“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– George Bernard Shaw.
In the world that we live in these days we are inundated with different methods of communication with most of us seemingly spending hours welded to our smartphones or other devices. It’s so easy to respond to an email, send a quick text or message someone no matter if we are sat at our desk or in the queue at the supermarket.
We probably assume that we have communicated effectively, that someone clearly understood what we wanted, that we have set clear expectations. Remember that saying ‘don’t assume as it only makes an ass out of you and me’… Poor communication leads to frustration, time wasting and can have a negative effect on morale. None of us like to spend hours perfecting a report that our boss looks at and tells us isn’t what they wanted.
As a business who made the decision at the start to not have an office where everyone would go each day, we have had to work extra hard to ensure that communication, both internal and external really delivers for both us and our clients.
What we have found works for us is a structure of regular meetings and key business systems structured to give us and our clients the chance to discuss projects and provide relevant and timely information that is available to us all.
Every morning our team has a thirty minute Scrum meeting whereby priorities for the day are highlighted, any challenges are addressed and solutions formed. This allows the team to come together, be aware of the focus for each day, and move forward effectively.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an Open Teams Session in our calendar whereby anyone from the team can jump on the Teams session and work in an ‘office environment’ albeit through the computer. This approach allows our team to collaborate easily, communicate effectively, and achieve that office feel whilst continuing with their day.
To help us stay on top of our projects and to ensure that our clients have the latest information regarding their project we use Monday.com to house all this information in one place. Both our team and our clients have access to their board/s on Monday.com and can raise queries, add information about a task they need our team to complete, track the progress of a project through the project plan, complete forms and important data that our team needs in order to configure a system, or simply just to have an overview on where their project stands. Monday.com is a visual tool which is easy to use and navigate around, allowing all users to stay ahead of the game and understand what is required of them.
Weekly or fortnightly calls with our clients ensures a more personal approach to our projects and gives us an opportunity to provide project updates and to discuss progress or raise any potential issues at the earliest point available. This in turn builds trust.
The importance of effective communication is engrained within the Optimum team, this helps us to partner with our clients, build strong relationships and to sustain them. If this sounds like the way you want your next project to run then get in touch with us at Optimum.
