10 Ways To Streamline Communications In A Digital Workplaces

The success of any business depends on how effective communication happens, either within the business or with external parties such as customers and other business stakeholders are carried out. It is even more crucial with the increased adoption of digital communication tools after the coronavirus pandemic.

But even as remote working becomes hugely embraced by most organisations, certain things must be done to streamline communication in the digital workplace. Otherwise, it’ll be a great challenge to maximise value out of the digital communication tools.

Read more: How Communication Drives Digital Employee Engagement

Because of this, it becomes a huge challenge to streamline the communication process. So, without further ado, you can read on to see the various ways how to streamline digital communication in the workplace:

1. Make Sure To Train Your Employees On Using The Platform

Although many employees today are tech-savvy, they still need some guidance on using a specific digital communication platform. After all, they might be familiar with how to use some digital communication tools but have no clue on how to use the one your company has chosen. Because of this, it’s best to first train your employees with the specific tool you’re hoping to use. This way, you can be certain that each of your employees seamlessly integrates with your preferred Workspace.

The training you offer your staff needs to be in-depth and comprehensive. It is vital because you’ll be dealing with different employees, each with a different level of understanding. Only if you do this will you be certain that your staff fully understand the functions of the adopted technology. As a result, they’ll be able to know best how to use the numerous features of the adopted digital communication tool across the different departments. In addition, your staff will be less anxious and stressed when performing different tasks and navigating the system.

Another advantage of training your staff is it helps them understand the entire abilities of the adopted digital communication tool. Without doing this, other capabilities that can further boost the company’s productivity and efficiency might end up being unused. It will be a real shame considering the company has paid for access to all the capabilities, yet only a handful is being made use of due to not being adequately trained.

2. Give Consent

One of the first things to do when looking to streamline digital communication within the workplace is permit employees to use digital communication tools. It’s best to do this because your staff might be somewhat hesitant to start using a newly adopted digital communication platform. If this is the case, all the effort, time, and money you’ve allocated to implement the new digital communication tool will be of no use.

With this in mind, set aside time to let all your employees know they’re without a doubt allowed to use the newly adopted digital communication system when necessary. It will help foster greater teamwork within the workplace as it allows them to communicate with others within the organisation effortlessly.

3. Offer And Receive Feedback

There is a need for smooth communication between the different parties within the company, be it the managers, stakeholders, and employees, to ensure a harmonious working environment. However, this can only be possible if everyone within the company is free to share their opinion. It is what an open work environment helps companies accomplish. As a result, employees feel more comfortable stating issues they’re facing, suggesting processes that can be improved, and giving feedback.

Supplementary reading: How to Give Effective Feedback

The consistent feedback from the different stakeholders within the company helps boost the company’s turnover in the long run. You can ask for feedback from the team members on matters related to their work, performance, or overall workplace environment, either quarterly or monthly.

4. Create A Safe Workplace Communication Space

While you should encourage team members to give their feedback, it’s also equally crucial to make them realise there won’t be any consequences for their actions. Otherwise, they won’t freely share whatever issue they have due to not feeling psychologically safe for sharing their opinion. As a result, this negatively impacts their productivity.

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Luckily, this issue can be avoided altogether by creating a safe space that promotes workplace communication. This way, everyone can freely share anything they’re going through without being victimised or humiliated. You can best create this sense of psychological safety among team members by leading an example as the company owner or manager. For instance, if someone made a mistake, correct them humanely and gently. It will help others see you as an open and approachable individual, thereby creating a safe space for communication.

5. Allow For Failure

While there are numerous digital communication tools to choose from, not all of them are best suited to your unique business needs. Because of this, you need to have an open mindset that a specific platform might not be a perfect fit for your business. It will help you quickly get demotivated by a specific digital communication tool and quit using it when it doesn’t work as desired.

Read more: Do We Have Room To Fail?

A better approach to employ would be to give your trained employees enough time to make the most out of the availed digital communication platform. Only if the platform doesn’t feel like an ideal match should it be abandoned and start the search for another suitable alternative.

6. Create Time For face-To-Face Conversations

Digital communication in today’s era where working from home is the new normal king. But despite this, face-to-face conversation still plays a significant role. It is because before, digital communication platforms lack facial expressions and body language. In contrast, this is something that in-person conversations help accomplish as employees talk amongst themselves while in the office.

Therefore, there’s a need to set aside more time for face-to-face conversations. It is because these chats, in addition to creating a better bond among team members, ensure the discussed matter isn’t easily forgotten. Luckily, this issue can be avoided, thanks to video chat technology. The use of digital communication platforms allows detailed information and visual cues to be effectively passed across.

7. Establish Governance Polices

Another effective strategy of streamlining digital communication with your company is through setting up governance policies for the tools being used. Doing this is necessary as it allows you to outline each employee's permissions, whether they can invite other users, and state who has the power to create channels and teams. It’s also advisable that your teams have naming policies. It will help to ensure easy tracking of conversations, promote order within the workplace and prevent any confusion.

8. Set Boundaries

While you should encourage the adoption of digital communication tools, there need to be clear boundaries that your employees should observe. Setting these clear boundaries helps make it clear to employees that they too have a life and know they have your consent to disengage from work. It prevents your employees from continuously using their laptops or smartphones to perform various duties.

You must always set boundaries despite while digital communication platforms allow for greater flexibility of working from anywhere and at whatever time they prefer, it’s easy to feel trapped with work.

Read more: Regulating Your Work-Life Boundaries

9. Be Clear About The Communication Rules

There are different communication channels, and each has a specific edge over another depending on the specific situation. For example, channel posts are an ideal communication route when looking to update all the employees within the organisation or share sensitive information. When it comes to informal conversations among team members or asking for a quick explanation, private chats are a better communication tool. Also, emails are the perfect digital communication platform for reaching out to prospects and leads, while videos meetings are appropriate for lengthy meetings.

With these different communication platforms, it’s recommended you share any important information across all of them. It ensures everyone in the workplace sees whatever information is being conveyed. This consistency is crucial because everyone being on the same page guarantees the smooth running of the organisation.

10. Communicate On A Personal Level With Your Employees

Aside from ensuring that everyone in the company is well-informed at all times, another purpose of communication allows you to better connect with your employees. It is crucial as it presents you the opportunity to know your employees better other than what they do for the organisation. Therefore, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about being personal during your conversations and only talk about work-related matters. Instead, you can share with your team other things you might have in common.

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Through these personal interactions with your employees, you’ll be able to identify better issues they might be going through which hindering their productivity. It also creates a more supportive work environment for your employees as they feel more comfortable sharing their opinions. As a result, everyone enjoys working for the organisation, and their improved morale helps boost their desire to deliver exceptional quality work.

Takeaway

In today’s business world, digital communication is vital, be it among the staff or between employees and management. When it comes to expectations, only with clear and open communication does everyone within the company gets to have the same mindset, direction, and goals. However, issues are bound to hinder how smoothly communication in the digital workplace. For this reason, this guide has outlined the different ways on how best to streamline communication in the digital workplace. This way, everyone within the organisation gets to work as a team.

About Author: Simon Mathews was born in 1980 in San Francisco, California. While growing up, he was always interested in journalism and eventually became a professional digital communication specialist. He has performed this role for over 10 years. Besides work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, camping, and boating.

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