How to Encourage an Open and Honest Communications Environment
By Jennifer Schade
True or false: If you are a manager
espousing that you have an open and
honest communications culture, it’s fine
to check and compose emails while holding
meetings with your employees.
If you answered “True,” you are not
unlike a number of managers who we
have interviewed during communication
audits conducted regularly for Fortune
500 organizations.
You also don’t have an open and
honest communications environment.
Why not? Let me put it this way: How
comfortable would you be going in to talk
about an issue with your boss if he or she
didn’t make eye contact with you, but
instead had more interaction with the computer
than with you during your meeting?
It never ceases to amaze me that
well-educated, innovative executives can
develop brilliant plans to improve shareholder
value, but struggle to communicate
with and motivate the very people
most needed to implement their turnaround
plans — their employees. Fortunately,
open and honest communications
can be learned behaviors.
Although it’s a well-known fact that
managers often get promoted for business
reasons that don’t always include communication
skills, that’s not an excuse for
things to stay that way. If conditions stay
the same, you’ll pay for it in terms of lost
productivity among frustrated employees.
Most organizations advocate a culture
of open and honest communications, but
it’s not enough to say the words or name
them as a corporate value. For open communications,
it’s critical to create an environment
where managers clearly know the
corporation values communication and
employees feel comfortable speaking up.
Here are eight best practices in open
and honest communications that we have
developed based on interviews and observations
of Fortune 500 corporate cultures.
Solicit Feedback
Ask for input and make it clear that the
management team must make time to
listen to employees’ questions and suggestions.
At one client company, a member
of senior management actually responded
to an employee’s interest in providing
input to a corporate initiative by stating
brusquely at a large employee meeting,
“I don’t have time for input.”
Acknowledge What Others
Have to Say
Engage in reflecting listening. Encourage
managers to clearly show that they have
heard employees’ opinions. One way to
do this is to take a moment for consideration
and perhaps repeat back to the
employee what has been said.
Create a Friendly Environment
Greet employees when you see them. It’s
not necessary to know every employee’s
name, but a simple, “Good morning!”
or “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” helps create a
more open and comfortable environment.
Express Interest in People’s Lives
Make an effort to get to know employees
beyond their role as assistant product manager
or supply chain coordinator. Ask what
they did over the weekend, how their children
or parents are doing or where they
grew up. Showing an interest in employees
communicates that they are valued beyond
their work — as human beings.
Conduct Information
Gathering Sessions
Provide forums for information and opinion
exchange. Whether called, “Town
Halls” or “All Hands Meetings” or
“Breakfast With Tom,” invite employees
to gather regularly, hear briefly from leadership
and ask questions. Try not to use
PowerPoint presentations at these sessions.
Have management walk around a
little with a microphone or sit on a stool.
Remain Focused
When meeting with employees, establish
eye contact and make it clear they have
your attention. Don’t check email or take
phone calls. It’s better to have a short
meeting in which employees feel they
have your attention than to allow interruptions
that suggest you really aren’t all
that interested.
Reward Strong Efforts
Recognize employees for their contributions.
When employees in our focus
groups talk about recognition, they
always emphasize that “I’m not talking
about money.” In fact, they are most
often talking about two words: “Thank
you.” Thanking employees for taking the
lead on a project, staying late or putting
in extra time goes a long way toward
establishing an environment that fosters
good communication.
Enlist Supervisors
Consider your company’s supervisors
to be like gold in the communications
process — they are. Extensive research,
including our own, has shown that
employees turn to their supervisors
for “the skinny,” “a reality check” or
“the scoop.” It’s critical that supervisors
have been appropriately briefed and
are skilled communicators to support
corporate communications.
In short, good communication means
good business. Beyond stating that an
organization values “open and honest
communications,” it’s absolutely critical
that staff from the CEO on down practice
behaviors that facilitate information
exchange and encourage honest input
from every level.
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