Did you know that you can help solve 80% of your business’s problems by fixing your team communications? You can accomplish this using your project management tool of choice, but for this particular guide I’ll be focusing on how to it (specifically) over in ClickUp.
4 Things You Need to Solve Your Team Communication Issues Using ClickUp
As with any relationship, whether personal or professional, communication should remain high in the priority list. I mean, you don’t solve a problem (especially not a business problem) by keeping your mouth shut and pretending you didn’t see it, right?
So, let’s dive into how to set your team up for success by using ClickUp to streamline internal communications.
1) Proper ClickUp Onboarding
When onboarding your team using a new team or project management tool, make sure you have the following covered:
1A. Team Training
Do not just throw a project management tool at your team and leave them to their devices. Regardless if they know how other mainstream project management tool work, it would be best to make sure that they get trained to use the particular tool you’re implementing.
Remember, your team would be far more efficient and successful in completing tasks, if they have a genuine understanding of how it works!
1B. Notifications
To avoid having urgent tasks and other commitments slip through the cracks, make sure your team is aware of the notification functions. Of course, we don’t want to bombard them with 10,000,000 notifications, so teach them how to make the adjustments in ClickUp to better streamline these reminders. They can opt to receive notifications more frequently or less frequently depending on the urgency of their participation.
NOTE: Make sure everyone learns how to use notifications with @ mentions and assigned comments. I do this with a Live demonstration and make them participate in real-time.
1C. Expectations
Be clear when setting your expectations. Sit down and talk to your team. Let them know the importance of using ClickUp and how it will help everyone stay on track. Create your team/project management rules for success a.k.a. ClickUp commandments, then share it with them.
2) Standard Operating Procedures (Are you sick of hearing me say it yet?)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it as many times it takes to make it stick.
YOU. NEED. STANDARD. OPERATING. PROCEDURES.
And that’s regardless of how big or small you think your business is.
(Seriously, there’s no going around this, all successful businesses have it!)
When getting your team to use a new tool, make sure that they have a means to follow the steps. This may mean creating a document detailing all the steps they need to achieve an objective, or recording a video that will help walk them through Step 1 to finish.
Still not convinced? Check out Why You NEED SOPs (4 key reasons + 3 frequently asked questions)
2A. ClickUp Handbook
This is where you will put in EVERYTHING related to using ClickUp as a team. This is it’s own living breathing SOP. It is where your ClickUp Commandments live, along with the document that lists down user roles, statuses, stages, and hierarchy.
Pro Tip: When developing your ClickUp System have the ClickUp Champion make a document or form to capture any FAQs from the team relating to ClickUp. Then add an FAQ inside specifically for this tool in the handbook for all internal team members to reference. If you want to get fancy, record micro clips and embed the videos in the doc!
Read all about Why You NEED a ClickUp Champion (to Help Your Business Get UNSTUCK) here!
2B. Company Handbook
- You need this to hold your team up a certain standard. Think of these as your house rules! Everyone in your organization needs to fully understand the benefits of following these rules, and the consequences when they’re broken or ignored.
2C. Internal Communications SOP
You’ll need a separate SOP specifically for how you’re going to communicate with your team. This SOP should be clear and answers common questions like…
- Who do they run to when they need help?
- What is the best way to communicate with certain team members?
- When should they be on Slack?
- What do they need to consider when sending an email?
- Is anyone available to answer questions over the weekend?
- What are the considerations around urgent & high priority inquiries?
- Etc etc etc
Think of this as setting the boundaries of what is and what isn’t acceptable as far as communication goes – it will save you the headache of needing to explain yourself again and again as your team & business scales.
You can check out my crash course on simple SOPs here.
3) Regular Meetings
Create a task for Team Meetings, and then tag or assign the necessary team members so that they can watch out for it and be able to prepare what they need when they show up. You can write the meeting agenda down on a ClickUp document and embed it on the Team Meeting task, this will help the meeting attendees find, read through, and reference what the focus of the meeting is, as well as the questions & developments that were discussed during the meeting.
Check out my post about How to Have EFFECTIVE Team Meetings in ClickUp here.
4) Workspace-Wide Dashboard
This will provide an overview of all the updates your team needs, such as: urgent announcements, high priority tasks and projects, client goals, and your company objectives.
You can add in a chat widget, the company handbook, etc.
This dashboard will be the fastest, simplest source of truth for your whole organization while you’re in ClickUp… just make sure that you set the visibility of this dashboard to company-wide, so your team can see it!
Pro Tip: Teach your team how to add the Workspace Dashboard onto their favorites, and then pin it on the top of their navigation bar inside ClickUp for easy reference.
4 Tips to SOLVE Team Communication Issues in ClickUp RECAP:
Team communication issues won’t get solved overnight, but implementing these 4 tips in your business will undoubtedly increase your team’s efficiency over time.
Here’s a quick recap of those 4 things you need to solve your team comms issues:
- Proper onboarding of your team management tool of choice (which in this scenario is ClickUp).
- You need to create, update, and implement Standard Operating Procedures.
- Hold regular team meetings and use ClickUp to keep everyone in the loop.
- Your WORKSPACE-WIDE DASHBOARD is the single source of truth in your organization.
Ready to set your business up for even greater successes?
Project management involves a lot of work and I understand how it can get frustrating, especially if you’re a solo entrepreneur.
But you don’t have to suffer in silence, I’m here to help you as best as I can. You can connect with me via social media or for more amazing resources to improve your business, you can book a call with me.
Quick reminder: AmbitiousVA rebranded to Anne Leah & Co., to serve a bigger purpose.
For all the links and resources Click Here.
