¿Cuánto Cuesta La Mala Comunicación Interna?

Las comunicaciones internas puede ser un drama para muchas empresas. Y en el peor de los casos también puede ser una de esas cosas que se dejan olvidadas en la esquina de la oficina. 

¿Quién no ha vivido la pesadilla de recibir correos súper confusos y sin sentido una y otra vez? ¿Quién no ha sentido alguna vez que la comunicación en su empresa parece más un circo que una oficina? ¿Quién no ha visto que los empleados y gerentes no se entienden entre sí a pesar de hablar el mismo idioma? ¿Quién no ha vivido la experiencia de estar rodeado de herramientas como los correos electrónicos, las reuniones semanales los CRM o pare usted de contar, pero toda la información importante está en la cabeza de alguien? Estoy segura que muchos de ustedes han estado en una situación similar al menos una vez en su carrera. Créeme, entiendo la frustración que has sentido.

No dejes que las comunicaciones en tu empresa parezcan de circo

La comunicación interna “pobre” es costosa para las organizaciones

Una comunicación interna pobre, o aún peor, la falta total de comunicación desmotiva y es extremadamente costosa para tu empresa. No permitas que una comunicación pobre sea parte de tu cultura empresarial. No dejes que se convierta en la manera como se hacen las cosas en tu empresa. No darle el valor que las comunicaciones merecen puede traerte muchas consecuencias negativas. Por ejemplo, se pueden generar los típicos mal entendidos y como resultado puede que un proyecto falle, que los productos o servicios que ofreces no funcionen bien, o hasta puede afectar la seguridad de tus empleados y tus consumidores y ocasionar accidentes.

Desafortunadamente, el costo de una mala comunicación interna es muy difícil de reportar como tal. Pero, es evidente, que todos hemos enfrentado la pérdida de la productividad tras una reunión mal gerenciada, hemos perdido una oportunidad de negocios porque la información fue dada incompleta o erradamente, o hemos visto equipos de trabajos perdiendo tiempo descifrando correos electrónicos en vez de trabajar realmente en lo que importa.

La comunicación Interna y la gerencia

La manera como los gerentes se comunican con su equipo tiene un impacto en los resultados de la empresa. Es simple, cuando los empleados entienden lo que tienen que hacer y reciben información suficiente para ello, su misión es mucho más fácil. Como resultado, ellos se dedican a trabajar.  Sin embargo:

- Si el mensaje es poco claro, el resultado será también confuso o no habrá ningún tipo de resultado
- Si la comunicación es pobre o inexistente, existe un alto riesgo de desmotivación de los empleados.
- Si tu empresa está enfrentando cambios, y los empleados están desinformados, puede generar rebeldías

No me queda más que decir que las comunicaciones son importantes y si son bien manejadas, enriquecerán a tu empresa. Esto significa que “la habilidad para comunicar” no deber ser una línea más en un anuncio de una vacante laboral. De verdad es una habilidad muy importante. Manejar las comunicaciones internas adecuadamente es esencial en cualquier empresa.

The Status Quo Never Leads To Wonderland

Sometimes people forget how much 365 days actually brings to their lives. They just wait years to do something new, to take risks, or to pursue a dream. They just settle. The same happens to companies… 

So, if you are starting a new chapter why not to use this new year to change, and to do things differently and better than before?

Embracing change can be good for your company

Unfortunately, to many people, change means something negative, something to fear. Change can be seen as something dramatic or painful, instead of something positive -an evolution.    

In many organizations, people are just afraid of change because it means shaking solid organizational cultures, procedures and behaviors. People might feel afraid of losing the power or the status they have achieved during the years they have worked for the same organization. In some cases, they might be afraid of losing their jobs or of being forced to do something very different.  

Customers' needs, economic and political situations in the country, market and industry changes, and even competitors' actions force companies to change. This means, changing is not an option but mostly, a need.

A change will bring more experience to your employees and to your company. It will help you to rediscover your potential and to see the business from a new perspective. A change will take you out of your comfort zone but, at the same time, will help you to explore new dimensions of your business, new opportunities.    

Picture: pixabay.com

So, you think you don’t need to change? Think twice.

There is not such a thing like a perfect company. This is perhaps the most common mistake we face in some organizations. We believe that everything is good and therefore, we want things to stay in that way -without risks. We can get used to certain conditions because those are quite OK for us. We believe that the status quo is good because we feel safe and comfy.

