Successful Communication Strategy to Keep the Home Office Team Productive

Many companies struggle and almost drown to keep their teams cohesive and their employees happy at the Home Office.

Is this the case for you?

Do you have unhappy employees on your team?

Problems with gossip?

Do you believe that your employees are not producing as much as before?

Inevitably, the vast majority of companies suffer from some of these problems.

And although it seems chaotic, I have news to give you: don't worry, because everything has a solution!

When you finish reading this text, you will know the answers to the following questions:

How to keep the team cohesive, satisfied, productive and avoid reworking in the Home Office?

Is it possible to make virtual communication as efficient as “face to face”?

How to stimulate virtual coffee time?

If you are looking for answers to structure your company culture, I strongly advise you to read the text about PAM method.

However, if you want to continue this journey in a deeper way, and make your company more prestigious and integrated, with more productive employees and have an environment free from any toxic competitiveness, you need bet on a successful internal communication strategy.

That's exactly what you're going to read about here in this text!

Internal communication is essential for any company, regardless of size, because it is responsible for putting all employees on the same track, that is, together pursuing a greater objective.

Through internal communication, relevant issues are shared with all employees and, more than that, it becomes a space for exchange and mutual help.

For example:

Your sales team has a goal to hit every month.

In a collaborative environment where everyone is committed to the same objective, that goal does not belong to the sales team, the goal belongs to every company.

But if this isn't exclusive to the sales team, if other employees are in the same flow...

They will refer new users, the marketing team will do everything to find Leads (interested) more qualified, the customer service team will do its best to deliver the best service and, consequently, increase customer loyalty, so that these current customers refer new customers and so on.

Every company focused on a single objective becomes a unit of thought, voice, and action.

This philosophy of employee engagement is great. But in practice, how will this make you earn more money? What are the practical impacts that improving your internal communication strategy will bring?

In practice, employees are investments.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that your employees are mere numbers, that you analyze coldly and only see trend charts.

Think of it this way: as a good investor, you would like your investment to yield as much as possible in the shortest time without risking losing your capital, right?

That's the comparison I want to make with you here: you want your employee to make as much income as possible, and to perform the job in the healthiest way possible.

That's exactly what it is:

A happy employee is more productive and generates savings for the company.

So...

Internal communication aims to:

#1 Make communication more transparent

When you have transparent, clear communication, the employee knows what to expect in the future and knows how they can do to help others. That way, there's no anxiety, there's no assumptions, there's no rivalry, there's no competition. And most importantly, there's no gossip.

Why?

“Whoever tells a story increases one point”.

Gossip is information that has passed through so many ears and mouths that a simple trip to the boss's office can already be understood as a pain in the ass.

When information is transparent and collective, there is no need to replicate that information, there is no loss of detail in the process of disseminating information.

For example: Here at Pink, we have a group called “Central Pink”. It's just a broadcasting group that authorized people can send messages to. And those people are managers and managers.

Therefore, everything is communicated there in a simple way. Thus, managers do not have to pass on this information to managers who would pass it on to subordinates, nor “leave a message”. That makes everything straightforward, cuts the phone cordless.

And consequently...

#2 Creates belonging in the hearts of employees

Hierarchy is often a problem for business communication. Who's going to tell their own boss that they're not happy with something? Who, especially at a time of economic crisis, wants to lose their job?

Because that's what the employee feels when they are going to communicate something negative...

With well-done internal communication, linear (non-hierarchical) listening, feedback culture and unidentified forms of satisfaction, it is possible to make the problems faced by employees palpable. And this is the first step in resolving any adversity: dialogue.

And that generates belonging.

How can you not feel good in a work environment where you are listened to?

It's amazing to belong to something bigger, because...

#3 Transform work into something simple and fast

Sometimes some tasks take longer than they need, because you spend more time searching for information, informing other people about the same thing over and over again due to the lack of organized and centralized communication.

And something that would be done in just 1 hour becomes a process of producing and reworking hours.

For example:

A design agency has 3 people producing a website: a UX designer, a graphic designer, and another person specialized in SEO (search optimization and organic content ranking).

Imagine that there is no group or an exclusive channel to deal with this project.

Although each one works on different pieces, there is a need for synchronicity between all parts for the puzzle to fit together.

But here's a question... actually, two questions:

Do you really think everything will turn out perfect at first, even with everyone in a corner of the country?

Do you think the project will be delivered on time?

