The world is a global village.
This premise holds true, more so in this time and age. And this is pegged on
the ever rising technological breakthroughs and/or communication.
Why communication? Well, a
village symbolizes ease of reach in regard to relaying and or receiving
information.
Flickr-Sean MacEntee|Productivity
Technology has permeated in
our corporations, to an extent which has impacted communication tremendously.
From the time we get in the office, to the moment we leave, heads down and
fingers tapping away at our keyboards. Be it emails, social media and drafting
that proposal; employees are on the communication super highway.
Consequently, most
corporations have been lenient with these emerging culture. Suggesting that the
whole concept of actual internal communication will soon lose grip.
Internal communication (IC)
otherwise referred to as employee communication is the transmission of messages
from one employee to another. Better yet, the transfer of messages within the confines
of the corporate structures. In my understanding.
IC takes various forms:
meetings, memos, internal emails, notices, brainstorming sessions and so on. Through
these forms, we then expect to see productivity.
And from the looks of it,
before a business immerses itself in meeting the needs of the customers,
considerable time and efforts should be channelled in ensuring that employees
are ‘comfortable.’ I use the word loosely, but in essence I mean to imply that
once the corporation meets its employees’ requirements then a ripple effect
will be felt all the way to the customer’s heart. To paraphrase; happy wife,
happy life. Happy employee, happy customer. Undoubtedly.
With that in mind the corporation
should rise head and shoulders, to ensure the engagement of their employees. Since
IC and employee engagement work in tandem. The more engaged employees are, the
higher the returns/productivity. This is the reason behind communication and or
public relations, being a core management function. To contribute towards
productivity.
Frost
& Sullivan attest that, “Companies with engaged and empowered employees are increasing their
customer satisfaction by over 40 percent; improving profitability by nearly 30
percent; and boosting overall performance by 36 percent.” What corporation
wouldn’t dream of such stellar performance?
As corporations, how do we engage employees?
According to Melcrum; ‘Employee Engagement
– traditionally speaking – involves employees striving to go the extra
mile at work, speaking positively of their employer and planning to stay.’
Depending on the existing culture, this can be easy or prove a daunting task but
winnable.
The following
guidelines will help corporations do better in employee engagement, which starts
from a strong internal communications system
- Connecting the employee to what success looks like for your business,
- Building a powerful employer brand.
- Creating a supportive culture
Connecting
the Employee to What Success Looks Like For Your Business
Sam Walton is the greatest
entrepreneur who ever lived. After venturing into retail business-opening
discount stores-after coming back from the army, Sam Walton built the greatest
retail business in the world-Wal-Mart.
In his book, Built in America, Sam held meetings
every Saturday morning throughout the company’s lore. During the meetings, he
would energize his employees, find solutions to problems and decide on the
cause of action then. He would invite special guests with some wisdom to share
with the team. He had his employees, be part of the business by giving them the
choice of buying stock in the company and sharing in on the profits.
Sam’s story, sends home this
message that if you want to build a remarkable company, engage your employees.
Stoop to their level, listen to them and show them the bigger picture with the
promise that they too have a stake in it.
Building
a Powerful Employer Brand
Hiring is no mean task. Ask
human resources. In most cases companies will get away with employing people
who are not so much suited to the job at hand. But if the company promises to
spend time on this particular employee, training them, then no harm no foul.
By focusing on employees who
will work together as a team-helps the company build a powerful employer brand.
Potential employees will yearn to be part of that amazing group. This desire
leads to an interest in the whole business. From the moment they sign that
contract, this employee will be motivated in doing their best to propel the
company forward.
Creating
a Supportive Culture
How many employees have had a
great idea only for them to be given a 1000 excuses why it cannot work? A lot!
In reference to Sam’s story,
he valued what his employees had in mind. One of his operating mantras was
‘thinking small’. He posits that the best solutions to every day challenges in
business are out in the open.
In his meetings, he would
literally ask, his employees how they could improve the sale of product A, B or
which small town was ready for them. This made the employees feel valued. Not
only in terms of their labour but intellectually too.
A supportive culture breeds a
team high in self-esteem. And a confident employee will be ready to do the
right thing, solve problems, meet deadlines, speak out and above all achieve
goals.
All these guidelines are
pegged on how alive a company’s internal communications are. Traditionally, communication
used to be one way. Top-Down, kind of communication. Especially in government.
Where a whole ministries decisions are waited upon on the Okay-ing of the cabinet secretary.
This bred incompetence in the
public sector. Since all the government employees are and have never been engaged.
But for there to be change in the way employees work-both public and private
sector- employee engagement is key. Which evidently is a result of a two way
communication model. An employee needs to be heard just as the employer demands
to. Internal communication is the only sure way to connect, build and create a
support culture in an organization.
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