Read the full article at: https://blog.briteback.com/effective-team-communication/ Effective team communication is the key to a blooming business. However, studies show that most companies don't have a strategy for internal communication. This slideshow presents the 6 step improvement process towards effective team communication, including practical tips for role based communication.

1. Effective Team Communication
- The 6 Step Improvement Process

2. Aim of presentation
1. What are the main problems with team communication?
2. How can I help my team communicate more effectively?

3. Messaging/chat E-mail
Digital team communication
Team communication has traditionally been managed
by email and chat.
But lately, teams also use project management tools and all kind of
messaging apps to talk with each other.

4. Which is why
communication has evolved…
…into a mess

5. Research study on internal
communication
Spring 2015
• 10 in-depth interviews with organizations in private and
public sector
Conclusion
• Internal communication happens completely ad hoc
• There is no strategy for internal communication
• There is no improvement processes for internal
communication
Is your organization any better?

6. Briteback’s study spring 2015 showed that internal communication happens completely ad hoc.

7. The problems…
a. Team members constantly need to switch attention
between different tasks and incoming messages
b. Not being able to focus on one task at a time induces
stress and the feeling of not being efficient
c. Information is distributed unorganized,
reaching the wrong people at the wrong
time, through the wrong communication
channel

8. Time spent on task switching
Research studies with office workers in the USA
show:
• Employees check emails 74 – 96 times a day
• Task switching time per check takes 64 seconds
Jackson, et al, 2001 & Mark, et al, 2014
17% of a normal working day!This is

9. Time spent on task switching

10. Communication-related stress
US research study
2 conditions were studied:
• Condition 1: Maximum 3 emails checks per day
• Condition 2: Unlimited number of email checks
• 124 participants, 2 weeks in each condition
• Daily measurments of stress levels
Results
There were significantly higher stress levels in the
unlimited condition
Kushlev & Dunn, 2015
More email checks = more stress

11. The cost of inefficient communication
Let’s calculate on a figurative example with 40 employees!
Assumptions
• Time wasted on task switching for email:
17% per working day
• Salary costs: $7k / employee / month
• Salary costs for time spent task switching:
$7k * 0.17 * 40 * 12 = $570k per year

12. How much does your organization pay its employees
for task switching?

13. The solution!
A communication strategy
“A communication strategy is an established
agreement on how to communicate”
Definition:

14. Factors in a communication strategy
• Content
• Tonality
• Medium
• Timing
• Expectations
• Confirmations
• Reminders
• Status
Should be
tied to roles
in the team
or company

15. Strategy: Content
• Is my message clear?
• Did I express myself concisely?
• Could my message be interpreted in
different ways?
• Is my message really about several
things?

16. You are what you write
The wall of text in an
email or chat message
is difficult to
understand by the
receiver. Keep it brief
and structure the text,
so your point comes
across.

18. Content: Example

19. Content: Example

20. Timing
Messages will be interpreted differently depending
on when they are sent!
• When to send?
• When to respond?

21. Timing: Example

22. Timing: Example

23. A communication strategy must be adapted
to the team

24. 6 step communication strategy

25. 6 steps toward effective team
communication
1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate

26. 1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate
2. Run a communication workshop in the team; document the
results
6 steps toward effective team
communication

27. 1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate
2. Run a communication workshop in the team; document the
results
3. Formulate the results as a communication strategy
6 steps toward effective team
communication

28. 1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate
2. Run a communication workshop in the team; document the
results
3. Formulate the results as a communication strategy
4. Make sure to anchor the strategy with top-level management
6 steps toward effective team
communication

29. 6 steps toward effective team
communication
1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate
2. Run a communication workshop in the team; document the
results
3. Formulate the results as a communication strategy
4. Make sure to anchor the strategy with top-level management
5. Implement tools for following the
strategy

30. 6 steps toward effective team communication
1. Bring it up in the team; create interest and curiosity; educate
2. Run a communication workshop in the team; document the
results
3. Formulate the results as a communication strategy
4. Make sure to anchor the strategy with top-level management
5. Implement tools for following the
strategy
6. Establish an improvement process;
adjust the strategy as needed

32. blog.briteback.com/89-tricks-for-email-etiquette
Learn more!
Email etiquette is the principles of
behavior that one should use for email
management. But why should I care?
Email etiquette is important for you, the
individual, but also for your team or your
company at large.
Download the ultimate guide to email
etiquette on Briteback’s official blog:

33. Communication strategy tools in Briteback
briteback.com
Briteback is the only team messaging app on the market,
where chat and video play nice with email.
The app enables companies to implement a communication
strategy and follow-up on their internal communication.

