We hate to say it: your mother was right all along.

From your personal life all the way to your professional life, the saying is actually true “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Communications breakdowns can hurt sales and seriously damage productivity. That’s why we put together this definitive guide for improving your communication channels in the workplace.

Keep reading to discover some amazing tips!

1. The Need for Speed

Here’s the biggest secret to communicating with employees: make it short and sweet.

No one wants to wade through long e-mails to find the important message. Instead, take a cue from the world of text messaging and keep the message short and focused.

In fact, try to rethink your whole e-mail philosophy. Start with the most important part. For everything else, ask yourself: does this help or hurt my message?

2. Make It Personal

The modern world is full of technological communication. But there’s a time and place to go “old school.”

When possible, try to meet personally with employees. Don’t call them into your office, because this makes them feel like a student who got in trouble.

Instead, drop by their desk or take them out for lunch. They’ll enjoy having direct communication with their boss.

As a bonus, regularly doing this makes you appear more sociable and approachable. This builds trust, and trust further improves communication.

3. Selective Repetition

Everyone says they hate repetition. Here’s a secret, though: nobody learns without it.

Whether it’s a presentation or an e-mail, focus on short “bullets” of your most important points. Try to mention a key point three times. You can do so when you introduce the idea, when you talk about it in detail, and when you wrap things up.

By the third time, it will stick with your workers. Spaced repetition is a powerful tool for employee connection and learning.

4. There’s an App for That

We think you should already be sending e-mails like short social media messages. So why not cut out the middle man?

There are plenty of great apps such as Slack that bring employee connection to mobile devices. And these apps have some big advantages.

First, they encourage quick, to-the-point messages. And it’s easier for workers to check a phone notification than to check something like their voicemail.

Additionally, employees can swap the occasional silly pictures just like with social media. This can build up camaraderie, even if your teams are completely remote.

5. Bigger Meetings

One last secret: your employees may say they hate meetings. The truth is the exact opposite.

Internal communication suffers when workers feel like they aren’t being heard. And that’s what they will think if management excludes them from most meetings.

The math on this is simple: for better employee communication, you need to make sure you are hearing from your employees!

Communication Channels: The Bottom Line

Now you know how to improve employee communication channels. But do you know how else to help your company succeed?

At Incricia, we specialize in helping companies rebrand themselves. To see how we can take your business to the next level, check out our services today!