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Communication Smoothes the Path to Change
Productivity almost always suffers in times of great change,
because employee stress dramatically increases due to the
universal fear of the unknown. In these times, communication
becomes more important than ever.
Often senior executives genuinely believe they are communicating
with employees when it comes to matters that affect them.
Unfortunately, they often underestimate the number of matters
that includes, for the fact is that most high level decisions
will affect employees in one way or another. (That's why a new
law recently went into effect in Britain forcing employers to
answer employees' questions on any changes or decisions that
affect them.)
So how do you know what is important to employees and what to
tell them? Well, you need to put yourself in the position, the
mind, the heart of employees--one employee at a time. If you
were that person, what would you be worried about right now in
the current situation? What would be important for you to know?
What is the worst thing that could happen, and would you want to
know about it in advance? How would you want to be told?
Of course, you can't answer those questions yourself. You need
input from the very people you are trying to understand.
Depending on how much you can discuss or how much is already
known, you might ask a few individuals what the grapevine is
saying, and what people are worrying and wondering about.
Now, armed with this information, draft the answers to the
questions. Of course they must be truthful answers, for
insincerity is easily recognized and will deal a death blow to
your communication efforts. Then they must be couched in terms
that are clear and
uncompromising, but also considerate and
compassionate. It's worth spending some time on this part--lack
of commitment to your message is also easily read and will
automatically raise the cynicism level among employees.
Next comes dissemination of the information. There is, as we all
know, no shortage of communication technology in the business
world. However, the way a person receives news can dramatically
affect how he or she feels about it, so you need to choose the
medium very carefully. E-mail can be perceived as cold and
unfeeling in many cases, although it is useful for routine
updates that don't have emotional overtones. Some messages are
better spoken, either by managers to their groups or by the CEO
to the whole organization.
If the messengers don't have highly developed communication
skills, it's worth engaging the services of professional speech
writers or presentation coaches to help them, but be sure the
message remains honest, clear and compassionate.
And above all, follow through on your commitments and promises.
Nothing turns employees off more than empty words, but sincere,
caring, ongoing communication can form the basis for building
employee engagement when the present time of turmoil ends.
About the author:
Helen Wilkie is a professional keynote speaker, workshop leader
and author specializing in applied communication in the
workplace. Read more articles on communication subjects on her
website at http://www.mhwcom.com Subscribe to Helen's free
monthly e-zine, "Communi-keys", and get your free 40-page
e-book, 23 ideas you can use RIGHT NOW to communicate and
succeed in y
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