Before the summer break, I had a few conversations with managers from SMEs who are facing the same challenge in various sectors - from construction to production: the Make team communication more effective. From resolving conflicts and dealing with the daily flood of information to generally increasing the efficiency of work processes - the tasks are many and varied.
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How to improve communication?
Companies often choose to outsource communication problems and commission agencies to solve them, for example. However, this approach alone is often not enough. Communication must also be in the company and thus contribute to the development of the organization. This can be achieved in three steps:
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- Clear Communication principles develop
- Matching Rules for the use of Channels and tools agree
- Communication skills of all those involved.
The skills of employees are becoming increasingly important. The foundation of successful communication with different stakeholder groups - both internally and externally. There is less need for specialist knowledge than for the ability to convey the right feeling and to approach even difficult topics with a positive attitude.
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"Every communication requires the goodwill of the other person."
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This insight is not only important for personal exchange, but also crucial for the corporate culture: Communicating with empathy and understanding lays the foundation for trust and avoids misunderstandings. In order to accelerate decisions and anchor the company values in everyday life, it can be helpful to define a positive attitude and basic willingness to find solutions in the form of communication principles.
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Finding solutions faster with communication principles
Some of you may know the "7 C's of communication"which Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center wrote back in 1952. We have adapted these to today's requirements and would like to present them for discussion as a proposal for good practice in SMEs.
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Successful SME communication should be structured as follows:
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- MindfulRespectful, empathetic, listening.
- Coherent: Comprehensible and in the right tone.
- Correct: Verified information, from multiple perspectives.
- Complete5 W's: Who, what, when, where, why; offer next steps.
- ConcreteFacts, figures, examples, no generalizations.
- Concise: Short texts without filler words; bullet points.
- Clear: Simple language; goal-oriented.
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Giving feedback - winning a workshop
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What do you like about these principles? What do you like less? Which points are missing? Simply click on answers and give me feedback. The first three SMEs to submit feedback will be invited to a free online workshop with individual adaptation of the communication principles for your team. 🚀
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