It is perhaps when the employees have been there for a while, without changes or surprises; or when the company has been selling regularly the same amount of products every year, or when the company believes that its relationship with its partners is stable. Those symptoms can make us settle. However, the truth is that settling can damage your company in the long term.

If you are wondering why to change if everything is fine in your company, let me tell you something, the status quo might be a comfortable status but, it is not enough for your company success. Most of the organizations need to adapt and change if they want to survive in the wild business environment that we are facing nowadays. 

If you're doing things the way you always have, you might be already obsolete or you might be losing a lot of opportunities to grow and to expand. Think about online selling, globalization, social media marketing, customer service, and digitalization. These are only few examples of things which have dramatically changed in the last years. No doubts those things are already affecting your business, right? 

The status quo and your employees

You are not the only one responsible for creating and maintaining the status quo. Your employees play an important role in creating and breaking it. However, it is your responsibility as a leader to choose and support your employees wisely.

Supporting the status quo is not good for your employees. When the employees get comfortable because everything is good, they get complacent with the status quo. They do the same things over and over again. If fact, they will resist changing due to the risks that change entails.

So, what should you do now? Well, it is time to review your employees' behavior. Despite of some managers' believes, a good employee is not the one who just do what is required to do without challenging him/herself or challenging the company situation. They might be good in their actual jobs under the actual conditions, but they will find challenging thinking outside the box, doing things in a different way or adapting to new conditions.

When focusing on the employees mentioned above and when giving all the credits to them for doing things "as we always have done", you might be pushing away your top performers or not using their real potential. Bringing new people to your organization will help you to break this status quo. (Of course, if you let them do their job). They will bring to your company new skills and new perspectives. Remember, it does not make much sense to try to change them and make them act as the rest of your people.

Change management and leadership

Challenging the status quo is not easy. Change is not easy.

Change management is all about persuading people to break with the status quo. As a manager, explaining to your employees why we need to change it is extremely important but, not enough to achieve the goal and to change. You need to create a realistic plan with tasks and activities to lead your company to the new direction. The activities and tasks can be small, too. This means that you could change step by step. You have to motivate your team and employees to support the change and all the change initiatives that are generated in your organization. You need to get them involved.

Unfortunately, most companies talk about change far more than they actually engage in it. So, as a leader, your most important task is to walk your talk. There is nothing more frustrating and confusing than having a manager that want innovation while exhibiting behaviors that endorse doing things as “we have done before”.

You have a new year, a new opportunity to break the status quo and take your company to a better situation. Make each day count.

Are You Ready to Listen To Your Employees?

Every day employees find small problems and challenges at work. However, this is not a bad thing. In fact, each challenge can spark ideas for improvements. Even the simplest idea can have a positive impact on your company performance improving your revenue, your safety and also your employees' engagement rate. 

When you open "the employee's suggestion box" with an open heart and especially, with an open mind, you can make your employees feel valued, therefore, their performance can reach a completely new level. 

Your employees can help you to improve different processes and areas in your company

Are you currently receiving fresh and innovative ideas?

- You have asked your employees for opinion and you have gotten no answer
- You have a suggestion list on your internal system with no marks
- Nobody comments on ways to improve performance
- In team meetings, your employees are mostly silent and agreeing in everything you say. 

It is time to check why this is happening.

Corporate culture for innovation: 
 
In many companies, suggestions seem to disappear into a dark hole. In others, employees with new ideas might be seen as an unfit for the organization. Sometimes, the company's priorities list does not include managing employees' suggestions. Or perhaps they are just "too busy" to improve.  

If you want to properly use your employees' suggestion to improve your company's performance, you need a corporate culture that matches and supports it. It this is not the case at the moment, you must reboot your existing corporate culture. 

Be ready, this is not an easy task.
 
How to work on your employees suggestions: 
 
Evaluate your corporate culture: if you are not receiving fresh and innovative ideas and your employees remain silent when you ask for suggestion, it is time to evaluate your corporate values and rituals. Change those in a way that your new values supports the employees' suggestion experience. 

Create a safe environment for suggestions and input: make sure that your employees feel free to talk about their ideas and point of views. Your employees' collaboration will be better when they feel comfortable providing input without being demeaned.

