Having worked with and interacted with leaders and team members from over fifty countries, there are certain issues and conversations that are predictable because they are so prevalent. For all the differences in culture, industry, size, and situation, most everyone says they wish organizational communication was … better.
That is understandable because it is hard. Through these interactions and conversations, it is equally clear that while we would all like better organizational communication, some are doing it better than others. Rather than simply thinking about how bad our organizational communication is, it would be helpful to determine the areas where you could make the biggest improvements.
Questions to Ask
- How well do people understand the goals and strategies? This is the best place to start. If people don’t know what the organization is doing and where it is going, it is hard to make sense of any other communication messages. Getting clarity and understanding here is critical to all the rest of your communication efforts.
- How many people can express the why and mission of the organization? Goals and strategies are important, but do people know why the organization exists? When people understand the whys of the organization, they can better understand other messages – and make sense of them. Too often, senior leaders assume people understand this, creating serious communication – and engagement – challenges.
- How often do people hear from senior leadership? Frequency of messages (even if they seem to be repeats to the senior leaders themselves) is important. Think about your frequency and ask people if that frequency is working for them.
- How consistent are the messages people receive? It is one thing to hear from senior leadership. It is something else entirely if the messages they receive from their direct leaders isn’t consistent with those from senior leaders. How consistent are the messages – words and actions – people receive over the course of time? Disconnects here can create confusion and disengagement, and lower trust too.
- Are their effective feedback loops upward? If all the communication is downward, great communication is important. To what extent do people feel they can ask questions of or get their ideas shared back to senior leadership?
- How many communication channels are used by senior leadership, and how effective are they? Having a town hall can be great, but is that the only way people hear from senior leaders? Depending on the size of the organization, are there visits or round tables? The more ways people hear from senior leaders, the more likely the messages will be more effectively received.
- How effective is cross-organizational (between units, departments, etc.) communication? Sharing feedback and asking questions isn’t just important upward (or only to senior leadership), but also across the organization. Are there ample and effective ways for conversation to take place that aren’t just hierarchical? Hint: If people would say there are silos in your organization, this is most likely a problem.
- How well can people connect their work to the organizational goals? This is a big and important question and concerns more than organizational communication. If people don’t see how what they do makes a difference for the organization and customers, there are likely communication gaps. And, when people feel that connection, they are more likely to be active participants in all communication, improving the results for them.
These questions will illuminate both strengths and weaknesses in your organizational communication. If you want a clear picture of where you stand, get perspectives on these questions from across the organization. Those conversations themselves will begin to improve your results. Beyond those conversations, make sure to use the answers to these questions to begin improving your communication results.
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Looking for ways to do this assessment or want help in improving the communication success in your organization? Reach out to us in any of the ways listed here. We would be happy to have a conversation to see how we might be able to help.
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