How well do you know your staff?
As you may or may not know, our Quality of Work Life method of building culture in the workplace is in fact a scientific-backed method, and focus on five core categories: Leadership, Line Management, Culture, Skills and Processes. Do you happen to know what has a direct impact on all of these categories?
Communication.
Companies that use our QWL index to measure their company culture find out quickly that real-time actions with real-time insights can and will result in positive changes in profit margins. How do you obtain these real-time insights?
Communication.
Good communication is necessary in all aspects of your business, whether it’s with your potential customer, your current customer, an old customer, or even your staff. Let’s take a closer (high-level) look at how communication is a core component of a successful sales cycle. Let’s say your company’s account manager’s goal is to close a deal with a key partner, which will allow you to expand to a larger market. In order to close this deal, do you simply send an email and pitch your ideas and see what happens? Obviously no. This process requires thoughtfulness and nurturing. Your account manager needs to understand who they are talking to, and make a point of finding out their needs and what would be deal closers and deal breakers. What’s the first thing that a car sales person asks you when you step into their office to negotiate a sale? They ask you, “what’s it going to take to get you to drive off with this vehicle today?”
Asking questions to get answers is simply how effective sales people sell.
Now let’s talk about how good communication internally is absolutely necessary in building a profitable business.
Earlier in this post we mentioned that communication has a direct impact on each of the five categories that are the primary focus of our Quality of Work Life index. Communication ties these categories together and teaches us where there is room for improvement. If there is a lack of communication between leadership and their respective teams, efficiency will suffer, processes will suffer, relationships become transactional and you will begin to lose a very important level of mutual respect between employee and manager.
Communication must be consistent throughout the year. Out with the old and in with the new. Annual employee surveys are quite literally a thing of the past, and if you are still doing them then you are completely missing the point of good communication. Leadership needs to engage their team consistently throughout the year, and our QWL index allows you to track your improvements real-time.
We urge you to spend time this week thinking about your own company and how well you are communicating with your team, and how well your team communicates with each other. Increasing the quality and the quantity of internal communication will most certainly uncover areas of improvement. Just like how good communication and asking the right questions can close deals. Do the same internally, and you’ll finish projects faster, sell more, and build better teams.
Check out our Quality of Work Life method here. Let's communicate together!