How Technology Can Improve Team Spirit And Internal Communication
technology can improve team spirit

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In the last decades, technology has enabled the development of new communication practices that are more accessible and effective than they were a few decades ago.

How Technology Can Improve Team Spirit And Internal Communication

You know that company where your friends work and everything seems to go wrong? They often complain about last minute changes in daily planning, outdated reporting processes and news that are spread by rumors rather than by official communication. All these problems affect a company’s results by decreasing employee motivation.

Good internal communication could help solve these problems, by easing the transmission and spread of information within the organization.
This will enable the whole team to work together and in harmony, ensuring that everyone knows what the company’s current situation is, and where it is going.

How can technology help improve internal communication in organizations?

In the last decades, technology has enabled the development of new communication practices that are more accessible and effective than they were a few decades ago. By streamlining the internal communication process in companies, managers are able to improve relationships between employees in different teams and consequently increase productivity.

Advantages of using technology to improve internal communication:

1. Streamlining processes – creating an internal communication plan, using communication channels such as the intranet, corporate email, telephone and meetings, of which videoconferences, webinars, task management software, instant communication services, among others, are part of.

2. Improvement of the organizational environment – good internal communication develops interpersonal relationships, increases feedback between departments and improves team spirit.

3. Increased productivity – effective internal communication based on an organizational culture with regular feedbacks making employees feel that their work is seen, is reflected in increased motivation and a higher productivity of the whole team.

However, investment in technology does not, by itself, translate into effective communication. One of the great challenges of internal communication in companies nowadays is to be able to capture employees’ attention.

Despite the benefits of technology, it may cause many distractions in the working day. In the midst of so much information and e-mails, it may be difficult for the employees to know what is happening around them and be attentive to the company’s official information.

There are also other challenges: the lack of communication skills of senior leaders and managers, the lack of adequate technological resources, communication noise, among others, can damage the relationship among the whole team.

1. Lack of communication skills of leaders
The lack of feedback is one of the reasons for organizational demotivation. The communication failures in the company are not in the lack of channels, but in the absence of the leaders’ own communication with their teams.

2. Confusion in internal communication – here are some examples:
Physical structure: noisy furniture, dysfunctional equipment, excessively busy external environment, among others;
Psychological factors: some employees may have difficulties communicating or being understood. To get around this problem, it is advised to pay attention to employees mental health and emotional intelligence skills; 
Linguistic difficulties: with the current cultural multiplicity in companies, we find more employees speaking a different language, this can also be a communication barrier. To solve this problem, a common language should be stipulated and foreign language classes offered. 

3. Lack of resources 
Sometimes the communication channels or information transfer techniques used are outdated solutions, dysfunctional and inadequate to the employees’ habits.

One of the tools that will enable leaders to improve their behavior and attitude around communication is Executive Coaching.
Personalized coaching makes you aware of your behaviors and how these are perceived by your team.

An analysis of the culture of your company or your team provides crucial information to increase productivity, and stimulate meaning and purpose in the workplace.

Communication gaps in the company are not due to the absence of channels, but to the lack of effective communication itself.
Feedback is one of the most important practices to keep the organizational environment healthy and the quality of production rising.

Cristina Ferreira da Costa
President & Founder
CDCConsulting Partners, LLC

CRISTINA DA COSTA

+1 (404) 528 9792
[email protected]
cdcconsultingpartners.com

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