It is one of the hardest things for human beings to effectifely carry out: communication. It seems so easy, yet it so often goes horribly wrong. For companies this can be a real issue, as miscommunication or a lack of openness can lead to misinterpreted or misinformed decisions. Therefore, this blog will give some tips on how to improve communication within a firm!
Stimulation
One of the key things for open and effective communication is by stimulating employees to share their knowledge! Especially in hierarchical firms this can be an issue. Proactive idea sharing or criticism can be seen as a threat to the company’s culture and strategies and is therefore not always appreciated. Yet, this openminded and critical mindset could in fact enhance the performance of a company. It is therefore important to stimulate such openness.
Business systems
Business systems also have an influence on how well information is shared within a firm. Departments are prone to keeping information within their department. This might be because of internal competition or because employees don’t feel like the information is important to other departments. This can lead to a silo-effect. This can have a negative impact on the firm’s performance as crucual information might not be available to the right parties. To solve this, firms should pay attention to the quality of their business architecture. IT can really help in facilitating effective communication by stimulating and enabling employees to share information. One good software to use for this is Bluedolphin. This software collects information in a single space, so employees can ultimately contribute to the success of the firm by sharing valuable information!
