Improving communication and collaboration between departments can impact company culture and employee retention. However, many companies struggle with interdepartmental communication or collaboration, whether it is the communication between management and employees or the collaboration between departments like marketing and sales. It is vital to tackle these issues before they become too big to handle, so here are some top strategies for improving communication and collaboration between departments in your organization.
Why Interdepartmental Communication Matters
When one department is struggling, it can impact another. For example, if sales are down, marketing will most likely take a hit. When interdepartmental communication breaks down, departments stop operating cohesively. Bad communication can harm morale, generate toxic employee relationships, and stall your growth strategy. When departments don’t communicate with each other well enough or at all — things go wrong.
Failure Points in Interdepartmental Collaboration
Interdepartmental collaboration requires multiple groups to work together. Improving your interdepartmental communication will require a deeper understanding of what hinders its ability to work together effectively. In most organizations, several factors slow down communication or collaboration between departments:
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Time restraints
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Unclear scope
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No team governance
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Software tools
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Location of team members
Project Management Tools
From rapid interdepartmental messaging and real-time collaboration apps, such as Slack and Asana, to document sharing platforms such as Google Drive, there are many powerful tools for improving communication across departments at every level of your organization.
Team-Building Exercises
Organize team-building exercises. Shared activities or events can increase collaboration and improve interdepartmental communication. When you know your team well enough for everyone to relax, you build trust in each other by encouraging open dialogue between departments.
Company-Wide Meetings
Holding company-wide meetings focusing on interdepartmental collaboration is a great way to improve. During your meetings, describe why collaboration is essential to the company’s success and detail specific strategies for building collaboration between departments. Then, work with individual managers from each department to determine how you can help them collaborate better in their own teams. Finally, have each manager communicate these details at their next team meeting. This repetition will make it easier for employees across departments to understand what they need to do differently.
Employee Rewards
Employees are one of your best assets. By properly recognizing them for their hard work, you encourage them to continue contributing positively. Whether through monetary bonuses or recognition on a company-wide level, there are many ways to reward your employees. Regardless of how you choose to reward your employees, it is essential that they feel appreciated.
Report Creation
Create reports for management or employees to help everyone understand where you are. If you have a number of different documents, illustrations, or charts to include in your presentation, you can easily assemble everything in one PDF file using an online editing tool. This tool also makes it possible to reorder, delete, and insert pages to a PDF.
Improve Efficiency
When employees from different departments are trying to achieve a goal, they must communicate effectively. For departments to improve efficiency, there needs to be clear communication. For additional tips on how to develop your company, join your local chamber of commerce.
