This guide outlines how information management systems work to make sharing and transmission of information easier and faster in business.
There is a lot of information you need to share with others in the office. Some information can be found in paper documents, some can be found in digital documents, and some are best shared by word of mouth. With so much to share and so many ways to share it, you could spend all day trying to keep everyone updated!
Strategies to set up information management systems
Don’t waste more time than you have in sharing information with others in the office. Follow these tips for setting up information management systems, and sharing any kind of information becomes a breeze.
Collaborative software
Emailing files every time someone needs access to certain information sounds relatively convenient. That is, until you spend a good chunk of your day emailing information to others in your office.
There’s no need to send information to everyone individually when you use file collaboration software. This kind of software as part of your information management systems enables teams to access files quickly and easily without the need to ask.
Giving employees access to certain programs and software can be helpful as well, as long as you create a hierarchy of who has access to what. Giving too much access can leave your business open to trouble. Find a way for employees to access and share files without too much intervention or too much access. You’ll spend less time divvying out information and more time getting to work.
Consistency
Having a multigenerational workforce can make your business stronger, but it can also make some things more difficult. Communication is one of those things, as different generations prefer to communicate in different ways.
You can spend a lot of time trying to accommodate these preferences. Or, you may simply be communicating in ways that are convenient for you in the moment. Either way, things are sure to fall through the cracks. Instead of texting your team on the go, calling older employees, and emailing messages when you’re at your desk, choose a method of communication and stick to it.
Let your employees know whether they should be looking for updates in their inbox, on their cell phone, or on a messaging platform. That way everyone only has one place to check at the end of the day, and they know they have gotten all the information they need because it is only found in one place.
Request acknowledgements
Just because you send updates or information to your team doesn’t mean they received the message. Avoid having to check in with everyone all the time by requesting acknowledgements.
That might mean asking them to send you a smiley face or a thumbs up emoji, or it might mean saying more specifically that they don’t have any questions.
If you don’t want to rely on your employees to respond, there are ways for you to see if someone has read your email or gotten a message without them having to say a word.
Encourage communication
Sharing information with others in the office is made a lot easier when employees are already communicating regularly. After all, it’s a lot more fun to drop in and talk to someone you feel comfortable with than it is to send information to someone you don’t know very well.
Encourage yourself and your employees to communicate in the office about work and non-work related topics by:
- Making time during breaks or lunch to talk with others.
- Be willing to ask questions and listen carefully to answers.
- Ask for help whenever you need it.
- Schedule lunches and outings to get to know others better.
Look out for blind spots
There is always room for improvement when it comes to communication in the office. Keep your eyes open for blind spots so they can be fixed.
There are many ways communication can become a problem in the workplace. For example, do employees frequently fail to complete a task because they thought it was something someone else was supposed to do? Do they keep missing messages because they are checking their email instead of a messaging platform?
Don’t be afraid to ask employees about the trouble they’re having communicating with others in the office and take steps to fix the problem. It may take a little time upfront, but if you fix communication problems as they come up, you’ll save yourself a lot of time later on down the road.
Conclusion
Don’t feel like you’re always talking to a brick wall every time you have information to share in the office! Follow these tips and you’ll find that sharing information, no matter how important, is a lot easier.