34. The app comes with a range of smart features allowing you to stay
within the recommended maximum email length or double checking
your recipients, …and much more!
Communication strategy tools in Briteback

35. briteback.com

36. Related research (1/3)
• Barley, S.R., Meyerson, D.E., and Grodal, S. E-mail as a
Source and Symbol of Stress. Organization Science
22(4), pp. 887-906, 2011.
• Bradley, A., Brumby, D.P., Cox, A.L., and Bird, J. How to
Manage Your Inbox: Is a Once a Day Strategy Best?
Proceedings of the 27th International BCS Human
Computer Interaction Conference, 2013.
• Dabbish, L.A., and Kraut, R.E. Email Overload at Work:
An Analysis of Factors Associated with Email Strain.
Proceedings of CSCW'06, Banff, Canada, pp. 431-440,
2006.
• Dabbish, L., Mark, G., and Gonzale, V. Why Do I Keep
Interrupting Myself?: Environment, Habit and Self-
Interruption. Proceedings of CHI’11, Vancouver, Canada,
2011.
• Ducheneaut, N., and Watts, L.A. In Search of Coherence:
A Review of E-Mail Research. Human-Computer
Interaction 20, pp. 11-48, 2005.
• Fisher, D., Brush, A.J., Gleave, E., and Smith, M.A.
Revisiting Whittaker & Sidner's "Email Overload" Ten
Years Later. Proceedings of CSCW'06, Banff, Canada,
pp. 309-312, 2006.
• Gonzalez, V.M., and Mark, G. "Constant, Constant, Multi-
tasking Craziness": Managing Multiple Working Spheres.
Proceedings of CHI'04, Vienna, Austria, pp. 113-120,
2004.
• Grevet, C., Choi, D., Kumar, D., and Gilbert, E. Overload
is Overloaded: Email in the Age of Gmail. Proceedings of
CHI’14, Toronto, Canada, pp. 793-802, 2014.
• Hanrahan, B.V., Perez-Quinones, M.A., and Martin, D.
Attending to Email. Interacting with Computers, 2014.
• Jackson, T., Dawson, R., and Wilson, D. The Cost of
Email Interruption. Journal of Systems & Information
Technology 5(1), pp. 81-92, 2001.
Research 1/3

37. • Jerejian, A.C.M., Reid, C., and Rees, C.S. The
contribution of email volume, email management
strategies and propensity to worry in predicting email
stress among academics. Computers in Human Behavior
29, pp. 991-996, 2013.
• Kushlev, K., and Dunn, E.W. Checking email less
frequently reduces stress. Computers in Human Behavior
43, pp. 220-228, 2015.
• Mano, R.S., and Mesch, G.S. E-mail characteristics, work
performance and distress. Computers in Human Behavior
26, pp. 61-69, 2010.
• Mark, G., Gonzalez, V.M., and Harris, J. No Task Left
Behind? Examining the Nature of Fragmented Work.
Proceedings of CHI’05, Portland, USA, pp. 321-330,
321-330, 2005.
• Mark, G.J., Voida, S., and Cardello, A.V. "A Pace Not
Dictated by Electrons": An Empirical Study of Work
Without Email. Proceedings of CHI'12, Austin, USA, pp.
555-564, 2012.
• O'Kane, P., and Hargie, O. Intentional and unintentional
consequences of substituting face-to-face interaction with
e-mail: An employee-based perspective. Interacting with
Computers 19, pp. 20-31, 2007.
• Pielot, M., Church, K., and Oliveira, R.D. An In-Situ Study
of Mobile Phone Notifications. Proceedings of
MobileHCI'14, Toronto, Canada, pp. 233-242, 2014.
• Pielot, M., Oliveira, R.D., Kwak, H., and Oliver, N. Didn't
You See My Message? Predicting Attentiveness to Mobile
Instant Messages. Proceeding of CHI'14, Toronto,
Canada, 2014.
• Ramsay, J., and Renaud, K. Using insights from email
users to inform organisational email management policy.
Behaviour & Information Technology 31(6), pp. 587-603,
2012.
• Soucek, R., and Moser, K. Coping with information
overload in email communication: Evaluation of a training
intervention. Computers in Human Behavior 26, pp. 1458-
1466, 2010.
Research 2/3

38. • Sumecki, D., Chipulu, M., and Ojiako, U. Email overload:
Exploring the moderating role of the perception of email
as a 'business critical' tool. International Journal of
Information Management 31, pp. 407-414, 2011.
• Wainer, J., Dabbish, L., and Kraut, R. Should I Open this
Email?: Inbox-Level Cues, Curiosity and attention to
Email. Proceedings of CHI’13, Vancouver, Canada, pp.
3439-3448, 2013.
• Whittaker, S., Matthews, T., Cerruti, J., Badenes, H., and
Tang, J. Am I Wasting My Time Organizing Email? A
Study of Email Refinding. Proceedings of CHI'11,
Vancouver, Canada, pp. 3449-3458, 2011.
Research 3/3

39. Effective Team Communication
- The 6 Step Improvement Process