Communication Smoothes the Path to Change

Productivity almost always suffers in times of great change, because employee stress dramatically increases due to the universal fear of the unknown. In these times, communication becomes more important than ever. This is true whether you are leading the whole company or just your department or team.

Often senior executives genuinely believe they are communicating with employees when it comes to matters that affect them. Unfortunately, they often underestimate the number of matters that includes, for the fact is that most high level decisions will affect employees in one way or another. (That's why a new law recently went into effect in Britain forcing employers to answer employees' questions on any changes or decisions that affect them.)

So how do you know what is important to employees and what to tell them? Well, you need to put yourself in the position, the mind, the heart of employees—one employee at a time. If you were that person, what would you be worried about right now in the current situation? What would be important for you to know? What is the worst thing that could happen, and would you want to know about it in advance? How would you want to be told?

Of course, you can't answer those questions yourself. You need input from the very people you are trying to understand. Depending on how much you can discuss or how much is already known, you might ask a few individuals what the grapevine is saying, and what people are worrying and wondering about.

Now, armed with this information, draft the answers to the questions. Of course they must be truthful answers, for insincerity is easily recognized and will deal a death blow to your communication efforts. Then they must be couched in terms that are clear and uncompromising, but also considerate and compassionate. It's worth spending some time on this part—lack of commitment to your message is also easily read and will automatically raise the cynicism level among employees.

Next comes dissemination of the information. There is, as we all know, no shortage of communication technology in the business world. However, the way a person receives news can dramatically affect how he or she feels about it, so you need to choose the medium very carefully. E-mail can be perceived as cold and unfeeling in many cases, although it is useful for routine updates that don't have emotional overtones. Some messages are better spoken, either by managers to their groups or by the CEO to the whole organization.

If the messengers don't have highly developed communication skills, it's worth engaging the services of professional speech writers or presentation coaches to help them, but be sure the message remains honest, clear and compassionate.

And above all, follow through on your commitments and promises. Nothing turns employees off more than empty words, but sincere, caring, ongoing communication can form the basis for building employee engagement when the present time of turmoil ends.

Managing: watch for this sign of anger

A male client told me about a situation that made him feel totally inadequate, and I suspect this happens a lot among young male managers.

Tom was discussing a work situation with one of his young female employees. The situation involved a difference of opinion between her and another worker, resulting in a mistake being made. Tom felt he was being quite considerate in the discussion, not at all heavy handed. To his dismay, the woman suddenly burst into tears and answered Tom's questions with difficulty. He blundered his way through the situation, but was quite upset by it. What, he asked me, should he have done?

What men need to understand is that when a woman cries in a business situation, it is usually simply a sign of anger. While angry men tend to rant, speak loudly and angrily, angry women sometimes cry. She was probably angry at the co-worker, angry at the situation and perhaps even angry at Tom.

The best way to handle such a situation is to simply give the woman a moment to compose herself, perhaps give her a tissue if she clearly can't find one, and then continue the discussion. If she is having trouble composing herself, excuse yourself and say you will be back in a ferw moments. Don't attempt to comfort her, as this often comes across as patronizing even though not intended that way. When you think she is ready, just say something like "Okay?" in a pleasant tone, and on her signal, continue the discussion.

It's not your fault. It's not her fault. It's just an expression. Carry on!

Meeting skills: sit where the leader can see you

A young woman recently complained to me that her manager never seemed to notice when she had a point to make at a meeting. In further discussion, I found out she was making two mistakes.

1. She always sat in an area to the right of the leader, who happened to be her boss. When he looked up, she was never in his line of vision. If you want to be asked for your opinion, sit where the leader can see you—preferably right in his or her line of sight.

2. She raised her hand and waited for permission to speak. Well first, if he couldn't see her, how could he notice she had her hand up? Second, sitting with your hand in the air and being ignored makes you look like a student in school—and gives you just about as much power. If she is consistently ignored, she needs to raise her hand and simultaneously say, "Excuse me, Don, may I comment on that?"

Although these problems are not confined to women, it is true that more women than men have them. Women tend to listen well, and that's a good attribute, but if you sit at meetings and don't speak up confidently to make your point, men will think you are passive and weak. Then they are even less likely to listen to your ideas, so it becomes a vicious circle.

Sit where the leader can see you, and speak up confidently!