Communication is Crucial for Trade Businesses

Communication is a broad concept. There’s verbal, non-verbal, written, passive, inferred, visual, and a lot of other means or descriptions of communication.  Your “communication” is thus a complex set of layers. And hopefully, you’re communicating what you think you are.

It makes sense that, from the top down, your company leadership should clearly and effectively communicate company objectives. Conversely, from the bottom up, workers should be encouraged to communicate inefficiencies in processes and be able to share what they need to perform their job better. This is a functional example of good teamwork.

Feedback and solutions come from all perspectives. As a leader, you need to decide how you want information to move through the organization. Having direct, empathetic and transparent communications between managers and workers not only builds a trusting relationship, but also produces better business results.

Communication in Action:

You have built a communication culture, which includes regular meetings, that have an agenda. Your managers encourage workers to speak up, give feedback, and offer solutions about how a job could be done better. And here’s the kicker: everyone respects one another by listening and incorporating feedback.

There is a feeling of teamwork and solutions come as quickly as problems. If you ask a worker “how the company is doing” they can provide accurate details related to parts of the company in which they do not directly work.

Starter Questions:

1. Does your team communicate their needs and concerns?
2. Are your regular team meetings productive, with an agenda?
3. Is there a feeling of being “one team” around the shop?
4. How open is your company about the performance of your business?