Grapevine communication is part of every group, community or organization irrespective of the size and has a significant impact on the personal/employee experience along with the business culture. Grapevine media is a major blocker in creating an environment of trust, empathy and performance within an organization.
With rising remote work culture and cloud tech adoption this sort of communication has taken a different form. Hence, businesses need to understand the capabilities of grapevine media to control and manage it expeditiously.
Before we delve further, let us understand what grapevine media is
Grapevine media communication is defined as an unstructured and informal communication that arises from social interaction and is as varied as people are. This sort of communication does not follow official channels such as emails, intranets or any other formal communication mode.
Now the question arises how can cloud communication help in dealing with grapevine media
According to the American Management Association around 70% of all organizational communication emanates through grapevine. No matter how hard the employers try to prevent this mode of communication, it has become an inevitable part of every enterprise.
Ways to deal with grapevine communication
Eliminating grapevine communication is not possible. However, it can be controlled and contained. One of the best ways is to have a dedicated employee communication channels at workplace that’s supports employee productivity. This is where cloud computing can play a major role in formalizing those informal conversations.
With remote working being the new normal, cloud computing technologies will continue to gain momentum presenting enterprises with new work communication solutions. For many switching to cloud has helped and changed the way employees interact with peers and managers.
How can businesses create an effective communication channel using cloud?
With teams working at different time zones and locations, employers need to minimize informal mode of communication. Enterprises are using cloud computing solutions as an answer to this problem. Cloud solutions if implemented correctly not only enhances productivity and collaboration but also minimizes usage of grapevine communication channels.
Let’s see how:
Cloud computing provides advanced technical solutions that will help eliminate any miscommunications that may arise and provide a single unified platform for official communication, curbing gossip.
Cloud computing allows:
1. Enhanced team collaboration: A central repository that can be accessed from anywhere and anytime paves way for open communication, reduces blame game and promotes a collaborative work culture. It also helps meet deadlines efficiently. Teams spread across the world can overcome geographical barriers and collaborate efficiently and work towards organizational goals more efficiently.
2. Better communication: When various departments are involved, having a single channel of official communication allows businesses to thrive well and achieve faster resolutions when you hit a standstill during any work or product launch. It gives clarity on which departments are thriving vs which are troublesome and do away with them.
3. Allows businesses to scale efficiently: Most businesses may be facing cash crunch or unsure about the upcoming demands. Cloud gives freedom to scale up or down as per business requirements thereby saving costs and helping businesses achieve continuity.
4. Fuels innovation: When working collaboratively, cloud allows real-time communication. This helps brainstorm so much better than under normal circumstances given the current pandemic situation. Brainstorming also paves way for new work styles, fuels innovation..
Few cloud solutions available for businesses at immediate disposal: There are several productivity, collaboration and communication tools emerging every day. However, a few of the popular ones are –
1. Google Drive
2. Dropbox
3. Slack
4. Google Sheet
5. Zoom
The road ahead: There is no going back from the new normal aka remote work culture. As business technologies continue to grow, cloud computing technologies will continue to gain momentum presenting enterprises with new work communication solutions.
To reduce grapevine media in current situation it is important to promote open communication channels using cloud tools. Tracking data, creating two-way communication and addressing the issue are few other ways to reduce the effect of grapevine media.
