5 Ways to Improve Communication in Small Teams

You’d think that when you only have a few people to coordinate activities with, communication would be easier for small teams than big one, right?

Yet time and time again, we see small businesses make assumptions, skip communication handoffs, and royally make a mess. These misunderstandings can lead to project mistakes, inefficiency, higher expenses, and burnout, affecting overall business performance.

So if good communication plays such a big role in performance, how can small teams overcome these challenges?

We’re glad you asked! We’ve found that a few, specific types of structured meetings offer the best solution.

Implementing structured meetings can bridge these gaps, ensuring clarity and alignment.

Five Essential Meetings to Enhance Team Communication

These are the only five meetings you need to adopt to transform how your small team communicates and functions:

1. Leadership Meeting: Charting the Course

Leadership meetings are critical for defining the business’s top three economic drivers. These are the three most important and profitable objectives for the business month, quarter, or year.

Then, you want to make sure everything you do supports and aligns with those drivers. Clear direction from the top ensures everyone in the small business is aligned towards the same goals, like ships navigating towards a lighthouse.

2. Daily Department Standup: Keeping Everyone Aligned

A brief daily meeting helps teams stay aligned on immediate tasks and goals. This 15-20 minute standup addresses daily priorities and any emerging challenges, keeping everyone informed and focused.

It’s also a perfect time to reinforce the big three economic drivers that the tasks relate to. Your team needs to know how their daily and weekly tasks nudge the ship closer and closer to the desired destination.

3. Personal Priority Speed Check: Connecting Roles to Goals

Following the daily standup, a quick individual meeting allows managers to connect each person’s efforts to the department’s and organization’s objectives.

An individual meeting? Yes! Team members need to come prepared with questions that clarify needs, or requests they want to make to leadership for approval.

The speed check shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes per person, and it saves tons of costly and time-consuming mistakes later.

It also fosters a clear understanding of each member’s role in the larger picture.

4. Weekly All-Staff Meeting: Building Community

Weekly gatherings, often called town hall meetings, are crucial for morale. They provide a platform for celebrating achievements and discussing challenges.

Try a 20-minute All-Staff Meeting this week and watch how it helps everyone feel part of the company’s journey.

5. Quarterly Reviews: Ensuring Continuous Feedback

Quarterly reviews replace the outdated annual review system between employees and supervisors. It’s a chance to shape behavior and co-build goals on a more consistent and timely basis.

We’ve previously talked about how the modern workforce is dynamic and changes more often than it used to 15 and even 20 years ago.

That is why these quarterly meetings offer regular feedback and discussions on career development, removing surprises, and supporting continuous growth.

In Conclusion

Structured meetings are key to enhancing communication in small teams.

By implementing these five types of meetings, teams can ensure better alignment, increased productivity, and improved morale.

Join the Conversation on LinkedIn

We encourage you to share your experiences and tips on improving communication in small teams on our LinkedIn page.

Let’s discuss and learn together how we can make our teams more effective and connected!