Why communication is key to team productivity

Businesses depend on every member of staff to remain productive at work, particularly in times of increasing financial pressure. Absenteeism from work costs British businesses £258 per day, per employee, and poor performance during working hours only compounds the problem.

In the average office, there are dozens of personalities mingling every day, and different departments with different priorities. This combination of stresses and strains can make it hard to connect with others, and if you add remote working to the mix, productivity is one of the first things to suffer.

In order to keep teams focused on their objectives, the lines of communication need to be open. Everyone needs to be able, and willing, to make their voice heard. As an employer, it’s your duty to ensure staff have the necessary tools to do so.

Meshing with others at work

Learning to work with others is an essential skill in any organisation, and that usually means getting on with people who may not share the same viewpoint and goals. Perhaps that’s why working closely with others may make people less productive.

In an Ipsos survey, 95 per cent of respondents said they valued being able to work privately. Notably, only 41 per cent said they could. It’s important to find the right balance so people can collaborate when the task requires it, but retreat for peace and quiet to get the job done.

Meetings are a focused way to connect teams, providing the purpose for the meeting is clear. US research suggests that $37 billion is wasted on unnecessary meetings every year, and technology that should make meetings easier can sometimes slow people down.

But effective communication builds positive relationships, and encourages informal, as well as formal, discussion. Productive meetings can be aided by the right technology, such as the tools to organise discussions when working remotely.

Efficient collaboration

When employees work in different locations, face-to-face meetings are out of the question. It can be difficult to sync availability across varying time zones, which means everything takes longer to complete. But meeting remotely saves businesses a lot of money; in 2015, it’s estimated we saved 2.7 billion lb of carbon dioxide by using technologies such as internet telephony.

With a little coaching, employees can work just as effectively on opposite sides of the world as they do in the same room:

• Double-check times and timezones to ensure nobody’s late
• Distribute handouts the day before, so everyone has time to read them
• Give staff one telephone number that every other member of staff can call, to avoid confusing contact records and mobile calls in the middle of the night
• Make communication simple, cost-effective and affordable by using a reliable business VoIP provider

Technology has made real time collaboration practical, and this is a key driver for productivity. It’s estimated that we saved $3.3 billion in travel costs globally this year because we were able to meet remotely. How much could your business save?