Tip of the Week: Improve Your Business Communications

For many businesses, communication is a major contributing factor to their success. Technology--when it’s properly implemented, anyway--can play a big part in keeping communication productive, but with certain solutions, it can be difficult to determine context. Here are some ways that you can help your employees be as clear and concise as possible with specific communication methods.

Just to be as clear as possible, we are going to be discussing how to be more efficient with communications that don’t involve face-to-face interaction. This includes email and instant messaging, where context and emotion can be misconstrued.

Limit the Scope of Messages
It might seem easy to send a message that is simple, but you should never discount the importance of sending multi-purpose emails. The issue, is that certain tasks might be put to the wayside because they are either forgotten or are set aside because they aren’t seen as “urgent.” Therefore, if you devote some time to crafting specific messages for specific tasks, they will have less of a chance to be put to the wayside or glossed over on accident.

Be as Clear as Possible
That being said, it can be easy to see how you can get ahead of yourself and try to explain a ton of information in an email or IM when it’s not necessary at all. This can actually overcomplicate the problem and create issues that didn’t exist with it before. Remember, more doesn’t always make the message better.

Save Important Meetings for Face-to-Face Conversations
If there’s something important to say, it’s often the best course of action to just say it in person. This is particularly the case if there are rather strong feelings felt on either side. It keeps expectations managed and avoids the prospect of people taking things the wrong way. After all, having face-to-face conversations is the best way to handle these situations in the first place, so take advantage of it if you can.

Directive can help you implement enterprise-level communications that can help you keep your employees and your business productive. To learn more, reach out to us at 607.433.2200.