How to Improve Written Communication in Your Team and Increase Productivity?

Want to keep your team efficient & nurture a positive work atmosphere? Start with team communication.

First published at https://www.get5.io/blog/improve-written-communication-team-increase-productivity

As a leader, you have a lot of responsibilities. From keeping your team efficient to nurturing a positive work atmosphere, you need to handle it all. You must constantly work on improving your relationship with your team as well as their relationship with each other. While there are many ways to do this, effective and clear written communication is key.

Advocate open communication, and you’ll be making way for positive changes.

To increase your team’s productivity, and keep everyone on the same page, you have to find a way to improve written communication in your team. If you’re not sure how to do it, but want to find out, just keep reading. We’ve created this ultimate guide for improving written communication in the workplace that will help you boost team productivity and efficiency.

1. Advocate Open Communication

Your team looks up to you and follows the rules that you set. They’re counting on you to make way for positive changes and help them reach their maximum potential.

This is why a change for improved communication needs to start with you.

You have to show your team that you want them to:

• send you emails
• communicate their problems
• ask for advice, opinion, or feedback

To make sure they’re aware that they can write to you whenever they feel the need, all you have to do is let them know.

Tell them in person, or end your emails with notes such as:

“Please, let me know if there are any questions/you have uncertainties/you need to further discuss this, etc.”

2. Choose the Right Channels

For your team to be communicating properly, you need to help them find the right channels to do it. You can test out different versions and team collaboration tools and decide which channel suits the needs of your team best.

Here’s what we suggest you try:

• LinkedIn
• Trello
• Slack
• Teamwork
• Microsoft Teams
• Hi5’s Noticeboard feature (available on Desktop and Microsoft Teams)

Once you set up a proper channel, you’ll be happy to learn that your team members will be more willing to communicate, collaborate, and improve their relationships.

3. Schedule Assessments

To make sure you’re nurturing positive written communication, you have to communicate regularly. This goes for all types of workplaces, especially remote ones.

And since so many of us are working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s essential that we schedule regular assessments. Even something as simple as a Google doc or shared slide deck can be used.

Here’s what we have in mind:

• one a week or month, you write an assessment of the previous period
• review the goals, workflow and results
• ask the whole team to join in(virtual or safely distant)
• let them speak their mind, give suggestions and share their thoughts

This way, you’ll show them how important it is for you to hear what they have to say. By scheduling written communication, you’re making it more important and meaningful for the entire team.

4. Write Professionally

You and everyone on the team need to write like a professional. That means that everything has to be proofread and polished before you hit send, publish, or pin. Not only will this show that you’re serious about good communication, but it will also cultivate a culture of reflection and continuous improvement.

Here’s what to look out for:

• grammar mistakes
• spelling mistakes and typo’s
• syntax errors

To make sure your writing is polished to perfection, and you’ve managed to proofread everything to the smallest detail, you can get some help online. For instance, you can check out editing and proofreading services if you feel you need help with improving your writing.

5. Provide Valid Feedback

As a team leader, it’s your job to keep people engaged, motivated, and happy to be a part of your team. But, this doesn’t mean you should praise whatever they do or pretend not seeing their mistakes.

On the contrary, it means you have to provide valid feedback.

Here’s what we have in mind:

• critically analyze the work of all team members,
• give them both positive and negative feedback,
• make your feedback valuable, informative, and educational.

If a team member sees you went thought the trouble of writing a report on their results, they’ll see they matter to you and the rest of the team.

Your feedback will show them how to grow and improve, and that’s the biggest gift you can give them.

6. Keep it Simple

You and all your team members need to keep the communication simple if you want it to make any positive effect. You all have a lot of work to do, and nobody has the time to read endless pages of reports or emails.

This is why you have to write following these simple rules:

• keep it short
• be concise
• go straight to the point
• write short but valuable sentences
• remove everything that doesn’t bring value

This means that there’s no room for jokes, fluffy words, repetition, or anything that isn’t directly connected to the topic of your written conversation.

If everyone follows these rules, nobody would skip reading the emails or ignore the messages you’re sending.

7. Write Down The Expectations

While you may be communicating great in your live meetings, it’s always a great idea to write the most important points down. This goes especially for assigning tasks and roles to individual team members.

Here’s what to write down:

• each person’s tasks
• expectations on the project
• deadlines
• project stages

Put everything in writing and make sure all team members have access to this report. This way, you’ll secure that everyone knows what they’re expected to do, how, and when.

Final Thoughts

Written communication is equally as important as oral communication. To increase your team’s productivity, you have to ensure you’re a role model, and you initiate positive written communication habits.

Use the tips we’ve shared above to improve the productivity of your team and help them establish a strong and healthy work communication.

Author’s bio

Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at GetGoodGrade, an aggregator for useful college resources and websites. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.