Strong communication skills are core competencies you need in any hire at any stage of a company's growth.
As we grew we faced the same struggles as any other company: balancing between information supply and information quality. A key factor in the learning process was that if we were going to scale efficiently, we needed more descriptive human and company values aligned communication.
To accomplish this, we revised and enriched our information sources and made them accessible to everyone, not only for current but also for future employees. The handbook you're reading plays a big part in doing that.
Open and Honest Communication is not yet another fancy term. It allows employees to be more engaged and aware of why they do matter in the success of a workplace. All employees must be able to understand what the big picture is and what is their part in the fulfilment of the company’s values and mission. In this way they can easily understand the reasons behind the decisions that are made and in what way those decisions impact them. Moreover, open and fair communication between colleagues creates a productive and positive working environment with greater job satisfaction, less stress, loyalty and mutual respect within all company members.
➼ The core values of building together and working smarter hinge on communicating successfully. That means we need to do this efficiently, fast, with the right means and having your purpose in mind.
➼ Be open, ask for feedback as much as you can and don’t hold grudges. If you feel misjudged or offended try to apply the 48 hour rule. This means taking some distance from the issue and coming at it again in calmness having reflected on it - if there's a conversation that needs to be had, it'll be a better one for having waited a while and giving it some thought. Use good judgement in all cases.
➼ Don't misuse communication channels/methods. Avoid information overload and disperse of irrelevant information. Working smarter with how we communicate means being time- and resource-efficient. Without proper communication and alignment even the simplest task can become cumbersome and time-consuming.
➼ Start with the human when communicating. This is about empathy and having the ability to weigh what you want to say against how someone else is going to perceive what you're going to say. When all's said and done, don’t forget to have some fun.
Take meetings as an example. We don't invite everyone to a meeting unless it concerns everyone. When setting up a meeting we make sure to provide a clear agenda so colleagues can prepare and know what they're needed for. It's ok to ask for more information upfront as to what's expected from you - why do you need to be in the meeting? To be time-efficient we try our very best to restrict internal meetings to Mondays and Fridays. Sometimes you've got to meet to get something done, sure. But otherwise, the middle of the week should be meeting-free.
A lot of Starred teams have huddles or stand-ups to start the day to see what's being worked on and how people can unblock each other - all kept as short as possible so we can get on with the day and get a good flow of work going. It's how we've found structuring time to be the most effective. Another practice we stick to is avoiding hour-long meetings as the 'default' - often things can be covered in much less time. That's why some teams at Starred run 25 minute meetings instead of half an hour meetings, or 50 minute instead of one hour meetings.
We're working towards a universally accessible and practical communicational guide for everyone’s reading. It serves as a practical handbook and so people should be trusted to create their own responsible approaches/ adaptations to its contents using respect and good judgement. Communication is key to Starred’s growth and should be open and honest from the first till the last day of an employee in it.