Considering we do it every day, communication is an area in which us humans always need to improve. Colleagues in each workplace have their own way of conversing with one another, and it’s of vital importance you get new starters up to speed with your processes as soon as possible.
Recent research has helped to shine a light on how often miscommunication occurs in the office. 56% of US workers have admitted to miscommunicating in the office (defined here as unintentionally sending a communication to the wrong person at work).
When starting in a new workplace around people you’ve just met, the potential for miscommunication is amplified. Adopt these steps, and you’ll soon have new starters up to speed and ready to communicate effectively with their colleagues.
6 ways to maximise communication with new starters
1. Have a policy in place
In order to facilitate good communication in the workplace, you might consider creating a policy. This doesn’t have to be a formal document that employees must sign, but rather a set of simple guidelines laying out how employees should communicate with one another.
Things you could cover include the way in which criticism should be handled, the creation of a civil working environment, and how and where disagreements should be handled. Ultimately, it’s all about creating the conditions for better business.
These simple tenants are a good place to start when looking to bring about an office that communicates respectively and effectively, and can be a useful set of guidelines for new employees.
2. Develop an onboarding checklist
This is likely already a part of your new starter process, but given its importance, it’s worth creating a dedicated, communication-based onboarding process.
New employees need all the help they can get when starting up in a fresh role and if specific software and tools are required to communicate with fellow team members, it should be prioritized.
Don’t assume that everyone knows how to use them either – particularly if the software is relatively new. Make sure you offer training to new starters, as some may not speak up and say they require help so early into a new job.
3. Ingratiate new starters
Communication is a lot easier when you feel comfortable around the people you are engaging with. There’s no better way to do this than organizing some social events with your employees with the aim of ingratiating new starters and bonding as a team.
Out of office lunches, after work drinks or an activity such as bowling are popular ways teams look to get to know each other a little better. Help new starters get to know their team members, and you’ll soon find them communicating more openly back in the office.
4. Bring clarity to roles
Confusion around an individual’s role and their place within a team structure can lead to issues arising, especially when it comes to communicating effectively.
To avoid this, be sure to bring clarity to your team’s structure when new members join. Aside from their key tasks, they also need to know who to turn to when they encounter problems.
Without it, employees could end up wasting time reporting to the wrong people.
5. Encourage face-to-face conversation
Technology brings up countless productivity-boosting benefits, but it does provide people with a platform for poor communication.
All too easily, digital communications can be left for later, lost, misinterpreted or downright ignored. To ease a common source of bad communication, look to go a little old-school and encourage face-to-face interaction.
You could even try incorporating this into your office’s daily routine. Get people together every morning for a “Scrum” or “Standup” where you discuss, in person, ongoing projects and any barriers to success.
Again, introducing new starters to this early is key. Get them around their team members, bouncing ideas and coming up with solutions. As a manager, you can take the lead by conducting an open-door policy, encouraging staff to come directly to you if they have a question.
6. Don’t rely on email
As an extension of point five, email can be the most serial offender when it comes to poor office communication. They can easily become buried under masses of other communications, and their location (hidden away on your computer) makes them too easy to ignore.
Technology can, and should, be a part of your organization’s communication process – you just have to choose the right tools. Try to phase out email as much as possible and look to introduce messaging software that is built to minimize these communication pitfalls. Skype and Slack are two programs that focus on direct, team-orientated conversation, and they integrate with other software your team uses every day.
Many of these points apply across your whole team, and not just to new members of your organization. Build a strong, close-knit team that communicates well, and new members will find it much easier to adopt this culture. Get new starters communicating in these ways from day one, and you’ll reduce any possibility of costly miscommunication in your organization.
