OYAROSOFT COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS.: Five facts about Communication

Reduce employee fears, concerns, and confusion with effective internal communication.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

~ George Bernard Shaw

I’m sure we’ve all had times when we thought we told someone something important, but it turns out we hadn’t. That’s not uncommon.

But there’s a difference between making this mistake in our personal lives and making careless communication a habit in the workplace. And, according to the following facts, we are not communicating well enough with our employees.

Employees often spend up to two hours a day (which equals one quarter of the work week) worrying and gossiping.
55% of employees say their benefits materials are neither clear nor comprehensive.
33% of workers are worried their pay will be cut; 30% are worried about getting laid off; 30% are worried their hours will be cut.
When there are more questions than answers at work, the consequences are uncertainty, frustration, rumors, and lowered productivity.
Confusion and frustration usually motivate your best employees to leave first, and it costs an average of 150% of their annual salaries to replace them.

Informing Vs. Communicating: There’s a Difference.

If you’re confused because you feel like you do communicate with your employees on a regular basis, ask yourself this question: are you really communicating with your employees or just giving them information?

Aren’t they the same thing, you ask? No not at all. Information is the simple sharing of facts, but communication implies a two-way dialogue.

This is a really important distinction that can help transform both your current and future communication strategies, so let’s say it again: Information and communication are not the same thing.

This revelation means that we need to stop tossing information at our employees just assuming they’ll understand it and really start communicating with them to guarantee that they get it! Here’s a couple of tips to get you started.

Listening More; Talking Less.

Wait, didn’t we just say you need to communicate MORE with your employees? How do we do that if we’re talking LESS? Easy. Start listening more to what your employees have to say, and that will help guide how you should be communicating with them. Check out these two facts that support the importance of listening:

Employees who feel like they are genuinely listened to by their managers are nearly 5 times more likely to have high job enthusiasm and 21 times more likely to feel committed to their company than those who do not feel listened to.
Companies with highly engaged employees improved operating income by 19.2% over a 12 month period.

Whatever methods you need to use to improve your listening skills (i.e. one-on-one meetings, employee surveys, suggestions boxes), the results will be worth the effort.

Hitting Your Target

Make your communications programs strategic. If you just toss information out into the employee arena hoping it reaches its target, you won’t know for sure if you accomplished anything. You can’t afford to take chances with casual, hit-or-miss communication efforts. Here’s why:

Successful company communication programs tend to produce the best results in financials, productivity, and shareholder returns.
Communication programs executed immediately after a deal get significantly better results than those that delay implementation for 3 months or more.

Understanding that there’s no such thing as too much communication.

So what’s the bottom line here? To simultaneously reduce employees’ concerns and increase company loyalty, enthusiasm, and engagement, just over-communicate. Become the kind of leader who communicates so often and so well that you no longer have to wonder if your communication accomplishments are just an illusion; you now know it for a fact.

Check out our free eBook for more tips on boosting your internal communication at work.

Sources:

OYAROSOFT COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS.

Saturday, 20 June 2015

Five facts about Communication