The reality of modern work is that we’re navigating communication challenges that we didn’t have a generation ago, or even a decade ago. COVID-19 flipped “normal” on its head and forced us to find new ways to keep in touch with our colleagues from hundreds of miles away.
There’s no shortage of digital tools and good intentions, but communication breakdowns still leave us pulling out our hair way too often. The way we used to communicate isn’t always helpful or even possible with a remote or hybrid team; even for in-person teams, people would often agree there’s a better way to do things.
The solution isn’t more meetings, more emails, or more tools. It’s collecting the data that’s already available and analyzing that data to support both your organization and the people working in it.
Let’s talk about what poor communication can do to a business and how you can use detailed reporting to improve your team’s communication strategies.
The true impact of poor communication
Bad communication is straight-up annoying. Nobody enjoys a 9-sequence email exchange to clarify something that could have been resolved with a 2-minute conversation. On the flip side, we’d all rather get our work done than attend a 2-hour meeting that should have been an email.
But bad communication isn’t just about being mildly inconvenienced from time to time. It has long-term consequences that can impact the health and success of your company. A study by The Economist Intelligence Unit details the most significant consequences of poor communication at work:
- Added stress (52%)
- A delayed or failed project (44%)
- Low morale (31%)
- Missed performance goals (25%)
The financial consequences aren’t small either. Sixteen percent of people spend at least an entire day each month completing work that was caused by poor communication. That’s nearly a full day per person, per month, dedicated to fixing problems that good communication could have prevented. This translates to missed deadlines, a waste of resources, and unhappy clients.
The biggest overarching concern is how poor communication damages the company culture. When it becomes too much effort to work together, people start keeping to themselves as much as possible. They’ll do whatever it takes to protect their own backside and avoid collaboration like it’s the start of a new plague. Rarely does this level of isolation benefit an organization.
The breakdown in modern communication
Remote and hybrid work arrangements aren’t anything new, and they’re not going anywhere. However, our communication methods haven’t yet evolved to meet the unique needs of a team spread across multiple time zones.
The Economist Intelligence Unit study identifies some disconnects in opinions vs. reality regarding workplace communication.
In person is better, but not always feasible
65% of people believe that face-to-face meetings are a very effective way to communicate, but only 22% have those in-person meetings every day. This isn’t just a remote work issue; even those in an office setting struggle to find the time to sit down for a conversation with their coworkers.
Email stinks but we use it anyway
There’s also a discrepancy between the tools we use the most and the ones we find most effective. 88% of people use email nearly every day, making it the most common communication tool in the workplace, but only 40% of workers find it very effective. It’s a sign we need better communication approaches.
1 in 4 people find remote communication problematic
73% of people say that working remotely has had no impact or positively impacted their ability to communicate with colleagues and clients, but 27% said it made communication difficult.
Many of the challenges associated with remote work are unique to that setting. When your only connection to your colleagues is through a screen, you can experience:
- Tech fatigue: Screen time limits go out the window when you have to be on a device to do your job or talk to your colleague. Constant video calls and digital interactions can be exhausting in a way that in-person meetings aren’t.
- Context switching: Hopping from Zoom call to Slack message to email is draining. It’s not necessarily the tech that’s the issue here, but the constant switching between platforms and communication styles. It adds another layer of mental strain.
- Informal relationships: Most remote workers aren’t eating lunch with their coworkers while they catch up on their weekend. The casual interactions that strengthen bonds just aren’t there.
How to bridge the communication gap with detailed reporting
According to The Economist Intelligence Unit report, the most frequently cited cause of communication barriers isn’t technology limitations or remote work challenges—it’s different communication styles.
That’s really good news, because it suggests that the solution isn’t investing in new tools or creating new communication processes. Instead, like I already mentioned, you need to understand how your team naturally communicates and create systems that work with these patterns instead of against them.
What insights can you gather from detailed reports?
Detailed reports ≠ productivity metrics.
The goal of using detailed reports is to look at all factors related to the work experience. Instead of being worried about how fast people work, these reports give you a window into what’s really happening with your team.
Collaboration intelligence
In an increasingly remote work world, figuring out how people actually work together has become more complex. Your team is having daily interactions that you’re not aware of (unless you are leaning into the keystroke-logging, screenshot-taking employee monitoring tools that breach trust and privacy).
