In a workplace, communication is as important as in any other sphere of life. The communication culture in a business impacts the daily work, the atmosphere and the coworker’s cooperation. In times of rewriting work and work culture, open communication becomes the key to a good working environment for many businesses. But what is open communication? How can you as a leader build it and what steps need to be taken for it?
What is open communication?
Open communication means little to no hierarchal barriers when it comes to sharing and promoting ideas and thoughts. In an open communication culture, people can express their opinions or feedback openly to one another and will be heard. A business that is striving to implement an open communication culture will encourage all employees to express their own thoughts, include them in brainstorming debates, and create opportunities for employee’s free discussion with each other.
Why is open communication important?
When allowing and encouraging everyone to participate and speak, employees feel more valuable to the company, which might improve loyalty and productivity. It can also improve engagement and therefore commitment to the business goals, help with inclusion and generate more constructive feedback, strengthen the team bond, help individuals with realizing that their work is important to the company and lead to greater accountability as well as enhancing the trust. Working for a company that appreciates constructive criticism and verbal engagement makes an employee less likely to feel overlooked or not seen.
Key steps to implement an open communication culture
To implement an open communication culture, the business first must make it part of the company culture. This can happen by verbally announcing it, encourage workers to express their feedback and reacting appropriate to criticism, listening to ideas, and considering them seriously but it can also be supported by installing an employee communication software, that allows the employees to share their ideas, thoughts and feedbacks at a digital level.
Secondly, the management has to be trained in communicating openly. The company leaders must be a role model to the workers when it comes to open communication. Managers need to learn how to encourage workers to openly share their ideas and thoughts, without having to fear any negative consequences. Therefore, both leaders and managers should also consistently ask employees for their input and making sure, that everyone feels heard and positively recognized when they speak up.
Another step to enhance an open communicate culture is also to conduct anonymous surveys on internal matters. By granting anonymity, employees might be more encouraged to share their ideas or critics freely. When employees afterwards realize that their critic has no negative consequences but instead is heard and change is happening, a more trusting environment can be created to communicate openly and not anonymous the next time.
Lastly, efficient was to share ideas should be implemented, like the already mentioned communication software but also scheduling regular meetings to get the employee’s feedback. The employees’ input should always be answered with respecting their ideas and thoughts on a professional level.