Communication is critical in the business world. To run a successful team, employees, managers, and administrators need to communicate in a responsive, clear, and effective way. Lack of communication can result in negative consequences, from demotivated employees, frustrated customers to missed opportunities.
While the causes of communication failure can be varied and some even specific to an individual, team or organization, here are 5 of the most common problems that lead to ineffective communication.
Miscommunication between teams and departments
Miscommunication between teams, departments, offices, or branches can generate significant delays in deliveries and information cross-checking. Teams that work remotely need to be especially careful with these kinds of failures, since the success of projects depends greatly on team interaction. This is one of the main reasons to worry about keeping remote collaborators on the same page.
Implement an integrated online communication system, with: Collaboration platform, intranet, channels for video conferences, chat tools, among others. Also make sure that everyone gets to know each other personally, for example, through virtual meetings. This simplifies and improves teamwork and reduces communication problems in companies.
Lost messages
Due to chaotic routines, sometimes employees may not access messages and emails in a given time, causing a lot of information to get lost along the way.
To avoid this problem, it’s necessary to get the whole team on track, with training and empowering employees on how to use the organization’s email, phone, and other internal communication channels.
This way, the company not only provides the necessary technologies for effective communication, but also demonstrates to everyone how to use them in the best possible way.
Also set internal standards for response time, both for teammates and customers. That way you minimize the chance of important conversations being disrupted by lost messages or interruptions.
Lack of feedback
Among the many communication problems in organizations, lack of feedback is one of the most common. All professionals need to know how their work is perceived by their superiors and colleagues.
Building a feedback culture is the manager’s best opportunity to point out and correct mistakes, and show employees what they can do to improve performance. Many companies implement feedbacks once a year, with follow-up from Human Resources. This initiative is valuable, but should not replace continuous feedback, conducted on a daily basis.
Managers should share their criticism and praise whenever possible, in order to help the evolution of employees and increase their satisfaction. In this way, growth is constant and results become significantly better.
Use the wrong communication tool
E-mail. Phone. Personal meetings. Virtual meetings. Messages. The options are countless. While there is never a perfect communication channel, sometimes one can be better than the other for different situations.And if you choose the “wrong” channel, messages can be delayed, lost, or unread. There are situations where an email is appropriate and others where a phone call or face-to-face meeting is more suitable.
Choosing the wrong tool can lead to a miscommunication. If you exchange routine or update information every day, e-mail or other business applications are a good option. On the other hand, if you are trying to resolve a complicated situation filled with misinformation, a phone call or virtual meeting allows for more effective communication. A phone call is efficient for issues that need to be resolved quickly.
Project disorganization
When there are several people working on the same project, managing tasks and organizing data and information can be a big challenge.
A good alternative to solve communication problems in the company is the use of project management solutions, such as Airdesk. This way, all demands and deadlines, as well as those responsible for each task, project or business, can be consulted in a single platform.
With an all-in-one collaboration platform, the risk of data loss is much lower, and employees can easily access information from any device connected to the internet.
Airdesk is designed to give companies maximum control over departments and teams, all in one place!
Unlike other collaboration platforms, we focus on the “not so pretty” parts of your business: time management, contracts, invoices, services, subscriptions. Our goal is to help teams do better, faster, and smarter work. Airdesk does not follow a “one size fits all” approach. Teams can tailor Airdesk to their needs. We cultivate the power of connection in the workplace and believe it is the key to success.
We’ve come to the end of our list of the biggest communication problems at work and how to avoid them. Now that you are more informed, how about putting what you have learned into practice? Do some efficient planning and optimize your team’s communication to achieve the best results!
