Useful tips for the effective team communication

Effective communication between employees plays an important role in the team's workflow. It contributes to more coherent work, mutual understanding, distribution of tasks and responsibilities. They also help to quickly get out of unforeseen situations and solve complex problems with high quality. Effective communication boosts team morale and the job satisfaction level of each team member. Therefore, it is advisable to follow the general rules of business communication that will facilitate the construction of such communications.

15 tips on how to establish a quality communication process in a team:

1. Establish main rules for team communication

Every team should have rules for interaction between its members and rules of work routine. For example, it would be good practice to notify colleagues if someone is running late or will be absent, or in the case of having a sick leave - to transfer their tasks to another employee, and if there is not enough time for an urgent task or if there are difficulties in completing it, contact colleagues for help.

2. Respond quickly to requests of the colleagues

You should always try to respond as quickly as possible to colleagues in person, in work chats, and other means of communication. This contributes to the quick solution of the questions, problems, and also shows respect for colleagues and allows you to minimize the number of mistakes in work.

3. Build trusting communication

Confidential communication should be encouraged in the team, employees should not be afraid to talk about a problem while working on a taskor about a personal problem so that managers or colleagues have the opportunity to help resolve the issue and avoid problems at work.

4. Be thankful to colleagues for a good job

Praise and gratitude for good work are some of the ways to show colleagues that their efforts are appreciated, noticed, and also a way to express recognition of the employee as a good specialist. Such recognition has a positive effect on the emotional state of the employee who in turn improves the quality of the work performed.

5. Don't avoid informal communication

Not only working communication is important in a team, but also friendly. This is facilitated by the search for common topics of conversation, common interests, hobbies, and support, communication outside the office. Gather in a cafe, in quest rooms, in nature, and conduct some team building activities. Team building activities help to bring informality into communication, therefore make people in the team  more friendly and open.

6. Talk only about what you understand

If employees ask for advice, help, or opinion, they expect a competent and clear answer, since their further actions within the framework of the task may depend on it. Therefore, it is always worth talking only about what you are sure about and what you understand.

7. Develop yourself

All have their minuses and disadvantages, points in the work that should be improved, which managers or colleagues pay attention to. This must be taken calmly because everyone has room to develop and one must try to analyze the comments and correct themselves.

8. Take care of the team 

Be interested in the mood, well-being, success in completing tasks of your team. Offer help, and do not remain indifferent to your colleagues.

9. Maintain friendly communication in work chats

Work chats can address important business issues, so always stay calm and answer politely and to the point.

10. Share responsibilities among yourself

Employees must be responsible for the specific tasks and responsibilities. This gives an understanding of the area of responsibility of each employee.

11. Define the objectives of the tasks

It is necessary for all employees to understand why they are performing some task and what purpose it pursues, so that everyone works in the right direction and everyone understands correctly what results need to be achieved.

12. Set clear deadlines for tasks

It will be easier for the team to schedule and communicate with each other by setting the deadlines. This is especially helpful if the start of work of one employee depends on the end of work of another. This will help team members to navigate better when each has to do their part.

13. Discuss controversial issues and reach the consensus

There are cases, when while discussing working moments, people may have different views on a particular issue. The opinion of each team member must be respected. It is important to understand that having different opinions and views allows you to look at the problem from different angles and make the right decision. You cannot be afraid to speak your point of view and, on the contrary, you cannot negatively perceive an opinion that is different from yours. Suggestions and ideas of each employee should be taken into account when making decisions, discussing work issues and plans. This puts colleagues on an equal footing and prevents anyone from feeling underestimated or unimportant in the team.

14. Remember that «Me» is not a word in a team 

Any team task implies the interaction in one way or another. Therefore, the responsibility for the result of the task lies with the entire team. And only close-knit work will give a positive result.

15. Inform colleagues about important updates in work

Some processes depend on the others and changes in one process can affect the accompanying ones. Even changes in other departments can affect neighboring ones. Therefore, it is important to inform colleagues if any procedure changes so that everyone is informed and no mistakes are made in the work. In addition, you need to inform about the status of the tasks being performed, which makes it possible to understand how much time the task can be performed. This helps to plan the work in general and the distribution of interdependent tasks.

We all want to work in a strong close-knit team and not be afraid to ask for help, receive this help on time and, in turn, help others. We all want to take on complex tasks, quickly and efficiently cope with them. In all this, effective communications play not the least role, but one of the main ones. You can achieve great work results and great team relationships by following these tips.