Summary: Communication is an integral part of the work environment and a well-conceived strategy will contribute to the success of your organisation. This article offers an internal communication diagnostic model and best related practices that could be applied in your organisation and next employee opinion survey.
December and January are those months of the year when most organisations receive the results of their organisational surveys. There is always big excitement among Executives and HR Directors to learn more about the feedback: Have our results improved? Declined? How are we doing against the sector? Which business units are underperforming?
From all business areas measured in organisational surveys, most of the time, executives are keen to learn more about those results directly linked to ‘Communication Effectiveness’. They want to know if people understand their messages, see if employees are fully aligned with their vision, corporate values, business direction and strategies. Do employees understand what senior leadership want to achieve in the short, medium and long term?
Executives and HR professionals are right; effective downward communication relates to better co-ordination, improved individual performance through the development of intelligent participation, greater sense of control and inclusion and increased levels of trust with senior leadership. In general, it relates to overall improved morale. Yes, employees are more engaged when they feel:
- Aligned with the business vision and clearly understand the role they play in the organisation’s success;
- Informed about company activities and those management decisions that directly affect their work;
- There is a culture of teamwork and co-operation within the organisation;
- Valued and trusted in decision-making, empowered and free to speak up, able to ask questions and provide feedback to managers;
- Recognised for who they are and for the work they do.
None of the above are possible without good communication – higher levels of employee engagement cannot be achieved without effective internal communications. So, if you want to improve your levels of employee engagement and business performance, then you need to improve what, when and how you communicate with the people in your organisation.
Although senior leaders and management are mostly concerned about downward communications, when evaluating an organisation’s communication effectiveness, we also need to consider upward, horizontal and informal communication flows. It is the combination of these four interactions that offer us a holistic impression of how well the company is doing in terms of keeping their employees fully informed, engaged and aligned with the organisation’s aims and objectives. [...] lire la suite