Listening is the key to better employee communications
To facilitate a more substantive dialogue with workers, use surveys, encourage email exchanges with leaders and establish an ongoing FAQ page.
Then they push that content through an array of communication channels. Unfortunately, that’s only one-way communication.
In any conversation, it’s important to listen. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who talks constantly and never lets you get a word in edgewise? How about that person who barely listens to what you’re saying because they’re thinking so hard about what they want to say next? After a while, you feel they don’t care much, if at all, about you or what you think.
If we don’t ask employees what they think, it doesn’t mean they don’t have opinions. Leaders often remain oblivious to employee concerns, issues and questions simply because companies often lack the channels (or the desire) to solicit and receive meaningful feedback.
Those annual or biannual employee engagement surveys fill an important role, but they’re not an ongoing, substantive conversation. Try the following tactics to get a genuine dialogue flowing:
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