Thursday, September 01, 2005

Improving team briefing communications

Effective team briefings are an important component of internal communications, but as we all know the most important details can sometimes get lost during the session. It was recently reported by Melcrum Publishing that one of the reasons that communications delivered at team briefings do not always ‘stick’ is because the originator did not take into account the medium being used.

Bill Quirke at Melcrum said, ‘If you’re going to talk about it, then everything you produce for a team briefing should be written for it to be said and not read. But team briefings are often prepared on the basis that what is written down will simply be read out word for word. Think about whether or not a different presentation (and delivery) is needed. Let’s face it, when you’re listening to someone talking to you, you only take it a certain amount of information, but if you’re reading something, you have the chance to take the whole thing in.

The point is that a team briefing should be a chance for people to talk through things together and ensure their understanding, and not just be read to. After all, the team are just as capable themselves of taking something away and reading it.’

In summary, when talking to your team at a team briefing, try and keep your language clear and free of management-speak.

Also think about the use of key phrases that will help you get your point across as well as highlighting what might be in a follow-up written briefing for team members to take away with them.

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