5 quick wins: staff communication
Communication between staff is key to a happy and successful business. Here are five tips to try out to improve communication.
- Listen to your staff. It is all too easy for staff meetings to turn into a list of announcements followed by training. Think about when staff get a chance to have their say.
- Realise that different people communicate in different ways. Someone may be quite willing to raise a burning issue in a meeting, while another person may prefer to raise it one-to-one. Give staff the chance to speak to you, in and out of regular meetings.
- Consider a staff survey as another way to test the temperature of how everyone is getting on. If you only have a few staff, this still works as a way to generate new ideas and unearth issues.
- Look for training in communication. We often think that because talking comes naturally we are all good communicators. In fact, there are lots of tricks and tips to getting your message across, and really understanding the other person’s point of view. What’s great is that better communication often leads to better sales.
- Offer incentives. Take the time to ask staff what incentives would motivate them. It could be a bonus at the end of the year, nights out, tickets or vouchers. Some people may prefer small regular incentives to one big one. Be clear what the practice needs to achieve to gain the incentives: it is a good idea to ensure this is a ‘whole practice’ goal that everyone can contribute to. Consider smaller monthly incentives (cake on Fridays) as well as bigger ones.