Improve Engagement by Improving Internal Communication

Increasing engagement requires vision, teamwork, and leadership. Here we will focus on one aspect of increasing employee engagement: internal communication.Communication and Culture
You create your organization’s culture through a confluence of factors, including shared values, leadership, and organizational structure. What do all these factors have in common? All need to be communicated to the workers.in other words, culture is composed of communication. And the style of communication impacts the way that employees experience the culture.According to a recent article in Forbes, good communication improves job satisfaction, decreases absenteeism and turnover, and increase productivity. When communication is clear, concise, and respectful, employees feel safer about expressing themselves. Employee engagement translates straight to the bottom line. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), stated, “Organizations with strong employee engagement scores generate revenue growth at a rate 2.5 times higher than companies with lower marks, according to the Hay Group (http://www.haygroup.com/), a management consulting company.

Here are three elements of communication that will build your team’s sense of engagement with – and commitment to—your organization

No one likes to be kept in the dark, particularly if their livelihood depends on what is happening. Even if the news is not rosy, employees need to know what is going on. Do not assume that employees should not worry their pretty little heads because something is complicated, embarrassing, or difficult. Give them a chance to understand. Transparency builds trust and trust builds engagement.Transparency works in both directions: Employees need to feel that they can express themselves and be listened to.  As an article in Forbes recently said, “Candid feedback and input from those on the business’s front lines can be extremely valuable to informing business decisions.” Two-way flow of communication is key.

Everyone hates mumbo jumbo – even the people who write it. When you’re obfuscating, you know it, and your readers know it, too. Keep your sentences short. Keep your vocabulary accessible. Follow basic rules of good grammar. Minimize jargon and acronyms. You may be surprised to find that even daunting subjects can be conveyed in straightforward language.As you choose your words, consider what they will mean to your readers. The same word may mean very different things to different audiences. Developing an ear for the way your readers will understand your messages will improve your communication results immensely. If you are not sure how to write clearly, learn how.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article titled “Do Your Employees Feel Respected?”, the author cited a survey of nearly 20,000 employees who ranked respect as the most important leadership behavior. Yet employees report more disrespectful and uncivil behavior each year. The way managers speak and write to staff, and the way staff members connect with each other, makes or breaks the culture of respect.Respectful communication builds a strong culture and a strong sense of engagement. Give it and your employees will stick with you through good times and bad. Withhold it and they will disengage, ruminating on the lack of respect instead of doing their work. To quote from the best-selling book Crucial Conversations, “Respect is like air. As long as it’s present, nobody thinks about it. But if you take it away, it’s all that people can think about.”

What are the elements of respectful communication? Certainly, transparency and clarity contribute to a context of respect. But there is more. Listening is the most respectful thing you can do for another person. Here are a few ways to show your respect for your employees through the way you communicate with them.

By using communication consciously to share your values and listen to your employees, you will build employee engagement. This engagement builds a sense of community among your employees and powers your profitability. So next time you sit down to write or get up to speak to one of your staff, remember that your words are affecting more than your immediate moment. Word by word, you are building an organizational world.