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June 21, 2005
What employees know about communication (everything)
A week or so I moderated employee focus groups, which is one of my favorite things to do. It’s so satisfying—invigorating, even—to sit at a table with a group of employees and encourage them to share their opinions and suggestions about communication.
Here’s why: Employees are very smart and they’re extremely thoughtful. No matter what level of employees you talk to—from hourly production workers to senior scientists—you get keen insights about the way communication works (or doesn’t work) and specific ideas on how to make improvements.
None of the folks I spoke to were professional communicators, yet, like all employees, they have very sophisticated perspectives on communication. This is consistent with my experience that people in general are savvy consumers of media. In their personal lives, people easily navigate the dense jungle of media choices, comfortably selecting among TV, print, radio, Internet and even new forms of communication to develop the mix that works best for them.
So it’s no wonder that employees bring that sophistication to work. If you ask employees for their feedback about internal communication, they’ll offer analysis that is as highly developed as any professional can offer—concepts like these:
“When leaders think about what they want to communicate, they should go beyond what they want to say and consider us, their target audience. We don’t have time for all those details—just give us the overall main points.”
“A picture really does tell a story. There are often too many words, when it would have been better to give us a graph that visually shows how the organization is doing.”
“When I get the publication, I scan the headlines, then read the item I’m most interested in. I make choices about what’s relevant to me.”
“To me, the most important communication is about my function. Then comes the site. I care about the company, of course—but it’s got to be a lower priority, because it doesn’t affect my day-to-day work.”
See how smart they are? These employees are clear about what’s important, they know how to manage communication to meet their own needs, and they see clearly how to make communication better.
Need to improve your communication? Ask the experts: your employees.
Posted by Alison Davis at June 21, 2005 05:35 PM