How to utilise communication styles to ensure a high-functioning team

How to utilise communication styles to ensure a high-functioning team

You could be a master of dozens of different communication styles, but unless you apply them properly – and to the appropriate individual – then you won’t reap the benefits of a multi-pronged management style. We reveal how different communication styles can not only boost your company’s bottom line, but also feed into a greater employee experience.

Different styles for different team members

We already know there are many different communication types, but they mostly be categorised into one of four major styles: Dominant, Influencer, Conscientious and Steady.

How you communicate with those personalities is the mark of how successful you will be at getting the best out of every team member. Remember, though, that not everyone will fit neatly into one particular type. Many have communication styles that spill over into one or more additional categories.

How to manage a team of diverse personalities

With so many different communication styles, the biggest question you probably have is: “How can I manage so many competing personalities?” Here’s what you should keep in mind when speaking with the various styles of communicators:

• Dominant: Get to the heart of the matter straight away, and expect their answers to be direct and decisive. The most important thing about Dominant people is to not make promises you can’t keep.
• Influencer: Influencers enjoy casual discussions and are especially optimistic when sharing their ideas. Because of this bubbly nature, it’s wise to avoid being too blunt or critical with feedback.
• Conscientious: They value organisation and a systematic approach above all else. Expect them to ask for confirmation on most things, and when it comes to delivering feedback, do it in such a way that it’s not taken as actual ‘criticism’.
• Steady: These people want you to actually hear them, so practise active listening and clarify any directions or feedback with as much detail as possible. They don’t like to be rushed into making decisions.

A team that communicates together, succeeds together

It should be obvious that good communication is vital to running a successful business. After all, when communication breaks down, productivity drops, jobs don’t get finished, customers aren’t serviced to the expected level, and profits are affected.

Poor communication equals a higher rate of conflict, and conflict can spell disaster for a company. A study from The Workforce Hub found that workplace conflict can waste up to 52% of the working day – consider how much losing half a business day would cost your organisation. What’s more, 80% of all work problems arise from communication issues.

By building a culture around good communication, you’ll have the tools and capabilities to address any roadblocks. More importantly, you’ll already have a strategy to get back on track faster.
The overarching benefits of this are higher staff retention, boosted productivity (and therefore greater profits), team camaraderie, and a business focused on achieving goals in both the short and long term.

Embrace all comms: From face-to-face meetings to internal platforms

Gone are the days of the standard office: cubicles for regular employees, offices for upper management and chit-chat restricted to the water cooler.

The modern workplace is all-encompassing. The CEO could be collaborating with their team from interstate while outsourcing jobs to freelancers spread around the globe. This means smart managers must embrace all forms of communication:

• Internal communication platforms: Your company might have its own custom intranet. Alternatively, cloud-based collaboration tools can be used on a desktop, tablet or smartphone – meaning everyone can stay across their workloads no matter where they are. The best internal comms platforms also engage employees in other ways, such as by creating a rewards system for completing tasks and hitting predetermined milestones.
• Email: There’s nothing wrong with email, especially when everyone is busy. Be careful of overusing it, however. Your team members still want to know they can approach you in-person.
• Videoconferencing: Perfect for teams spread across multiple locations. You can use basic online tools that are free to use, or upgrade to pro versions for high-quality video streaming!
• Brainstorming: It’s wise to set aside an hour every week or fortnight for the team to come together and offer new ideas to improve the business.
• One-on-ones: Ideal for delivering feedback and ongoing reviews.

Consider the pros and cons of each, and find out what works best for your team. If you want to dive even further, you might ask your employees which methods they prefer. That way you can hand out tasks and deliver feedback in the best environment possible.

Taking an agile approach as a manager

Using all available communication platforms is necessary in the modern workplace, but there’s really no beating a face-to-face chat. For managers who want to take an agile approach to managing – and you should if you’re driven by tight deadlines and a thirst for success – then it needs to start with how you communicate.

The most important thing to remember is that any type of comms – whether it’s a company-wide email or a one-on-one with your project lead – must have a purpose. Once that purpose is clear, all parties can get to the heart of the matter quickly and avoid the stumbling blocks that can arise from poor communication.

