4 Ways How Startups Can Improve Internal Communication
Congratulations! Your startup is successful and expanding quickly. You might be excited about your growing business (and you should be!) but a new challenge awaits you soon.
While beginning a successful startup is half the battle, managing internal communication can become as large of a challenge as getting your business off the ground.
Proper internal communication is crucial to the continued growth of a prosperous startup; when you are able to make sure that all your employees are on the same page and devoted to the same mission, your customers will notice.
Here are the top four ways how your growing startup can improve internal communication.
Onboard Effectively
One of the largest barriers startups face in their internal communication is the onboarding of new employees to the company’s mission.
Working in a new environment can be stressful and intimidating, especially within a small startup culture.
Your business can alleviate this stress by introducing new employees to his or her coworkers, and by clearly defining the roles of each member of the team.
This will allow new employees to direct questions and concerns to the proper team members.
Meetings are Out.
Online Communication is In.
The successful startups are 7x more likely to use online communication tools instead of traditional face-to-face meetings than failing startups do.
New online communication tools provide superior inter-departmental support because they require less time than organizing a traditional meeting, plus the added benefit of having all information readily accessible at all times.
For example, business messenger Chanty provides unlimited messaging history to its users, eliminating the need for note-taking at meetings.
Additional apps like Slack and eXo also remove the need for meetings by allowing all team members to communicate instantly.
Encourage your team to skip the meetings and move internal communications online, and be sure to create department-specific channels to make relevant information immediately available.
Crush Cultural Barriers
Cultural differences can cause huge breakdowns in communication – this is especially true if all members of your team do not share the same level of language they use to communicate.
Providing the tools for employees to improve the language they use at work is an excellent and effective way to improve internal communication, as well as communication with customers and clients.
For native speakers, training employees to speak clearly and use simple words when communicating with those still learning can also help to break down cultural barriers and improve the speaking skills of both parties.
Your startup can also take steps to create diverse and multicultural teams, improving not only internal communication but also cultural understanding and team synergy.
Actively Encourage Feedback
Your employees have the most intimate knowledge of your business practices and how to improve them.
Feedback from your team members should be treated as valuable and encouraged from all departments.
Your startup can improve internal communication by directly asking employees to submit anonymous feedback multiple times throughout the year; anonymity encourages team members to be more honest and removes the fear of being reprimanded for critical comments.
Ask team members what they think the startup is doing right as well as about areas that are in need of improvement.
Then, make sure your team leaders follow up on issues!
Treat negative feedback as seriously as you would a complaint from a customer, and in the case of multiple recurring issues, consider restructuring certain parts of your startup.
If employees feel as if their opinions are being heard and considered, they will be more open and communicative and your startup will be successful.
Running a startup is difficult – it can be even more difficult if all your team members aren’t on the same page.
Uncontrolled growth has resulted in the death of countless startups unable to handle the pressure of hiring a larger team.
However, by taking steps to improve internal communication, your startup can move steadily towards bigger and better goals while retaining your most valuable employees.
4 Top Takeaways
Here are the top takeaways for helping to improve your internal communication:
1. Properly introduce all employees to one another when onboarding.
2. Replace meetings with online tools like Slack, eXo or Chanty and see your productivity soar.
3. Create diverse teams in order to encourage cultural understanding.
4. Take all employee feedback seriously, and encourage management to do the same.
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Happy directing!