3 Keys For Staying Connected In The Workplace

Whether you work in a small business with less than ten employees or help to run a department in an international corporation, staying connected in the workplace is of the utmost importance when it comes to productivity. Some methods of communication are better than others to keep employees up to date and included in major decision making processes. Depending on what kind of message you want to relay, you may want to consider which form of communication best fits the point you’re trying to get across.

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E-mail

If you’re looking to disclose a large amount of information, especially for reference, this is the best way to go about it. Because e-mails leave paper trails, they’re best used to discuss policies, data or items that may need to be looked over again in the future. Most mobile phones allow e-mails to be sent and received nowadays which makes it particularly easy for you to keep up to date even when you’re not at your desk. Providers like mobi-data offer special data plans for reasonable prices so that you can stay connected even while traveling. This comes in handy when you’re making frequent international business trips. E-mail providers like Gmail allow drive storage and video chat options as well. However, e-mails don’t allow much in the way of a personal touch so if you use them as your only means of communication, your employees will feel a bigger disconnect.

Phone

Phone calls are great for relaying information in a quick and timely pace. They also have more human interaction than e-mail, which makes them the perfect option for someone who’s looking to make sure all major points of a conversation have been heard and understood in real time. Phone calls are also wonderful for expressing emotion, whether it be concern over how a project is being handled or satisfaction for something that has already occurred. A sincere sounding congratulation or joke means much more in a phone call than it does in an e-mail.

Meetings

Meetings are as personal as you’re going to get in the workplace. The amount of people you allow into the meeting will change the setting dramatically, as will how often you hold meetings. Save the meetings for only very important topics, and as for anything else, just be sure to include it in a weekly bulletin to keep employees up to date. If your meetings occur too frequently and for too long, your employees will definitely lose interest and the information they absorb will be affected. One on one meetings are also valuable if information that’s being disclosed is private or especially meaningful. The rise of skype conference calls has also given a whole new layer of time and cost efficiency to the traditional face to face meeting whilst retaining many of the benefits. Communication in the workplace has been studied for decades and the findings have varied widely. There are a lot of things that can change the workplace environment but communication is certainly one of the most important. Communicating effectively with employees will allow a business to operate successfully on many different levels, something that will end up helping both your employees and your company when it comes to productivity. This post was originally published at an earlier date.Enjoy this article? You've got time for another! Check out these related articles:

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