Fully informed employ­ees make a huge dif­fer­ence in your company’s per­for­mance. They are your com­pet­i­tive edge. Engage them as a vital part of the team, using every tool at your dis­posal to com­mu­ni­cate what’s work­ing and what can be improved.

This is espe­cially true dur­ing chal­leng­ing times that test the orga­ni­za­tion. The more man­agers and employ­ees know, the bet­ter they can respond to cus­tomers and con­front com­peti­tor chal­lenges. Fre­quent and straight­for­ward com­mu­ni­ca­tion — whether through e-mail, town hall meet­ings, or face-to-face meet­ings – will help you attract and retain the right people.

Informed Employ­ees Make a Difference

In over four decades of man­ag­ing at dif­fer­ent lev­els, I have seen man­agers who (for what­ever rea­son) don’t inform their employ­ees about what’s going on in the com­pany or indus­try. They fail to tell them what’s expected of them, how they are doing, and so on. I have wit­nessed this mind­set in man­agers at all lev­els, includ­ing the owner, founder, and chief executive.

They are miss­ing a huge opportunity.

In vir­tu­ally all busi­nesses, it is peo­ple who do the work. They serve cus­tomers, assem­ble prod­ucts, work with ven­dors, col­lab­o­rate with one another, estab­lish pric­ing, and make strate­gic deci­sions. The extent to which they do these things well deter­mines the out­come for the busi­ness. This is not a mystery.

Most peo­ple don’t come to work every day intend­ing to sab­o­tage the suc­cess of the busi­ness. Their own finan­cial future is at stake, not to men­tion their pride or ambi­tion. It is infi­nitely sen­si­ble, then, that the more these employ­ees and man­agers know about the head­winds or tail­winds they face, the bet­ter they will be able to nav­i­gate their daily deci­sions toward the accom­plish­ment of the company’s strate­gic goals.

It should also make sense that, in the absence of fac­tual infor­ma­tion, peo­ple act and react on the basis of par­tial or assumed truths. This may pro­duce the wrong deci­sions or actions, or at the very least cre­ate unneeded dis­trac­tions. Lead­ers must be effec­tive communicators.

Use Every Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tool Available

I have heard all the rea­sons why pub­lic com­pa­nies should be care­ful about what they say regard­ing the com­pany and its future. I get it. But it doesn’t mean you should not talk can­didly and fac­tu­ally with your own team.

Now, it is impor­tant to remem­ber that what­ever you say or write is pub­lic infor­ma­tion. Don’t have the mind­set that what you com­mu­ni­cate to your man­agers or employ­ees is “just between us.” It isn’t. Any­thing you com­mu­ni­cate inter­nally could be made pub­lic, so write it or say it with that thought in mind.

There are so many com­mu­ni­ca­tions tools to con­sider, but I believe that the two most pow­er­ful tools are per­sonal and writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tions. These two tools are rel­a­tively easy for any­one to imple­ment, although exe­cu­tion and tech­nique can always be improved.

Every employee should receive a writ­ten update from their leader’s view about what is going on at least once each month, or more fre­quently when there is more to say. If you are the chief exec­u­tive, this can be a writ­ten memo. If you are a line man­ager, you may have weekly staff meet­ings and don’t need to use writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tions. If you have a com­pany intranet, use it to com­mu­ni­cate in writ­ten form. Try using video if avail­able, as it com­mu­ni­cates your tone more clearly and leaves less room for misinterpretation.

If you want to ensure that your com­mu­ni­ca­tions are rel­e­vant, get out of your office and lis­ten to employ­ees. Town hall meet­ings, “brown bag” lunch meet­ings, depart­ment vis­its, and new employee ori­en­ta­tion meet­ings can all help you build trust and make all of your com­mu­ni­ca­tions more inter­est­ing and useful.

Don’t for­get about com­pany adver­tis­ing, or what is on your web­site or intranet. These mes­sages impact employ­ees as well as cus­tomers, so these mes­sages should be con­sis­tent with your val­ues and the type of com­pany you want to cre­ate. They can also be used to rein­force your vision and com­mit­ment to the peo­ple you serve. Your team will notice if the inter­nal and exter­nal com­mu­ni­ca­tions don’t line up.

If You Want to be Heard, Build Trust

Doing what you say you are going to do — “walk­ing the talk” — is crit­i­cal if you want to be heard more than once. The more that employ­ees come to see how the com­pany lives up to its vision and fol­lows its strate­gic direc­tion, the more your direc­tions will be heard and followed.

Be hon­est and straight­for­ward in all com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Don’t use acronyms and insider slang. Com­mu­ni­cate sim­ply so every­one under­stands com­pletely. Share both sides of the coin: both pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive insights, good and bad news, what is work­ing and what is not. Remem­ber to also tell peo­ple what is being done about chal­lenges or oppor­tu­ni­ties, and how the employ­ees can contribute.

Lead­ers must learn to com­mu­ni­cate hon­estly, effec­tively, and con­sis­tently. It can take prac­tice, but it is impor­tant to build the nec­es­sary skills. You’ll see per­for­mance and team spirit improve as your peo­ple under­stand where the com­pany is going and how they will get there.

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Tags: Communication, Meetings, Performance, Trust

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