By Deepa Param Singhal, Vice-President, Cloud Applications, Oracle India
Every day, we communicate with a variety of people in multiple ways. But how effective are those communications with team members? They may not be as effective as you believe. While business leaders concur, that effective communication is the backbone of their business we have also witnessed them admitting that their employees struggle to do so in some cases.
What steps can you take to improve your employee communications and enhance workplace culture? Here are eight key strategies to consider
Top-level message
Senior leadership needs to take a fundamental part in the overall messaging strategy. It carries a lot of weight and importance when workers see that the C-suite has made a commitment to communicate company updates and policies. Similarly, it is essential for managers to bolster the messaging further and make it applicable to their teams.
Transparent communication
Employees place extremely high value on genuineness and transparency. They know when a leader is an authentic straight shooter and, in opposition, when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. You develop their faith when you share the truth with them and don’t sugarcoat it; an approach that is particularly substantial during times of shift.
Preserve intent
Reemphasize the vision and strategy that makes your company standout. Every communication is an occasion to reinforce your company’s objective. Let employees know what they do and how they do it is a profound contribution to that mission and the long-term goals.
Sharing only relevant information
Don’t blast emails to a standard all-employee list. It should be personalised with targeted information to the employees who need it. Including everyone in the same communications can be overwhelming. This leads to messaging fatigue, causing employees to pay no attention to essential updates.
Instead, use an HR-controlled platform linked to personnel data to ensure that the right communication gets to the right employee at the right time.
Regular and consistent communication
Consistent communication is very important to keep the channels of conversations open. It demonstrates stability and dependability letting employees know that they can depend on you.
Throughout the board communication
Use every mode of communication that you can to keep your team informed. This can include holding a bi-weekly “all-hands” meeting update with all members of the team to share prospective client news and project progress reports. The meeting can be further recorded for those team members who have a conflict.
Smaller groups can be held weekly or as needed for specific projects, as are frequent one-on-one meetings with direct reports. Project documents can be stored on an intranet that all team members can access.
Two-way communication
Communication works both ways. Talk to your employees rather than at them. Hold “ask me anything” sessions to create an environment in which employees can raise contentious issues and are respected for speaking up. Don’t be the only one who speaks; embrace silence until someone speaks up or ask probing questions to get your team talking. Respond to any concerns and follow up with communications outlining what you did to address their concerns or what roadblocks you are working to overcome.
Identify what’s working
It is important to identify if your messaging to employees hitting home? Hence, take time to reflect on your communications and survey your employees to assess if it meets their requirements and expectations.
In a nutshell, communication is key to keeping employees engaged and motivated. A well-informed workforce is more likely to remain dedicated, loyal, and productive. Communication must be consistent, honest, and always reflect the company’s mission. It should be multi-dimensional and allow employees to participate. Finally, it is critical to conduct surveys to determine whether your organization’s communication strategy is producing the desired results.