It is a well-known fact that communication is a must to run an organisation smoothly. But in reality, corporates often fail to maintain the basic modes of communication, partly to secure the notion of superiority and partly because of a lack of understanding of effective communication.
As a business leader, you need to explore the types of communication channels in the workplace to ensure your employees feel connected and appreciated at every point. There are numerous effective communication channels that top corporations use to make their internal bond stronger. Here are the 10 best communication channels along with a clear understanding of how their implementations benefit workplace management.
An Overview of Communication Channels in the Workplace
Communication channels refer to the various modes of communication that an organisation use to amplify connections between their workforce. These can be those weekly meetings, emails, video conferencing, or regular voice calls. Traditionally it was limited to written letters, phone calls and face-to-face meetings. But in the past few years, the types of communication channels have expanded greatly due to the wide acceptance of the internet and social media.
- With the onset of the work-from-home concept, exploring new types of communication channels in the workplace becomes more vital. Communication channels like internal social media, intranet, podcasts, blogs, and video conferencing thus gradually surpassing the traditional approaches of communication.
- Your choice of communication channel will greatly depend on your type of business and your employee’s preferences. You can implement the best communication channels after holding a survey and auditing the data of employees’ consent for different communication types.
10 Best Communication Channels in the Workplace
Sticking to one or two communication channels is not feasible in this global inclusive world of today. You need to utilize a variety of them and let your employees decide to gather information from their preferred channels. Below are the 10 best types of communication channels in the workplace that you can use;
1. Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is now one of the best ways to communicate with employees working from remote locations. It was famous in multinational companies operating in different demographic areas. However, after the introduction of the work-from-home concept, Indian companies are equally embracing this as an icebreaker among employees working from different locations.
2. Voice and Conference Calls
While video conferencing demands visual representations, voice calls and conferences aid in quickly delivering the message without any prior preparation. In domestic as well as international communications, the importance of voice and conference calls is still unmatched. Because this allows quick and informal brief talks between the management and the distant employees.
3. Voice Notes
Voicemails or voice notes are important one-way conversational types of communication channels in the workplace for brief and urgent messages. Employers can give quick advice or responses to the employees in voice notes. Employees can ask simple questions in voicemails without disturbing the employer directly by making a call. An additional benefit is they can replay the voice note again and again to understand the message.
4. Internal Social Media
Top tech companies curate and use their own social media handles to communicate with their employees in group chats, posts and voice and video calls. While emerging companies use popular social media sites to make their separate groups and pages to connect and converse with employees and a greater audience. With more than 55% market share, Facebook right now is the favourite social media handle in India for both personal and professional communication.
5. Notice Board
This old-school communication channel did not lose its glory over time. Because in the piles of information, the brief one-liner messages in a workplace immediately grab the attention of all. However, not all sorts of information is suitable for notice boards. Only put the ones with a set of guidelines or declarations or specific announcements that do not require immediate actions.
6. Emails and Texts
Emails are one of the dominant types of communication channels in the workplace. Employers use emails to communicate not only with their employees but also with their customers. That is why the email advertising market is right now estimated to be worth $225.40 million in India. Text messages, on the other hand, generate quicker responses from employees as texts quickly get their attention with a notification.
7. Face-to-Face Meetings
The most authentic way of communication is of course the face-to-face meetings. No other communication channels can beat the effectiveness of this approach in terms of building connectivity, integrity and sincerity among working professionals of an organisation. Therefore, it is important to conduct face-to-face meetings with employees monthly or at least quarterly to reward their achievements and set them towards future proposals.
8. Employee Survey
The above communication channels offer conversational scopes between the employee and the employers. However, employee surveys are the best way to know the hearts of your staff separately. This one-on-one conversation gives a greater insight into the employee’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Anonymous reporting can be an effective way to survey employees’ disagreements or complaints on any company policy or member.
9. Project Management Tools
Project management tools streamline task delegation, progress tracking, and hence teamwork collaboration. They align everyone around tasks and timelines, thereby minimizing miscommunication. However, they require maintenance discipline and sometimes have to be learned by new users.
10. Internal Newsletter
Internal newsletters are just perfect for updates on the whole company, its announcements, or achievements. They provide a formal, uniform way to give information across the organization, though it is a one-way exchange that limits interactivity.
All these types of communication channels in the workplace are effective in their own way. These methods of communication will help you build a lifelong relationship based on trust, accountability, and transparency.
Conclusion
To generate a healthy work environment, utilise most of the types of communication channels in the workplace. As corporates are now working with a more diverse workforce, it becomes vital for them to deliver messages through different means of communication.
Read More: The Role of Chartered Accountants in Business Growth
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FAQs
What are the most common communication channels in the workplace?
Face-to-face meetings, video conferencing, voice calls and emails, are right now the most common workforce communication channels you can say. Conversations in social media, blog post storytelling, and employee surveys are some other effective communication tools nowadays that you must implement in your company.
Why do individuals use different communication channels in the workplace?
People use different communication channels to ensure maximum reach to various sorts of employees. For the younger workforce internal social media, blogs and podcasts can be more appealing sources of information, while the older workforce can still prefer face-to-face meetings, emails, and notices to gather work information.
What is the role of a communication channel in the workplace?
The role of a communication channel in a workplace is to exchange information between the employees and their respective leaders or the greater management. This is vital to maintain a positive work environment with employees who are well aware of their duties and goals.
How to improve communication channels in any organisation?
To improve communication channels, always use the latest tools or software and automate your generic responses. Plan for weekly or monthly meetings and offer constructive feedback to your employees whenever possible.
