Sometimes even when talking to a friend we can’t express ourselves or they don’t quite understand what we’re trying to say. In this case, the message does not reach the recipient correctly.
This phenomenon in which, for some reason, the sender’s message isn’t understood correctly by the receiver is called communication ‘noise’.
If this is common among friends and people with whom we choose to live together, imagine companies!
Noise in business communication is a factor that can generate errors, delays and rework that you can easily avoid with the help of technology.
In this context, digital transformation and the new way of working play a key role in eliminating noise in organizational communication.
In this post, we will show you 5 very common forms of business communication noise and how they can be avoided with the help of new technologies that are being used to transform the way we work.
Avoiding Business Communication Noise
The new way of working is connected, collaborative and gives more freedom of action, both for companies and employees.
In order for this to happen effectively and minimize noise in business communication, cloud computing and the automation of processes, among several other technologies, need to play a part.
See 5 examples of noise and how to overcome them in your company.
1- Handoffs
At first glance, the word handoff may seem difficult, but the concept is simple.
Every time a task moves from one system to another, or from one team to another, or between teams and systems, there needs to be a correct transfer of the information and instructions about that task. We call this passage of information a handoff.
There’s a lot of handoff strategies, all created to avoid noise in business communication, which causes problems in this transference of information.
One of them is to create a source of truth. This is a place where all company employees can find the information they need, such as a shared drive, for example.
Another strategy is process automation. With it, information is passed through electronic forms that provide the necessary information to those who will use them, automatically and in real time.
2- Inter-employee business communication noise
In addition to having a single source of truth, peer-to-peer communication can be improved through the use of internal communication systems.
Slack is an example that has stood out, but there are several other solutions.
Using shared calendars allows everyone to know what others are doing and when they can count on them.
In addition, text documents, spreadsheets, slide shows, and forms that more than one member of the company can edit in a collaborative and real-time format allow for an easy exchange of information, dramatically reducing the number of emails circulating.
These files organized on a drive are much easier to find and share, as well as having a history of all changes, which even points out who made them and when.
3- Leader – employee business communication noise
E-mail messages are often long and asynchronous, meaning: the receiver and the sender don’t interact at the same time. This can cause a lot of business communication noise.
And even instant text messages, which are fast and agile, present another common defect to e-mails: the absence of body language.
Often, a boss needs to talk face-to-face with an employee. But one or the other could be on a business trip, working in another city or even working from home.
In this case, the use of a video conferencing application is a great idea. It can be the difference between correctly understanding a message or the creation of friction.
Being able to converse face-to-face with another person, even through video, greatly enhances communication, reducing noise and misinterpretations.
Also, read The 10 Pitfalls of Email Usage to Track Tasks
4- Inter-departmental business communication noise
Imagine that the finance department has a spreadsheet where they control all the inflows of resources in the company.
The sales department has a control sheet for all sales made.
As well, marketing has a control of the billing generated by the campaigns.
All of these worksheets deal with the same information. But each of them set up this information differently.
And, almost certainly, there is a lot of duplicated data.
By using one ERP system, which integrates all the business information, you avoid this multiplicity of information. In fact, departments often closely guard their information, as many aren’t willing to share.
Shared drives and automated tasks are also ways to avoid this business communication noise caused by “niche” training. That is departments that consider themselves proprietors of business information.
5- Business communication noise between directors and employees
A company must deploy its strategic plans tactically.
This task falls to directors, who translate organizational goals into objectives that each of their departments must meet.
This information is broader and needs to be complementary and synergistic.
Sharing them with your team is just not enough. Board members need to make other departments aware, albeit in a less detailed way, of their goals and objectives.
In this way, departments don’t accidentally pursue conflicting objectives or perform redundant tasks.
A very efficient way of spreading this kind of information through a company is a business communication channel very popular nowadays: corporate social networks, such as G + for companies.
In it, employees have profiles and can follow news from all departments or even special projects through a timeline.
They can support and comment, spontaneously and in an environment in which everyone knows: social media.
Does your company face some of these business communication noise problems? Follow these recommendations and adopt the new way of working in your business.
You’ll see that the results are amazing.
This post was written by Safetec, a company established in the concept of innovating the way organizations work, through cloud computing solutions focused on communication, collaboration, and productivity.