For the employees to be productive and workplaces run smoothly, employees must be in perfect sync with each other. Everyone should respect each other’s differences and work towards the common good.
However, every workplace culture is diverse with various personalities and things do not always go smoothly as planned. So, what’s the main reason behind it? Often the answer is breakdown in communication.
Let’s have a look at some of the effective ways of implementing 360° communication for the overall development of an organisation.
Encourage Open Communication
Today, open door policy is among such strategies that has proven to fetch commendable outcomes. Promoting open door communication and encouraging employees to come and discuss their issues has always shown positive outcomes. But to reap maximum benefits, sometimes manager has to lead by example that employees will follow.
Managers should actively engage with their employees to have a two way communication, thus reducing miscommunication to a greater extent. Another secret recipe of articulating open communication is to emphasize on the company’s vision and work together as a team to achieve it.
Motivate Employees
When employees are not motivated, communication comes to a standstill. Thus, productivity suffers. Supporting employees at the time of uncertainty helps them keep motivated and maintain a positive attitude while overcoming obstacles.
Organizations should look forward at making provisions for the employees to come forward and openly discuss their issues with their managers. Also, having group meetings or roundtable discussions have always proven to increase their inputs on specific assignments.
Establish Clear Expectations
Expectations are the core of every upcoming development and miscommunication occurs when employees don’t know what is expected from them. Not only companies’ expectations but also etiquette like how employees should interact and treat each other should also be conveyed to each of them through different communication modes.
If an employee doesn’t follow the protocol then what would be the outcomes should not be a mystery. Treating employees fairly and drafting crystal clear policies always leads to a positive communication channel between the management and the employees.
Resolve Conflict Effectively
Conflicts are inevitable in the workplace, and every organization faces this. In most of the cases lack of proper communication is the main reason for the conflicts. Conflicts should be diffused as quickly as possible by communicating with both sides and coming to an effective solution.
If managers fail to solve conflicts then HR managers should intervene and handle the same. If after all the efforts there is no improvement in the communication between the employees then its high time to provide communication to each and every employee.
Revamp Office Setup
Today, communication is the key to success for any organization. In the US, traditional closed office culture is long gone. Here, now people work in different open office places to stimulate communication. As a result there is more innovative ideas coming out every other day.
Also in developing countries there is an increase in companies aiming at stimulating communication by moving from traditional assigned desks culture, to flexible seating spaces. Today, organizations are randomly arranging desks to create more communication.
Improving communication between managers and employees is one of the most important steps any company needs to take towards creating a collaborative and productive workplace. Break down those barriers, clear out the blockages, and start communicating openly and freely!