5 strategies to improve digital communication in your organization

There’s an important announcement you need to get out to your entire team. Not that long ago, you would’ve called everybody into a conference room to share the message and answer their questions.

But today? You’re probably skipping the in-person gathering and opting to send an email or post an update to your team’s intranet instead. Put simply, you’re choosing digital communication.

What exactly is digital communication?

Whether you realize it or not, you’re already intimately familiar with what digital communication is because you use it every day. Even so, it’s helpful to start with a straightforward definition.

Digital communication is the process of exchanging information using digital communication channels. It’s a broad category that has applications in both your professional and your personal lives.

Sending a text to a friend? That’s digital communication. Instant messaging with your colleague about an upcoming project? That’s digital communication, too.

For the sake of simplicity, this guide will focus on digital communication in the workplace—meaning all of the tools and processes you use to communicate with the other people who work within your organization.

What are the different types (and tools) of digital communication?

Digital communication is a broad category, and many different approaches fall under this umbrella. Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of digital communication and the popular tools that are frequently used to facilitate them:

• Email: Zoho Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Google Mail

• Instant messaging and chat: Zoho Cliq, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat

• Video conferencing and calls: Zoho Meeting, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams

Those are the big ones that come to mind when thinking about workplace digital communication. However, other forms of digital communication happen at work—but feel less direct or obvious than the ones above. This can include:

• Sharing documents and resources,

• Collaborating on digital whiteboards or in other cloud collaboration tools,

• Posting to internal company communication systems,

• Exchanging informal text messages,

That’s still only the tip of the iceberg. Think about it this way: Any time you interact with a colleague using any type of technology, it counts as digital communication.

Why does effective digital communication matter?

You’re likely starting to realize just how much digital communication you use throughout the workday—and its prevalence and popularity are the main reasons why getting it right is so important.

Particularly with the ongoing presence of remote and hybrid work arrangements, digital communication has become the main way people communicate at work. An estimated 80% of the average workday is spent managing communication via email, messaging, voice, and video.

Digital is the default for most businesses. So, when people struggle to exchange information and ideas this way, it translates to dire effects for the organization. In contrast, when teams have the training and tools they need to communicate effectively, the organization can benefit from:

Improved efficiency

Considering so much of the workday is spent engaging with digital communication tools, having processes in place for easier and more streamlined communication means people can spend less time searching for information or dealing with relentless pings and more time on their actual, meaningful work.

Reduced miscommunications and errors

Because there’s so much communication happening on a daily basis, it’s easy for important messages to get misconstrued or missed entirely. When your organization focuses on more successful digital interactions, there’s less room for confusion, chaos, and mistakes.

Stronger workplace relationships

Particularly for team members who work from home, it can be challenging to forge solid bonds with the people they work with. An alarming 53% of remote and hybrid workers say working from home makes it harder to feel connected to their coworkers. Fortunately, using technology to communicate frequently and intentionally can help foster those workplace connections.

Better team morale

When people feel connected to their team and workplace and can get their best work done (with less bottlenecks and stress), it makes sense that they’d feel more enthusiastic about their roles and committed to their organizations.

Increased employee retention

All of these benefits mean employee retention gets a major boost, too. According to one recent study, organizations that prioritized effective communication increased their employee retention by 4.5 times compared to businesses with lacklustre communication practices.

Here’s perhaps the most compelling argument for prioritizing successful digital communication: Failing to do so can have a direct impact on your company’s bottom line. From costly employee turnover to low-quality performance to lost sales, research shows that miscommunications at work can significantly hinder your organization’s financial performance.

5 best practices for effective digital communication in your workplace

So, you know that it’s important to invest time, energy, and resources into refining your team’s digital communication. Now for the even bigger question: How do you do that?

If you know that your company already struggles with communication, it can feel challenging to right the ship. However, these five strategies will set you and your entire organization on the course for streamlined and smooth digital communication at work.

1. Define clear communication norms and expectations.

It might seem strange, but the path to better communication starts with…well, communication. You need to get everybody on the same page about what successful communication looks like in your organization and how you’ll get there.

