Improve Internal Communication of an Agency
Why do we need to focus on improving internal communication standards? Proper communication can go a long way in improving employee satisfaction in the workplace as it makes sure that everyone is on the same page. If there is a habit of archiving group and individual chat logs, it can be easily cross-referenced when the need arises in the future. A proper communication system can ensure seamless collaboration with other team members if you work remotely. Anyone can be a part of multiple conversations without losing out on productivity. It also breaks language barriers.
Focus on both Vertical and Horizontal communication
Efforts should be taken to improve both vertical (employee to a manager) communication and horizontal (employee to employee) communication. Proper horizontal communication would improve work culture and increase reliability and trustworthiness amongst the peers and an efficient vertical communication would ensure that the employee’s voices are heard over time and hence they would feel improved job satisfaction. If your agency has multiple departments, make sure that they communicate between them effectively. It’ll help them understand where the agency is headed in the long term. By sharing small wins across the departments it would improve the company ethos. When working on larger projects this would become crucial as your teams can collaborate much more efficiently without spending a lot of time on other unnecessary things.
Over-communicate to prevent problems due to misinterpretation
When using mediums like email or instant messaging apps or chatroom apps, be clear and very specific about what you communicate. Taking an extra few minutes to be extra clear would save a lot of time and money in the future. Promote the habit of clarifying. This will enable the employees to be clear about what they are about to do and remove the scope for misinterpretation.
Create specific channels for niche conversations
Create separate specific channels for specific streams of conversations. For example, you could use a variety of channels like trello, slack, email. Facebook etc for communication. But it is crucial to set a specific tone for an individual channel as it would not hinder with the tone of other communications.
The feedback loop
It is crucial that you measure and evaluate the changes that you make to your internal communication systems and their impact on the overall efficiency of your company. This can be done by employee surveys to understand their job satisfaction rates, or by tracking the increase or decrease in productivity rates of your agency over time with respect to the changes made. This is possible only when you use marketing project management tools which help you keep a record of what is happening in a respective project as a function of time.
Tools of the trade
There are various tools that are in the segment of improving internal communication. There is a new one that is popping up every day, but using the tools that have been there for long would help you establish a better project workflow. Tools like Active. Collab, Trello or Slack can help you in this in their own ways. A robust communication system in a firm would help in nurturing a culture of support and understanding within your agency. By making your team feel that their work and voice matters would help them with their confidence and improve job satisfaction. If you have any doubts or opinions or experience with regards to internal communication, do let us know through the comments.
