Communication: The real key to business efficiency

To stay relevant, competitive, and effective, companies today are constantly looking for new ways to be more efficient.

While a lot can, and should, be said about automating as many tasks as possible, the real key to business efficiency lays in how people within an organization structure their communication.

Anyone who has ever been involved in a project knows the feeling of frustration and dissatisfaction when projects that are so close to the finish line are left “rotting on the vine” because they are waiting for some feedback or procedural step that has gotten hung up somewhere on the line.

Is the solution to have more meetings? Send more emails? Use more apps?

Open Communication 

Open communication is key in breaking up bottlenecks, but it’s not something that you can just mandate into a company. Open communication is a cultural facet of a company that has to be fostered by upper management and encouraged all the way down the line.  Feedback and ideas need to be sought out, encouraged, and shared across departments.

In today’s quest for “synergy” departments have to work hard to be collaborative, instead of isolated from each other–or worse: rivals. For example, Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup says that: “Startups break down the distinction between product and marketing.”  Where marketing and product development used to be distinct departments, Ries suggests that marketing research drive product development. This calls for the need for these two departments to have constant and open communication to have a clear idea on strategy, projects, and direction. The same can be true of all departments.  The more departments talk with each other, the more they can see areas for cooperation and greater streamlining.

Face to Face Meetings 

Some companies have 10 minute daily meetings with everyone to update on goals, accomplishments and general announcements. This is a guaranteed way to know that everyone received the information-instead of an email blast that becomes number 1,001 in unread messages.

Speaking of emails, they are some of the most cumbersome and ineffective ways to communicate. Whenever possible, employees should be encouraged to chat face to face (or at least over the phone). Sometimes it seems like sending a question in an email is an efficient way to get an answer fast, but often times emails are drowned, missed, require follow-up questions, take too long in composition or get completely convoluted with forwards, cc’s, reply all’s and lost attachments.

Short, face-to-face interactions speed up answering a questions (and all the follow-up questions that occur to you when you hear the initial answer). It also speeds up the clarification or problem solving process. If need be, to limit these conversations from being interruptions, you can schedule the time with a person. Simply ask for a 10-15 minute block to discuss the issue, and come prepared to get your questions answered.

Uninterrupted (no communication) Work Time 

However, sometimes there’s too many communication channels. There is not only your office phone, your text messages on your cell, Skype, Google hangouts, and other messenger app to provide constant distractions to the day. Scheduling uninterrupted work time is as important as scheduling face to face meetings. Putting these communication devices on hold for an hour or two at a time to focus on a task without stopping three times an hour to answer questions can keep communication effective and not distracting or drawn out.

While automating tasks is a great way to make your company more efficient (or at least seem more efficient), having effective communication procedures in places is really the most relevant and important way to save time, eliminate mistakes and process correct information faster and more effectively. Automation in conjunction with a culture of open and efficient communication is the key to true business efficiency. Managing the human element is complex, but if it can be done in conjunction with helpful business software, your company can speed up and stay ahead.