5 Ways to Encourage Communication as Your Business Grows

When you think of the one company known for customer service, many of us think about Zappos. From Tony Hsieh to customer support, everyone lives and breaths the Zappos culture. This culture is so powerful that even if Hsieh would completely leave Zappos, their values and story would live on.

Great companies work their way to being successful with a lot of hard work and by creating a story that motivates employees who've never even talked to the founder. But in order to be successful continually, besides having a great story, you also need to maintain a good level of trust and healthy communication both within your company and in your relationships with customers if you want to continue to see your business grow.

Here's How to Craft Your Culture

To develop a culture like Zappos, you need to make communication between your organization as seamless as possible. Everyone at Zappos knows what the company stands for, and they all also know the type of culture the company is striving for. This kind of teamwork can be developed, and here's how to do it.

Set an Example

Communicate with your employees the way you want them to communicate with you: regularly, openly, honestly. As your business is growing and adapting, it’s important to communicate the changes that are happening with everyone. This is best achieved through a chain of command.

Unlike the game of telephone, where the message changes from the original to something merely resembling it at the end, your company communication should be crystal clear as it filters through the ranks. In order to make sure that the message is received correctly by everyone, check with the final receiver to see if the message was received correctly. If not, you need to find out if the message was delivered incorrectly, or if the receiver just misunderstood. Checking the process at every step, and using a clear plan, will keep the lines open.

Create a Communication-Friendly Environment

This would mean creating an atmosphere where employees at all levels are encouraged to ask any questions, propose any ideas, and admit their mistakes without fear of punishment or ridicule. Also, acknowledge their efforts and reward useful input that benefits the company. Blacklane, a global professional driver service, makes a C-level executive open one day each month for anyone to schedule a 30-minute meeting. This is a great way to show management’s openness to ideas from all departments and experience levels.

When you Criticize, Make it Constructive

While constructive criticism is essential for improving your business, destructive criticism shows counter effects. Destructive criticism will keep your employees in constant fear of making a mistake, it will lower their self-esteem and productivity, and make them avoid asking questions. 

One of the disturbing trends I see is founders trying to be like Steve Jobs. Thinking they have all the answers, they believe they can get away with belittling team members because Steve Jobs did. Unfortunately, the media is part to blame for this. Controversy breeds attention, and it's easy to mistake what is fact with what is fiction.

Instead, look at other CEOs who've done an amazing job changing the world. Richard Branson, Tony Hsieh, and Jeff Bezos are a few that come to mind. These CEOs have done amazing things without making their team members feel inadequate. Love Steve Jobs for what he's done, but be careful adopting all of this traits as a recipe for success.

Encourage communication among your employees. If your team has a practice of open dialogue and communication, this will inevitably lead to higher employee satisfaction and higher productivity.

Leverage Social & Digital Reach

If you improve your social media engagement, you will have much better insight into your customer’s needs and you will be able to connect with them on a deeper level. The better communication you have with your customers, the more successful you will be in meeting their needs.

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There are a number of ways you can use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and other to reach out and connect with your customers. You can use Facebook to highlight your employees and show your clients the human sides of your organization. Twitter makes it easy to create and share short video messages. These videos can include some humor and encourage viewers to communicate further. If you become active in the right Google+ Communities, Share your Circles, or use Google+ Hangouts you can grow significant business relationships. LinkedIn Groups create an opportunity to join discussions in your company’s industry and answer questions. Your company will get more visibility and you will be able to interact with potential clients directly and personally.

Remember, people are social beings and open communication is the key to success in any business.