Communication is the key to a successful business

With the business world a very different place to two years ago, it is now more crucial than ever to have good communication between leaders, managers and staff. Remote and hybrid working increases the scope for communication gaps that can lead to misunderstandings, operational issues, lack of accountability and stress for all involved. This article looks at three areas of communication with your people that can make a big difference to the success of your business and provides links to videos that were recorded in Spring 2020 that are still relevant now.

Keeping staff informed

It has always been important to ensure staff get the right level of information about what is going on at a strategic as well as at an operational level to help them make good decisions, feel motivated and to ensure transparency and inclusion. When teams are in disparate locations, a clear and consistent approach to keeping in touch with staff can head off any potential issues early before they impact on business productivity and profitability.

One of my clients found that implementing a daily summary email to all staff helped everyone to feel connected during lockdown and although more people are returning to office working now, it is likely that many teams will remain remote or hybrid in the future. It would seem sensible to have regular mechanisms in place for communication to staff so that everyone understands what they need to do, what progress is being made and how all the dots join up so that the business can move forward in the new model as well as it did when everyone was co-located. In addition, the communication can be used to celebrate successes and to thank staff for their ongoing commitment and loyalty.

The feedback from staff that my client received was overwhelmingly positive, so he continued with the daily email for quite some time. Over time as people have adjusted to remote working, the frequency of the communication can be reduced depending on the needs of your staff.

Maintaining accountability

Ensuring that your staff have accountability also comes down to good communication. When things are suddenly turned upside down, like they were when COVID hit, it is very easy for accountability to quickly be affected. One client of mine struggled with accountability in his business because overnight his managers stopped being accountable and began to escalate issues to him. When managers come to business owners with problems rather than solutions, the result is a bottleneck. Managers who are employed to do a specific role need to take ownership, they need to be accountable, and they need to be responsible for their roles.

Good leadership is all about holding others accountable for their work, ensuring that the right people who have responsibility are stepping up when it is required. So, owners can help their managers, but the managers must be bringing the value that you expect; they must be coming up with solutions and taking on challenges.

Having great communication channels with your senior management team is the key to ensuring that everyone stays accountable for their part of the business, even when it might be harder to keep track of what everyone is doing when they are working remotely.

Understanding others’ perspectives

Communicating effectively with staff is not simply about getting your own message across, it is also about listening carefully. Business communication is a dialogue and that means owners and managers must ensure that staff feel listened to. As more businesses seek to bring staff back to the office environment, there are likely to be employees who are still anxious about the personal impact of COVID. Even with the rollout of vaccines, if new challenging variants emerge, the way we work could continue to evolve over the coming 12-24 months, or possibly even longer. Against that backdrop of uncertainty, it is vital that business leaders are compassionate towards staff who might be concerned about their health and wellbeing, particularly if they are being asked to come back into the office. There are several options to help your staff feel cared for:

• Work location flexibility – Leaders have a responsibility not just to look after the performance of staff but also their welfare – both physical and mental. Although you might be excited to get back to the office, other colleagues may feel differently, and those views need to be respected. Leaders that can create flexibility in working location are much more likely to retain key talent and maintain a reputation as a compassionate employer.
• Counselling support – Another way that leaders can support their employees’ wellbeing is to offer phone support. Another of my clients put in place counsellors that employees can ring if they have any concerns or if they are feeling low or if they are just worried about something, they can pick up the phone and speak to somebody.
• Regular 121s – continue to have regular catchups with staff over the phone or on video calls so that any worries or concerns can be picked up quickly and dealt with before you have a full-blown issue.
• Seek feedback – Ask your staff how they are doing and whether the measures in place currently make them feel valued and cared for. Simply asking them how they feel can make a big difference to how cared for they actually feel.

Those businesses that get the staff welfare right will be able to attract and retain the best staff – when you feel looked after by a company as a staff member, then you are likely to be more motivated at work and more likely to be loyal to your employer. This is more important than ever before – employee health and wellbeing are not something that you can simply pay lip service to now; you must really take on board your employees’ welfare needs because without your staff, your business cannot be successful.

In my experience, the business world has changed irrevocably; leaders are much more cognisant of the need to ensure staff are physically and mentally well. There is a softer humanity to leadership now which is a very good thing.

Have you observed changes in the way managers and leaders deal with employees in the past year or so?

#inclusion #employeewellbeing #communication