Foster Communication Across Teams Through Mentoring

Gauging the ideal strategies to promote team communication is strenuous since each workplace and its employees form a sophisticated ecosystem. Thus understanding the dynamics within each team, timely communication among team members must be taken into account with utmost care to obtain desirable outcomes to promote maximum employee productivity and company growth.

In many cases, it has been observed that miscommunication can result in poor morale, stress, and heightened uncertainty, leading to a short circuit in overall productivity, something which most organizations aspire to circumvent. And reports corroborate it, as it has been discovered that poor communication detrimentally impacts 45% of employees’ trust.

Though, sometimes, it can seem daunting to resolve communication-related problems, there exist methods that have proven their efficacy repeatedly. Amongst them, ‘Mentoring Across Teams’ through communication mentors is an optimal solution for addressing workplace communication problems.

How and why mentoring can result in effective team communication? Communication mentors can serve as an intermediary between two or more departments, and well-trained and seasoned advisors can resolve any grievances that may arise from a lack of understanding or hindered clarity.

Importantly, it also provides knowledge transfer, thus giving employees a chance to share knowledge whilst ensuring all information is properly made understood across teams.

Given all these factors, we would explore how team mentoring exercises can bridge the gaps among teams–leading to better productivity.

Also Read: Tips on Mentor and Mentee’s Communication Style

Importance of Communication 

Fostering communication is paramount for success in any type of collaborative environment, be it at a professional or personal level. It enables the transfer of varied opinions and views, accelerates productivity, inspires confidence, and in the end spawns an atmosphere suitable for executing different team tasks effectively. Also, communication allows team members to remain close to their associates and understand their outlooks, resulting in overall savvy decision-making.

Conversely, communication gaps can have catastrophic effects, such as chaotic scenarios, missed deadlines, and disputes. Honestly, without sharing relevant information, teams cannot work efficiently, as they no more function as a cohesive unit.

To exemplify this, let’s contemplate two associates tasked to collaborate on a venture together but have never had the opportunity to converse and bond. The likelihood of them collaborating successfully decreases drastically due to limited knowledge about each other’s working styles.

Consequently, owing to this situation, it sounds logical that all team members engage in a meaningful conversation so everyone involved in projects can confidently articulate their ideas and contribute valuable knowledge.

Elaborately put, allowing all individuals to share their ideas and listening to them during meetings encourages engagement from all corners and promotes collaboration. Furthermore, having timely check-ins provides team members with updates on progress and ensures that everyone remains informed about what’s happening. Creating opportunities through formal or informal mentoring conversations also helps build strong relationships between team members by making them feel valued.

Importantly, these measures result in high employee engagement, directly impacting organizational performance and employee turnover.

In sync with this idea, Gallup indicated that enterprises featuring the most passionate employees witness a drastic 43% reduction in turnover, 18% growth in productivity, and even an impressive 23% enhancement in profitability–as opposed to the least enthusiastic personnel.

How can mentorship bridge gaps between teams?

To initiate mentorship successfully, it is important to:

• Identify the right mentors based on certain factors 
• Leverage digital resources to connect with potential mentors
• Reach out to people in relevant industries or positions-all explained below one by one

Compatible mentoring matches

To kickstart mentorship efficaciously, it is vital to identify the mentors most apt to stand up to the team’s expectations and aspirations.

Mentors with abundant experience pertinent to mentees’ fields of interest can help ensure successful guidance among team members.

Moreover, mentors should be capable of determining the team’s essence, ethos, capabilities, and shortcomings. They must devise custom training sessions that maximize workforce throughput and collaboration.

Next, plan out how the relationship will work out, determining explicit expectations, aims, timetables, interaction regulations, and other decisive variables so that everyone engaged is on the same page.

Developing trust takes time and effort. Hence, consistently cultivating the relationship will yield desired outcomes as far as the mentor’s guidance and assistance are concerned.

Connect with potential mentors digitally

Leveraging the scope and tech of’ virtual mentoring platforms is another wise way to find and match mentors to mentees within your organizations. This strategy enables you to cast a wider net to find ideal mentors for mentees.

It also allows access to diverse mentors’ perspectives while creating opportunities to network with experts in different areas or industries. And exposure to varied viewpoints and networking chances with experts help employees to understand themselves and their peers and work toward a common goal.

Importantly, mentoring platforms are smartly programmed with high-end algorithms to ensure that apt mentors–with the appropriate knowledge and experience needed to bridge any inter-team divide–get connected to mentees. Interestingly, it also helps to eliminate any language or cultural barriers.

Moreover, focusing on virtual mentoring resources helps simplify team communication, as mentors and mentees can partake in the activity from anywhere and at mutually agreed times.

