{"id":12340,"date":"2013-11-14T08:57:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T14:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?p=12340"},"modified":"2020-02-24T09:03:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:03:58","slug":"3-tools-to-improve-team-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t you get the memo?\u201d<\/p>\n

First widely popularized by Mike Judge\u2019s cult classic\u00a0Office Space, the phrase \u2018didn\u2019t you get the memo\u2019 is most often said to those who find themselves out-of-the-loop. The movie itself does an excellent job of illustrating how static and impersonal communication breeds dissatisfaction, distrust, frustration and can eventually engulf your office in flames. Of course not all team communication should be designed to constantly give a warm fuzzy, but by\u00a0improving team communication<\/a>\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies and many other problems in your office space.<\/p>\n

How Better Communication Can Save Your Office<\/h1>\n

Thanks to teams of scientists working \u2018round the clock and marvels of modern technology, the traditional memo has become a relic of the past, reserved for those governed by rigid communication policies such as politicians and lawyers. It can be said that the memo still survives somewhat within contemporary methods of communication such as email; however, we are referring to a style of communication that the memo was born out of: dry, impersonal, static, easily ignorable, and conducive to confusion.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0LeanKit\u00a0we are all about helping teams\u00a0discover simpler ways to get more done<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0continuously improve<\/b>\u00a0how they work together. Effective communication is one of the first legs on the journey down the road to improved production.<\/p>\n

Here are three simple ideas that will help improve communication between team members, promote a company culture founded on collaboration, and reduce confusion & frustration.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Team Stand-Ups<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Stand-ups are quickly becoming standard practice in a variety of industries and businesses. The team stand-up can be packaged in a number of ways, from\u00a0Daily Scrums to Morning Roll Calls<\/a>. The brainchild of software development teams, anyone can benefit from a team stand-up meeting where everyone gets a say.The concept is simple: A short 15 minute meeting where team members participate in up-front discussions over what they did, what they are doing and any obstacles they may have. Set apart from status meetings, a stand-up communicates to the entire team what is going, how everyones work is related and how they may be able to help each other.Basically, it is a face-to-face team communication tactic that keeps people from working in isolation.<\/li>\n
  2. Chat\/Instant Messaging<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 This may be a no brainer, but some organizations cringe at the thought of giving their teams access to online chat tools. Though they can lead to some off-task behavior, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.Using an online chat application makes communication more fluid and gives wings to collaboration. Chat allows real-time discussions to take place in a virtual setting, addressing topics that may have immediate importance or just need a quick one-off. It also provides a visual aid team members can use to see who is available to connect. Chat should not replace email, but it can act as a more effective and efficient communication tool when used properly.If you can get everyone to agree on one chat platform to act as a core tool for instant messaging, you will be surprised at how well your team collaborates and communicates on the fly.\n

    Here is a\u00a0helpful list<\/a>\u00a0to get you started.<\/li>\n

  3. Visual Online Project Management Tools<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 What better way to bring everyone in your team together for effective communication than putting all your work in one place. Visualization has always been a stimulus for communication and it works even better in a team setting. By illustrating your work as a whole online project management tools allow team members to see how their tasks play into a larger scheme. When work is consolidated, people will naturally unite around that work and want to discuss it. Envision it as the good ole\u2019 water cooler, but instead of discussing last night\u2019s Game of Thrones, you talk about work to be done for your new product marketing collateral.When work items are held up or not moving forward the first step in the problem solving process is getting everyone together, on the same page, with the right information. An online visual management tool does that and more. They provide depth and detail to the contexts of any conversation.Once you tie a visual management solution into your team stand-up and an instant messaging tool, your team communication will be pumping on all cylinders.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We have cruised by the \u2018Age of the Memo\u2019 on the seat of super-charged data bytes and streamlined digital devices. Our work culture has changed in ways that has intrinsically tied methods of production to more meaningful communication. Instant and personable communication is in. The static and that which is lacking depth is out.<\/p>\n

    The ability to chat with a team member fulfills our need for instant gratification and provides for easy updates without having to step into a meeting. Daily face-to-face interactions provide clarity to detailed problems and bring people together. Visual management tools create a team hub all communication is centered around and place direct accountability on work items, leading to productive conversations.<\/p>\n

    Chat, daily stand-ups and online visual management solutions are not only\u00a0tools that can be used to improve communication within your team<\/strong>, but also help foster a healthy company culture that will keep everyone happy and may even prevent the office from burning to the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cDidn\u2019t you get the memo?\u201d First widely popularized by Mike Judge\u2019s cult classic\u00a0Office Space, the phrase \u2018didn\u2019t you get the memo\u2019 is most often said to those who find themselves out-of-the-loop. The movie itself does an excellent job of illustrating how static and impersonal communication breeds dissatisfaction, distrust, frustration and can eventually engulf your office…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-12340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work-collaboration","tag-leankit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Tools to Improve Team Communication - Blog | Planview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4\"},\"headline\":\"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\"},\"wordCount\":898,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"LeanKit\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Work Management for Teams\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\",\"name\":\"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication - Blog | Planview\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"description\":\"Leading the conversation on digital connected work\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planview\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"width\":280,\"height\":66,\"caption\":\"Planview\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Planview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4\",\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/planviewblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication - Blog | Planview","description":"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication","og_description":"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/","og_site_name":"Planview Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","article_published_time":"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Planview Blog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Planview","twitter_site":"@Planview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Planview Blog","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/"},"author":{"name":"Planview Blog","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4"},"headline":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication","datePublished":"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/"},"wordCount":898,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg","keywords":["LeanKit"],"articleSection":["Work Management for Teams"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/","name":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication - Blog | Planview","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg","datePublished":"2013-11-14T14:57:48+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-24T15:03:58+00:00","description":"By\u00a0improving team communication\u00a0and thus team collaboration, you can help avoid creating cultural vacuums that lead to disgruntled employees, stark internal hierarchies, and many other problems in your office space.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Team-communication.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/3-tools-to-improve-team-communication\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3 Tools to Improve Team Communication"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","name":"Planview Blog","description":"Leading the conversation on digital connected work","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization","name":"Planview","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","width":280,"height":66,"caption":"Planview"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","https:\/\/x.com\/Planview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4","name":"Planview Blog","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/planviewblog\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}