In teams, projects and companies one of the most important things to get a handle on is communication. Jack Welch speaks about creating candour in the workplace, similarly, the Navy Seals are trained to communicate effectively as part of their training because if they do not communicate effectively lives are lost.
Now in business, projects and in teams, lives will not be lost if we do not communicate effectively, but if you can increase the effectiveness of your communication, an increase in productivity, employee satisfaction and positive company culture will follow.
In a team or project environment, if we do not communicate effectively we stand to lose not just profit, reputation and potential clients, your projects will fail more than it succeeds, your staff turnover will be through the roof and you will not have productive teams that can deliver on requirements time and time again. Your teams will suffer project fatigue faster and will not be able to operate at the levels that you require them to.
In business, if you cannot communicate effectively how do you expect your staff to know what the company vision and goals are? How do expect to create an inclusive culture that fosters healthy debate and honesty? Are you making key decisions in isolation behind closed doors and then once concluded you do not communicate this to your staff? Do you find that your staff does not really know what is going on in the company and with your clients in general? These are all signs that you are not communicating effectively and in short you cannot achieve success without communication.
As an entrepreneur, if you cannot communicate effectively I am afraid you have some homework to do, because as entrepreneurs we do not always have big teams and hundreds of employees, well at least not when we start out, and if we can implement effective communication models we start off with a solid foundation that can only grow stronger as the venture continues.
If you do not clearly communicate what you require, how do you expect the team to deliver on those requirements? If you and your management team have strategic meetings and those decisions are not filtered down to your people how do you expect them to deliver?
Without effective communication, we are wasting time and money. Marketing and sales will not keep the ship adrift if your employees are leaving in the lifeboats by droves, rather focus your attention on creating effective communication models within your company or team, and build out from there, because a much as you might think this is a bit soft, if you cannot get the basics right, you are bound to fail later when it gets more complicated.
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