By Jessica Nelson | HRRemedy
Poor communication is one of the most frequently recognized problems in organizations. Despite this, open communication is an integral element in most successful organizations.
Open communication can mean sharing not only ideas, but also the lessons learned from successes and failures.
Information must flow freely, across departments, between departments and up and down the organization.
Communicating to your employees is critical and companies should not use a single approach when trying to develop open communication. Some situations may call for face-to-face discussion, while others are best suited for technology-mediated channels.
It is widely acknowledged that open communication within an organization encourages employee engagement. However, proliferation of online communication tools, social networks, the intranets of companies themselves; has made it much easier for employees, customers, competitors and even prospective employees to source information regarding a company in the public domain.
The open availability of e-mail and social networking applications make it much easier for information to be distributed outside of a company. Web sites such as Vault, Glassdoor and Yahoo! Finance message boards are readily available, and employees can easily share their thoughts on working for a company, company strategy and decisions, as well as perceived and actual senior management capability and performance.
Once taboo to discuss, employees even discuss their salaries with the public (and future employees) in a confidential or not so confidential manner.
Determining how to handle this issue for a company has become even more difficult, as many senior managers and executives believe that open communication can expose a company to a greater risk of information being leaked to the market, which can be devastating to their brand, especially in highly competitive industries.
Creating a culture of open communication can be a scary proposition for upper management, but in today’s social mediums, the sharing of ideas and content continues to grow at a rapid pace. If your organization continues to be secretive or less than forthcoming about company issues, you may see your workforce alienate you and seek better opportunities when the market turns.
Steps to Creating Open communication
Don’t worry. Opening the lines of communication may seem to be a daunting task, but it can be done in a manner that benefits the entire organization.
The first step to creating open lines of communication between upper management and employees is to determine how your communication is currently taking place. Do you having open forums between company executives and employees? Does all of your communication come via e-mail? Is information being disseminated directly from the executives or from the employee’s supervisor? How often do you keep your employees updated about your company’s activities?
Once the current process has been determined, the company can slowly begin making change.
This can be done by bringing in an outside entity or making a conscious effort to do it internally.
HR Remedy has found that using a variety of the communication tools and techniques below has helped organizations bridge the communication gap between their direct supervisors and company executives.
One tool that has proven extremely successful is to implement a leadership development program.
Many organizations will select supervisors and managers to go through a six-month program to improve both leadership and communication skills. This does not require a tremendous amount of time from supervisors and the continual reinforcement of the program significantly changes behavior.
Some of the sessions included in these programs that enhance managers’ communication skills are:
- Leading vs. Managing
- Communicating vs. Connecting
- Conflict Resolution
- Goal Planning and Setting
- Effective Facilitation and Presentation Skills
- Retaining Employees
Ultimately, your goal should be to create a free-flow of communication across all lines to promote an “engaged” workforce.
Open communication is more an issue of trust—in leadership, in decision making and treatment of employees. When that trust in leadership is compromised, employees have choices to extract their revenge in a public domain.
This openness in the public domain has some companies restricting or eliminating information sharing within their organizations. Some have gone as far as to block internal access to social networking Web sites, and to those Web sites that may contain non-flattering reviews of company leadership, strategies or decision making.
Such strategies can result in an employee base that feels disenchanted and disengaged; and, as though they are a non-vital cog in a corporate machine. Consequently, these employees may start looking for opportunities elsewhere.
Creating a culture of open communication and earning implicit trust throughout the company is vital and when the market turns, you can count on an open line of communication to help improve employee retention.
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Jessica Nelson is the Managing Partner at HR Remedy, LLC. HR Remedy is a human capital consulting firm that works with clients to attract, retain and develop their talent. HR Remedy takes a pragmatic and practical approach to helping companies manage their human capital. You can reach Jessica by contacting her at jessica@yourhrremedy.com or 281-528-1266 or visit the HRRemedy Web site at www.yourhrremedy.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hrremedy.
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