Blue whales can communicate with each other when thousands of miles apart, yet we humans sometimes struggle to do so in the same building! Are we just skimming the surface of our potential, or shouldn’t communication be a fundamental part of everyday business?

A recent survey suggests many believe this to be the case and both managers and employees agreed on one thing: lack of open, honest communication takes a heavy toll on morale. Failure to recognise employee achievements was given as the second most detrimental factor.

It doesn’t have to be like this… there are a number of proven ways of increasing employee satisfaction and motivation.

• Improve channels of communication

• Improve listening through regular feedback systems

• Think differently about how we share knowledge

Good communication is a company asset, ensuring people are working in the same direction, identifying problems before they escalate and reducing the impact of the office grapevine.

Here are 8 good ways to improve communication within the working environment:

1. One to One open discussions

Employees felt that given a regular opportunity to speak freely to their line manager, they would feel happier, more informed and more confident that their opinions mattered and were being heard.

2. Regular team meetings

An ideal opportunity to brainstorm and discuss recent company events and improve departmental relationships and ethos. Weekly meetings were the most popular.

3. Intranet and Web Logs or Blogs

Make sites enjoyable and stimulating and fast and easy to use. Encourage interaction between departments with competitions, company events, a discussion forum or a questions-and-answers page. Corporate web logs or blogs have become an entirely new and highly successful channel of communication. Users post informal thoughts, ideas, comments and philosophy and strings of discussion develop. The strings are in turn searchable, providing a knowledge base and some useful reading.

4. Questions-and-answer sessions with senior management

50% of employees said Q&A with senior decision makers were the most effective, but only 12% of CEO’s regularly use this form of communication

5. Newsletters

Must be a good read or there’s no point - enjoyable and informative! Include Spotlight Features on employees departments, and regular updates on company events and plans. Possibly include a competition to get the juices flowing!

6. Departmental bulletin boards/notices

A popular suggestion by employees of busy companies - gets teams and departments interacting and improves communication all round. Anita Roderick (The Body Shop founder) uses ideas/communication boards placed in the “Little Boys and Little Girls Rooms” on each floor of her offices/shops to encourage people to not only read the information but to add ideas and comments to share.

7. Personalised letters to employees

Employees felt that if they received regular personalised letters informing them of company plans/changes, they would feel involved and informed and that the company valued them.

8. Social Events – Departmental social events

Marked as one of the most effective ways for employees to communicate with each other by building relationships in an enjoyable environment outside office walls. This is brought back to the workplace and also improves morale.

Ocean Consulting is a highly professional, privately owned, recruitment consultancy, specialising in Permanent & Contract recruitment within the commercial sector. With over 14 years recruiting experience within the senior management team, we focus on placing all disciplines from Receptionists & Administrators right up to Senior Manager / Director level positions within the Thames Valley area & beyond and have an excellent reputation gaining a high majority of our business through word of mouth. Why? We are very passionate about making a difference…it’s that simple

If you would like to know more about Ocean visit our website at www.dipintheocean.co.uk or reply to this e-mail and take@dipintheocean.co.uk
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