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7 Ways To Improve
Communication and Collaboration |
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Develop a "top-down"
culture that encourages and rewards open
communication and collaboration.. This is where
the
C-level executives
come in! It starts at the top, and then must be
driven down throughout the entire organization.
Without sustainable top executive commitment and
support, steps 2 through 7 will be difficult to
achieve.
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Share the corporate
strategy and vision with every employee. Don't
just send one email... create posters, add it to
company newsletters, etc. For employees to truly
catch on, and most importantly, believe that their
company is serious about success, the message has to
become ingrained within the
culture.
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Regularly
communicate corporate initiatives, expectations, and
results to every employee. Don't just limit this
vital information to employees within a particular
department. Share it with every employee. Develop a
corporate scorecard; one that lists the top 3-5
goals or initiatives, and then share it. Insure
middle managers are helping hourly employees connect
their job and goals with the corporate initiatives.
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Align division and
department goals with your
corporate strategy.
This is a vital step, and one that requires some
quality time and focus. In some cases, you may
realize that some department-level goals must be
modified or eliminated all together. Remember, if
your department is focusing on the wrong
goals, your
company will have a tough time realizing its full
potential.
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Share financial
results (both good and bad) with all employees. Many leaders are afraid to share financial
information with employees at all levels. However,
if you truly want your workforce to perform less
like employees and more like entrepreneurial-minded,
strategic partners, then share your financials and
explain how they apply!
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Create and deploy a
department-level
balanced scorecard.
The balanced scorecard must effectively align merit,
bonuses and other monetary reward systems to
performance, quality assurance, operational
efficiencies and customer delight results...at a
minimum. Explain the connection, and then share the
results on a consistent basis.
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Celebrate successes
(both big and small)! This helps to reinforce
the company's
commitment to the strategy as well as
its importance. Be sure to promote a culture that
encourages learning from mistakes, and rewards
calculated
risk-taking.
Inspiring Culture
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The Silo Effect
Some business leaders may argue that
it's not important for every employee to be involved in, or even
informed about the company's
business strategy, financial
position or other seemingly "executive-exclusive" information. But,
my experience tells me that when companies strangle, or in some
cases, sever the critical lines of communication and collaboration
amongst its employees, the result can be catastrophic.
9 Signs of a Losing Organization
Poor communication and collaboration
causes employees to become disconnected from the business
altogether, which places a company at a severe disadvantage. What's
truly unfortunate is that those same employees, who are robbed of
vital information and opportunities to collaborate, generally prefer
to have more involvement,
empowerment
and accountability.
Employees are often found entangled in
a web of silos and barriers when denied open lines of communication.
As a result, those talented and skillful employees have very little,
if any, knowledge of what actually happens outside of their specific
area; they become true victims of the Silo Effect! Although many
companies acknowledge silos exist, they often struggle in breaking
down the barriers.
Managerial Communication
Costly
Work-A-Rounds
In the case of most silos, departments
tend to develop their own unique set of 'work-a-rounds' and creative
processes to get the job done. When this occurs, it generally takes
employees more time and resources to complete the work (greater
operating costs). In addition, it often takes departments much
longer to realize internal problems, errors and missed
opportunities, which lead to increased costs and negative impacts on
customer and client satisfaction.
Narrow-Focused Leadership
Some business leaders believe that the
extent of their responsibility is to ensure their department runs
well. They believe that it's up to their peers to achieve the same
level of success within their department. This couldn't be further
from the truth! In fact, it's that kind of narrow-focused leadership
mentality that cripples 'great' companies, brings 'good' companies
to their knees, and literally stops promising 'startup' companies in
their tracks. Business leaders beware!
12 major Causes of Failure in Leadership
Here's the good news; it's not too late
for business leaders to open the lines of communication and
collaboration. From my book, "The
Leader's Guide To Performance Management: Building Organizational
Excellence One Employee at a Time," here are seven
cost-effective ways to improve communication and collaboration to
get you started.
Closing
In
today's competitive global marketplace,
business survival depends upon the effort, commitment and drive of
the entire organization. That organization, fueled by every
employee, every division, every goal, every objective and every
strategy, must encourage and maintain a constant flow of information
to truly realize its full potential.
3 Strategies of Market Leaders
With so many businesses downsizing,
outsourcing, and running excessively lean operations, it's often
utter chaos and seems virtually impossible to get employees
together. And, with department leaders and hourly employees wearing
so many hats just to keep the business running, making the
transition to providing greater communication and collaboration
won't be easy. But, business leaders can, and must overcome these
barriers to remain competitive, increase customer satisfaction, and
meet the growing demands of today's marketplace.
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