I often ask clients what would happen to their organization if all communications, internal and external, suddenly ceased. Although I get varying responses, each answer is almost always preceded by a blank stare. I think that’s because no one ever thinks about what their workplace would be like without communications – often called the motor oil that helps an engine run smoothly.
While I’m not espousing the creation of a communicators union, this is a question that warrants further reflection.
It’s no secret that one of the first departments to be squeezed when there is fluctuation in an organization or industry is the communications department. I’ll admit that marketing departments undergo a similar fate, but many companies have been able to do a better job of tying marketing activity to revenue over the last 15 years.
If the communications department is often squeezed, what does that say about the work being done by those departments? Is organizational communications a luxury that companies can afford to do without for the sake of focusing on the really important things? The answer is yes if you believe that the messages conveyed to your employees about their organization, jobs and purpose is not important. Furthermore, because employees are the most enduring brand ambassadors an organization will ever have, organizational communications is not a luxury. It is a critical necessity for the survival of any organization.
Let’s assume an organization understands that communications has an important role and provides great benefit to the company. It’s not enough to paste random messages together and distribute. An organization must define and refine a message that is consistent with the goals and overall strategy of the company and further demonstrated by senior leadership. This may sound easy, but it’s actually quite challenging. It’s often a long and complex journey when we take a company’s goals, determine their essence and then articulate them in a manner that clearly speaks to a diverse workforce in ways that are easily digested and actionable.
Once that message is successfully determined, it must be delivered frequently. Employees do not become company evangelists by hearing a message once or twice. That message must be interwoven into the fabric of an organization and repeated over a long period of time.
The message must also be consistent. It cannot change from week to week, from month to month. The fastest way to demonstrate to employees that senior management is not serious about what it says is to change the message frequently. Most people like variety in their ice cream and in their music, but not in a company’s core messaging.
Most importantly, employees should have a stake in the creation of their company’s message. A good first step is the standard employee survey (done at least annually). If done properly, an employee survey provides insight into what employees think and what they want. But don’t stop at the employee survey. Organizations that take communications seriously develop a robust employee leadership and feedback infrastructure designed to help an organization engage their employees regularly and keep a finger on the pulse of the workforce. In addition, assigning representatives from several employee groups to help distill and shape the message goes a long way in ensuring the message is credible, the audience receives the message in terms they can understand and recipients understand their role once the message is received.
Although much of this is common sense, many organizations do none of these things. Many organizations get wrapped up in the “good intentions” of open and honest dialogue with their workforce, only to be distracted by the crisis of the day. Don’t let your organization be one of them.
