10 Tips for Great Team Communication
I like to communicate. Some people might even think I communicate too much… but it’s my natural tendency, and I think it helps make me an effective project manager — so at least I’m using my strengths wisely!
What exactly does good communication mean? That answer is probably a bit different in every industry, and communication style varies from person to person, but there are a few basic tenets that life (and many years of experience) have taught me and which will make your working relationships so much more smooth.
Whether you’re communicating with board members, your museum playworkers team, your exhibit designers, a local network of daycares, or anyone else, I think the following communication tips will serve you well among all audiences:
Email, email, email… I like email because it provides a written record that is so easy to refer back to, and if team members have differing memories about a decision that was made, then at least everyone can refer to the email documentation and can put an end to speculation or hearsay.
When writing emails, the tone is important. Without the face-to-face component, the “straight to business” tone of some emails can inadvertently make us sound like we’re giving orders. To counteract this, I find that it sometimes helps to maintain a team dynamic if I form my thoughts into questions instead of statements. Often, all the parties already know the answer, but I try to let someone respond with what action they think they should take, instead of telling them.
Concise wording is crucial in emails. Share enough information so that everyone can have a clear understanding of what you’re talking about, but don’t muck up the message with a lot of hypotheticals or “maybe”s. Explain what you need to explain, or clearly discuss what needs to happen, and then move on.
Respond to emails in a timely manner. I really try to respond within 48 hours, maximum. A lot of the design, fabrication, and installation process is time-sensitive, and I don’t need to be the one holding up the process for no good reason. Even if I can’t fully answer someone’s questions, I can give them the courtesy of letting them know I’m working on the answers and that I will get back to them again soon.
Include all affected people/departments when writing an email. I know that no one likes to get extra email that doesn’t pertain to them, but I’ve found that it’s better to err on the side of making sure everyone stays in the loop. SO many misunderstandings and delays can be avoided if everyone who is impacted by a decision gets looped in from the very beginning of an issue.
Along that same topic, I get frustrated when I send an email to a team of people, and then someone replies only directly to me. There was a reason that I included the whole group in the original email! I recommend that if you get a group email, reply to all parties. When someone doesn’t do that with me, I then need to send another email to share what that person shared only to me, so that all the affected parties stay informed. Not the most efficient use of your time.
If you have a phone or face-to-face conversation with one group member, make it a habit to follow up with an email that restates what was agreed upon, and copy it to the entire team so that everyone knows. Try to avoid “pocket” conversations that leave someone out. Trust me, it’ll save on frustrations or misunderstandings in the long run.
Whatever the situation, we are all on the same team… and oftentimes there are compromises that can be reached with open and honest dialogue. Voice the challenges. Work together on solutions, and we’ll all come out smarter and happier in the end.
Let me share two cool tools that I use for making my email communication even more productive: Mailtrack and Boomerang. They are both add-ons for Gmail that you can download and use free (or get even more features with the paid versions).
Mailtrack lets me know when (or if) a recipient has opened my email. No claiming that you didn’t see it, ok? I can tell. Boomerang does lots of nifty stuff: it lets me schedule when my emails get sent (Am I really working at 7:00 a.m. on a Monday? You’ll never know!), it can remind me to follow up on an email if no one responds to it within a certain timeframe of my choosing, and if I am really busy and start to receive emails that are distracting me from my current tasks, I can “snooze” those emails to come back into my Inbox a little later on. I use the scheduling feature more than the others, but they’re all great.
I hope these communication tips are helpful for someone — or at the very least, some of you might understand why you receive so many emails from me. :) Send one back to me at brownknowsthat@gmail.com.
