Improving teamwork and communication in a small team?

February 27, 2022 8:55 PM

What resources would you recommend to improve communication and teamwork for a small team?

I manage of small team of three people. All my staff are just starting their careers and I think we would all benefit from specific tips, insights, and guidance on these topics.

I am looking for talks, websites, or other resources to improve our communication and teamwork. A lot of the stuff Iʻve seen is for large corporations, is geared towards managers and/or is just really corny. Any tips would be appreciated!

posted by abirdinthehand to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: Your two keys are: (1) Clear job descriptions — and if there's overlap because it's such a small team that should be noted within them, and (2) Clear checklists for procedures, quality control, prioritizing tasks. Both should be amended as needed. It's key, really, for both managers and employees to write stuff down: It benefits employees because they don't have to keep it all in their heads, and it benefits employers by clearly specifying responsibilities, how tos, distinct roles, quality control and accountability.

As for you, the manager, though there are a gazillion books on management out there, I would keep it simple, at least at first. The one-minute manager focuses on (1) one-minute goals, (2) one-minute praisings and (3) one-minute reprimands. To put that another way, your role is to keep them on track (and make clear what they're trying to achieve), as well as tell them what they're doing right (a lot of managers forget this) and what they're doing wrong, briefly, cogently and in keeping with your previously stated goals.
posted by Violet Blue at 10:20 PM on February 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

So management is just one part of teamwork and communication, and should in fact support them. I'm not really clear on whether you're asking for tools or for ethos. For a small team tool, you might look at a Slack channel*, and/or a daily standup style thing where people spend 60 seconds saying what they're working on and what their impediments are.

*I prefer the channels built into project management tools like Teamwork because everyone is in one place all day.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:39 AM on February 28, 2022

I can't recommend this website enough. We paid consultants to walk us through this website, turns out we could have done it ourself pretty easily:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/best-practices-for-outlook-f90e5f69-8832-4d89-95b3-bfdf76c82ef8

Outlook is super unintuitive - and it's unclear what you should folder up / keep in one folder. Since changing my work style to just have 1-2 folders as described and setting up autofilters and rules - things have gone so much better.

Then - I'd sit each person down and meet them where they are at, in terms of communication, email style, booking appointments correctly in outlook, sending out OOO, communicating vacation/expense reporting so there aren't ever any issues or surprises.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:27 AM on February 28, 2022

Best answer: My team has taken a lot of inspiration from GitLab's communication policies. GitLab is an all-remote organization, but I think there are some beneficial practices for companies that have an in-person or hybrid setup: Top tips and best practices, Hybrid calls are annoying, Slack, and Google Docs in particular.

Personally, I've found "everyone works in a consistent way" to be the most helpful thing a manager can establish and enforce for the purpose of building teamwork. If Person X keeps their documents in a personal folder, Person Y never replies on Slack, Person Z uses Trello while the rest of us use Jira, etc., then you have lots of hurdles you have to get over just to get simple things done. Documenting HOW things are done, and WHY they're done that way, is very important.
posted by neushoorn at 6:00 AM on February 28, 2022 [10 favorites]

Keep notes on processes in a shared location. We use OneNote, but the tool is not as important as the habit (on preview, also everyone using the same tool). When I need to know how to run this one thing that failed and the person who usually does it is on vacation, it is invaluable. Our team will also add comments to the notes to clarify things, or ask the original person to rewrite a section if it is unclear. Documentation needs to be tested.
posted by soelo at 6:38 AM on February 28, 2022

Task lists need a doer, a verb, a noun, a recipient, and a due date.

- “Presentation deck” is a bad task. It’s unclear who owns it, when it’s due, and it’s overwhelming to even think about what the task IS, let alone actually do it.

- “Jen will compile March sales numbers, and input into Lisa’s presentation deck (link) by May 5” is a good task.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:37 AM on February 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I work for a small, distanced company (we've all worked from home full-time for 10+ years) and have found that an instant message program is essential.

I can ping my boss with a question or can ping one of the 'rooms' we've set-up (usually broken down by function) for either an online discussion or to setup a teleconference. It can be non-intrusive (usually not used for any urgent situations) and helps to have the history to refer back to.

We also have a weekly all-hands on deck for one hour. CEO leads the agenda and it's the time for all of us to be together to come up with new ideas or review past outcomes.

We've tried an old-school message board but it's too easy to ignore. We have a home-grown system to track project progress (which is communication-adjacent) but that isn't always up to date either.

Regardless of what you use, please make sure you get buy-in from your employees on what will work best for them. I have co-workers that I can email and would never hear back but if I ping them, they respond right away. And vice-versa. Focus on the outcomes more than the methods.
posted by Twicketface at 11:41 AM on February 28, 2022