Communication Practices to Keep Everyone on the Same Page

A lot of people have been working from home for the better part of a month, but the rise of the remote worker was happening long before the COVID-19 outbreak demanded people work from home. Today, business owners that wouldn’t typically be in favor of a remote workforce are starting to come around as they see comparable productivity and less overhead costs than normal. With their remote workforce doing pretty well, one problem that these business owners are seeing is periodic miscommunication. Let’s take a look how to improve your company’s remote communications with technology you probably already have access to. 

The Technology of Communication

Most businesses provide their employees with email. This is typically the central hub of any business’ communication strategy. If you need to send out a company wide announcement or if you need to interact with your team, clients, or vendors, email is a great way to do so. Unfortunately, when using email, and to a lesser extent, instant messaging, signals can get crossed and context of certain statements can cause a great deal of inefficiency. 

One of the best ways to keep this from happening is to use a video conferencing solution. It works like this: Using video conferencing software and the use of webcams and microphones, you can hold meetings that allow people to pick up all the non-verbal cues that they may miss though written-only correspondence. Additionally, you can hold regularly scheduled meetings, catch up with your team, and do so right from your home. 

Pay Attention

People have a tendency to gloss over some important facts when conversations are filled with redundant information, or if they are expected to keep up with hour-long forums or instant message streams. If you are one of these people, you should try to thoroughly read through any work-related conversations, and don’t bog the conversation down with unnecessary memes and emojis. It will help everyone stay on the same page.

If the correspondence doesn’t have clear instructions, it is okay to reach out to get clarification. Collaborative work requires a certain degree of clarity. Some messages you’ll receive will be filled with directions that need to be followed and questions that need to be answered. The more conscientious you are, the easier it will be on your whole team.

Another thing you should always consider is proofreading your messages before they are sent. Taking a few moments to ensure that you are saying what you want to say and that the message is clear and concise is important. If you send messages that are filled with grammatical errors, misspellings, and poorly thought out sentences, you might just find that you will be spending a lot of time clarifying things.

As a final suggestion, you will want to try to avoid using sarcasm in work-related messages while working remotely. Some people are more literal than others and it can cause a lot of headaches and inefficiency to clear misunderstandings that result from the use of sarcasm. 

If working remotely is your new normal, ensuring that you are using solid communication practices and tools is crucial to keep your staff on-point and your business working productively. If you would like help setting up a communications platform that fits your business call, the IT professionals at Directive today at 607.433.2200.