Improve Communication and Collaboration Across Departments

Good communication and collaboration between departments are essential to improving efficiency and eliminating the chance of mistakes that lead to losses. When departments work together, they often get more done than they would working independently. If a company is too siloed, no one knows what anyone else is doing or how jobs fit into the larger picture. That’s why open communication between departments is crucial; it allows people to see where their jobs fit in with everyone else’s, which boosts productivity overall.

Whether working on an internal report or briefing leadership on the status of your project, improved communication and collaboration across departments will help ensure your company is more efficient. 

Where Should You Start Improving Your Culture?

Before you can effectively improve communication in your company, you must know where communication is lacking. Start by asking yourself what areas of your business could benefit from improvements in communication. Next, look at how these dynamics are managed. Whether you're a manager or an employee, you may feel like your department could be doing better at communicating. Ask yourself: 

• Do I know what my team members are working on? 

• Do I know when they are struggling with something? 

• Is there enough transparency in projects?

• Am I receiving helpful feedback?

Steps You Can You Take to Fix the Problem

First, it’s essential to figure out why you don’t have effective communication across departments. A professional business consultant can be a valuable asset in this process as they have experience working with teams across departments. They will be able to provide insights into why specific communication strategies may not work well for your team.

While it may be obvious that cross-departmental communication is vital, tracking its success — and offering employees incentives for reaching benchmarks — can increase collaboration. One way to do so is through project management tools: having both parties share their progress toward a goal creates healthy competition, which can help teams work at their best.

Another way of incentivizing collaboration is through informal recognition. Employees are often motivated by praise from peers and managers, so publicly recognizing good work will encourage others to follow suit.

If you’re working in a large company, you’ll likely need to report on your progress. Bosses and investors will want to know how your business is doing now as well as later down the road. When presenting reports, you can easily maintain the documents, graphics, or charts you'd like and insert pages to a PDF online for free. You can also use this tool to reorder, delete, and rotate pages.

Better Teamwork Leads to More Productivity 

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, but you can always find room for improvement when it comes to company collaboration. Improving communication between departments is a vital business skill, as it ultimately leads to better teamwork and productivity across departments. 

Join your local chamber of commerce for access to additional resources that can help you develop your business.