Special Edition!
Reprinted with permission by The Courier-Post
November 25, 2003
Effective Communication Aids Both Businesses, Employees
By Jeanne Ridgway, Courier-Post Staff
You're checking your voicemail when a recorded announcement from your employer comes on. It says: You're on the list to be laid off.
Human resources consultant Lynda Ford cringed as she told the true tale.
"That's ratty," said Ford, who believes there is a right way and a wrong way to talk to employees. Effective communication, she says, boosts morale, increases productivity, decreases worker turnover and forges a positive public image.
"Employee communication is the bedrock of how you build your business," said Ford, who is president of The Ford Group of Rome, N.Y.
Good communication is more than a feel-good tonic for employees. It helps companies to reinforce their mission, values and strategy, said Terry Wall of T.G. Wall Management Consulting.
"It's a good way to find out what the employees are thinking, and what is going on with the competition," said Wall, a Washington Township resident.
Many large companies rely on one-way, top-down communication, Wall said, such as newsletters, memos, e-mails, Web sites or postings on a bulletin board. Other methods include "town meetings" and group discussions.
But if companies want to glean valuable information from employees, it's best to meet them on their own turf.
"We call it management by walking around. You stay in touch because you are out there on the shop floor or in the customer service area," said Wall.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin thrives on face-to-face communications, said Ken Ross, who is director of strategic communications.
An employer of 4,700 workers in Moorestown, Mount Laurel and Washington, D.C., Lockheed uses other methods, too, such as an employee Web site and newsletter.
Verbal information from top management filters through the ranks at Lockheed during KeyComm, a monthly one-hour meeting of 300 company managers. Similar presentations are made to smaller, local groups of employees. The objective is to keep workers focused on the same mission.
"Somebody out on the shop floor putting together a piece of radar antenna needs to know the big picture, and that what he is doing is important," said Ross.
Campbell Soup Co. has a similar challenge, with 25,000 employees working in 20 different countries.
Frequent town meetings solicit employee feedback. But to supplement that, Campbell's has launched an enhanced employee Intranet site, called CampbellToday. Containing fresh information daily, CampbellToday connects its many locations by keeping employees abreast of what is happening in the local office and around the world. The Web site encourages employee comment on planned programs and initiatives.
The goal is to get more feedback about our business strategy," said Liesl Henderson, who is director of organization communications.
Comcast, with 3,000 employees in New Jersey, uses what the company does best to keep employees informed -- Comcast Live, a periodic private broadcast featuring top management and company news.
This way, employees are kept ahead of the curve when a new product is introduced or an acquisition is made.
We try to launch things internally first as much as we can," said Colleen Rooney, senior director of communications at Comcast. "It's part of our commitment to stay connected" with employees, she said. Sleek interactive Web sites and live broadcasts may impress, but technology plays only a supporting role to actual human contact, Ford warns.
"We get all revved up with all this other stuff. It's good stuff, it's cool stuff, but they are not a substitute for good, verbal, face-to-face communication," she said.
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