Every team should have clear communication guidelines that are taught and enforced for all employees.

You should have a cultural communication guideline document that lists out the channels your team uses to communicate and how each team member is expected to use them. Check out this example from Proletariat. By clearly defining how the team should communicate it becomes easier to enforce the cultural norms you want and accelerates how quickly new team members can onboard into the culture.

Culture is often defined as “a series of unwritten rules that everyone knows and follows”. Why do these need to be unwritten? They don’t! Please write them down, especially when it comes to how your team communicates with each other. 

What should be in a Cultural Communication Guide?

For the guide to be useful it should include at least three sections. The value of the guide is in the details. By reading this document every employee should be on their way to becoming a great communicator with the rest of their team.

1. Choosing the Right Communication Channel

Teams often use multiple channels—email, Slack, meetings. Clearly define which type of communication belongs where based on message content, urgency, and response needs.

2. Communication Channel Usage Guidelines

Once a channel is chosen, the guide should outline how to use it effectively. This includes setting expectations for tone, timing, format, and best practices for emails, meetings, and other interactions.

3. Examples and Best Practices

Include examples to show the guidelines in action, making it easier for employees to understand and follow.

How do you use a Cultural Communication Guide?

The two primary uses for this guide will be with existing teams and with new team members. For existing teams this should be used for creating consistency and agreement on how the team wants to communicate. For new employees it should be part of their training and onboarding.

At Proletariat we would include this guide as part of the employee handbook, send it to new employees when they started, and also give a presentation covering these details as part of their onboarding. 

It is up to company leadership to decide how to enforce these guidelines. The way these are enforced, and how strictly, is also a major reflection on the culture of the team. Do not define these rules and then decide to not enforce them!

How do you make a Cultural Communication Guide?

Crafting a document like this should be a group effort with feedback from the full team. If there is no agreement on ways to communicate, use the creation of this guide to find compromises. The process of choosing how the team will communicate is a great step to improving efficiency across the team.

The best way to start making this guide is to simply write down all the ways the team communicates now. Taking stock of the current communication practices of the team sets a good foundation for discussion around what areas of team communication are working well and what areas could be improved.

This should be a living document, something that is updated regularly as your team grows and changes. I have found that certain communication styles can work well when a team is small but fall apart when a team is big.