You can't communicate enough

As I carry out my research, I talk to employees about how engaged they are with their employer. And there are two constant issues that I can predict will come out in every survey, interview and focus group:

1) How people are dealt with by their line manager 
2) The level and usefulness of the communication they receive
It won’t greatly surprise anyone to hear that most often employees are looking for improvement in both. There’s a big overlap between the two but it’s communication that I specifically want to talk about here. I usually see two chief problems, which I can describe as:

1) “Look, I’ve told them once, why do I need to tell them again?” 

Because they’ve got lots going in their jobs and the rest of their lives. Because you already understand and believe in what you’ve told them – they may need time to digest, accept and get on board with it. Because they need examples of how this works in practice. And lastly, because you’ve quite possibly told them stuff in the past that was quickly forgotten, prove this is here to stay.
2) “How can I tell them yet, when I don’t have all the facts?” 
Because it’s really quite unlikely that all the facts will ever align. Because you can trust them to deal with ambiguity. Because they will have some good ideas about how to arrive at the full facts. And lastly, because being perceived to “hide” things from people is unlikely to ever build respect or engagement.

The best examples of communication that I observe are where the communications are frequent, and two-way. They’re conversations. Which isn’t a rally to immediately use social media. That might be the solution, but it’s about being social, however that happens.

Here’s two good articles about how to communicate better as a leader, and as a business. What do you think? Let’s keep this conversation going…