The Unspoken Key to Engagement - Encore
With the evolution of technology, 24/7 news cycles and the meteoric rise of social media platforms, the overall landscape of how and when each of us consume our information has changed. And with that, so have the expectations each of us has on our communication needs and desires, even within our organizations.
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, as well as many more virtual connection tools were readily available before a worldwide pandemic forced us to use them. While they were available, they were not a primary form of communicating. And today? Virtually (pun intended) every organization is using at least some form of these virtual workplace tools. It is obvious times have changed, and with that change, how we communicate has changed. And there's no going back. Nor should we.
Communication tools and how we communicate has been evolving, however our current environment has forced us to adapt rapidly in a way most of us were unaccustomed to and most likely never thought possible. So while our environment has gone 'all-in', it's time for us to go 'all-in' as well. We will dive into the 'why' and 'how' of this new communication landscape we must embrace, but let's focus on the 'what' first.
What do our employees want from us, and now except from us? What does it look like today? And what will it look like moving forward?
In the past, quarterly or annual townhalls or all-employee meetings as well as the occassional employee email blasts were the primary internal corporate communication tools. However, in today’s organizations employees want and expect more from their organizations. Now people want near real-time information delivered in different ways and formats. You may have been able to hold this trend off a little while longer, but the pandemic effect has arrived and waiting will only lead to disengagement throughout an organization. And not only should senior leadership be updating the employee population about the company, but employees and teams, more than ever before, should be communicating with one another on an ongoing basis. Engaged employees are your best advocates for increasing employee engagement and letting them share their insights and stories is a great way to enable those engaged behaviors.
Constantly engaging your employees through audiocasts, blogs, videos, interactive explainers and short surveys, as well as enabling and encouraging (creating the right environment) for the employee population to communicate with each other in these same unique and engaging formats builds and sustains employee engagement throughout an organization and at levels only few organizations attain.
Now let's discover the 'why' and 'how' to adapt to and attain this top-tier engagement through communication.
With the evolution of technology, 24/7 news cycles and the meteoric rise of social media platforms, the overall landscape of how and when each of us consume our information has changed. And with that, so have the expectations each of us has on our communication needs and desires, even within our organizations. Now we expect and get frustrated if we don’t have near real-time information at our fingertips.
Effective employee communications have always been lacking in most organizations, even prior to this evolution occurring. In all of the employee feedback surveys we have administered rarely do employees answer positively when surveyed on the timeliness and effectiveness of company information. The results always show a need and desire for more timely and effective communication and connection by and from employees.
But now, the expectations and requirements for better communications are even greater. With this global pandemic, organizations are having to communicate more frequently and in different ways than ever before. So, what was a slow evolution has quickly become a fast-moving revolution. The challenge will be as things settle to a new normal the desire for more communication now becomes an expectation. You can already hear the comments, “We used to get a lot of communication and information but that has all but disappeared”.
It will not be acceptable to go back to how we communicated with our employees before and a new approach and commitment to developing more effective communication strategy will be required. This landscaped has changed more rapidly than anyone could have anticipated, what is your plan to meet the ever-increasing employee communication expectations?
To discover more about employee communication and what Cornerstone Learning can do for you, visit our communication page.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
The 5 Keys to Effective Employee Communication
In most organizations, there is significant opportunity to enhance and sustain your employee engagement with employee communications as the keystone and hallmark of your people strategy. How do organizations overcome the challenges to effective employee communications? Here are the 5 keys.
Employee communications is the “keystone” to employee engagement. Just like the keystone is the critical component and the centerpiece in architecture, communication is the vital component that provides structure, strength, and stability to any organization.
So how solid are your employee communications? Is your communications strategy central to your employee engagement efforts? Would your employees say that overall communications are a key strength as an organization? Is the communication and messaging consistent and does it support every part of the organization? Does the communication provide clarity and stability in times of uncertainty, change, and crisis?
In most organizations, there is significant opportunity to enhance and sustain your employee engagement with employee communications as the keystone and hallmark of your people strategy.
However, there are a number of factors that impact outstanding employee communications efforts:
Who owns the overall strategy, coordination, and effective execution of employee communications in your organization?
Are employee communications a planned strategy or a reactive, ad-hoc task sent as needed?
Employee’s communication needs, expectations and requirements have and will continue to change.
Communication is both an art and science that continually evolves and requires a dedicated focus to stay abreast of best practices and changes in technology and tools.
