In Write for the Customer I wrote about making sure that you have your audience in mind when writing and communicating. Today, I want to write about a different audience — the employees in your business.
To employees, senior management appears as if they are on top of a mountain. Isolated. Separated from the rest of the company. Making occasional pronouncements from on high.
Here are a few tips on keeping everyone informed about what is going on and focused in moving in the same direction by regular communication with employees:
Management Focus: Great internal communication starts with clarity among the management team on what it is you are trying to achieve. If there is a lack of clarity at the top, it shows up in missing or muddy communications to everyone else.
Communicate Often: Numerous small communications are much better than the once a quarter “employee newsletter”. Constant communication let’s employees see that you care. It also ties communications to recent events, helping to keep top of mind awareness among your employees.
Share the wins: In management meetings I Start with the Wins. Sharing those wins with everyone in the company helps to build momentum.
Where’s the boss: The activities of the CEO provide the strongest guidance to employees as to what is important to the company. If you are CEO, do you share a weekly list of key activities you are planning, especially if those include travel, industry events, and customer visits? A weekly CEO calendar is any easy way to let employees know what the CEO is doing.
A single voice: To provide clarity, a single person should be responsible for communicating to all your employees. This keeps the tone and content consistent, while insuring that the right messages are flowing from the senior management team to all the individuals in the organization.
Employees want to hear what the view is like from the top of the mountain. What are you doing today to communicate with your employees?
