Communication (Pronunciation) noun 1. the act of transmitting, 2. a giving or exchanging of information, signals or messages by talk, gestures, writing, etc.
When it is boiled it down, all that a service business does is collect and transmit information. In other words, communication is what an agency produces and sells. So why is it that many services business have problems with communication?
When we perform a Management and organizational or Operational review for our clients, the biggest complaint we hear from the employees is that there is a lack of communication within the business. Vendors and businesses both complain that each other fails to properly communicate.
Communication within a business takes many forms. Just as an business owner will have a plan for their business goals, they should have a plan for their communication goals. It is a good idea to write down how the business will internally communicate all the information that is needed to be distributed. Each business will have their own set of rules and regulations regarding what to communicate and how it should be done.
Information will have various degrees of importance and urgency. An important item might not be urgent and likewise an urgent item might not be important. Also, some issues are easily understood and others will take time to understand, resolve and implement.
Keep the Lines Open
Management and staff should match the proper mode of communication with the information that needs to be sent in order to maximize impact. For example, articles or bulletins are best circulated on a routing slip throughout the office. A short notice of importance should be e-mailed to everyone. Information for an individual should be handled in private.
Overall staff, department or management meetings should be used to cover the current key issues impacting the agency or department. These meetings tend to be the main channel of communication between management and staff for most agencies. It should, however, be just one of the many arrows in the communication quiver.
Why Staff Meetings Fail
When we tell an business owner or manager that the staff believes that there is a lack of communication they often gawk and point to the fact they have weekly staff meetings that last one to two hours. Unfortunately, quantity does not replace quality.
Staff meetings can often end up being a dumping session. Management dumps information on the staff and the staff dumps problems on management. What to do with that information is rarely discussed and issues are not usually resolved during the meeting.
The valuable information disclosed in staff meetings is often only through one way communication. The staff is told what the vendors are doing or what new program management is focusing on. This is important information and needs to be disseminated and properly discussed. Management, however, provides the staff only with the “headlines” and does not work with the staff on how this will impact them.
The staff usually gets to talk at the end of the meeting when management asks if there are any questions or comments. Typically, this ends up being dominated by the same people who like to talk about their problems. Management then takes their concerns under advisement and will supposedly report back later. Employees need to be pro-active throughout the communication process and management needs to establish and live up to high communication standards.
Effective Meetings
The first step in setting up an effective staff meeting is to set an agenda for each meeting. Meetings should be held on a regular basis and at a time that will not be a distraction. Usually early morning during the midweek is best. The meetings should last no longer than one hour.
The agenda needs spell out the key issues to be discussed including input from the staff. Everyone should see the agenda before the meeting, including copies of any supporting material, such as articles or action plans. The purpose of posting the topics before the meeting is to allow time for everyone to reflect on the key issues and start to think how it will impact the agency and themselves.
Typically, when brand new information is brought up in a staff meeting, the employees think of the impact after the meeting and they feel that since their opinion was not heard it does not seem to matter. This is the nucleus of the feelings that employees have about the lack of communication in the business.
Employees resent when management makes changes are made that affect them, yet they were not consulted. Many times, the employee understands the issues better than the manager that makes the changes. Exploit the knowledge of the employees.
Management and staff both need to be prepared prior to the meeting to discuss the key issues. Meetings are much more effective when all the attendees know what will be discussed and what the goals are for that meeting. The biggest time waster in meetings is when new or side issues are brought up and the facts or objectives are not known.
When management has news regarding the markets, regulations, customer service issues, etc., they need to clearly understand the following before the meeting: 1) what was happening in the past, 2) why is there a change, 2) who will be impacted by the change, 3) what is the plan for implementing the change, who is responsible and what is the timeframe.
If an employee has an issue they want to bring up, it should be added to the agenda. It is their responsibility to collect the facts and to perform the first analysis before the meeting. Any problem needs an initial solution at the same time from the employee, otherwise it should not be added to the agenda.
The standard format for discussing each issue should include the introduction, time for discussion and an agreement on what the next step will be. If the problem needs more than a few minutes to resolve, then an individual or committee needs to be appointed with a date scheduled to report back.
All employees that attend seminars, conventions and association meetings must provide the group that would benefit from the information, a summary of the event. This way the valuable information one person learned is now imparted on the rest of the staff.
The open discussion period in a meeting should be short and limited to any accomplishments made or any lessons learned since the last meeting. Problems not on the agenda should be deferred to the next meeting, until the proper procedure is followed.
If the business is large enough, separate staff meetings should be held by each department. Issues and problems unique to any department should be addressed by that department’s meeting rather then the general staff meeting. The frequency of general staff meetings should be reduced if department meetings are held.
The Forest and the Trees
Let everyone know the big picture. Management needs to circulate the agency business plan and the sales and marketing goals. A separate meeting or retreat at least once a year should be held to review these plans and discuss the current status of the agency, where it is going and how it will get there.
Employees like to know that their efforts are going to a greater good. They need to see that there is an ultimate goal in mind and they are a part of the plan. Employees are more likely to do a better job when they know that they are needed and the direction they should take.
Knowing the big picture also helps define the little pictures. Business goals need to be based on reasonable and attainable goals of the individuals of that agency. The staff needs to know what management expects from them. The employee, however, should also set his or her own goals, otherwise it is management’s goals not the employee’s goals.
Individual goals, progress and shortfalls should be discussed in private at least twice a year. The annual review is the time when the goals are set, but a mid year check-up is needed to keep the employee on track and management in the loop. The employee should understand that they should bring up any problems that are impacting their performance immediately and not wait until review time.
Communication Rule
Each agency should have the following basic rule regarding communication. Each person is responsible for the proper, timely and efficient transfer of his or her communication. The staff is not off the hook because they were afraid to talk to management or that their issues did not matter. Management is not excused because they did not have the time to listen to staff, properly analyze the issue or provide resolution to a problem. Management needs to have an open door policy to hear what the employees have to say.
Conclusion
In Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” he shows how it is important to “win people to your way of thinking.” Don’t force your ideas on others. Let them do most of the talking and let them think it is their idea. In other words, the key to being a good manager is to be a master communicator.
