Six Signs That You Have Internal Communications Problems
Ongoing strategic internal communications and positive employee relationships are crucial to achieving any organisation’s mission and vision.
It’s important that top and supervisory management encourage employees to participate in the organisation’s activities by offering a consistent diet of company information. However, what is more commonly observed and one of the biggest challenges to business productivity, is a lack of an internal communications strategy.
Poor internal communications is detrimental on a number of levels. Unengaged, unmotivated employees are usually unproductive and inefficient, which in the long term leads to the death of an organisation. Here are six signs that you have internal communications problems:
Disgruntled Employees
According to Harvard Business Review, there are a number of reasons why employees become disgruntled. One very pervasive reason is that employees feel left out of the “loop”. “Keep me in the loop. Communication is fundamentally a management function, so this responsibility rests squarely with the managers. Great communicators do three things well. First, they share information and keep everyone well informed. Second, they ask good questions, inviting the opinions and views from others — all others. Third, they listen. And not just to the people they like."
Limited Communication Channels
Open and free flowing organisational communication, both from the top-down and the bottom-up, is essential to avoiding internal communications problems. In many cases, employees are only considered relevant when something problematic arises.
This is a big mistake. Effective internal communications should be the keystone to organisational policy, not an ad hoc afterthought. Employees should be included as part of corporate conversations and daily communications processes within any organisation.
An environment of gossips and rumors
Gossips and rumors fill information gaps. They disrupt employee productivity and cloud the internal environment of an organisation. Employee suspicion and dissatisfaction arising from a distrust of management and closed communication styles are a major cause of internal gossiping and rumormongering. Because they feel ‘left out of the loop’ and under-valued by their employers, dissatisfied employees have no stake in an organisation and are therefore more likely to be reluctant workers and seek to ‘fill in the gaps’ when it comes to what’s really going on in their workplace.
Disempowered employees
Empowered employees are an organisation’s biggest assets. Empowering employees through communications sets the standard for an organisational culture that highly values employee involvement in the decision-making process. Ensuring that employees are armed with the information they need to carryout their daily task gives them confidence in the organisation. They have to understand the company’s mission and vision and feel empowered to articulate and live them.
Consistent Customer Complaints
Satisfied employees create a positive internal work environment, which is then reflected externally in their service delivery. Once we understand this link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, it should be easy to raise service delivery levels and foster better interactions with customers.
Low Engagement leading to Low Productivity
It has been found that the cost of low engagement isn’t limited to turnover and recruitment. According to INC. “Gallup found that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion per year; that number doesn't even take into account the "not engaged" employees. On the other hand, organizations with high employee engagement will derive benefits in addition to happy employees: The stock value has higher earnings per share, and the businesses experience 22 percent higher profitability, 21 percent higher productivity, 10 percent higher customer engagement, 25 percent to 65 percent lower turnover, 37 percent lower absenteeism, 28 percent lower shrinkage (theft), and 48 percent fewer staff safety incidents.”
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Engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward.
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Not Engaged employees are essentially "checked out." They're sleepwalking through their workday, putting time--but not energy or passion--into their work.
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Actively disengaged employees aren't just unhappy at work; they're busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish.
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