It’s very important to create a positive working environment for your team, and part of this is making sure your employees can communicate effectively with each other. Whether it’s raising concerns with a manager or working with other staff on a project, communication is key to any successful enterprise, which is why you need to do everything you can as a leader to keep these lines of communication open. Here are a few tips you might find useful if you think this is something that needs to be improved within your office.

Appraisals

Appraisals are a great opportunity to discuss an employee’s progress in private, but they’re also a chance for your staff to speak with you about what they want from their roles and if they are having any issues in the workplace. If they are concerned about something, you can work with them to find a resolution that they’re comfortable with so they can move on and get back to performing at their best. Try to have these 1-on-1 meetings every few months to touch-base.

Improving Messaging Systems

A lot of offices have IM systems on their networks to make it easier for employees to stay in touch with each other throughout the day. This is generally more effective than relying on emails which might not get seen until later, and it’s also perfect for teams that are working remotely. As well as having these in place, open source messaging might also be something you want to explore, particularly if you’re team is collaborating with freelancers or any group on a project outside of your main office.

Team Meetings

As well as meeting with your employees individually, it’s also important to bring everyone together as a team once or twice a week to see where everyone is at. Monday morning, you can get everyone together to go over the week’s tasks and targets, and Friday afternoons could be a debriefing to see what targets have been met and if there were any issues. This is a good way to identify if there are any areas where your teams might be struggling so you can all find a solution together.

Team Building

If you want your employees to work together as a team, they need to trust one another. Team building exercises are a great way to give the team a bit of a break from the usual routine at work and have some fun while allowing them to get to know each other a bit better as well. If you are hiring new staff to join a department, this is a good opportunity to do these team-building exercises to break the ice. At the very least, try to do these twice a year to help your teams reconnect and return to work as a stronger force. If you are working with a virtual team, there are also a number of virtual events for team building like some virtual happy hour ideas.

Bulletin Boards

You can take advantage of the weekly team meetings to give your staff updates but having a digital bulletin board on your employee portals, or sending it around as an email newsletter, is another way to keep them in the loop. It should include important news about the company, any charity events that your company or a member of staff is getting involved in, as well as advertising networking opportunities or social events your staff might want to take part in.

If you want to improve the communication between your employees in the office, use these tips to create a positive environment that encourages this and see how it can make your teams happier.