Communicating with staff

Judging by the comments of many employees, many business managers and leaders find it difficult to communicate with their staff.

They tell them what is happening, sometimes face-to-face but increasingly via podcasts, intranet announcements and ezines. Some have discussion boards for responses and comments, not all appear to be confidential.

At first glance, getting large scale messages from top leaders all the way through an organisation in a consistent manner lends itself to all the media solutions we have available to us. So, why isn't it working? If you are a business leader, how do you know how the information you've distributed is received by your staff - you would ask those in the middle. How do the staff deal with the good and bad news - they discuss it with those in the middle.

Those in the middle be they called line managers, team leaders or middle managers act as a filter - how good is that filter in your organisation? Is it a real conduit to sharing and growth or a block to progress? Is it consistent?

If you would like to discuss ways of communicating through your business, no matter how small or large, build more cohesive and collaborative teams, contact Sue:
sue@suecohen.co.uk

Find me on LinkedIn and at http://www.suecohen.co.uk/
Follow me on twitter

Communicating with colleagues and staff

So, I’ve explored listening when you are networking, then when building relationships and followed by working with customers. But what about your colleagues and staff – how well do you listen to them? I have encountered many people who are great at networking, marketing, selling, building relationships, making referrals, managing clients ….. and absolutely not great at working with staff and colleagues. They appear to switch off all their skills, when they are not with the external contacts.

Having said that, most people aren’t that extreme – but many do not employ their skills consistently. If you ask them why they behave differently, they don’t always understand what they are doing and why it’s a problem – after all, “the customer is king” and “the customer is always right”.

Yes, we wouldn’t exist in any business or organisation if we didn’t have customers, or (for a public service, there needs to be someone to receive that service), yet there are very few roles which can deliver a service completely in isolation, so we need to work together. If it’s vital to listen and communicate well with customers, surely it is equally vital to listen and communicate well with staff and colleagues AND suppliers?

Find Sue on LinkedIn and at http://www.suecohen.co.uk/
Contact sue@suecohen.co.uk