What is Two-Way Communication?

Why is two-way communication important?

As per the annual Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, employees have reported continued dissatisfaction and disengagement in the workplace. These issues likely contribute to trends like the “great resignation” and the rise of “quiet quitting.” While numerous factors shape a strong or weak employer brand, effective two-way communication remains a crucial yet frequently neglected aspect of the overall strategy.

Two-way communication is crucial in enhancing company culture for many obvious reasons:

• Encourages active participation from all parties involved
• Fosters a more open and transparent environment within the organization
• Makes employees feel heard and valued

Types of two-way communication

Two-way communication comes in many forms. Let’s discuss some of the best ones here:

• Face-to-face communication: The most direct form of two-way communication that allows participants to engage in real-time dialogue. This interaction is characterized by the ability to perceive body language, vocal tone, and immediate feedback, making it effective for building relationships and ensuring understanding.
• Telephone conversations: This enables individuals to exchange information verbally over a distance. This mode is common in business and personal contexts, providing a convenient and effective communication system that fosters clear and direct interactions.
• Email exchanges: While lacking real-time interaction, emails enable thoughtful responses and are suitable for detailed information sharing. It provides a quick and inclusive method for disseminating messages, promoting efficient and streamlined communication across the workforce.
• Video conferencing: Face-to-face interaction with the convenience of digital communication to facilitate remote yet interactive dialogues. 
• Instant messaging: A fast-paced two-way communication platform, enabling real-time text exchanges between individuals or groups. It supports the use of multimedia, such as images and emojis, enhancing the interaction by adding context to messages.

Benefits of two-way communication

By implementing a strong two-way communication flow, your employees can break down walls between departments and make it easier to get information and collaborate. Here are some top reasons as to why you should implement two-way communication in your workplace: 

Better understanding & team collaboration

By promoting open lines of communication, two-way interactions break down silos and encourage collaboration across teams. Employees are more likely to share ideas and work together on projects that will contribute to the organization’s growth and success.

Enhances employee engagement

Employee communication tools can help drive employee engagement by ensuring employees receive the required information and can provide feedback. When team members feel connected to the company and each other through effective communication, they become more productive and engaged in their daily responsibilities.

Clarity and productivity

Clear communication reduces ambiguity regarding roles, responsibilities and expectations. By fostering two-way communication, you can minimize misunderstandings, streamline workflows, and ultimately enhance productivity to avoid unnecessary confusion.

Greater job satisfaction

When a content workforce feels heard and respected, this leads to higher morale and a greater sense of purpose within the organization. This satisfaction often translates into improved retention rates, as employees are less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere when they feel valued.

Supports continuous learning

Regular feedback loops enable organizations to learn, adapt and improve processes based on employee input. Regular check-ins, employee pulse surveys, and informal discussions allow leaders to gather insights from employees, leading to actionable changes that enhance the workplace experience.

Provides real-time updates

With the rise of remote and deskless workers, real-time communication is crucial. Using platforms that support real-time updates keeps employees informed about changes and important announcements as they happen, eliminating the need for regular check-ins or status updates.

Strategies to encourage two-way communication in the workplace

Recognizing the benefits of two-way communication is vital. However, you might be wondering ‘how to implement the best communication strategy in your workplace?’

Well, here are a few two-way communication strategies that you can easily incorporate into your internal messaging.

Pick tools that make communication easy

Choosing the right tools to simplify communication is essential. Take some time to explore communication software such as instant messaging applications, video conferencing tools, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solutions, or even a robust intranet and employee experience platform to ensure a smooth two-way communication flow. Once you see what works well, bolster your existing internal communication channels or introduce new tools that fit your needs.

Acts as a single source of truth

A centralized communication platform brings clarity and keeps everyone on the same page. With employee communication apps, all team members— including field sales reps—can easily access shared information and the intranet. This boosts collaboration, fosters connection, and ultimately enhances productivity across the organization. Therefore, on-the-go access to the intranet keeps employees across all layers of the organization informed and aligned.

