Bridging Miscommunication Gaps Within Team

“We need to talk “

Did you cringe a little ? The above sentence can cause a lot of anxiety, that something is dreadfully wrong.

Poor communication can hinder teamwork such as team communication, presumption and sometimes even lose the trust in a team member. Good communication alongside discipline and responsibility can serve as a very essential part of any project success. Discipline and responsibility can be more of accounted on an individual level, but communication is more of a team effort.

How can you at individual level avoid poor communication? :

Listen: Before presenting your opinion about anything, listen keenly to what is being discussed in the team and what your team members are emphasized. Often it happens that there are various distractions and we forget to pay attention to what is being discussed. The lack of paying attention can miss out a very important point. To avoid loss of data, you can even write down small notes in order to remember most of the discussion

Carousal of meetings: Often it so happens that there are short video conferencing or calls or communications via mail. This detachment is a huge communication barrier. Having stand-up meetings regularly to have a touch base and solicit feedback from team members can really prove effective in good communication within the team. Make sure that you encourage your team to have regularized stand-up meetings and actively participate in them. Informal get togethers within the team, like team lunches, parties, etc., go a long way toward turning colleagues into friends, which inevitable leads to a much deeper level of trust & consequently, better communication

Brainstorming: This can be an effective way to break ice between team members. These sessions can really be helpful to know an individual’s mindset better. It is a creative technique that produces numerous ideas. One can be expressed about self thought process during such sessions.

Speaking the right Language: We all tend to prefer “language” for communication. Some people understand better when provided a statistical data, whereas others may favour graphs and pie charts. Many will prefer story telling and anecdotes. In order to make every team member in sync, it is important to present your view in a “language” that everyone understands.

Respond promptly: The response time that is taken can effectively matter communication. A tardy response can leave the front person with an impression that you are too busy to reply. Procrastination may lead to major communication gaps. Responding back instantly as simple as “ I will get back to you “ can be really effective. Also checking your mails, messages and missed out calls on a regular basis can keep you updated.

Taking ownership: As a part of a team, every member in it should know that what roles they play to achieve goals. For this it becomes vital that you take ownership of a task and manage it throughout the process.

Affable: Personalities of individual team members also impact their communication with their teammates. A cordial & gregarious personality, makes it much more comfortable for teammates to approach you.

Conclusion: 

Last but not least, better communication is a step towards an efficient team. The matter of fact is that we should not restrict communication only in meetings but have a transparency with team members.

About Author:

Ammara Ansari is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: ammara.ansari@spluspl.com