
Are They Really Getting Me?
Effective Communication Strategies For Start-Ups
“The better we are at communicating, the more effective we are at achieving our hopes and dreams” (Alessandra, Hunsacker, 1993)
Whether you are the leader or manager of a multi-national company or the leader of a small business or a start-up, effective communication is key to the success of the organization. Even in your personal life, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively to yourself has a huge role in determining your success and effectiveness as an individual.
In this article, I am going to talk about how start-ups can use effective communication strategies within the organization (employees in general) to achieve their goals and enhance their survival.
A look at effective communication
Research has shown that companies that have effective communication are more effective at achieving goals and making profit. Obviously, communication is the heartbeat of any organization, and for a start-up, it is even more crucial. For employees to see themselves as part of the organization and see the bigger picture, especially for a start-up, communication must be effective.
Think of communication as the life-blood of your organization, when it stops flowing to a particular tissue or organ or when it is blocked from reaching any part, that part suffers and becomes inactive and eventually dies.
In order to keep the goals of the organization in the minds of the people, and to win their hearts, it is important to use the right communication.
As a start-up, one of the fundamental things you need to ensure is in place is continuous flow of communication. This is because business and marketing systems are now more complex than ever and the ability to effectively adapt employees to these systems is what will determine your success as an organization.
Generally, people feel left out when they are excluded from communication. It is important for you to keep some company secrets from employees, but they have to know what they need to know. Procedures, values, and working tools must be effectively understood by employees. The successes as well as the failures must be communicated to employees to make them feel part of the organization.
With effective communication, the mission, vision, and goals of the organization can be effectively grasped and pursued by each member of the organization. The development of a strategic internal communications and its implementation can provide a number of benefits to organizations such as keeping employee motivated and engaged (Black Enterprise, Clemons, pg46).
As a start-up, you must understand that the organization has a goal it is working towards, and you must also understand that the different people in the organization have different goals they are working towards. The organization’s ability to achieve its goal is termed success and that of the individuals to achieve their goals is termed as success. What is common to both is success.
In order to synchronize the individual’s goal with that of the organization, communication must be used effectively to explain the success of the organization to include that of the individual. Then at the end, both parties achieve success.
The ability of the organization to direct the actions, attitudes, priorities, choices, and interests of the individuals to align with that of the organization’s is what will determine the effectiveness of the organization.
For example, by getting to know the dreams and aspirations of members, you could align them with similar roles that will make the fulfillment of that role equivalent to fulfilling their desires. This leads to job satisfaction and good performance is what follows. This also stimulates creativity and involvement.
As a leader or manager, you should be able to make employees see how by playing their roles in the organization well, they will be promoting their own interests as well. So this calls for positive work relationships between employees and between leaders and employees.
For a start-up, there are usually few employees, that means it is easier to get to know one other and work together. But in order to do this successfully, leaders and mangers must see individuals from different perspectives and approach them differently. This also means communication should be tailored more to individuals based on their preferences.
It will be wrong for you to classify all members of your organizations under one umbrella. By seeing and relating to them uniquely, you are able to build a rapport with each person uniquely, so communication becomes more directed and thus more effective.
The effective organization is one that is able to to unite the different people with different dreams and aspirations with the unique goal of the company. The most effective way to do this is through communication that is clear, well-understand, and achieves its purpose.
An effective communication can only be achieved using the effective and appropriate communication strategies.
Four Strategies For Effective Communication
- Frequent Face-to-Face Interactions
As a start-up, there are many things you might be concerned about as a leader or manager. But the best concern should be how to align your members together to achieve a goal. In my own experience I have learnt that the more employees stay together and interact, the better the group cohesion.
When you have frequent interactions with each other, the members become strengthened and bonds are formed. Using this strategy, the goals of the organization can be shared over and over again until everyone understands them. These interactions are best in groups and also on personal levels.
At such interactions also, members are able to share their difficulties and challenges, including their fears. Under these situations, it is best to address the individuals as the individual is able to relate and appreciate what you are saying more through facial expressions, tone, and body language.
It is important that you show genuine concern for them and address their fears. It is best to speak to their strengths and encourage them rather than making the perceived fear non-existent. You can speak to them to assure them of how they are well-able to overcome those challenges using the available tools that the organization has.
2. Practice Communication
As a leader or a manager, communication is your greatest tool to inspire and motivate group action. For a start-up, it more important to use communication to encourage members to see the big future. Without their ability to see the big future, they are more likely to give up.
When you want to communicate anything to employees, try practicing what you are going to say. Put yourself in their shoes and try to illicit similar reactions and expected responses. Address every aspect of what you are going to tell them and make them see the possibility in the impossibility.
Analyse the questions and address them before you meet them. This will help you identify the loopholes in the message and then help you to make the message as clear and simple as possible. However, be expectant of other surprises.
3. Listen to Your Employees
After communicating a message to your employees, it is very crucial to determine how well they understood the message. Don’t assume that they understood it, and even if they did you might want to know how they felt about it.
Let’s say you communicated a goal to them, it is important for you to know whether they deem the goal a possible task or not. Find out respectively what they need to enhance their ability to achieve their part of the goal.
One way to do this is to ask them to set individual or group targets and objectives that will eventually take them to the goal. If your employees don’t know about goal setting, teach them or get a professional to teach them.
Once you get to know their opinions, it will help you address them and then change their perspectives and focus. The potential of your organization depends on the potentials of the people. Even if you are a good leader and you have poorly performing employees, the organization will not be able to move forward.
It is important that in communicating to employees you make them understand why what you are communicating is important. This helps to get their focus. When employees understand the role they play in the fulfillment of the organizational goals and the importance that achieving the goal will mean in their lives, they are more likely to commit.
Conclusion
Communication still stands as the most effective way to achieve group support, cohesion, and finally to achieve results.
As a leader of a start-up, it is important for you to build your communication skills and direct the organization to the achievement of its goals.
The future holds endless opportunities so go for them.