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There are a number of ideas on how technology has affected our ability to communicate. For most companies, working remotely has created siloed departments and stunted the communication between departments. Similar to many companies, we are remaining remote for the foreseeable future, which pushes us to rethink the way we communicate.
How to Shape Your Communicate Strategy for a Virtual Age
1. Less is More
In the digital age, there are countless documents sent back and forth on a daily basis. When asking colleagues or clients to review long winded documents, what’s the first thing that they say? “Send me the PDF, I’ll review it later!” This type of response is fairly common because most people process details in private. The beauty in this is we can keep our communication short and to the point. Give your clients less details, and focus on meaningful communications. Allow your clients to become curious and ask for the details themselves.
In addition to over explaining, professionals have been groomed to use technical long winded language. Research shows that using formal language and over complex words can make people uninterested. We trust people who speak more clearly and communicate in a short and sweet manner. Decision makers especially are consistently in a rush, they don’t want to spend more time going through technical terms. Save their time and yours, get to the point.
Don’t be afraid to break the mold of robotic corporate jargon and use less formal language in your communication strategy.
2. Public Recognition
Despite our new virtual normal, we can’t forget that we are all human. Whether all office personnel are working in different locations, or just a select few, everyone desires to be recognized. It is easy to send a “good job today” ping, but that is not how united teams are built. Sharing positive feedback in groups is a great practice to adopt because it allows your team to feel proud of their achievements and makes others want to work for that public and positive feedback as well.
Another useful strategy is to begin meetings with the recognition of a team member. They can receive applause in real time by their peers, and that creates positive communication.
3. Have Intentional Meetings
Is the key to communication more meetings? Not exactly. The key to better communication in the virtual age is intentional and meaningful meetings. How many times have you entered a meeting, said hello, then shut off the camera and worked on other tasks? We all do it. In order to prevent a meaningless meeting, add an agenda, not just for the meeting but for each person attending.
You are in a meeting with Debbie from accounting, Mark from Sales and the new intern, Lexie. While presenting, you could say, “Debbie is here for budget knowledge, Mark is here to gather information for the client and Lexie thank you for joining, please shadow and take notes.” This alerts everyone attending that there is a purpose and intention for their attendance and makes them more likely to remain attentive.
4. Create A Talk Space
Our favorite parts of in person meetings were the parts before and after meetings; when we talked about our weekends or how cool someone’s shoes were that day. Replicate that in virtual meetings and in your communication strategy. This creates a talk space, a space where your team feels comfortable enough to collaborate with others. When creating social talk spaces, continue the conversation by creating professional talk space. For example, if you have a meeting deck, on the first slide, you can add a task. This task can be something as simple as a link to a video that says, “write agree or disagree in the chat”, or a question to be answered in the chat. These types of tasks get the audience thinking and already creating opinions on the topic.
As much as we miss in-person meetings, we have to prioritize replicating the social aspects that draw our teams to interact during virtual meetings.
When we are uncomfortable, we adjust. Whatever norms we are comfortable using, readjust and adapt for the digital age. Use less formal language, publicly recognize your teams, have intentional meetings, and create safe spaces to communicate for your employees. At abelian, we value the collaboration between our diverse team and consistently prioritize communication. Creating seamless processes occurs better with tools that support your team effectively. If you’re looking for a CRM to create more visibility across all departments, get a free consultation to see how the Abelian team can customize Salesforce for your team for the digital age.
