Good communications are at the heart of employee involvement. If you can’t communicate quickly with your staff and hear their and customer views, how can you be a responsive employer?
As soon as the workforce grows beyond getting everyone in one room at once, you will probably rely on management cascades –your managers interpreting strategy and passing it on. The problem with this - as anyone who has played Chinese whispers will know - is that messages get distorted, particularly when managers may have different agendas from their teams. So what is the answer? One method being tried is action teams, where selected team members take on the role of communicating with their peers. Communications can be more open, more honest and reliable, with less reason for adding distortion. Rolls Royce tried this as part of their Winning Workplace employee involvement scheme and got 85% approval from the staff and financial returns too. Ready to admit your managers may not be the best communications channel? More here
