How to Effectively Communicate in the Workplace: The Art of Communicating in the Right Way, at the Right Time

With hybrid work models becoming normal, many members of your team have almost immediate access to work communication tools like instant messaging channels as well as email and even text. It’s easier now than it has been to get in contact with a coworker and start talking to them about an upcoming project or a challenge you might be facing.

While communication is more accessible, lines may begin to blur regarding when and where the right time is to contact another team member. We’re here to dig into some thoughts to consider when it comes to communication tools in the workplace.

(We are strictly discussing internal communications in this blog post. You might be thinking about how your customers also have almost instant access to communicate with your team. We will cover that in a different blog.)

When is the right time?

For many of your employees, they are coming into and leaving the office (or logging in and logging off) at pre-determined times. If you are looking to get a message out to your employees, consider how you are going to be doing it when outside of these hours. If your employees are “off the clock”, consider a method like email that will be there waiting for them when they log on next, or utilize tools that can schedule messages at certain hours, ensuring they will see the message when they need to.

What is the right way?

During working hours, knowing when to make a phone call or send a text/instant message can be tough to decide. It can come down to preference and productivity. Consider your team and how they thrive in the office. If you know that they are most productive during the hours of 2pm and 4pm, you might not want to break their flow state with a phone call, unless there is a level of urgency that call for a phone call.

Often, communicating the right way, at the right time take a plan. We recommend making sure your employee handbook goes into detail your best practices for communication at the workplace. That way, your entire team can be on board with the strategy!