You’ll want to go beyond nebulous philosophies and get into the nitty-gritty of your processes and expectations. Work through questions like:

• Which platforms do you use and when should they be used? For example, maybe instant messaging is only for quick, informal chats while everything more substantial needs to be documented in an email.

• What type of information can be shared over each channel? Do you have specific rules related to sensitive company information?

• What are your expectations related to response time?

• How will you handle urgent messages that happen outside of normal working hours or time zones?

• Are there designated quiet hours or boundaries for communication outside working hours?

• In what cases is it appropriate to escalate communication from written to a real conversation?

• Who's responsible for maintaining and updating shared communication resources?

• How will you communicate during crises and emergencies to ensure clarity and calm?

Ironing out your answers to these questions will help you take a far more strategic and intentional approach to workplace communication—rather than assuming it will work itself out over time and with the right tools.

2. Default to asynchronous communication.

When some of your team members work remotely, gone are the days when you could pass along important information by stopping by someone’s desk or chatting around the coffee pot. Doing so means your remote colleagues could miss crucial details and feel increasingly isolated and disconnected from the team.

Instead, set a ground rule that your team will default to asynchronous communication—meaning communication that allows people to review and respond on their own schedule rather than immediately. Think channels like email or comments on a document.

By setting asynchronous communication as the standard, you ensure that all of your team’s updates and interactions are documented somewhere. That means everybody on the team can access and refer to that information when they need to, regardless of where or when they’re working.

3. Start with leadership.

When you want your team or organization to level-up their communication, it’s easy to point the finger at employees. In reality, much of your workers’ behavior is modeled after your leadership. So, take a close look at your company’s supervisors and managers to understand the communication skills and styles your employees are being given as an example.

An alarming 30% of employees say they’re frustrated by unclear communication from their bosses, proving that leaders have some of their own work to do in becoming more skilled and confident communicators.

Provide relevant leadership training about a variety of communication-related topics, such as how to:

• Handle sensitive conversations about things like burnout, mental well-being, and team conflicts.

• Establish and reinforce communication processes and standards on their teams.

• Manage a remote or hybrid team (something that 70% of managers admit they’ve received no training on).

Improving your company’s digital communication starts at the top by ensuring your leaders have the knowledge and resources they need to lead their teams by example.

4. Equip your team with the right tools.

There’s a seemingly endless assortment of digital communication tools on the market. However, successful digital communication isn’t about having a lot of tools in place—it’s about having the right tools in place.

Unfortunately, that’s an area where many organizations fall short, with 91% of employees saying they’re frustrated with the technology in their workplace. That’s why it’s time to take a close look at your existing tech stack and identify opportunities for improvement. Ask yourself:

• Are our tools being used as intended, or are employees struggling with overlap or confusion between platforms?

• Do our tools support both synchronous and asynchronous communication?

• Do our tools integrate with the other systems we use?

Tool fatigue and context switching are real challenges. The fewer platforms your employees need to engage with, the better. So, look for a solution like Zoho Workplace that brings all (or, at least most) of your team’s necessary communication tools into a single view.

5. Regularly solicit feedback and adjust your processes.

Your workplace is constantly evolving—and your team’s communication is too. For that reason, remember that your communication processes, expectations, and tools aren’t set in stone. It’s smart to make strategic changes to continuously refine your approach.

Your team should be involved in this. Regularly solicit their feedback in employee surveys and during relevant meetings like project retrospectives, team chats, and one-on-ones.

Where is communication commonly breaking down? What’s going well? Are there certain barriers to inclusivity and accessibility?

Making it a point to frequently collect these insights from employees will highlight areas you can work to improve. For example, perhaps your remote workers will say that constant screen sharing in video meetings makes it difficult to see their team members’ faces and engage effectively. Or perhaps the colored labels you use throughout your shared resources are confusing for your color-blind team members.

But it’s not enough to gather those insights. You need to act on them so that your team’s communication isn’t just good — it keeps getting better and better.

Digital communication that delivers

Digital communication has become so commonplace in today’s workplaces that it’s easy to think of it as a given—something that’s so elemental it doesn’t require conscious effort and intention.

In reality, it takes commitment and practice. Use this guide to get your entire organization on the same page and work toward effective digital communication that helps your team do their best work easier, faster, and with way less stress and confusion.