So how do organizations overcome the challenges to effective employee communications?
“Be Intentional” about elevating employee communications to your #1 employee engagement strategy and make it a competitive advantage for your organization.
“Get Real” about the perception and real impact of your current state employee communications efforts.
“Reimagine It” based on your identified current state. Leverage your strengths and reimagine your gaps and weaknesses. Make changes quick and visible so the organization can see the importance and reap the rewards.
“Own It” Who will ultimately own and have accountability for the sustained success of your reimagined employee communication strategy and ongoing efforts?
“Evaluate It” Continual measurement of impact and effectiveness of your employee communications efforts will ensure the investment of time and resources are delivering results with every interaction.
So is employee communication the keystone in your employee engagement or it is the weak link that needs to be enhanced?
As we have noted here, and found through our work with clients, communication is the most important step to begin increasing employee engagement and easily generates to biggest “bang for you buck”. Contact us today at info@cornerstonelearning.com and let us partner with you to strategically enhance your employee communications.
Relics of Bygone Eras - 2nd Edition - Employee Communications (Part III)
In this last segment, we will outline the 5 keys to creating a highly effective communication strategy. Don’t wait any longer. It’s time for your organization to turn employee communications into a dynamic competitive advantage and highly effective employee engagement and retention strategy.
Subscribe to the Lead Where You Are Podcast on all your favorite streaming outlets! Simply click one of the buttons below.
Making it Happen – The Employee Communication Advantage
To conclude our series on Relics of a Bygone Era - Employee Communications, we want to provide a blueprint for employee communication success.
In our first two updates of this series, we highlighted why organizations historically receive low ratings in all employee survey results in the area of employee communications. We also discussed what can be done to turn employee communications from a deficient advantage to a competitive advantage.
In this last segment, we will outline the 5 keys to creating a highly effective communication strategy.
Be Intentional - Make elevating and sustaining employee communications your #1 employee engagement strategy and focus.
Get Real – To get better we have to admit we have a problem. Start by gaining input and feedback from the employees so you can get real with effort, time and resources the organization will need to better meet the communication needs and expectations.
Reimagine It – Armed with the feedback on what employees desire, reimage and develop a vision and plan that meets the demands and requirements for a next generation employee communication strategy.
Own It – There has to be clear ownership and accountability to your reimagined employee communications strategy. It can be an internal resource or align with an external partner that is responsible for ensuring your employee communications sustained success.
Evaluate/Measure It –Success can only be achieved, and more importantly, sustained if employee communication actions and activities are continually evaluated and measured with a commitment to refining and adjusting course along the way. Employee’s needs and requirements continually change, as do the communication tools, technology and platforms that facilitate and enable effective employee communications.
Don’t wait any longer. It’s time for your organization to turn employee communications into a dynamic competitive advantage and highly effective employee engagement and retention strategy.
And for more detailed information about how to truly transform your employee communications, check out https://www.cornerstonelearning.com/engagement-communication.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
Relics of Bygone Eras - 2nd Edition - Employee Communications (Part II)
How do you begin to shift employee communications from a tactical, primarily ad hoc exercise, with little to no coordination or consistency into a highly effective, dynamic, well-orchestrated, strategic competitive advantage? Find out here.
Subscribe to the Lead Where You Are Podcast on all your favorite streaming outlets! Simply click one of the buttons below.
Turn Employee Communications into a Competitive Advantage
’Tis the season where 2021 organizational goals are created and finalized. Let us add one to your 2021 list that will have a positive, lasting impact on your organization, guaranteed!
As we mentioned in our update, change will occur when organizations view their employee communications as an opportunity to create a competitive advantage and communication becomes the strategic vehicle through which we continually connect our people to our culture, values, purpose, goals, objectives and priorities. The essential elements that make up the fabric of any organization.
So how do you begin to shift employee communications from a tactical, primarily ad hoc exercise, with little to no coordination or consistency into a highly effective, dynamic, well-orchestrated, strategic competitive advantage?
First, the vision and goal for employee communications must shift and elevate to a strategic discussion and be provided with the necessary investment of time and dedicated resources. Without a vision and no dedicated resources, employee communications will always struggle to meet the expectations and growing needs of your employee base.
The need for, and access to information has dramatically increased over the last 5-8 years with technology and social media leading the way, setting a tremendously high bar for how we communicate, the speed at which we communicate and the various mediums to communicate.
