One of the secrets to a positive and healthy working environment is effective communication. With a happy, motivated, and strongly connected team, goals are easily achieved and projects move forward with less friction.
Unfortunately, the reality today is that many modern workplaces experience poor communication.
Misunderstandings, unclear requirements, and confusion with tasks are common in teams that lack harmony and proper ways of communication. All of these have a negative impact on employee performance.
When it comes to fostering a culture of connection, in this modern age, digital tools such as group chats are a must.
Every business, from small organizations to huge enterprises, is investing in some form of communication tool to make collaboration more convenient.
Are you in the market for workplace chat software? What features should you look for? How do you get your employees on board? Read on to find out!
What is workplace chat software?
Team chat or workplace chat software is a communication tool used in the office that aid in the progress and completion of various projects and tasks. This software come with several collaboration features such as instant messaging, video conferencing, email drafting, and project sharing.
Workplace chat is a central hub of communication for your team. With these apps, team members are able to work more efficiently together. Confusion and mistakes are reduced, and every task becomes organized.
Managers can also host virtual meetings, share task progress, plan for future projects, or give and ask for instant feedback.
What are the benefits of a good workplace chat?
A good workplace chat is a must-have tool in the office. In this section, we’ll explore the many benefits of good workplace chat software for your business.
Better communication
In their struggle to keep business profitable, many employers forget to keep an eye on their employees’ well-being. Yet for businesses to actually stay afloat and thrive, they need to have cooperating and invested team members.
A simple solution to this problem is a good digital collaboration tool with helpful features that boost employee engagement.
A workplace chat is an incredible tool that managers and employees can use to converse and work together on projects. Effective communication is extremely important if you wish to build a strong team. Employees who work in healthy collaborative work environments are known to perform better and deliver high-quality results.
Reduce wasting time on pointless meetings
Anyone will agree that most work meetings are pointless. Instead of using the time to solve a problem in an intentional and clear matter, these meetings drag on for hours. They also end up costing everyone time that could have been otherwise used for accomplishing tasks.
A workplace chat software with video conferencing solves this problem by allowing everyone to join meetings virtually. Unlike in-person meetings, virtual meetings aren’t as formal.
You can also set an agenda for each meeting before sharing the link with all your team members. Virtual meetings are convenient and can be done with as little organization as required.
Productivity boost
If you wish to have employees working hard for you, you need to also be there when they need help. It’s not just a one-way affair. A workplace chat improves productivity by giving employees real-time correspondence.
Unlike email, which is fast but not instant, chat apps allow you to respond informally and help your employees who are “stuck” on a task. These apps also help you get to the point without further wasting the person’s time.
With Chanty’s team communication software, your team members can work together effectively, increasing productivity by as much as 55%. Chanty’s software is built with teamwork in mind so that members can easily work on several projects without delay.
When there’s a problem that blocks your team (especially newbies) from moving to the next step, they need to have someone around to help or clarify things for them. Similar to how good accounting tools for business make financial management easy, a great workplace chat tool can increase your team’s work efficiency and accuracy. They also make the data easy to integrate into the accounting services proposal.
Employee engagement
New research on worker productivity reveals that 58% of employees in companies with a connected culture experience better physical and emotional well-being. There are also fewer workplace spats or team conflicts due to miscommunication.
Workplace chat improves employee engagement by promoting non-work-related conversations that deepen bonds among team members. Of course, it can’t ever replace face-to-face conversations, and if you work in the same office, conversing face-to-face should be encouraged.
However, it’s good for dispersed teams and out-of-office workers. Overall, good workplace chat streamlines communication and improves your team’s relationship while working.
Things to consider when choosing a team chat software
If you’re in the market for better work chat software, here’s a simple guide to help you choose the right app for your business. The following are things you should research before investing in a new workplace chat:
Is the chat app easy to use?
Your team chat software should allow you to collaborate easily with your workmates. It should be more than just an app for instant messaging. Your business should be able to use it to conduct daily work tasks without any extra trouble.
One good example is Chanty’s team communication features. Chanty can streamline all team communication in one place. You don’t have to open several different apps or comb through various email threads to find information. Chanty makes communication fast, easy, and hassle-free.
