Effective communication is the foundation of any successful agency. It builds strong client relationships, fosters internal collaboration, ensures project success, and contributes to a positive and productive work environment, writes Rob Gibbs, head of marketing at Paprika Software.
When it breaks down it can cause negative ripples felt right across the business, causing major disruption, confusion and frustration.
Here are some of the other consequences of when we stop talking.
The dangers of disconnected teams
- Client dissatisfaction: Missed deadlines, budget overruns, and inconsistent communication lead to client dissatisfaction, damaging the agency’s reputation and potentially leading to lost business.
- Siloed teams: Departments working in isolation, having minimal contact with wider teams creates silos where information does not flow.
- Lack of information sharing: There is nothing worse than being kept in the dark, or not being included into vital conversations. Critical information not being effectively shared across the team or from leadership can lead to misunderstanding, gaps in knowledge and frustration.
- Duplication of work: When teams work in isolation, they may unknowingly duplicate work, wasting valuable time, resources and costly reworks.
- Project delays & budget overruns: Misunderstandings, misaligned expectations, and bottlenecks lead to costly delays and budget overruns.
- Reduced Creativity: Creativity comes from bouncing ideas around, if collaboration doesn’t happen then ideas fail to flow.
- Burnout & frustration: When you’re constantly working by yourself and not interacting with other people can lead to frustration, burnout, and a decrease in employee morale.
- Not being informed: Who’s working on what? When are deadlines due? What new clients have been on-boarded? If this information is not available then your agency quickly becomes a chaotic mess!
- Confusing communication channels: Over-reliance on multiple channels (email, instant messaging, video calls, even passing chats) leading to information overload, confusion and lost information.
Now you know some of the impact communication breakdown can have, it’s time to rebuild bridges and get communicating. As they said in the old BT ad: “It’s good to talk”.
Breaking down the walls and building bridges: Strategies for improving communication & collaboration
Break silos and create connections
Your agency feels disconnected and segregated, when your team doesn’t speak then it’s time to bring them together:
- Knowledge sharing: Encourage knowledge sharing sessions like lunch and learn, workshops, and presentations to break down departmental barriers.
Regular team meetings: Conduct regular team meetings (daily stand-ups, weekly progress reviews) to ensure everyone is aligned. - Social events: Organise team-building activities and out of work get togethers, allowing people to get to know one another.
Embrace technology wisely
It can be easy to lose track of what is going on, juggling multiple conversations can become confusing after a while. It’s worth embracing technology, but with a word of caution, use it wisely:
- Agency management software: Pull information from right across the agency into one centralised platform. Keep track of deadlines, tasks, projects, capacity and resources.
- Instant messaging: With an increase in remote working, instant messaging allows us to connect over long distance, with short, snappy text. Less formal than email and speeds up feedback.
- Collaboration boost: Streamline workflows, share documents, keep team members up to date and ensure everyone is on the same page. Use Gantt Charts, Kanban to keep clients and team members informed.
Foster open, clear and transparent communication
Create an open-door policy culture, a safe and supportive environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help and sharing their concerns.
- Cross-team collaboration: Encourage interaction between departments, dedicate time to brainstorm sessions and workshops.
- Create a culture of feedback: Foster a culture of open, clear communication, recognition, and appreciation. Provide honest feedback, both positive and constructive.
- Follow up: With multiple interactions and conversation, it’s easy to forget who said what. Make notes and send follow-up summaries, allowing people to review the key takeaways and refresh their memory.
- Use appropriate channels: Use briefs, surveys, email and other forms of communication to create procedures of how your team gathers information. Rather than using multiple channels, focus on one or two ways to keep track of conversations.
Get talking
Communication and collaboration can breakdown very quickly and equally take a long time to rebuild. It’s crucial to prioritise effective communication and collaboration processes to avoid pitfalls and create a thriving and successful work culture. Now is the time to start bridging that communication gap, use this opportunity to get up from your desk and go speak to a colleague you haven’t spoken to in a while.
Paprika Software is one of the headline sponsors for Prolific North’s popular Growth to Gold: scaling & selling your agency event on 26 March. There are still some tickets to the event left here but hurry before they all go!