Expand the network

A company should reflectively tap into its contacts in the network or industry who are proficiently adept at bridging communication gaps with their specialized know-how and proficiency.

Again, one of the best ways to reach out to experts is by opting for virtual mentoring platforms such as Mentoring Complete. Such platforms help mentors to communicate their ideas for collaborative work style sitting in any part of the world.

This way, mentees can converse openly about their dilemmas and aspirations with mentors who have firsthand knowledge of it all; consequently enabling them to identify a path around any predicaments that may arise in the future. Essentially, the mentees, now, can lend a hand to their associates when necessary, dealing with similar kinds of difficulties–communication and teamwork at play.

Moreover, hearing mentors’ tales of triumph over adversity can be extremely invigorating and stirring–furnishing valuable knowledge that can save time and resources.

Build Effective Communication among Team Members

Mentorship is an inestimable asset to maintaining effective communication among team members. It enables leaders to delineate anticipations smartly, form limits, and craft a blueprint for success with their workforce. Importantly, mentors should work on three indispensable aspects given below to build effective communication among teams.

• Setting Goals and Expectations
• Establishing Boundaries 
• Building Smart Plans for Success

Setting expectations and goals for employees

Mentoring can generate a productive and collaborative work environment through the establishment of precisely outlined expectations, work priorities, and objectives among employees.

A thorough comprehension of these elements would aid teams in grasping what is expected from them. Thus team members can interact with one another on diverse work aspects, culminating in successful inter-team communication.

Communication mentors, for instance, can bestow upon new hires invaluable insight regarding the organization’s protocols and carve out clear objectives to be accomplished during onboarding programs or training existing teams. This would greatly ease the integration of inter-team roles, thus facilitating a more fluent exchange of communication as everyone gets increasingly acquainted with one another’s specific roles.

Notably, through creating these key foundations of communicative success, mentors can help build a greater comprehension and admiration between colleagues. This improved level of esteem and solidarity will accelerate their growth prospects as they will be steered by a more straight path with fewer hindrances and obstacles.

Establishing Boundaries

Mentorship can foster the development of personal and professional boundaries through well-defined guidelines–aiding employees to comprehend the what and how of conversing with their coworkers, an essential aspect of communication.

For instance, mentors can be instrumental in training and demonstrating proficient communication through frequent discussions and constructive feedback, serving as a mirror to the mentees. This will establish an encouraging and supportive collaborative environment, adhering to the set boundaries.

An instance, mentors may provide examples of appropriate language usage or advice on speaking confidently. This way, they can assist employees by providing feedback on how other members may perceive their tone. This helps ensure that each mentee is heard and respected, leading to enhanced communication among team members.

Furthermore, mentors can provide useful advice on embracing outcomes, empowering personnel to partake in candid conversations and sustain healthier ties with their peers. Hence, through knowledgeable advisors’ assistance, employees can acquire invaluable conversational capabilities that will aid them in collaboration and foster strong bonds at work.

Setting Up Smart Plans to Enhance Communication

Employees can learn smart, actionable steps through productive conversations with communication mentors, attain their goals, and increase collaboration with team members.

For example, rather than relying on a single modus operandi for each staff member, mentors can communicate techniques for working smartly, not strenuously, such as sharing responsibilities with colleagues where applicable or examining more faster ways of accomplishing targets. The plan should be such that mentees shouldn’t feel overwhelmed or let down.

Consequently, team members can derive satisfaction from their work whilst also enjoying a firm foundation of trust and solidarity with their peers–facilitating enhanced teamwork.

Crafting such a plan for success through mentoring necessitates crystal-clear communication with the employees. Also, such communication entails ticking milestones, outlining achievable targets, or identifying areas where additional resources may be needed.

Besides, mentors should motivate employees to assume accountability while setting up new strategies–allowing them to exercise their freedom within a framework. This would enable individuals to identify and personalize strategies according to their tastes and intrinsic enthusiasms.

Also Read: In Mentoring Relationship, What Communication Style Works 

Conclusion

Mentoring across teams can be a powerful tool to foster effective communication. The keys are:

• Making sure the right mentors are identified.
• Leveraging virtual mentoring resources to connect with potential mentors.
• Setting goals and expectations, as well as boundaries and plans for success.

By engaging in this process, teams can have stimulating dialogues with communication mentors and their peers that would enrich their understanding to become their best selves and work collaboratively.

Seeing the massive surge of technology, one such platform that could check all your boxes could be Mentoring Complete. It has AI-powered tools to carry out compatible mentoring matches. So don’t hesitate to try Mentoring Complete now and experience effective team communication!

Want to make your workplace mentoring programs successful? We’re happy to help you!