You probably know just as well as anyone, your company will never be able to measure success by a single metric. If you are at the proverbial starting line of business as you launch your company, you cannot lean on a few sales while ignoring all the work necessary to get yourself off the ground. Conversely, if you oversee a company that has already achieved an established and profitable reality for itself, you still will not be able to demonstrate all you do with one statistical measurement. To sum all this up – business is a multi-faceted endeavor where success is the sum of these facets being worked through effectively. But what if it was possible to identify a sole characteristic of a company who is more likely to accomplish all this? The truth is it has already been done.
Communication is this metric. Seeing as people come from all walks of life, their methods of communication may differ slightly from one another. In a professional setting this can be a weakness. However, if you, the boss, can harness the power of streamlined communication between company departments, you stand to make waves in the corporate world. Aaron Goldman, the managing director, and co-head of General Atlantic’s financial services sector, offered advice to those seeking this, “Communicate unto the other person that which you would want him to communicate unto you if your positions were reversed.”
Coordinating all this communication can be quite the undertaking. To assist you in this, we took the liberty of speaking to a few experts with ideas of how to do so.
1. Departments are for work responsibilities, not isolation
There is an incredibly common misconception in most offices which directly leads to an inter-departmental communication breakdown – employees of a single department sticking to themselves without any interaction with employees from another department. Right off the bat, you can see clearly as day how this type of office behavior is not helpful for streamlining communication. To counter this, it starts with letting your employees know the lay of the corporate land.
“I like to tell my employees that the departments are task forces which make the entirety of our team,” said Justin Olson, Chief Marketing Officer at Fast Pace Health. “Most people don’t approach it this way and it shows when two departments have no clue what the other is doing on a regular basis.”
There are more than a couple of methods for handling this. For one, try bringing the teams together in the very early stages of your company setting out on its next big endeavor. This simple act of inclusion speaks volumes to every employee present. Not only are they fully informed on the practical steps the company will be taking, there also grows a feeling of inclusion. Whenever a human experiences this, they tend to be a little more forthright in their communication.
“When an employee can see how their work affects the different departments and employees around them, they pay a little more attention to these relationships,” said Benjamin Earley, CEO of Holt. “From a management side, this means more free-flowing communication which is always a win. So long story short, transparency is key here.”
2. Make relevant information readily available
Transparency is a fantastic jumping off point for the next step you can take to streamline communication between different company departments. Streamlined communication is not always related to increased levels of communication. In fact, overloading your company’s communication channels with inconsequential messages will usually bring about more frustration than anything else. This is because both the senders and receivers have to sort through the haystack to find what they need. All this is avoidable assuming you take some preemptive measures.
“Basic questions or pieces of information vital for your employees to do their jobs should be readily available,” said John Sarson, CEO of American Crypto Academy. “Picture the frequently asked questions section of a website. That’s what your employees should have access to so they’re not wasting time tracking down the simple things.”
Of course, not every department demands the same type of information. “For example, your customer service department relies on far different information than your marketing department. That is just the nature of business,” proposes Gigi Ji, Head of Brand and Business Development at Kokolu. “That being said, those two departments are a necessity for your consumers to have a well-rounded experience. If one of these departments makes a move that shifts this experience in some way, each and every department should be aware of this change.”
“The end goal of any business usually relates to customer satisfaction in some way. Truthfully, there are an endless number of ways to achieve this for yours,” said Juan Pablo Cappello, Co-Founder and CEO of Nue Life. “But if your internal teams are trying to go about this in their own way, you’ll be met with confusion.
3. Analyze and address needs
As stated above, there is some information which is absolutely critical for a department to succeed. The idea of demographics in marketing comes to mind here. This department can shoot their shot into the dark all they want but without a clear picture of who the intended and listening audience is, they will only be burning precious corporate resources. Time is one such resource and when too much of it is spent on anything, it is not a great outcome for your company, departments aside.
“As the person in charge, you hold the ability to streamline your internal communication. It’s almost like you have a bird’s eye view so use this wisely,” said Omid Semino, CEO and Founder of Diamond Mansion. “Does one department need to know something about another department that they are currently unaware of? You can be a messenger here and once you do this, the difference in internal communication will amaze you.”
Practically speaking, this process is all about personal and professional discretion. Only you know your company. Someone on the outside cannot tell you the intricate details of your own company. By extension, no article can tell you what the communication needs of your departments are at this moment. You have to uncover and solve this for yourself. Start with the basics of what each department depends on for basic functions and work your way up the ladder from there.
“You can choose to let company-wide information trickle through the ranks of your employees like gossip but that’s just a waste of time,” said Michael Burmi, Chief Investment Officer at Compound Banc. “If there is an announcement or happening that every employee needs to know about, make that happen.”
4. Schedule regular times of gathering
There is certainly more than one type of announcement which calls for face-to-face interaction. In cases such as these, bringing all the members of your company together in order to relay this information is the right move. You know this act as the company meeting. It is truly an act as old as business itself and there is sound reasoning for this. Primarily, it does the job. All this to say, do not shy away from scheduling a company meeting.
“If everyone you employ is in the same room, it is really hard for them to take information given to them differently than the employee sitting next to them,” said Brett Estep, COO of Insured Nomads. “This is why I encourage leaders to bring their departments together when the time calls for it.”
When exactly is the right time to make this play? Once again, this is a matter of personal and professional discretion. Meeting too frequently can frustrate talented employees to where they tune-out. Not meeting often enough will bring with it noticeable gaps in communication. To counter all this, find a meeting schedule that is beneficial to your team and stick with it.
Be it every other day or bi-weekly, there needs to be a routine surrounding when your departments and their respective heads gather to check-in. Otherwise, the disorientation in the office will be palpable.
5. Ensure they are working on the same page
Discussing the orientation of your employees is a wonderful place to wrap all this up. Now, you may have taken to mean the employees first few days of work but what we are really talking about here is the direction your employees are headed professionally. Are they accomplishing the right tasks at work? Are those tasks in pursuit of the bigger picture? You must let them know either way and correct accordingly.
“If two employees from different departments get together to talk about an ongoing project only to realize they have two totally different goals in mind, then leadership is to blame,” said Kirin Sinha, CEO of Illumix. “Regardless of an employee’s role within your organization, each of them need to be on the same page for what the company is trying to obtain or realize.”
Meeting face-to-face is not the sole way to get your departments on the same page. Technology can be a huge asset in this area provided you and your team fully immerse yourselves in it. Before going too far down this road, consider the exact needs for digital communication and find the platform that addresses those for you.
“Many companies have found great productivity and overall clarity from introducing something like Slack to their team,” said Chris Coote, CEO of California Honey Vapes. “It takes a bit of an adjustment and definitely has a learning curve but it can really streamline things for you.”
If all this seems like more of an undertaking than what you initially expected, do not pull back in uncertainty. Bridging the communication gaps between your departments can result in greater windfall than you might expect. Motivational speaker and author Brian Tracy put it best, “Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”
