We all know how important communication is when we’re working as part of a team to achieve a common goal. Great workplaces have great communication foundations in place which gives them a huge marketplace advantage.

I’d like to ask you how your firm or business is managing your communications given the wide-scale demographic shifts and technological advances which are reshaping the way we work and live? Are you keeping up?

Is Your Workplace Stuck in the Past?

There is some uncertainty surrounding the question of what the workplace of the future will look like. Great strides have been made in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and some may worry that improvements in robotics will eliminate different occupations. While we can certainly expect the need for some technical skills to change in the future, one thing that is likely to remain constant is the importance of sharing knowledge. To stay relevant, the very way we communicate and share talent will need to evolve.

You might think you are ready for these changes, but most organisations are still holding on to at least a few outdated processes and practices which make it harder for teams to work together. Email is a prime example of this. Are you still relying on email to send and receive your organisation’s most important messages?

Video Improves Communication and Sharing of Expertise

Video conferencing has been around for decades, but it’s only now becoming relatively cheap and easy to use widescale. Video is a faster way to communicate and eliminates potential confusion about the intent of your message. With email, it’s hard to convey tone, but using video provides non-verbal information, such as facial expressions, the pitch of your voice and other cues to improve clarity and understanding.

Since you can both see and hear one another in real-time, videoconferencing makes it easier to connect and build consensus with those you are trying to reach, strengthening relationships. Since two-way conversations occur instantly, you can make faster decisions and initiate action on the spot.

Younger workers just now entering the workforce have grown up texting and using their smartphones to video chat in their day-to-day lives. In a few short years they will make up three-quarters of the workforce, so your firm needs to be prepared to offer them this more efficient means of communication to benefit from this group’s unique viewpoint, creativity and energy.

Drive Performance by Embracing the Future

Since video conferencing and instant messaging make it so much easier to cooperate, share ideas and expertise and improve collaboration, organisations using it will have a definitive edge over their competition.  Other advances, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and cloud computing are also disrupting the workplace. Both VR and AR tech offer the promise of an easier way to share information and learn, and a simple way to work and collaborate with others wherever they happen to be in the world.

It’s All About Communication.

Its clear technology can either be a threat or a useful tool for business, but remember that’s all it is – a tool. The only reason it’s important is for its power to enhance communication. It’s a digital world and your workplace might have teams spread out across the country or the globe. Instead of allowing this to fracture your internal communication, technology is there to shape it. You have so much more freedom now; freedom to find experts anywhere in the world to add to your team and the freedom to take your firm anywhere and still be able to deliver quality service. The tools are there to support you.

But remember; without clear and regular communication, your business won’t survive even with the best technology. Your people are still the most important part of your firm and they need to communicate with you and with each other. All you need to do is choose the right tools to enable that.

The future is not something unexpected that will arrive some distant, unseen tomorrow. It’s already here, today. Are you ready? If you have any questions about steps you can take now, to shape and prepare yourself and your firm for the future, I am here to help you. Please get in touch.