Mastering communication principles and skills in startups is a key component to be able to thrive, both internally and externally. Founders who practice great communication will find that it’s a major driver of their startup’s success. Disharmony on startups’ teams were in part, responsible for 7% of startup failures, and not having the right team was responsible in part, for 14% of startup failures, according to CB Insights’ latest data. Lack of good communication is a root cause for these failures, as good communication is paramount to team harmony and finding the right teammates to work with.
Whether you are communicating with your teammates, with investors, or customers, the best startups excel in all of the areas laid out in this post. That’s not to say that it doesn’t take work or effort to communicate well, but your focus on effective communication will be apparent in your results when you practice it. Here are some of the top communication principles for startups:
Unlocking the Top Communication Principles and Skills for Startups
1. Clarity and Consistency:
Be clear: Externally, ensure your audience understands your message exactly as you intended. Avoid jargon and overly complex language, as brevity and clarity should be your main focus with your messaging. Internally with your teammates, ensure you’re practicing good communication skills by presenting your thoughts, actions, and findings clearly and asking questions to ensure your message is comprehended.
Be concise: Convey information efficiently, focusing on key points and avoiding unnecessary details.
Maintain Consistency: Ensure messages align with the organization’s values, mission, and branding guidelines across all communication channels. While externally, this makes sense, internally it does too. That’s because your work needs to reflect your company’s values and goals. Otherwise, you lose focus and it invites your teammates to question what you’re doing directionally.
2. Transparency and Openness:
Be honest: Share both successes, progress, and challenges openly to foster trust and credibility with your team, investors, and customers.
Encourage feedback: Create a culture where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, concerns, and constructive criticism. This is a hallmark of successful startups who have mastered communication skills and principles.
Facilitate two-way communication: Go beyond just broadcasting information; actively encourage dialogue and engagement with your team and other stakeholders.
Show your teammates that you want their honesty and encourage that they speak up. Asking for their feedback and soliciting them for their ideas creates excitement, makes them feel valued, and promotes an engaged workforce. These benefits are vital for retaining your employees and building a thriving startup or business.
3. Appreciation and Recognition:
Recognize teammate’s value: Show your appreciation for your teammates and co-founders, and the work they do. Thanking them and applauding their hard work and efforts will make them feel more valued, and even more driven to work better. This is one of the simplest forms of communication that will yield both tangible and intangible benefits.
Added Benefits: It’s not just a nice thing to do, though – communicating your gratitude and appreciation has a broader impact on your brain. When you express appreciation and gratitude, you will feel happier, more positive, and be more productive.
You can take it a step further by buying lunch for your teammates, awarding company shares, or laying out a path with them that signals your desire to promote them.
4. Practice Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:
Practice empathy and emotional intelligence with teammates and promote these practices in your company. Responding to someone expressing their feelings should be done with empathy and emotional intelligence. They need to know that they are being heard and understood. Being a good communicator means practicing these skills so you can reduce conflicts and lead a high performing company.
5. Active Listening:
Pay attention: Focus on the speaker’s words, tone, and body language to fully understand their message. Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, listed the first habit of his book as “seek first to understand, then be understood.” By paying attention to the speaker, you’ll be primed to comprehend their message better, reduce mistakes, and provide more effective feedback or follow-up questions.
Engage: Use verbal and non-verbal cues to show you are actively listening.
Clarify: Ask questions to ensure accurate understanding.
6. Tailor to Your Audience:
Understand who you’re talking to: Consider the needs, interests, and perspectives of your audience (investors, employees, customers, etc.).
Adjust your style: Adapt your communication style, tone, and level of detail based on your audience. For public speaking, it requires the same skill. Whether you’re marketing, working on product messaging, running meetings, working on projects, or talking one-on-one, you need to be cognizant of the audience and tailor how you speak and what you say to them.
7. Leverage Communication Channels:
Choose the right tools: Utilize appropriate tools and platforms for different communication purposes (e.g., Slack for quick updates, email for formal announcements, video conferencing for meetings, project management software for communicating completion of tasks).
Define expectations: Establish clear expectations for response times, preferred tones, and communication formats. Ensure that your coworkers know what the appropriate channels are for each medium of communication so you can have a streamlined workflow with minimal misunderstandings.
8. Share the Vision and Progress:
Clearly articulate your business vision: Inspire and align your team by communicating your core purpose and long-term goals. Use team meetings and company-wide meetings to communicate your vision and progress, and use inspirational language to keep people excited and inspired.
Execute your plan: Work cross-functionally with your team, constantly communicating your progress towards goals, and sharing said progress on workflow and productivity tools such as ClickUp or Notion.
Communicate progress and challenges: Keep your team and investors informed about wins, setbacks, and how you are addressing obstacles.
9. Resolve Conflicts Amicably:
Don’t play the blame game: Do your best to learn why a conflict arises and understand what the conflict is about.
Get to the root cause: Use facts, understand the issue, use empathy to guide you, and don’t lose your temper – staying calm and collected.
Ensure you find a reasonable middle ground to resolve the conflict and help all parties use it as a learning experience.
Conflict resolution can be one of the toughest skills to master, but working on this principle of amicable conflict resolution can make a huge difference in your company.
10. Adapt and Improve Communication Skills and Practices:
Continuously evaluate your communication strategies: Seek feedback, continue to educate yourself on best practices, and use data to measure effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
Be flexible: As your startup grows, be prepared to adapt your communication methods and channels, as different organizational structures from scaling or larger projects will require different methods.
Conclusion
By embracing these communication skills and principles, startups can build a strong foundation for their company’s success, fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation.
