A small business has no room for wasted effort, so why not keep the same standard in your communication? While it can seem straightforward, many organizations have inefficient modes and processes for collaboration that dampen productivity. Streamlining your communication can have a big impact on your success.

One of the most common hurdles small businesses face is communicating clearly, which can happen at every level and result in wasted time, mistakes, and missed opportunities.

This is often due to inefficient communication channels, which can create silos and inconsistent standards or goals, hindering productivity and muddying decision making. Without an established culture of transparency and knowledge-sharing, information can quickly get concentrated within specific departments or teams, creating redundancies, stifling innovation and blocking collaboration before it even begins. Many organizations over-rely on email, which is natural given its ubiquity, but only further segregates information. And everyone’s been to enough unnecessary meetings to know they often lack clear objectives.

The good news is that these inefficiencies are very easy to fix.

7 practical, easy-to-implement ways to optimize communication

The right communication tools depend on your situation. For example, Slack lets you share documents online, video chat and collaborate on projects across more than 2,200 different apps, making it ideal for working with remote teams. Since collaboration and communication go hand in hand, these tools and applications ensure everyone stays in the loop and on task. Bonus: They also keep virtual colleagues from feeling alienated and boost morale across the company.

To get you started, here are seven tips for how to set your teams up for success.

Tip #1: Create a set of tech rules so everyone is aligned on how to communicate

If communication channels aren’t organized and clearly defined, people can inadvertently miss important updates and fall behind. Slack makes hybrid collaboration more effective by letting you manage projects and teams within channels. Communicating milestones and tasks within these channels keeps all team members on the same page and with equal access, regardless of location, and best practices ensure everyone stays in sync.

New York-based fashion retailer Mixology Clothing Company has a strong web presence and 15 brick-and-mortar locations. Its retail staff was always united around delighting customers, but Slack has aligned the team of over 400 employees like never before. “It is quite important for us to build a strong customer community, and that begins with fostering a strong team culture,” says CEO Jordan Edwards. “Slack channels provide a platform to nurture this internal community.”

If you’re working across time zones or from multiple locations like Mixology, set the status and purpose of your channels accordingly so that teammates know that approvals or follow-ups might take up to 12 hours as teams come online. To help employees maintain work-life balance and limit untimely interruptions, use the built-in Do Not Disturb feature to clearly indicate working hours.

Tip #2: Add automatic reminders for daily standard procedures

An easy way to skip meetings and keep productivity high is to automate daily, weekly and monthly reminders in Slack. This could include nudges to turn in timesheets, do fun things like post weekend photos on Monday, or build morale by sharing your proudest accomplishment that month.

At Mixology, in-store associates rely on designated Slack channels to accomplish daily tasks that include merchandising, client inquiries and inventory questions. The teams use automated Slack reminders to stay on top of personal goals and tasks, while also keeping specific stores motivated toward sales goals and customer touchpoints. This has led to fewer meetings, allowing associates to spend more time providing exceptional customer service.

Tip #3: Draft more efficient messages to avoid overloading teammates with information

At any given point in your day, you’re likely chatting with all sorts of people, from leadership to colleagues and direct reports. When Mixology rolled out Slack internally, every member of the company, from senior executives to front-line associates, started engaging within a few days. “Our Slack implementation helped the brand see a lift in our annual revenue by ensuring information was accessible, actionable and democratized across teams,” says Edwards.

Slack lets you change up your communication style to engage specific types of teams and personalities. You can message teammates directly, or stay organized around specific topics within channels by starting a thread. Grab people’s attention by strategically using polls, GIFs and living documents.

Tip #4: Find ways to automate tedious or repetitive tasks

Consider a typical week and how many times you and your teams may repeat the same tasks, like submitting IT requests, kicking off projects, polling teams and onboarding new hires. Tools like Slack can help with all that, too.

• Instead of a disorganized stream of people reporting issues on disparate systems and with hard-to-track feedback, your IT team can tap into popular Slack applications like Jira and Zendesk to streamline requests.
• With Slack’s Workflow Builder, you could connect the tools needed to kick off projects—and in just a few clicks, create a project milestone tracker with Asana, set up a kickoff meeting with Zoom, and share a brainstorm board in Miro.
• You can also use Slack channels, apps and integrations to streamline onboarding and set new employees up for success, automatically adding them to the correct channels and sending them the resources they need to hit the ground running.

Tip #5: Empower your team to communicate directly and intelligently with customers

Customers expect more from brands and companies these days, including personalized and on-demand communication. Slack’s integration with Service Cloud makes it easy to access valuable customer data and key information that can help you better serve your customers.

At Mixology, store associates drive growth by communicating directly with customers with Slack or between Slack and SMS messaging. Within Slack, they have helpful details at their fingertips, including purchase history, personal preferences and sizes, using relevant information to better meet each customer’s individual needs and build loyalty. If there’s an issue, they can effortlessly submit a ticket in Slack to ensure the customer gets what they need.

Tip #6: Replace unnecessary meanings with more efficient options

A lot of the previous tips may have already helped free up your team’s time and eliminated some meetings, but you still have plenty of options to stay connected and share information.

• Instantly connect over audio or video and share screens right from Slack with huddles
• Post audio, video or screen recordings to asynchronously share updates, announcements and explanations with clips
• Effortlessly stay in sync with external partners by moving siloed emails into shared channels with Slack Connect

Beyond the store, Mixology’s warehouse team avoids meetings and opts for a Slack channel to post images of each item before it gets picked up to hit the floor. Teams also connect seamlessly in Slack with the company’s technology partner for support, requests, feedback and other operational needs.

Tip #7: Build a positive communication culture

Small business leaders are responsible for setting and maintaining the standard for collaboration in their organization. Lead by example and ensure you have certain channels that are just for fun, and ones where you encourage sharing wins and ideas. Every quarter or so, make sure you’re asking for—and acting on—feedback from your employees by leveraging a polling app like Simple Poll or Polly.

One the Mixology team’s favorite Slack channels is an appreciation channel where they can celebrate their wins. They also have a creative inspiration channel where they’re encouraged to share ideas about fashion and beyond.

Increase efficiency and move your small business forward

In Slack’s Future of Work study, 87% of team members say that collaborative tools make them more productive, 87% feel these platforms have a positive impact on their work relationships, and 77% feel that improved communication makes their organization more transparent.

With Slack, it’s easy to encourage your employees to share ideas quickly and effectively—and ensure they actually enjoy their daily experience at work. Provide training and focus on being intentional with all communication to empower your employees to get work done, deliver for customers and maximize each day.