Redii provides recognition and rewards programs to help make the most of your team’s communications. Request a demo today!

Sources

http://adelaidebusinesshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Workplace-Communication-Fact-Sheet.pdf
https://www.sandler.com/blog/4-different-types-workplace-communication-and-how-improve-each-area
https://www.interact-intranet.com/blog/10-great-examples-of-internal-communications-tools-software-in-action

Communication barriers: How to avoid obstacles when working in teams

Communication barriers: How to avoid obstacles when working in teams

As someone who manages a team of diverse personalities and experience levels, you already know how communication strategies must be adjusted depending on the individual. However, there are some common communication barriers that must be fully understood in order to overcome them – especially when working in teams.

Why is effective communication so important for the overall business?

A high-functioning business is one that is constantly moving forward – employees understand their tasks and always strive to accomplish the long-term aspirations of the company. Central to all of this is effective communication. Without it, roles can become blurred and productivity wanes.

With one in five Australian workers having experienced major communication problems with either a co-worker or manager, it pays to recognise some of the common signs of ineffective communication:

• No firm deadlines: There’s a difference between letting your employees be autonomous and completely leaving them to their own devices. Find a middle ground where there’s a definitive deadline for set tasks, but also freedom for the employee to take full control.
• Failure to understand tasks: Just because you think you’ve explained something well doesn’t mean it’s actually sunk in. If a team member is worried about offending their manager, they may say they’ve understood your explanation even though they haven’t. Always ask for responses when communicating to ensure your points have been made clear.
• Overly critical: There’s nothing wrong with criticism, especially when it’s warranted. However, it must be delivered in the right setting. A weekly or monthly feedback session is ideal – berating an employee at their desk in front of their co-workers is not.

Solid communication can build a cohesive unit

Issues will always arise, even in a business that has a monopoly in their market. There are countless challenges and hurdles you’ll be unable to stop on your own, but you can arm your team with the tools to overcome them.

As a manager, you need to lead from the front. That means boosting your own communication skills and being comfortable managing a diverse range of personalities. Once your team realises you are a master communicator, they will be more likely to take an active role in improving their own communication skills. And when the entire company employs open communication, the business can run at its optimal level.

Benefits of open communication

Aside from the obvious advantages – such as boosted productivity, better understanding of given tasks, and a more comfortable environment in which both employees and managers can speak openly – open communication delivers two major benefits.

First, it creates the idea of a flatter team structure. That means that even if your company has multiple levels of management within a dozen or more departments, the team members see it as a less-hierarchical workplace. A flatter organisation means there’s less unnecessary supervision, while the employees are given more involvement in decision-making.

Second, open communication allows for consistent ‘meetings of the minds’. Use your team’s expertise in various areas to your advantage. Goals-oriented tasks and weekly brainstorming meetings are ideal – and with clarity around open conversations, employees can be free to share ideas that drive the business forward.

What can you do right now to generate a more communicative team?

Business Victoria cites a number of common errors that businesses create with ineffective communication strategies. While it’s helpful to know the signs of bad comms, more important is recognising the solutions to those problems. Here are some ways you can create better communication between your employees:

• Be honest: Feedback is crucial, but it will only improve the individual and the overall business if it is truthful.
• Be prepared: In some instances, such as delivering bad news or giving delicate feedback, it’s wise to have a prepared script to follow.
• Be timely: Giving an employee feedback about a mistake they made months ago isn’t relevant and is likely to do more harm than good.
• Be passive: By all means take the reins when you need a team member to complete a task, but in day-to-day communications you can gain great insights when employees are allowed to steer the conversation.
• Be feedback-smart: Always follow the golden rule: praise your team’s wins in public, and discuss how they need to improve in private.

The first step to overcoming communication barriers is recognising that they exist in every business. Once you know what to look for, you can define better strategies for interpersonal success.

Redii provides recognition and rewards programs to facilitate communication that will help your team overcome any obstacles that come their way. Request a demo today!

