There's something missing

Whenever  I talk to employees, it never takes long for them to tell me about it.

Because it’s missing, it makes them unhappy, disengaged or just confused about their work.

And that means they’re not as productive as they could be.

What’s missing is the right level of communication. And – to some degree – it’s missing everywhere. 

Without the right communication, different people have different knowledge at different times, so getting things done becomes much harder.

Without the right communication, people feel overwhelmed at times, so they start to switch off.

Without the right communication, there isn’t a single, understood version of the truth, so people start to create their own.

Look at the Engage for Success Four Enablers

• Strategic Narrative
• Engaging Managers
• Employee Voice
• Integrity

Communication is the foundation for them all.

Look at my list of twelve factors that make or break the employee experience:

• Status and Reputation
• Integrity and Values
• Leadership and Vision
• Management and Support
• Expectations and Focus
• Voice and Contribution
• Accomplishment and Control
• Recognition and Value
• Learning and Progress
• Time and Place
• People and Teams
• Environment and Process

Communication enables all of them. People can’t know what’s expected of them, how they should do it and what’s in it for them without a good dialogue.

Now, comms is tough. It’s probably getting tougher, because organisations need to react and change more quickly than before, and their people need to follow.

Or even, their people need to lead.

Read this passage on Employee-Led Innovation from the London Business School: “Innovation, as a bottom-up activity, is about trying to do things that go beyond our job description. By definition, it is about taking time away from what we are officially being paid to do, in order to try something that offers uncertain pay-offs, at some time in the future, to someone else. Even if we convince ourselves that we can find the time and resources to do it, we also have to persuade those around us, and we have to push against all manner of formal procedures and systems that were designed to maintain the status quo. All of this is well known. But companies still struggle with how to overcome these obstacles without compromising today’s business”

Communication must play a large part if those obstacles are to be overcome.

We understand this. But we also know that the precise issues are different at different organisations.

So we are asking people what their biggest communication challenge is. It’s a single free text question, with a couple of optional follow ups. So you can tell us if it’s the channels, the message, the culture, the whatever.

As a thank you to all that take part, we will send them a copy of our report that details the most frequent communication challenges, and offers insight into how they can be addressed.

Take the survey here.