Communication

To be a manager is to be a communicator – the two are inextricably linked. An effective manager needs to communicate upwards, sideways and with his/her team all the time. Employees have a stake in the business, so it is essential that they are kept fully informed regularly and that their views and opinions are sought.

Poor communication can cause many problems. What is more, one of the two most common reasons why employees feel demotivated is that they don’t know what’s going on and no-one’s interested in their views. Good communication can improve the performance of your business, so take time to do it well.

The Intellect HR guide takes you through the following essential pointers to effective communication:

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Ensure it is two-way. Many managers focus only on communications downwards – giving information to their people. However, for communication to be really effective it must be two-way. You need therefore, to give information to others and to gain information from them by asking questions.
Decide what to communicate. Many managers are too secretive: whilst confidential information clearly has to remain confidential, some take the view that "information is power" and forget to impart to their team the key information needed to do a job effectively and efficiently. If you are keeping something from your team, ask yourself why. There may be a good reason, but most issues relating to the business, its performance and its future plans should be shared. This will create a greater sense of ownership and involvement amongst your team and may lead to some really good suggestions as to how you can grow and improve the business.
Decide when to communicate. Communication should be timely. Share information as things happen. Avoid the temptation to store up your communication until the next monthly meeting! By then, it may seem like history and you may have lost the opportunity to gain the input of others.
Decide why you are communicating. This will influence how best to do it. Is it to share information? Is it to persuade? Influence? Is it to gain feedback? Is it to prompt action?
Make it relevant to your audience. The art of good communication is to tailor the message to the recipient. Consider, for example:
  • what is their reaction likely to be?
  • how much detail do they like to have?
  • how easily and quickly can they absorb information?
  • are they interested in hard facts, data and substantiation?
  • the best communicators are those who make the effort to get it right for their audience.
Choose your method. There are lots of ways to communicate. Select the right combination for the right circumstances. Here are a few:

Method Pros Cons
Telephone Quick and easy
Tele-conferencing can be a good way of linking international and remote teams
No body language
People don't always absorb the entire message - either deliberately or not, they can ignore or mishear parts of what you are saying.
Meeting Good way of sharing the same information with many people
Opportunity to explore and discuss
Good for gaining consensus
Good for building teams
Takes time to arrange
Reliant on the skills of the person chairing the meeting
Takes the time of each participant
Letter Provides the writer with the opportunity to draft, re-write and re-write again until it's right
Allows copies to be taken and kept for the record
Slower than telephone or email
One-way
Email Quick and easy
Information can be kept and stored
Lends itself to communicating the same information to a wide audience
Relies on the technology being available
Can lead to over-communicating eg copying everything to everyone
Presentation Formal
Can have great impact
Communicates a consistent message to a wide audience
Cost
Time
Relies on the skills of the presenter
Informal chats Quick and easy
Timely – you can speak as and when things happen
Requires little preparation
Can be disruptive
Can exclude employees based elsewhere
Newsletters /
bulletins
Good for business-wide communications
Can mix business and people information
Can engender a feeling of belonging and establish an organisation culture
Cost and time of production
Notice board Immediate
Can have impact
Reaches lots of people, including visitors
Relies on employees taking the time to look at it
Needs regular updating
Review the effectiveness of each method from time to time, to ensure that you are using the most effective combination. For example, at the end of a team meeting, take five minutes to conduct a review – what went well? What could we do differently next time?
Good communicators make the message interesting by giving a human twist, telling a story, using analogies, giving examples…. etc.

The recall rate of the spoken word improves when supported by good visual aids, but is still only around 30%!

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