Companies that communicate better, perform better. 

A study done by Willis Towers Watson found that "companies with high effectiveness in change management and communication are three and a half times more likely to significantly outperform their industry peers than firms that are not effective in these areas." Not only that, but the study also found a strong relationship between effective communication and positive financial performance. Open communication and transparency are some of the most desirable traits in an office. Employees are much more willing to contribute if they know exactly what they’re expected to do and who to turn to for help, and managers can express exactly what their expectations are and relay that information clearly to their teams.

Communication is a two-way street that benefits both the manager and the employee, and using video has never been easier with technology that fits in the palm of your hand.

As important as good communications is, employees still complain that leaders do it poorly. 

Among the many reasons for this, a lack of easy-to-use tools that all employees use in a modern way is one. But enterprise communications tools are improving, especially with the introduction of Workplace by Facebook.

According to The 2016 Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition conducted by Deloitte, usage has increased for most data communication services, with 45% of consumers using more video calls than last year. As people use video more and more to communicate with friends and family, they are beginning to expect to be able to do that at work.

When you combine the ease of using live video and video calling in Workplace by Facebook, with the ability to integrate BlueJeans video meeting technology with Workplace, you have an enormous opportunity to improve communications with video. 

So how exactly can video be used to improve communications at work?

To build company culture

Live video can add a personal and authentic touch to relationships with employees even if they’re not in the office, whether that’s through spontaneous and informal tours of other offices or more structured town-hall meetings about company announcements. Employees will have an easier time working with one another if there is a sense of camaraderie and unity, and video meetings is a great way of approaching that. Videos can also be used to hosting Q&A sessions in a department, between departments or across the company can increase transparency for the company. No matter where the viewer is, they can submit questions during the live broadcast to provide a gauge of what they’re thinking.

To share customer stories

Recording customer reviews can be useful to share internally in the company to review, or to post on the company website as testimonies to your business. These customer experiences are much more influential and impactful than just a written testimony, because it comes from the customer themselves. For example, when employees are visiting customers, they can use the live video feature on Workplace to record interviews about the customer's experiences to share back with appropriate internal groups. These videos are easy to execute because of how easy it is to use the Workplace App on one's phone, but also because the customer interview is for internal purposes only, streamed into one of your, appropriate, groups in Workplace. 

To foster peer-to-peer learning

New employees can benefit by using videos to learn their new position in a regulated and standardized manner, saving time and energy for the human resources department. Other employees can also make videos to help teach a skill to their fellow coworkers, such as things they're doing and learning. If something in the office breaks, an employee can record a video of themselves learning how to fix the problem, or to identify the problem for someone else to fix. Video can even be used as a way to introduce executives to new hires.

To encourage communication between employees or offices

Video meetings are a common solution to the issue of building strong relationships between remote employees or multiple offices, which open direct channels of communication by helping put a face to the voice of your employees. BlueJeans can help bridge the gap by providing a professional-grade video meetings for your employees that significantly reduces friction for users because it is already implemented into Workplace. And when you broadcast your BlueJeans meetings into Workplace groups, you empower people to catch up on what they missed or otherwise promote transparency and sharing of information.

Overall, video is effective in condensing information and communicating just what’s necessary. It eliminates unnecessary in-person meetings, messy paper trails and a sea of emails or newsletters.

Here are some tips for using video more often at work to improve communications:

• Practice before going live
• Make sure you’re in a quiet place
• Use a tripod and a microphone
• If it’s a live video, arrive on time
• Have a strong internet connection
• Include a moderator to answer questions
• Address people by name when answering their questions
• Be yourself

With these tools, you’ll be more prepared to start using video on Workplace to improve communications at work.