Create a culture of employee feedback

In any organization, employee feedback is the backbone of a productive workplace and understanding how it works is important for individual contributors and senior leadership. Implement a two-way communication system to encourage open dialogue, allowing employees to share their insights and concerns freely. It involves active listening and responding, ensuring that communication flows in both directions.

Recognize and reward contributions

Employees wear multiple hats and fill in many roles. With that comes a natural expectation of being recognized and rewarded within the organization. According to a Gallup survey, only one in three workers in the U.S. strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work. This statistic highlights a significant communication gap. Therefore, creating a robust recognition program—whether through peer-to-peer acknowledgments, manager shout-outs, or formal awards—can make all the difference. 

Read our ebook, next-gen employee recognition: the modern talent retention playbook to get actionable insights.

Showing empathy and transparency

Transparency goes hand in hand with empathy. Being open about decisions, challenges, and changes within the organization builds trust and fosters a culture of honesty. When employees feel they’re in the loop and understand the “why” behind actions, it can alleviate uncertainty and anxiety. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, employees in high-trust workplaces are 76% more engaged and 29% more satisfied with their lives.

Lead by example without taking any shortcuts

It is clear that leadership engagement is critical for fostering a culture of two-way communication in the workplace. When employees see leaders actively engaged with their feedback, they are more motivated to collaborate toward shared business goals. Therefore, one great way to enhance leadership engagement is through focus groups or training sessions. However,  finding the time for this crucial work can be a challenge as well. Check out our free guide – Take the leadership engagement challenge to make it easy.

Two-way communication examples

Here are some examples to illustrate how you can implement two-way communication in your workplace:

Example 1: Interactive employee newsletters

You can quickly create and deliver compelling newsletters with personalized content to drive strong engagement with every send. Create consistent, beautiful newsletters that support videos, links, buttons, and images without bogging down by design or list management. Read our case study: Sammons Enterprises observed 600,000+ content reviews with Simpplr’s personalized employee newsletter.

Example 2: AI-powered employee pulse surveys

Gain deep insights into employee emotions, confidence and sentiments using an AI-powered employee pulse survey. Having an advanced intranet with robust AI analytics that allows short surveys with a yes/no can be categorized into shareable reports. This streamlines data collection and frees up bandwidth for more strategic initiatives.

Example 3: Virtual town hall meetings

Virtual town hall meetings are live-streamed events that bring employees and leaders together in real time. These sessions allow the leadership team to share important updates while allowing employees to ask questions directly, fostering a sense of connection and engagement. Consider incorporating Q&A sessions and live polls during the event to enhance this interaction. 

Example 4: 10-minute team huddle

Daily huddles provide a dedicated time for managers and their team members to share updates, address roadblocks, and celebrate successes. This type of communication style reduces misunderstandings and ensures everyone is informed about ongoing projects and priorities, minimizing reliance on informal channels like emails or chats.

Improve two-way communication in your workplace with Simpplr

As organizations and economies face increasingly frequent shifts, sharing information at the right time, in the right way, becomes cardinal. Several key factors — including staffing, budget allocation, channel dynamics and modern communication tools — influence the effectiveness of communications. 

Therefore, one of the most effective solutions to transform two-way communication is to implement a modern intranet platform like Simpplr. With Simpplr’s AI-powered employee experience platform, you can control and manage cross-channel messaging via SMS, desktop, mobile, newsletters, displays and beyond. And the ability to track analytics across multiple channels and devices with in-app analytics streamlines the process of monitoring and optimizing a leadership comms strategy.

With Simpplr’s multi-channel communication capabilities, you can: 

• Connect with specific employee groups on their preferred channels—whether it’s web, mobile, SMS, chat, or digital displays—no matter where they work.
• Reach employees at scale with SMS and push notifications to send and track information across the organization.
• Build out new channel integrations with Simpplr’s API to expand reach beyond mobile and desktop. 
• Amplify important announcements by leveraging employees’ social networks, where you can turn your team members into brand advocates.

Watch a quick demo of Simpplr and see how it can optimize your two-communications strategy today.