As part of my research for a communication skills training session for a leadership team recently, I came across some really interesting research from Axios HQ about workplace communications.
Some of the findings shared in the research report really stood out. The first was the gap between what leaders think are important updates to help people do their job well, and what employees think is important.
About 50% of the employees in the research, agreed that the two topics most critical to helping them do their job well, are:
Operational changes, like process and policy updates
Organisational goals, plans and new initiatives.
But when leaders considered this same question, they ranked these two topics amongst the lowest they thought were key for teams to stay aligned with leadership. That’s a big difference.
Added to this, employees said that the two topics that they consider least critical to their jobs – business updates and macro news (industry and competitor news) – are the ones they hear about the most.
And, looking at another statistic shared in the report – 66% of leaders think they’re aligned with employees where only 44% of employees agree with that – that indicates even more misalignment.
This disconnection will impact the organisation’s ability to deliver on its goals, simply because people aren’t on the same page. It becomes even more important when you’re rolling out change; clarity and a common understanding of direction become even more important in successfully delivering change so that people know where they’re heading and why.
If employees want to know about organisational changes, goals and plans, they are telling you exactly what you need to share.
Axios HQ – the 2023 State of Essential Workplace Communication
So, what can we do about this disparity? Here are three things to consider…
Really get know your audience and listen to them. When things are busy, getting out to talk to people and taking the time to have a meaningful conversation can drop down the priority list. But getting up and getting out either virtually or in person, can be absolutely invaluable so make the time to do it. By seeking out the opportunity for dialogue (so not talking ‘at’ people but listening to understand), you’ll hear what matters to them. That means you’ll be able to adapt your strategies as you need with the benefit of insight.
Seek feedback – it’s a gift. When you introduce change in your organisation, you may get questions that you weren’t expecting. Although this may sometimes feel like people are pushing back, they’re often actually seeking more detail so they can make more sense of what’s happening. The benefit? It’s quite possible you may well not have thought of some of the questions they ask as they’re seeing things from a different perspective to you. How valuable would that be?
Think relevance – always. There will be situations where you have to communicate messages that may not feel relevant in terms of topic for your audience but must be shared. In this situation, think about how you can make those messages really relevant to your audience. What about the words you’re using? How are you or your team communicating it – written or verbal – or both? What actually works best for your audience?
It can feel very easy to get information out (or relying on your internal communications team to do that for you) and feel like you’re communicating. But that approach is only half the story. Dialogue matters. Rethinking how you relate to your teams, finding out what’s important to them and then communicating with them in the right way will give you the opportunity to create much more engagement with your change and make success more likely.
To discuss the leadership, communication and people work involved in change, book a call here or send me a message - I’m here to help!
Other links you might find helpful:
Communicating a message that really stands out
Want to improve your listening skills?
Image: Mohamed_hassan, Pixabay