What do you do if your team's internal communication efforts are falling short?

1 Assess your current situation

To understand where your team stands in terms of internal communication, it's important to ask open-ended questions like: how do you prefer to communicate with your team members and managers? What are the main communication channels and tools you use? How regularly do you receive and share information, updates, and feedback? What are the benefits and challenges of your current communication practices? And what expectations and suggestions for improvement do you have? You can gather this feedback through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observation.

2 Identify your goals and gaps

The next step is to analyze the feedback and identify your team's communication goals and gaps. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) can help organize and prioritize your findings. It might reveal that your team has a positive and respectful team culture, a clear and shared vision, and a high level of commitment and accountability. However, there might also be a lack of consistency and clarity in communication, a reliance on too many or outdated tools, and a low frequency and quality of feedback. Additionally, there may be an opportunity to leverage new technologies or streamline processes, as well as a need to enhance communication skills. Lastly, there is the risk of miscommunication and misunderstanding, conflict and confusion, or difficulty adapting to changing circumstances.

3 Develop your action plan

The third step is to develop your action plan based on your goals and gaps. Utilizing a SMART framework (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) can help you define objectives, strategies, and indicators. As an example of this, you could set a goal to increase the frequency and quality of feedback by implementing weekly one-on-one meetings between each team member and manager, monthly team meetings to review progress and celebrate achievements, and a quarterly survey to measure satisfaction and engagement. Additionally, you could reduce the number of communication tools and channels by selecting and adopting a unified platform with messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, and project management capabilities. Lastly, you could improve the communication skills and competencies of the team by providing training and coaching on topics such as active listening, assertive communication, emotional intelligence, and cross-cultural communication.

4 Execute your action plan

The fourth step is to execute your action plan with the involvement and support of your team. To assign roles and responsibilities for each action item, you can use a RACI matrix (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed). For example, the manager might be accountable for setting up and facilitating the one-on-one and team meetings, and consulted for selecting and adopting the unified platform. The team members would be responsible for attending and participating in the meetings, as well as informed for completing the quarterly survey. The communication specialist would be responsible for providing the training and coaching, while also consulted for measuring the satisfaction and engagement.

5 Monitor and evaluate your results

The fifth step is to monitor and evaluate your results against your objectives, strategies, and indicators. You can use various methods to collect and analyze data, such as feedback forms, analytics, reports, or testimonials. The key is to track and measure the impact of your action plan on your team's communication performance, outcomes, and satisfaction. To do this, you can look at the number and quality of feedback exchanges between team members and managers, as well as among team members. Additionally, you can measure the time and cost savings from using fewer and more efficient communication tools and channels. Lastly, you can assess the improvement and development of communication skills and competencies of the team.

6 Adjust and improve your approach

The final step is to adjust and improve your approach based on your results. Utilizing a PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, and act) can be helpful in reviewing and refining your action plan. For instance, you can review your goals, gaps, and action plan to determine what worked well and what didn't. Subsequently, you can implement the changes and improvements that you have decided on. It is also important to monitor and evaluate the results of the changes and improvements, comparing them to the previous results. Ultimately, you should standardize and sustain the successful changes and improvements while continuing to look for new opportunities and challenges.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?