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8 ways to improve team communication and avoid misunderstandings

While creating, a good team is critical to achieving high levels of productivity and achieving common goals, often conflicts that may arise among its members can at any time create rivalries and create a hostile climate of non-dealing such disputes. weather.

But this is not the only threat that affects the proper functioning of the equipment.

In addition to being often the cause of clashes between the members that comprise them, communication failures are also often responsible for greatly affecting their optimal performance and create misunderstandings that generate inconvenience internally and Also in the face of customers.

For this reason, combating the causes that often lead to the presentation of the famous misunderstandings on the teams and improving communication at all levels, is essential for good coordination among its members and also can achieve together a good performance.

Aware of this need, the following are some recommendations that you can take into account to achieve this purpose.

  1. Make sure your team’s messages are clear, direct, and specific

Any message that is transmitted within a team must be sufficiently clear and specific so that it does not give rise to doubts or be open to different interpretations.

Even when we think that in many cases people should know X or Y thing or be aware of their responsibilities, sometimes it is better to address them as if they had no idea of anything, than to fall into the error of obviating things that might not Know for more than we think we should, and whose knowledge is fundamental to carry out a certain activity properly.

  1. Clearly define roles within the team

In addition to having a general idea of how the organization works together and knowing how the performance of its area impacts on the others and vice versa, it is necessary that each member within a team knows very well what their responsibilities are and at the same time know what they are the responsibilities of their peers.

Thus, the greater the clarity in this and the better defined the roles within the team, the greater the likelihood that the gear will function correctly and the lower the risk of confusion between people (something that usually happens when the instruction on the work to be done is not clear enough, nor is it well defined in relation to what others should do.

 

  1. Develop listening skills

Listening is a skill that not only leaders must put into practice but also all people within a team must strive to develop.

A good way to assess and develop this skill on the part of the leader is to ask any team member at a meeting to remember something about what another partner said after having made an intervention, or to have them give some instructions to a Person is again right to what he was told to make sure he understands well the task he must perform.

Taking into account that one of the most common evils of our time has to do with the lack of attention, this is at the time one of the things that most must work the leaders in order to avoid that because of this there are problems of communication.

  1. Make good use of mail

Although there are currently tools specifically designed to work as a team and avoid overloading mail with thousands of conversations to follow up on, it can be tricky (and sometimes even find a conversation or mail especially), many people use this tool in Excess without realizing that there are things that it is better to treat them face to face, knowing that not being able to express a message with all the wealth that does allow us to have the other person or others in front, the mail can leave messages open To multiple interpretations by the receivers and also to be taken in multiple forms.

For this reason, in order to avoid misunderstandings, when it comes to working as a team, it is better to subordinate this tool to dealing with informational issues, such as pointing out those important points that were addressed during a meeting.

It should also be noted that just like any text editor, mail services or clients have options of underlining, bullets and many others that we can use to provide greater readability and emphasize certain things that we want to point out and that Are key in the message. For example highlight some information that is attached so that people actually download it.

  1. Take time to give or respond to a message

At the strategic level communication plays a very important role. Things like answering an email to a customer for example usually do not take lightly and require taking enough time to give a response that generates a good impression. In addition, it is necessary to stop and think about whether it is necessary to copy someone from the team and assign some task, send an attachment or include some other matter that needs to be resolved.

The same thing happens in other cases. Whether we want to resolve a conflict with a partner which takes a lot of tact and avoid discussing “hot”, or to direct a group of people to communicate something, to avoid rushing to tackle these tasks and to think very well about how we can Manage them to achieve a positive effect and that in substance the message we send is interpreted in the way we want is key.

  1. Let people express themselves with confidence.

Whether it is ideas, questions or suggestions, people should be able to express themselves without fear and feel that their opinion is valid.

In this sense removing the physical barriers that exist between the team members and the leader can help to create an environment of transparency and collaboration that helps to reinforce the feeling of trust and at the same time encourages the participation of the people.

  1. Lean on Technology

In addition to those previously mentioned in the link that we include, these can help you optimize time and avoid distractions by allowing you to create videoconferences or webinars that are automatically recorded for later reference (which for example prevents you from having to send Mails summarizing some of the points discussed and improving communication).

  1. Have your team learn from mistakes.

Even when it comes to improving communication and avoiding misunderstandings, these can appear at any time and for different reasons. However, the bad thing is not that mistakes are made but not learned from them. In this sense documenting this kind of thing and using something in the company like what knowledge management proposes can be of great help.

In conclusion

Combat those motives that often cause misunderstandings and improve communication at all levels are two aspects that must care and work teams to minimize conflicts between their members and ensure that they can realize their full potential. Through hosting some recommendations like the ones, we have given throughout the post, these can achieve.

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