This Simple Fix Would Probably Solve 50% of our Client Problems

As consultants, we’ve seen our clients encounter all kinds of challenges, from the extremely complex to the relatively simple. But they almost all have this common theme: a lack of internal communication.

I’ve seen it over and over again. Productivity, morale and alignment are low because the CEO does not value internal communication. He or she either takes internal communication for granted or they are not even aware of how important it is.

Trust me on this, improve your internal communication and you’ll notice a big improvement in your organisation’s performance. In Falak, communication is so important that we’ve made it one of our core values (See the Falakonian Way and our values here). We know that without proper internal communication our performance would suffer greatly.

Here are just some of the benefits of internal communication:

1. Better informed leaders:

There is a cliché in business that says that the CEO is the last to know. I think there is a lot of truth to that statement. When you have a regular, internal communication routine in your organisation then you’ll be better informed, and can make quicker and better decisions. Over time, this could lead to increased performance and profitability.

2. Increased motivation and engagement:

Increased motivation and engagement have two benefits. The first is that they are good in and of themselves. Why would you not want motivated and engaged people? The second is that it can lead to increased profitability. According to a Gallup study, highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability.

3. Increased collaboration:

Employees that are communicated to feal valued, and when they feel valued, they are more willing to cooperate and collaborate. The opposite is also true; If employees feel they are working in a secretive and uncaring organisation, they feel no need to collaborate and contribute to its overall success.

4. Increased innovation:

This one might surprise you, but remember that innovation is inextricably linked to your organisation’s work culture. A fair, enjoyable, communicative and collaborative work environment leads to more innovation. People will share ideas more and will want to innovate on current products, services and/or business models.

Four Things you can do right away to improve your internal communication:

1. You have to take the lead:

This cannot be delegated to someone else. The owner or CEO has to make a concentrated and consistent effort to communicate more.

2. Introduce Daily Huddles immediately:

The daily huddle is a short (no more than 15 minutes), standing only daily meeting where you discuss the major updates of the last 24 hours, and what you’re going to do in the next 24 hours. I cannot tell you how powerful and effective this simple daily meeting is. Check out the article I wrote about this here.

3. Use helpful technology:

You can use apps like Slack, Asana, Monday or even WhatsApp. At Falak we use a combination of WhatsApp and Zoho for communication and collaboration.

Need help in setting this up and rolling it out? Get in touch with us today.