Employees communicate on all types of platforms and devices. Businesses offer email, Slack, Teams, Zoom, ClickUp, Asana, Whatsapp, texting, physical pieces of paper, and more. This variety of communication forms makes it very easy for something to fall through the cracks, making it difficult for anyone to do their job properly.
Recently, Adi Klevit from Business Success Consulting Group talked with Paul McCarthy, Founder and CEO of Snapfix, about typical business communication difficulties. This article will share five common issues and how to solve them.
Five Strategies for Solving Your Communication Woes
1. Too many communication sources.
Your business may have many internal and external communication sources. Clients may contact your company through social media, your website, a chatbot, on the phone, text, a referral company, or some other source. Your employees may use any number of messaging, chat, video call, and project management applications.
So, what is the solution?
You have to streamline.
Externally, you may need to offer many modes of communication to clients. If this is the case, you must implement a system whereby an assigned employee monitors all the places where clients can communicate – at least once daily. Once a communication has come in, it may be necessary to streamline the interaction by informing the client that they will get an email, text, or phone call for further discussions.
Internally, you need to choose one or two main modes of communication and stick with them. There may be brighter and shinier software available, but dispersing your company communication across several channels makes it unsearchable and causes employees to spend half the day trying to figure out where to talk with someone.
2. Communication is getting lost.
This is another area where streamlining and systematizing is essential. Creating a policy wherein all communication about an ongoing project is kept on one searchable software system allows for ease of use and solves your lost communication problem. This should include recordings of Zoom/Teams calls about the project, copied chats, and anything else to ensure that ALL communication is searchable.
3. Communication is getting too complicated.
In their discussion, Paul shared how much inspiration he got from Steve Jobs and Johnny Ive. He took on their philosophy of simplicity when building his software, and learning from what others have done helped him create a fantastic, purpose-built product.
If communication about something is getting too complicated, take a step back and take inspiration from the greats: “That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains”. – Steve Jobs
4. There has been a miscommunication.
Miscommunication can be incredibly difficult to resolve. Documenting what was said/written is the best way to settle a miscommunication and get your project back on track.
5. There is no communication system.
It’s time to document and fine-tune your communication system to make it more ideal. When you document a process, you can see where it falls short, allowing you to take the initiative to fix it.
Building communication policies and documenting your systems will help you take your business from chaotic to calm. Need help building effective communication processes? Get in touch with the experts at Business Success Consulting Group!
