when there’s a lot going on. There are a few different things that we have found work well, even when things get very, very busy.
One of the systems we’ve found most helpful are KPI Scorecards. These are basically lists of weekly goals for each member of my team – things that are specific to their position and department, but that are necessary for our continued growth.
Each week, my team members take a few minutes to complete their scorecards, indicating what they’ve accomplished for the week. This accomplishes two different things: first, it clearly communicates to each person what they need to do to help us succeed. Second, it lets me see what’s working well and what needs attention.
For example, if my Client Happiness Coordinator is consistently falling short on gaining testimonials, I know that something is broken in this system and that we need to figure out what’s not working. If our social media accounts aren’t growing or getting the engagement that we’re working toward, it tells me that we either need to research changes in the algorithms or rework our social media strategy.
Running a business means maintaining a lot of moving parts – keeping your team accountable to actions and goals needs to be a simple procedure. With departmental and positional KPIs, it can be!
Job Satisfaction and Team Culture
Another important aspect of communication is being intentional about creating a strong team culture and making sure that your staff is satisfied with their jobs.
One of my primary goals is to help business owners build profitable, systems-based businesses that allow them to live the life they want – to thrive. However, I don’t just want this for owners…I want it for their teams (and mine) as well.
This isn’t something I can do alone; as my team grows, there’s just too much to keep track of. This is where quarterly reviews and my leadership team come in.
Although I may not be able to keep in constant contact with every member of my team (there’s only one of me!), my leadership team can. Our Client Happiness Coordinator is also our Team Happiness Coordinator, and part of her job is to check in with everyone on a regular basis to see how things are going and where they need support. She also keeps an eye out for reasons to celebrate people when they exemplify our Core Values!
In addition, my leadership team has regular meetings with various team members and are able to me quickly if anything needs my attention.
Lastly, our Quarterly Reviews provide me the opportunity to talk with each team member, one on one. In these reviews, we discuss not only job performance but job satisfaction and any needed support. We can then implement any changes that are needed!
Productivity
Obviously, it’s important to me that my team has the work ethic to be productive; this is something we cover during the hiring and onboarding phases.
However, it’s also up to me to make sure my team has the resources and systems they need to actually be productive!
This can only be done when there’s a clear line of communication. Otherwise, I would have no way of knowing when my team needs a new system or resource – and they would be stuck dealing with inefficient procedures, feeling like they weren’t able to do their job with excellence.
Simply having this line of communication in place can solve a lot of issues before they start!
Collaboration
Communication isn’t just necessary between me and my team; it’s also necessary to build a culture that encourages collaboration between your team members.
I make it a point to empower my team to freely collaborate to create, plan, and implement the various projects we’re working on. This not only allows my team members to each work within their zone of genius but also to split the workload. This equips my entire team to avoid getting overloaded and stick with the tasks that bring them the most satisfaction.
Not only does this help us to work more effectively and profitably, it also helps to support our team culture!
Innovation
Innovation is one of our Core Values, and as such, it’s something I openly encourage from each member of my team, regardless of their position.
My team knows that they can always propose a new program or system; actually, I require them to submit new policies and procedures and systems proposals on a weekly basis!
I also encourage each person to propose any ideas they have for streamlining our processes, expanding our effectiveness, or improving our productivity. These are some of my favorite things to read!
I’d also like to encourage you to consider ways that you can improve communication in your business. If my team and I can help you strategize this, let us know!