This project will come out at some point or another, but it's going to be a very inefficient process. We know that there is rework when communication between areas is poorly done. It could be easier and faster using the right tools.

Therefore, choosing tools that facilitate the process and optimize employees' time is essential!

Let's make a brief overview of the tools available for internal communication in a company:

#1 Email for internal communication

The e-mail was created to replace the letter and today it has already been replaced. However, the great advantage of this tool is that it serves as legal proof (unlike WhatsApp conversations). So, for now, it's still a valid form for formal communication, but one that has been abandoned.

Returning to our example of a Graphic Design company that works with deadlines, projects, and art for client approval.

To communicate with the customer, this company needs to use WhatsApp and Email. But what about for internal communication? How are they going to organize themselves?

The ideal is to use task production tools, such as Trello, so that it is possible to organize who is responsible for each project, what phase the project is in, briefings together with the pieces, etc.

An entire ecosystem planned for delivery dates with short notes.

However, not only of Briefing Long live the designer. It is also necessary to have a tool for internal communication in fact.

#2 WhatsApp for internal communication

The employee uses WhatsApp, most of the time, for their personal life. And it's very difficult to keep receiving messages about projects during rest hours.

This causes exhaustion on the part of the employee, it is difficult to mix personnel with work even for legal reasons, because this constitutes overtime.

Furthermore, the organization is not guaranteed, since everything (related to all customers) would be in the company's group, so there is no segmentation.

So let's go back to the design agency example:

You could even use WhatsApp, but in this case there are only drawbacks, why:

#1 With personal WhatsApp, employees can receive messages at any time, making it difficult to separate personal and professional life and, consequently, increasing the likelihood of work-related mental illnesses, such as burnout.

#2 Mixing the topics in the same conversation can generate communication and rework noises. Imagine, 2 Lives different things that happened on different days and with different people are confused in just one art. It's going to be more work to remake the piece, not to mention the time that's wasted.

For this reason, tools are valuable communication organization weapons that optimize employees' working time and make the moment away from work a real moment of rest.

But now if you're thinking...

“Okay, I don't have a design company, do I really need an internal communication tool?”

The answer remains yes!

The Design agency was just one example, but organization is necessary in any company, regardless of the type of business. For example, if your company has several sectors, why leave all of this in just one large group on WhatsApp?

With an internal communication tool, it is possible to create groups by themes (with no user limit), by sectors or by projects to facilitate communication.

#3 Specialized internal communication tools

There are some companies that provide communication services, as we have already mentioned here on Comparison between Slack and PinkApp.

But today you will understand how to choose the best option for your company.

Therefore, the ideal is to find a tool that has:

#1 Conversation history

Look for paid or free tools that don't have a history limit.

Have you ever thought about losing the initial messages of a project you've been doing for months, because your tool has a history limit?

That sucks!

#2 Integration with other platforms

Having an exclusive platform for internal communication is wonderful and, as we have already seen, it keeps your entire creative and productive process organized, but having tools to support its use is even better.

Therefore, give preference to tools that can be integrated with others, especially WhatsApp, so that employees have the possibility to choose the option they prefer.

#3 Privacy

It is possible that your company's employees use internal communication for various purposes.

For example:

Your endomarketing team wants to take a surprise action. Is it possible to organize the event using the same tool that other collaborators use for other purposes?

Of course! But the ideal is that in this case, choose a tool with hidden groups and, in the best of all worlds, that can be protected by a password, even in conversations integrated with WhatsApp.

So there's no danger of anyone discovering and ruining the surprise.

#4 Direct messages

Do you have any particular feedback for someone? The ideal is that this should be discussed privately and through direct messages between collaborators (without going through any group), so everything is preserved.

#5 Groups or channels by segment

You've probably experienced the chaos of communicating via email and WhatsApp. Then you know about the pain we're going to talk about here.

Look for tools where you can segment conversations by type, subject, specific project, so everything stays in your little house and makes everything easier to find.

This helps a lot in the faster execution of all the projects your collaborators are working on.

These are the 5 main characteristics you need to look for in a good tool:

And the PinkApp It is a good example of a tool that meets the necessary requirements for you to take your internal business communication to another level.

So...

Now you're equipped with a successful internal communication strategy so you don't make mistakes when choosing your internal communication tool, you can put an end to the cordless telephone and the low productivity of your team once and for all.

With well-structured and transparent communication combined with a well-thought-out organizational culture that reflects the company's values, there is no doubt that your company will stand out in the market by retaining its best employees and attracting promising new talent from the market.