Improving communication within teams: 7 tips

A strong team depends on good communication. But how do you ensure in practice that everyone stays aligned and truly understands each other? Especially now that many organisations work in hybrid setups and teams consist of multiple generations with different working styles and views on work-life balance, alignment doesn’t always happen naturally. The result: misunderstandings, frustration, and even a loss of productivity. Effective communication is therefore not just helpful, it’s essential for strong performance. In this article, we explore the causes of poor team communication and, of course, how to address them.

“During major changes, it often becomes immediately clear when something is off in team communication,” says Chantal Juijn-Goossens, trainer and owner of Engagement Builders. “When, for example, a new CRM system or an entirely new way of working is introduced, tension and pressure arise, making problems quickly visible. But even during calmer periods, weak communication can hinder a team. It’s less visible from the outside, but over time it shows in lower performance or employees leaving. That’s why it’s important for organisations to pay attention to this.”

Causes of poor team communication

There are several reasons why communication within teams can become strained:

No clear shared goal. When it’s unclear what the team is working toward, noise arises. Without a common objective, team members communicate with good intentions but from their individual perspectives.
Unclear roles and expectations. When it’s not clear who is responsible for what, misunderstandings and duplicated efforts occur.
Lack of psychological safety. When team members feel they can’t speak freely, they refrain from sharing ideas or concerns or do so too late.
Conflicting work styles. Differences between generations or personalities can lead to irritation or people working past each other.
High workload and stress. Under pressure, the likelihood of information being poorly shared or misunderstood increases.

At Engagement Builders, we often see that issues arise around trust and expectations. Teams don’t always dare to speak up or assume that others will understand what they mean. This leads to noise and frustration. In our team programmes, we therefore focus strongly on building trust and making agreements and expectations explicit. Only then do you see communication truly improve.

Improving team communication: 7 tips

What does that look like in practice? And what can you do yourself? Fortunately, there are many ways to improve communication:

Define the goal of each meeting or session together. For example: agree together that you are meeting to make a decision or to set priorities.
Agree on how and when you communicate For example: decisions always shared in chat, or a fixed weekly meeting.
Listen actively. This means not only hearing what someone says but asking questions and summarising to ensure understanding.
Give and receive feedback. A culture in which feedback is normal prevents frustrations from building up and improves collaboration.
Create a safe environment. Encourage openness without fear of consequences.
Use the right communication tools. Choose a limited number of channels and agree on what each channel is used for.
Plan moments of reflection. Regularly take time to consider how the collaboration is going and what could be improved.

A combination of clear agreements, active listening, and feedback yields the biggest results. The key is not to treat these as one-off tips, but to practise and sustain them, something training and coaching can strongly support.

Why coaching and training work best together

Tips and techniques alone are usually not enough. Teams often find it difficult to hold on to what they’ve learned in the rush of day-to-day work. Good intentions tend to fade after a few weeks, causing old patterns to return and any progress to evaporate quickly. A team that, for example, completed a communication training noticed clear improvement in the first few weeks. But after some time, the effect wore off. When a coach was brought in to guide the team in applying the agreements in their own daily practice, the progress did remain visible. It is that combination that often makes the real difference.

Training gives teams the tools and knowledge to communicate better. Coaching then ensures those tools are applied and sustained, creating lasting behavioural change rather than a short-term boost.

“A team within a healthcare organisation had become completely stuck,” says Matthijs van der Bijl. “Meetings ran over, decisions weren’t followed up, and frustrations remained unspoken. The intention to work well together was there, but team members mainly acted from within their own roles. During the training, it became clear where the communication was breaking down and how they could resolve it. Through coaching, they practised giving feedback and making clear agreements. After a few months, they saw lasting results: shorter meetings, greater mutual trust and noticeably more enjoyment at work.”

Working with Engagement Builders

Improving communication within a team requires more than goodwill alone. By recognising causes such as confusion, lack of trust, or stress and by actively working on new habits, any team can make great progress. Teams that combine training with coaching build a culture of understanding, problem-solving and enjoyable collaboration.

At Engagement Builders, team communication plays a central role in many of our programmes. This means we have a wealth of experience that we are happy to share with you. Would you like to hear how we have supported other organisations, what the challenges were and what the results turned out to be? Then feel free to get in touch with us.