Sources

https://www.convergeinternational.com.au/docs/default-source/research/a-future-that-works-2016-snapshot-of-the-australian-workplace
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/examples-bad-communication-work-23898.html
http://www.business.vic.gov.au/hiring-and-managing-staff/staff-management/communication-skills-in-the-workplace-for-managers

How different types of communication can foster a team of understanding

How different types of communication can foster a team of understanding

Culture plays a massive part in building a team that not only works together, but grows together. It’s why culture is so important to a positive employee experience. So what role does communication play in the workplace? And how can different styles impact the understanding and cohesion of your team?

What type of communication styles are there?

Ask any expert about how many communication types there are and you’ll likely receive a different answer from each person. While it’s hard to pin down an exact number, the DiSC profile is commonly used in corporate environments. Its four main styles are:

• Dominant: Communicators who are decisive, efficient, intense, results-oriented, competitive and risk-tolerant.
• Influencer: People who tend to be outgoing, enthusiastic, persuasive, relationship-oriented, lively and optimistic.
• Conscientious: Conscientious individuals are those who communicate in a systematic, logical, reserved, process-oriented, cautious and risk-averse way.
• Steady: Finally, those with a tendency to be Steady communicators are cooperative, relaxed, patient, support-oriented, friendly and thorough.

While there are no obvious ‘negatives’ associated with any of these styles, some of the descriptors can become negative if abused by an authority figure, such as a company manager.

For example, a Dominant communication style can quickly fall off the rails if the individual focuses too heavily on speaking to their team too intensely. In all things, you need to ‘read’ your employees and tweak your communication style in such a way that they will respond positively. After all, good communication is the basis of understanding.

Different methods work with different personalities

You may not fit into just one of these four communication styles – in fact, most successful leaders’ styles bleed into at least two, depending on the task they are undertaking. And that’s a good thing – you never want to box yourself into a single silo, especially when part of your job is managing a team of diverse personalities.

Your communication style can – and should – change according to each individual. For example, maybe one of your employees responds better to excitable personalities – those who are Dominant or Influencer communicators. Even if you lean more towards another style, if you recognise how they respond to different communication tactics, you can shape your language and feedback to suit them.

As a manager, it’s your duty to understand how your team members both give and receive feedback. By recognising how well they respond to specific styles, you can break down communication barriers and always get the best out of them.

What role does emotional intelligence play?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is simply a term that describes how well someone is able to understand and manage their emotions. Psychologist Daniel Goleman categorises five separate components that make up EQ:

• Self-awareness: How you recognise and understand your emotions, as well as how they impact others.
• Self-regulation: How you control impulses, e.g. thinking before acting.
• Internal motivation: How driven an individual is to pursue goals for personal reasons, as opposed to a reward (aka external motivation).
• Empathy: Being able to recognise and understand someone else’s emotions and motivating drivers.
• Social skills: How easily someone can nurture relationships and build new networks.

In the modern workplace, it’s far more useful to know an employee’s EQ than other factors. So much so that almost three-quarters (71%) of hiring managers say they value a potential employee’s EQ above their IQ.

The bottom line is that team members with high emotional intelligence are more likely to contribute to the company in positive ways – whether that’s through motivating themselves or others, building powerful networks and encouraging new business, or collaborating effectively on group projects.

The best teams are made up of diverse personalities

No two people are exactly the same – if that were possible, businesses that focused on recruiting people with the same personality traits would quickly fail. After all, with no internal competition, there’s no need for employees to challenge each other to do better.

Diverse personalities are vital for the ongoing success of your business – but even more important is knowing how to juggle those differences. Some employees will butt heads while others will need consistent motivation from more intense personalities. That’s when your role as manager comes to the fore – if you can recognise how different individuals respond to various communication styles, you can address their needs appropriately while building a culture of understanding.

Redii provides recognition and rewards programs to foster effective communication with your employees and promote a team of understanding. Request a demo today!

Sources

https://www.ciphr.com/features/emotional-intelligence/
https://www.careerbuilder.ca/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr652&sd=8%2f18%2f2011&ed=8%2f18%2f2099
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-different-personalities-workplace-10733.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-effective-communication-organisation-avinash-senapati/