Step Up Communication to Move Results Faster
"Communication must be exhaustive to successfully engage employees and create organizational alignment," notes Studer Group Coach Lucy Crouch. "I tell leaders if they feel they might pull their hair out if they have to speak with one more person at the end of the day, they're probably communicating enough."
How far and how fast an organization moves forward in reaching its goals is extremely dependent on how consistently and how quickly communication cascades to all employees. Effective communication engages staff by inspiring new behaviors that result from sharing data on organizational challenges and opportunities. Sharing a steady stream of information also empowers employees to take ownership. And finally, it aligns behaviors. "A nurse once said to me that by sharing information with her, it was like laying all the cards on the table," explains Crouch. "Once the cards were on the table, she knew what she had to do. Otherwise, she felt like she was guessing."
But what happens when some leaders are better communicators than others? Or a leader is uncomfortable giving honest communication because they want to protect employees from bad news? The answer is to hardwire tools that all leaders must use. Every leader must own his or her responsibility for excellent communication.
Tactics to reduce leader variance for standardized communication
|
Tactics |
Why It Works |
How to Get Started |
Use departmental communication boards organized by Pillar (People, Service, Quality, Finance, Growth) |
Every employee can see organizational and departmental progress towards goals in each area. |
Begin by assigning a few staff to collect information and e-mail all leaders weekly to update all communication boards. Once it's hardwired, an assistant can assume this task. |
Organize all meeting agendas by Pillar |
It aligns the organization since the same issues and opportunities are integrated organization wide. |
Download the sample Board, Department Leader and Department agenda. Then create your own. |
Hold quarterly Employee Forums |
The CEO is visible and accessible to all employees every 90 days; Also provides an important opportunity to respond to employee questions, and publicly reward and recognize role models. |
Assign a Communications Team to schedule and plan quarterly Employee Forums. |
Implement a "Daily Line-Up" |
A daily e-mail message focuses all staff on the same items. |
A Communication Team sends out seven messages to leaders, who e-mail one to staff each day (e.g. current patient satisfaction scores, Hospital Week activities, an organization wide focus for the week) |
Create a culture of storytelling |
When leaders capture and share stories of heroic acts by employees, everyone is inspired to reach higher and feels proud to work for an organization where miracles happen. |
Make a conscious effort to harvest stories (Ask: "Who's doing a great job? What's going well?"). Share them at Employee Forums or invite employees to share their stories at senior leader and Board meetings. |
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