Companies and organizations need to invest in either developing internal resources or looking to external communications expertise that have the responsibility to own, drive and measure effective employee communications plans and strategies.
Organizations can no longer do it alone, working in reactive silos. It is imperative there is a proactive and coordinated communication strategy that looks to continually inform, educate, motivate and engage each and every employee.
In our next update of this series we will outline a blueprint for employee communication success. Join us next time!
And for more detailed information about how to truly transform your employee communications, check out https://www.cornerstonelearning.com/engagement-communication.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
Relics of Bygone Eras - 2nd Edition - Employee Communications (Part I)
Too often you hear it in the hallways (or over conference apps, ironically) and see it on employee surveys, “We don’t communicate as a company. We send a lot of emails, but we don’t communicate.” Employee communication is truly the lifeblood of any organization. The more timely, efficient, and consistent the communication flows, the greater chance that organization thrives.
Subscribe to the Lead Where You Are Podcast on all your favorite streaming outlets! Simply click one of the buttons below.
“We Don’t Communicate”
Too often you hear it in the hallways (or over conference apps, ironically) and see it on employee surveys, “We don’t communicate as a company. We send a lot of emails, but we don’t communicate.”
Employee communication is truly the lifeblood of any organization. The more timely, efficient, and consistent the communication flows, the greater chance that organization thrives. But you already know that.
But if we know this, then why has nothing changed?
Nothing changes because for decades employee communication has been viewed as tactical, blocking and tackling, and uses a “destination model” for disseminating information. It is “Here is your information, please read it”. It might be delivered in a form of “all employee” correspondence or emails with the subject line “PLEASE READ”, or posted on internal intranets with the occasional poster created for the break room wall.
Nothing changes because organizations continue to employ these outdated tools and techniques for message distribution, and nothing will change as long as organizations continue to view communicating as a task, something that needs to “go out by this afternoon”. It’s not viewed as a comprehensive and powerful strategy that can become a true competitive advantage for the organization. Internal communications are relegated to ad hoc, as needed information dissemination.
Change will occur when organizations view their employee communications as an opportunity to create a competitive advantage and communication becomes the strategic vehicle through which we continually connect our people to culture, values, purpose, goals, objectives and priorities. The essential elements that make up the fabric of any organization.
Employee communications, fundamentally, is how alignment within organizations is achieved. It’s how employees know who we are as a company and what we value. It’s how they understand the company’s direction and goals, and it’s how employees can prioritize and align their actions and activities to the direction and success of the organization. But this type of communication can’t have just a one-and-done, “We have now communicated with and informed them, check!” mindset. It needs to be coordinated, consistent, relevant and targeted.
Next week we will outline how change can occur and where it starts. In fact, here is just a quick preview. Most organizations can’t do it alone. Join us next week!
And for more detailed information about how to truly transform your employee communications, check out https://www.cornerstonelearning.com/engagement-communication.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
The Unspoken Key to Engagement - Where Do We Go From Here?
The pace, means, format, content and frequency have all evolved and with that our employee communication strategies must evolve as well. So where do we start?
Here are four next-step opportunities to enhance your overall employee communications impact.
It is now clear from our last few posts that the expectations, needs, and requirements for employee communications going forward have changed and the current global environment has only accelerated an evolution in communications that has been underway for the last five to ten years anyway. The pace, means, format, content and frequency have all evolved and with that our employee communication strategies must evolve as well. So where do we start?
Here are four next-step opportunities to enhance your overall employee communications impact.
Opportunity 1: Assess the current employee communications strategy and its impact.
Is your strategy planned or ad hoc communication?
Is it primarily top-down communication or more enterprise-wise connections?
Is the primary (often only) employee communication tool email or does the organization leverage a variety of media?
Opportunity 2: Engage a cross-organizational team of employees (6-10) with a charter to assist in developing a vision for a go-forward employee communication strategy.
Opportunity 3: Based on the Communication Engagement Teams’ recommendations and vision, develop an initial six month employee communications strategy that can be used to inform, educate, motivate and gain ongoing feedback but, most importantly, better connect with every employee in the organization.
Opportunity 4: Once started don’t stop. Continually evolve the communication strategy and vision. Trust us, it will be missed if not continued.
To discover more about employee communication and what Cornerstone Learning can do for you, visit our communication page at www.cornerstonelearning.com/engagement-communication.