Continuing our two part series on improving communication in your organisation, Michael Richards adds a further five tips to help you communicate better.
6. Keeping the brand at arm’s length
How you communicate internally should always reflect your brand. So it’s a wonder that so many organisations keep the brand at a distance from employees – often resulting in attitudes and behaviour that aren’t ‘on-brand’.
That’s not to say that this is always intentional. In fact, we employ marketers and brand experts to worry about the details of brand development, right? Well not entirely. Your brand people will focus on external communication of the brand and other brand building exercises, but unfortunately internal brand communication can often fall by the wayside. And unless you’re lucky enough to benefit from the expertise of an internal comms team, there can often be some dissent over where this responsibility lies.
The truth is that branding and marketing teams need to work with HR professionals to ensure effective brand communication. For employees to truly live and breathe the brand, they need to gain a full understanding that directly impacts every which way they communicate.
7. Allowing bad manners
It may sound simplistic, but enforcing good manners can make a world of difference to the way that we communicate. Consider that in its most extreme form, bad manners can be interpreted as bullying – leading to disciplinaries, grievances and in some cases, legal action.
Understandably, changing such a fundamental aspect of human behaviour may seem an insurmountable task. However, relatively straightforward measures, such as incentive schemes that focus on the importance of treating colleagues with the same courtesy that is usually afforded to customers, can be extremely helpful in smoothing internal communication.
8. Lack of cultural clarity
While many people have a vague notion of culture, they often fail to live up to expectations due to a lack of guidance. Cultural tools, such as guiding principles, are often effective, both in crystallising cultural expectations and promoting better communication. Whether honesty, innovation or even passion – your employees will benefit from an articulation of all your business principles.
Again, think about ways in which you can incentivise your employees to demonstrate guiding principles in their everyday communication, be that awards or other forms of recognition.
9. Culturally inconsistent dress codes
How we dress is one of the subtlest but also most powerful ways that we communicate. So enforcing a dress code that runs contrary to your culture can result in a lack of cultural integrity that creates cynicism amongst employees.
For example, in businesses that foster familial relationships, formal dress will naturally create greater distance between colleagues. Likewise, in firms that rely on a more formal environment, such as legal or financial organisations, a casual dress code could be confusing.
Equally, maintaining a certain standard of dress across departments and management structures is important to communicate equality amongst employees.
10. Incorrect use of technology
Too much, too little, or simply the wrong technology, can seriously hamper the way that we communicate.
From document sharing centres like SharePoint, through to basic intranet sites, most companies use technology to improve internal communication. However use of technology for technology’s sake, without proper implementation or training, will do little to address communication issues.
For example, online HR systems can be extremely valuable in improving communication between HR, line managers and employees. However without careful consideration of required features, phased implementation and even an element of branding, systems can soon become redundant – at great cost to the business.
As HR people we can’t be responsible for every IT system that comes our way, but where we can, we should emphasise our communication objectives. How will the system improve the way that we communicate and how can we influence this with astute and timely roll-out?
There are never any guarantees, but maintaining your focus usually pays off in the end.
Michael Richards is Director of 2nd Head
