How to Build an Effective Team Communication

If you want to develop professionally in the IT field exclusively, you need to pay attention to a certain set of skills and communications. And these are not empty words about something unknown. At a time when IT communities work remotely, sometimes even asynchronously, the ability to communicate, write emails, and generally build relationships with colleagues becomes a decisive factor.

Further, in the article, we’ll have a look at a strategy for building effective team relationships and analyze the different roles of team members.

Factors Affecting the Atmosphere in a Team

There cannot be a successful and motivated team without a strong leader. Sometimes, it is the responsibility of a manager, team lead, or company owner. But if you want a team to work as a single mechanism, each member should contribute to it.

For example, you can find a team of talented professionals with the necessary skills. But their contribution to the team will be as limited as possible if they are used to work separately. Only when problem-solving is based on teamwork, innovative solutions can be approached.

In general, a team should have the following features:

• Every team member should work towards a common goal. Everyone has to understand where the company is going and why and realize their role and contribution to the process of moving towards a common goal.
• Honesty and faith. This means that everyone should believe in everyone when they need help.
• Regular communication. Everyone should clearly express their requirements and wishes, be able to exchange information, and make suggestions.
• Reasonable allocation of resources. Each team member must understand how to properly allocate working time, professional knowledge, and financial resources to achieve the goal.
• Effective problem solution. Conflicts should not be ignored, they should be dealt with by seeking compromises and solutions that are beneficial to all.

Everyone’s Role in a Team

With a different set of fixed responsibilities, we bring our energy and value to the team. It all depends on personal traits, temperament, habits, and work background – but each role is important in its own way.

According to psychologist Raymond Belbin, a team should meet the following conditions to be considered effective:

• Сoordinator’s motivator. This role is suitable for the leader of the entire team. Such a person should be able to distribute responsibilities and “charge” the team with positive energy.
• Resource seeker. This person has an inquisitive nature and often finds interesting ideas to share with the team.
• Quality Controller. This is someone who always tries to complete tasks, and is characterized by meticulousness and perseverance.
• Performer. An employee who can perform any assigned work (within the corporate competence), as well as develop an effective strategy for the entire IT company.
• Idea generator. This is the first one who finds new solutions and encourages the team. Such employees are distinguished by their constructiveness, novelty of proposed ideas, and ease of implementation.
• Critic or strategic analyst judges everything objectively and evaluates various solutions proposed by the team; quickly finds vulnerabilities and has a high level of critical thinking.
• The soul of the company. This is an employee with the developed empathy and approach of a so-called diplomat who can smooth things over.
• An expert. A person who gradually accumulates information and possesses deep knowledge. Perfectly acts as a mentor.

Tips on How to Quickly Improve the Level of Communication

There are several effective recommendations that can make you a specialist who will be a pleasure to work with.

1. Try to respond to messages quickly. If you receive a message from a colleague or manager, try to respond as quickly as possible or at least let them know that you’re busy and will answer later.
2. Resolve any conflict openly and constructively. Don’t be afraid of conflict, take it as a good opportunity to find the cause and solution.
3. Write down everything important. This strategy will help to avoid misunderstandings.
4. Use only appropriate communication channels: meetings, email, chat, or phone calls whenever possible.
5. Fight against information overload. Don’t overwhelm yourself and your colleagues with a ton of information, focus only on the key aspects of the topic at hand.
6. Listen to your colleagues, be polite, and take criticism positively.

Conclusions

Any work in an IT company involves interaction with other people. Therefore, all team members, from managers to web developers, should understand the basics of conflict management and be able to quickly resolve conflicts and disagreements.
Study the literature on communications, and you’ll immediately see that even though any job has its own specific nuances, only the ability to build strong relationships with colleagues can become your support in difficult situations.