Can You Hear Me Now?
How many times have we heard how important communication is in the workplace? We hear it from well-known authors, researchers, and from our own employees when we survey them about their key concerns. Given all of this evidence, why does management continue to keep employees in the dark?
Granted, there are some instances where management is justified in keeping information confidential, but in most cases they avoid communication because they want to avoid the inevitable questions and concerns that follow. So, instead of providing appropriate, timely, and sufficient information, they allow the rumor mill to churn away for weeks or months. As a result, there is often irreparable damage to morale, decreased productivity, and the defection of top employees while everyone speculates about what comes next.
How to improve the situation for both sides of the equation:
1) Provide managers with as much detail as possible so they can field questions. This could
include a script that has Q&As, proposed next steps, a time line, and rationale for the
decisions.
2) Communicate with the employees in a timely manner (preferably at the same time to ensure a
consistent message).
3) Create a safe environment for questions (perhaps written questions to protect anonymity).
4) Provide regular updates to keep rumors in check.
5) Be honest. If you don’t know the answer, say you don’t know and then find out. Whether the
news is good or bad, tell them the truth so they can make choices for themselves (get
additional training, brush-up their resume, etc.).
While it does take some effort up front to make the communication process a smooth one, the results are worth it. In organizations where communication is happening, employees are more engaged and actively involved in problem solving. If you want to learn more about improving communications in your organization and the benefits you can achieve, please contact Kammy Haynes.
Current Projects : Benefits Survey
There are many reasons why a company should know what their employees want from their total compensation. Unfortunately, many benefits surveys report the obvious--people want more of everything. We are currently working with a company to design a benefits survey that has employees make choices among realistic scenarios (for instance, choosing between base only and base + incentive pay scenarios). Using this technique (and others) will give employees the opportunity to make their opinions known regarding different elements of their total compensation without the appearance of being promised the moon. For more information on doing benefits surveys that provide information on important questions, please contact Warren Bobrow.
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