Are you interested in creating an amazing culture with highly engaged employees? I’ll let you in on a little secret - communications are at the core of engagement.
Each employee in your organization is unique and has different needs, wants, and expectations for the work part of their work/life. Yet, through my experience with a wide range of companies and people, I continue to see a few issues coming up across the board - trust and respect.
If employees feel disrespected by their boss and colleagues, it is a surefire way to be on the fast track of disengagement. And, if an employee feels like they do not trust their organization, they will also stop putting in their best efforts and may engage with the 2024 phenomenon of “quiet quitting.”
What do respect and trust have in common? They are both built or dismantled by workplace communications.
So, you’re probably wondering what I mean by workplace communications. In a nutshell, I have found that the following aspects need to have focus and intentional tactics built around them:
- Communication skill development
- Emails
- Meetings
- Feedback
- Organization updates
Let’s break these down a bit more:
- Communication skill development - Every team member needs to have communication skills, and your organization needs to provide mechanisms for them to receive feedback and guidance on how to improve these skills. Ask yourself: Are written communications clear? Are team members comfortable having direct conversations with each other when they have different opinions? Are conflicts resolved effectively? Do people pick up the phone instead of emailing or texting when angry? These basic skills are often lacking or are not regularly practiced.
- Email etiquette - Emails can be a great timesaver but can also be misused. Emails lack immediate feedback, can be easily misunderstood in terms of tone and intent, and are often skimmed because recipients receive hundreds a day. Ensure your organization has clear guidelines on what emails should include, and how they should be used.
- Meetings - Meetings can be incredible opportunities to strengthen relationships and move an organization forward. Or, they can be poorly designed, waste everyone’s time, and become a meme. Be sure to put together a meeting strategy that includes a mix of “town hall” meetings where everyone hears the same thing at the same time, “leadership” meetings that truly move an organization forward, “decision” meetings that have the right people in the room to solve a problem, “one on one” meetings where managers can provide guidance, and “staff” meetings where people can understand what is going on and get advice and support.
- Two-way communication - Are structures in place for leadership to receive regular feedback? This can take many forms. A regular employee engagement survey is highly effective at identifying the good, bad, and ugly so that leadership has a clear picture of how people feel. Skip-level meetings are another tool that allows employees at a lower level in the organization to interact with those at higher levels, which can also provide a forum to test the effectiveness of information flow. 360-degree feedback surveys are another way to ensure communication loops are being closed.
- Transparency - Employees want to know what is going on - especially during times of change. Sharing information about how things are going helps to build trust. Thus, I am a big fan of metrics and dashboards that help people understand what keeps the leadership team awake at night. I am also a big fan of regularly sharing information, such as through a weekly email that highlights recent business wins, updates, the current state of metrics and projects, and highlights exceptional team and individual contributions.
When done well, workplace communications can foster feelings of respect and trust, which is foundational to employee engagement. It’s the secret sauce.
I hope that these recommendations were helpful to you as you continue your quest to build a great organization. If you would like to chat more about strengthening your culture or company, let me know.
We can help you develop a workplace communications strategy, conduct an HR assessment, implement a 360-degree feedback system, and more.