Modern reporting can help you identify natural collaborations already happening within your team or across your organization, or pinpoint team members who have become isolated in their work and could benefit from connecting with other employees. This kind of insight helps you encourage meaningful connections instead of forcing relationships that aren’t there.
Project health
Project health indicators are a respectful way to check in without constantly asking your team what they’re up to or micromanaging their every move.
Detailed reporting can help you identify bottlenecks so you understand why your project has come to a standstill. Use metrics like task handoff times, revision request frequency, and workflow length to pinpoint exactly where the issue is, instead of just requesting that the entire team “work faster.”
Team dynamics
It’s easy to get caught up in how you think your team should work together and ignore the actual dynamics happening in front of you.
Look at data like communication frequency and response time to create norms about how your team should work together. If employee A wants to check in twice a day but employee B thinks a weekly session is more than enough, you need to help them meet in the middle.
Engagement and wellbeing indicators
This is my favorite set of metrics because it’s where reporting gets human. It’s about using the available data to create an environment where your employees thrive and are empowered to do their best work.
Let’s start with the most well-known: work-life balance. By looking at after-hours activity patterns or overtime trends, you’re likely to notice when employees are sacrificing their personal lives for the sake of the company. This opens the door to conversations about boundaries and how you can better support your team.
Here’s another important engagement metric: does everyone have a voice? In almost every space, not just work, some people tend to dominate the conversation. When that continues to happen, others may begin to feel like their opinions don’t matter. Look at meeting participation ratios, how often people contribute to shared documents, and who continuously has a say in important decisions.
How to implement detailed reporting in your workplace
Excuse the obvious, but detailed reporting can get really, really, detailed, making it tempting to monitor every part of your employees’ workday. Let’s not even consider crossing that bridge.
Instead, here’s how to use detailed reporting as a way to empower your employees, not spy on them.
1. Build a culture of trust
Your company culture is the deciding factor for every part of the work experience, including employee communication. Before introducing any reporting tools, you need to be clear about how data will be used.
Detail what you’re measuring, why you’re measuring it, and how the insights will be used. An honest conversation can go a long way, so discuss the fact that your goal is to empower employees to do their best work and improve team dynamics, not keep an eye on them.
2. Choose metrics that serve everyone
Track outcome-based metrics instead of activity levels. Focus on insights like:
- Team collaboration frequency
- Most commonly used tools
- Project completion rates
- Meeting effectiveness
RescueTime provides comprehensive reports to analyze productivity trends and identify inefficiencies. By tracking team performance, teams can pinpoint where communication issues are occurring and take corrective action to improve collaboration.
You know what metrics don’t serve everyone? Activity percentage levels, URLs visited, and invasive screenshots that capture far more information than you would ever need. Proceed with caution if these are the main metrics a tool provides.
3. Establish a baseline
Don’t start with a bang. Instead, spend 2-4 weeks quietly collecting data before you make any changes or announcements. It’s the best way to get a clear picture of your team’s patterns without contributing to performance anxiety or showy behaviors.
From there, you can determine your team’s communication strengths and weaknesses and set realistic goals.
4. Make room for feedback
Feedback can be as formal or informal as you make it, but it needs to happen. Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and you need multiple perspectives to get it right. Provide a safe space for team members to discuss what’s working and what isn’t, so you can make the changes they actually need to see.
5. Connect insight to action
The purpose of data is for it to guide your future choices. Here are a few specific examples of what that might look like:
- Two departments rarely interact → schedule informal coffee chats
- Excessive meetings → implement focus blocks to protect time for creative work and consolidate similar discussions
- Consistent delays at specific project phases → change your handoff practices
- Communication tools going unused → remove them and invest your efforts in what employees like
6. Think sustainably
Repeat after me: it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’re going to see more success when you implement a series of small changes over time instead of trying to overhaul your entire communication system in a month.
You also need to resist the temptation to optimize every aspect of team communication. Think better, not perfect. Sometimes that seemingly ‘inefficient’ communication is key to relationship-building and creative thinking. Effective communication isn’t just about information transfer, or else I wouldn’t be planning catch-up nights with friends over chips and salsa.
It’s time for a better team experience
Effective team communication is an art and a science. You need reliable data to understand the patterns and identify areas for improvement, but you also need to be able to interpret that data for the benefit of your team and your organization.
Need help collecting relevant data that supports your team’s communication? RescueTime can help provide the insights you need while still respecting your team’s privacy and autonomy. Contact us to set up your team’s account today.