If you use other project management tools or ERP platforms such as NetSuite or Oracle, the chat app should be compatible and work without any issues. In other words, it should be an all-in-one tool for facilitating productivity and employee engagement.
Is it secure? How is data stored?
Most chat software has some form of security and data organization. However, it’s not as effective as email or other project management tools. Free workplace chats are not like email where each subject and threat are segmented into one message.
When choosing an app, choose features that allow you to search for information or have backtracking enabled, so you never miss an important message.
Can your business afford it?
Going through their first global pandemic, many businesses learned how important it is to invest in technology. But that’s not the only thing that’s important. Before investing in software, look into your current finances and see if your business could support it.
Team chat software can be a great way to boost productivity and increase your business profit. In the long run, this small investment can actually improve your business growth, employee satisfaction rate, and overall revenue.
Will it help the business achieve its goals?
Your employees will produce better work results and hit their goals diligently if the digital workplace has positive communication. A company with an effective communications strategy has a much better chance of creating a healthier work atmosphere that contributes to better employee satisfaction and motivation.
How to make team communication effective
Although workplace chat makes communication convenient, they can also be a source of distraction if not used properly. For example, did you know that it takes one person an average of 23 minutes to recover from a single interruption?
A study conducted at the University of California reveals that people spend nearly half an hour getting back to a task once they’re interrupted. So, how can you make team communication more effective with a workplace chat?
- Use the right tools: There are many social tools included in most team chat software that make it easy to communicate and share knowledge effectively with your co-workers. Use only the features your team needs.
- Set rules and guidelines: Make sure that everyone knows the rules—and that they have been put in writing. Documented guidelines about communication rules will prevent confusion and misunderstanding.
- Be open and honest: You can have the perfect software for communication, but if you’re not fostering open communication and honesty at work—all your effort is wasted. Honesty and accountability are important to create a judgment-free and thriving work environment.
- Provide consistent feedback: The key to great communication is transparency. Your employees need to know if they’re doing a great job or not. They need to hear both good and negative feedback. When done in the right way, feedback can improve employee performance.
- Understand your team’s communication styles: Each individual in your team may have their working style. It’s important to learn those and promote healthy, respectful, and positive interactions.
- Leverage technology to improve your team communication: Chat apps like Chanty are “humanizing” work and business processes by implementing smart team chat tools for your company.
Top 5 Workplace Chat Tools
Teamchat apps are revolutionizing both remote and in-office workplace settings. Find out which workplace chat is the best for workplace communication:
1. Chanty
Chanty is an easy-to-use yet powerful team chat that organizes tasks, messages, and work-related content in one place. This top collaboration and messaging solution is popular for its “Teambook,” a single hub for all work data which can be accessed from any device or platform.
With Chanty, team members can have video calls, share content, ask questions, save ideas, and send files effortlessly, making Chanty a perfect platform for synchronous communication.
2. Slack
Slack’s virtual spaces make it easy for teams to collaborate, save files, and access information from the platform. It’s one of the best workplace chat software right now with a good free version. Whether you manage a remote or hybrid team, Slack connects you with everyone, destroying barriers that block you from working together efficiently.
3. Discord
Discord is a chat software originally designed for gamers. However, today, it’s being used broadly for various online communities—and even workplaces. While there aren’t a lot of business-related features that make it a good team chat software, Discord stands out because of its excellent voice channel configurations, video chats, and activity monitoring features. Learn more about Discord alternatives.
4. Wire
Wire’s messaging app is built with privacy and security in mind. It uses end-to-end encryption and can be deployed on its own cloud server, company server, or personal server. This makes it accessible for web, mobile, or PC.
Aside from its strong security features, Wire is also highly recommended for its API which allows organizations to create bots that can be used in the team’s workflows.
5. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Team’s chat app software includes amazing features that make collaborating, file sharing, and remote working a seamless experience. The software integrates various Microsoft 365 tools and other third-party apps in one central place. So if your team is already using Microsoft, getting this software will give you several advantages.
Communication is key to successful work relationships
Effective communication is the bedrock of positive work culture. Regardless of the type of work or the industry you’re in, it’s important as a business owner to encourage healthy interactions at work. Consequently, choosing the right workplace chat is the best way to a stronger and healthier office relationship.
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