More people than ever are working remotely, and while this comes with many benefits, it also puts new value on the role of communication within the workforce. The following will explore a few tips on how to use technology to keep your communication lines wide open.
Understand Your Security Needs
Before diving into the different technologies available and how they can be used, it’s important to note that, depending on the nature of your work, there might be additional security measures that have to be taken to protect sensitive information. Always be sure to confirm that a communication approach is approved by your employers before using it to share any sensitive or private information. Cybercrime is expanding aggressively, and it can be quite expensive. Even if you feel like the information you deal with wouldn’t be worth a hacker's time or attention, you might want to reconsider. Data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable commodity, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon.
Don’t Skip Over The Basics
Communicating within applications and project management tools can be a breath of fresh air that keeps the work moving along the pipeline without the need for time-consuming meetings or confusing email chains. This being said, when including new technology into the way you communicate with your work, you never want to skip over the basic elements of communication. Figuring out international calling so that you can hear each other’s tone of voice and connect on a more personal level is going to be needed on occasion. Video calls where you can see each other’s expression and, again, feel more connected is also going to be needed from time to time. Don’t underestimate the importance of being able to form emotional bonds and relationships by incorporating older-fashioned communication methods.
This is also incredibly valuable if you have people of a wide range of ages within your company. If someone has grown up only having conversations face-to-face with people, they could develop feelings of loneliness or isolation, and these sensations can have a horrific impact on mental and physical health. They can also result in lower employee satisfaction and lacking work performance. Humans are social animals and need to have social experiences throughout their day in order to remain healthy.
Balance Group Communication With One-On-One Communication
When you’re incorporating new technology that helps people communicate, such as applications with group chat capabilities and productivity software that allows everyone to contribute where they are with their portion of a shared project, you want to be sure there are avenues for both group communication and one-on-one communication. Sometimes sending a message to the whole channel is the best way to share an idea or make an announcement. Other times, someone might feel shy to post a question where everyone can see it as they’re worried they’ll look silly or incompetent. Likewise, some people get nervous when posting into group conversations and so might hold back a great idea that could really benefit your work. Whatever platforms you choose, make sure there’s a way for private and public conversations to take place.
Teach Communication Skills
As part of your workplace training, communication skills cannot be stressed enough. Giving staff a few scripts they can apply to their situations can really reduce the risk of miscommunication taking place. If two people are talking, but they can’t see each other’s expressions or hear each other’s tone, assumptions can be made that might cost the company time or money. Have staff learn to reiterate what they’re taking away from a given conversation, no matter what form it takes. Typing something like: so, what I understand is that you need the revisions done by Friday and the graphics completed by Tuesday the 7th. This can help reduce miscommunication. Likewise, staff should be trained to make their needs clear by saying things like, so what I need from you to meet the deadline is the rough draft in my inbox by Wednesday. This can help people foresee potential issues and prevent anyone from overestimating what other members of the team are capable of within a given time frame.
The above tips should help you incorporate new communications technology into your workplace no matter how far apart you and your colleagues and employers are. It’s always a good idea to collect feedback from people at the end of projects or operations so that you know if there’s any way you could improve your communication methods. Ideally, everyone should feel like they have all the information they need to do their best work. If someone was waiting for information or confirmation for an extended period of time, this needs to be addressed before the next project unfolds.
