Your main task as a business owner will be to increase your profit margin. To do this, you’re going to need to good Communication Skills and to build a reliable team. One of the best ways to do so will be to work on improving your skills as a communicator. This will be the biggest challenge that you face as you work to guarantee the success of your business.
Get Involved in Team Building Activities Helps Communication Skills
One of the very best things that you can do in this regard is to get your team involved in special challenges. For example, you can assign some virtual team building activities for them to take part in. This will be a great way to get them thinking and acting together as a single cohesive unit dedicated to reaching a common goal.
There are a wide range of activities that you can involve your team members in. You can take them out to a nice restaurant to let them socialize and get to know each other. Beyond that, you can keep them together at upcoming corporate events. It’s a great idea to round them up for visits to the local “Escape Room” in your area.
Having them work together to solve an “Escape Room” type of challenge is a great way to induce them to think of themselves as a team. This will be more to your benefit than allowing them to go on as a collection of individuals. If you can’t get to a real physical location for a challenge, there are plenty of virtual ones on the web.
Make Sure You Know How to Listen Helps Communication Skills
A lot of people seem to underestimate the role of nonverbal communication or body language. This actually plays a big role in communication. According to a study, it was found that body language is responsible for 55% of how listeners perceive a speaker. Likewise, active listening also plays a very important role in how well we understand and how well we absorb the message of what a person is trying to say. It is very important to not only listen to the words being said by someone but to listen for tone as well. You should also try to listen to and figure out what makes the speaker passionate about the subject.
“So often we listen to respond if we take a more active role we will be much better listeners,” Wilkinson said.
A good example of this is shown when you engage in active listening. Then you are able to paraphrase or summarize the message. You can then develop insightful and thoughtful questions to ask after and seek clarification. You should wait until the speaker is fully done before you offer up your thought or opinion.
She also urges all listeners to try and spend a few minutes absorbing and thinking about a message before offering suggestions or asking questions. “It’s okay to say, ‘let me think about it for a minute and get back to you.’” she said.
Make Yourself Available for Team Consultations
Another simple but very effective way to improve your business communication skills will be to make sure that your employees know your door is always open. You want your team members to know that you are easy to talk to and consult with. This is important for establishing your credibility as a business owner.
You always want your team members to feel comfortable asking for guidance. The goal is to help them establish a strong bond as a team. To do this, you will need to let them develop an autonomous identity. However, when they need help on certain issues or an explanation of the rules, you need to be there. Your availability will be crucial.
It will be up to you to establish the rules by which your team operates. You will be the one who masterminds the identity and purpose of your team. And since you are the one who makes the rules, you also need to be easily available to explain them. It’s a fine line between being available and micromanaging. You’ll have to tread carefully.
The Phone Is Your New Best Friend
Telephones are not solely used to make phone calls anymore, and most young people usually prefer texting to calling. Despite this, it is still very important to show you can handle phone conversations well, it is actually a key part of business communication. The person on the other end of the telephone usually can’t see what your expression is, and via phone call they can’t read an emoji. This is why it’s even more important to be extra careful to pay attention to your tone of voice. No matter if you are speaking with a customer or a boss, you must always show respect and professionalism in the tone of your voice.
A fair amount of telephone coaching should come through an organizational business. But to even get a job, you must know the basics of how to handle a random, out-of-the-blue call. This is especially true when someone is calling you about a less-than-positive situation. It’s important that you need to know how to remain composed, and calm and let the caller know you are listening and that you are not worried.
Callers on the phone especially want to be able to tell their story and have their side heard to those working in customer service or public relations roles. It is up to listeners on the receiving end to understand their plight, make them feel heard, and take appropriate action to solve the problem.
This is where your conflict management skills can shine through. Having a clear strategy in place to easily and quickly respond when someone is very upset is a big part of communication brand protection in a world in which customers can broadcast unpleasant customer service experiences through social media.
Keep in Constant Physical and Digital Contact
When it comes to staying in touch, you need to be able to do so through digital as well as physical means. For example, if your team is working together on a project while you are in another part of the state or country, you still need to be in touch. You can do this by setting up a means of communicating with them over the web.
A series of IM chats or Skype or Zoom conferences is a good solution. You want to be able to check-in with your team to monitor their progress. You also want to be able to give a quick ruling on any issues that may require your involvement. Being able to chat with your team thru IM or Zoom will carry the same force as being there live.
At the end of the day, your team needs to be as independent as possible in order to form a cohesive identity. But it also needs your involvement to be sure that it is progressing in the right direction.
The Time to Build Your Team is Now
There is no time like the present to get started on building a strong team for your company. It will be up to you to make sure that the members of your team are all on the same page. This will give your company the jump start it needs. A strong team will help you go from a shoestring budgeted start-up to a major player in your industry.
