When most companies think about communications, they focus on external comms—messages shared with stakeholders beyond the company, like the customers and investors. However, internal communications are just as important. Good internal comms fosters positive collaboration between workers, ensuring streamlined teamwork. This can result in a more efficient and productive workplace. Find out how you can improve your company’s interdepartmental collaboration and communication below.

Understand the importance of good collaboration and communication
If you’re going to invest time, energy, and money into improving your internal communications, you want to make sure the effort is worth it. Educating yourself about the advantages of efficient communications and collaboration is a must. According to whispir, good internal comms has many benefits, like creating faster response times to problems, making employees feel more valued, increasing employee contributions in the workplace, and reducing retention issues. This can add up to reduced HR burden and costs, cutting your overhead costs in general.

Identify pain points that impede good collaboration and communication
If you’re going to improve internal communications and collaboration, it’s important to understand what hurdles may stand in your way. Common bottlenecks include using old or unreliable technology, a lack of coherent communication standards, inefficiencies in media usage, and department silos. Other common issues range from poor listening to unstructured meetings. Identifying your pain points is the start to finding solutions to address them. Sketch out a chart of your most prominent issues and then start brainstorming fixes—the rest of this article can help.

Develop a well-structured internal communications strategy
If you’re going to revamp your internal communications, you need a strategy. A comprehensive internal comms strategy is multifaceted. Start by measuring performance and identifying high- versus low-value activities. Then, set KPIs to improve the communication and collaboration around those activities. Next, consider what tools you can use to drive engagement. Finally, determine who will spearhead your comms plan’s implementation. Getting this all down in a structured, well-written plan will allow you to enforce standardized implementation across the board.

Invest in tools to support better collaboration and communication
The right tools can help you implement your internal communications and collaboration plan, making it easier for employees to work together. There are many useful technologies available to help. For example, with Google Docs, people can collaborate on documents in the cloud using in-document annotations. Meanwhile, project management tools like Asana and Trello simplify task management and delegation. Another effective tool is MindMup, a visual brainstorming, and mind-mapping technology. Slack is another great tool for direct messages.

Provide proper training on new processes and technologies
If you’re going to get employees to embrace new tools and strategies for communication and collaboration, you have to give them adequate support. Start by providing the proper training. My Tech Decisions offers a comprehensive primer for training employees on new tools. For example, it’s important to understand your audience and provide them with proper training formats. You also want to embrace a long learning curve. Don’t expect them to master these new technologies overnight. Provide a deadline by which the new tools will be 100% implemented and alert everyone of it. Then, offer hands-on tutorials or webinars to help them learn.

Gather employee feedback on the changes you’ve made
The last thing you want is to implement tools to boost collaboration and communication, only to discover that your workers aren’t using them. To avoid this worst-case scenario, make sure to get feedback from workers on the new processes or tech. What do they like? What could be better? Do they need more training? You can collect employee feedback through various methods, including a suggestion box, team meeting, or survey. Digital surveys are a popular choice because they allow workers to give thoughts anonymously, resulting in more honest answers.

Monitor your progress as you make changes to communication
In addition to collecting employee feedback, you can also monitor progress in your communication and collaboration channels yourself. There are many metrics you can use to measure the effectiveness of internal communications and collaboration. The right KPI, key performance indicator, will depend on the channel. For example, if you’ve introduced an employee app, you might check app download and usage rates. If you’ve initiated a company-wide newsletter, you can check open rates and clicks. You can also provide surveys to measure employee engagement at large.

Don’t be afraid to seek external help
Enacting change within an organization is never easy, especially when it comes to core competencies like communication and collaboration. If you’re struggling, consider hiring help. Often, bringing in an external, objective third party is the easiest way to make a positive change. ACT Advisory LLC can help change the way people work. This boutique research and advisory firm offers assistance in organizational change, covering everything from workplace culture to leadership and engagement. ACT aims to create a more motivated workforce.

Revisit your communications strategy regularly
An internal communications strategy and collaboration plan is something that should always be changing. You don’t create it once and never revisit it. Your workforce’s needs will change, as will your company’s needs. Towards this end, it’s important to audit your communications and collaboration planning regularly. To run an internal comms audit, start by identifying bottlenecks, asking employees for feedback, and requesting leadership to provide input too. You need to take a holistic approach that incorporates every level of the organization to get the big picture.

Good communications and collaboration are at the core of any successful company. With these assets, people can work together seamlessly, enhancing efficiency and productivity. This can ultimately boost the company’s bottom line. It can also create a more pleasant work culture, ensuring employees are happy—which, in turn, can boost retention rates. Trust the tips above to help boost your company’s collaboration and communication internally. Making these changes takes a commitment, but it’s well worth the effort when you consider the rewards.

Want to learn more about growing an efficient, organized, and thriving organization? Check out the blog.