Be welcome and open for ideas: as each employee is different, you might get ideas, proposals and points of view which are different than your own. If people want to do things in different ways than your way, it does not mean that they are wrong, that they don't know how to do things or that they want to go against you. When you add different approaches to your company actions and processes, you inject richness into your company.

Be empathy: let say that your employee is sharing a solution to a problem he is facing at work but, this problem does not resonate to you, remember to put yourself in this person's shoes and try to understand his situation.

Facilitating spaces for experience sharing:  I have learned so much from the professional experiences of my colleagues located in other units and regions, that I cannot recommend this experience sharing enough. The point is not to imitate the tactics that others are implementing but, to learn from them, take some inputs from the cases and perhaps, adapt and use those inputs in your own activities. Make experience sharing a regular part of your communication and processes. 

Give space to the anonymous: The truth is that not everyone feels comfortable to share the own ideas, however, this does not mean that they have no ideas at all, or that their ideas are invaluable. By giving the chance to share their points of view in an anonymous way, you are getting also another set of ideas and approaches.

Focus on things that add value: positive and constructive criticism is accepted, to be negative and nasty, is not.

Prioritize: you might receive many suggestions and it might feel a bit overwhelming. Talk to your people a select those topics and actions which are more urgent. Make a priority list and go trough the cases according to the list.

Engage people in solving the problems: you don't need to be in charge of solving all people's problem. In fact, you should delegate and engage your employees in solving their issues. Making them responsible of some improvements, will make them more committed.

Follow-up tasks: work together with your employees and create clear plans and deadlines for these improvements. You can, for example, manage those as projects. In this way you can follow up and evaluate the results.




Receiving feedback and suggestion from your employees will help you to develop as a manager and especially, to develop the way your company is doing things. Remember to be open minded and make your employees part of the process. Your employees will feel that their opinions are valued and they can have an impact on changing things to better. If at the moment you are facing difficulties receiving feedback, you might need to transform your corporate culture into one that is open for employees' suggestions and feedback. For that, you need organizational commitment, clarity and ongoing communication

The Corporate Strategy: A Company Secret?

Defining your company strategy is the key to your company success. However, keeping this information to yourself or sharing this to an exclusive circle does not help your organization much. If you believe that your company strategy is a Board of Directors' secret, think twice. Sharing your strategy among your employees is vital for its implementation.
 

Strategy in changing organizations

Companies face multiple situations during their life-cycle. Companies go up and down, celebrate good times and confront adversity. Whatever the situation your company is facing right now, make sure that your employees know well the direction they need to go next. 

Having a solid knowledge of the company strategy will make the employee’s journey easier than without knowing about it. This is even more important when your company is facing changing situations such as grows or expansion as well as reorganizations. If your employees know well where they are going to and what do they stand for they do not need to speculate. They will be able to make decisions by themselves, prioritize and focus on the things that really matter.

  

One of the main goals of communicating your strategy is making your employees part of it. In this way, they will care more about the company and the job they do. 

Communicating your strategy 

 

If you have not communicated yet, go for it, plan a meeting with all your employees to talk about it. Articulate a clear and compelling message about the future of the organization. You can start talking about your company’s current status and continue with the future possibilities. Remember to respect the hard work they have done in the past and appreciate their old achievements. Invite them to move forward. Remember, there will be people who are not ready for changes, so be patient and constant. 

When planning your message, create an inspiring message that is easy to relate to and to understand by your audience. Identify the most appropriate channels to share the message across the organization and to reinforce the message often. Emphasize your company values. Remember that one meeting is not enough. You need to communicate your strategy often.

The way you communicate your strategy has a real impact on you employees’ behavior and commitment. Use the right message to inspire, motivate, and engage. In addition to letting your employees know where the company is going to, make sure that you have clear plans on how to go there.

When Silence Is The Strongest Message

Being silent about work situations or problems in an organization is very common. We all have faced situations in which we have been unable to raise an issue to a supervisor even though we felt the issue was important. Sometimes, we have preferred to remain silent because of the fear of being labeled negatively or just to avoid damaging our colleagues or managers relationships. Other times, we are afraid of being punished for our comments or even worse, based on previous experiences, we know that our comments will be ignored. Sometimes, we prefer using silence as our strongest message.

Whatever the reason for the silence is, the truth is that having employees who are not able to bring the problems to the table and talk about those issues openly is a reflection of the status of the internal communication and the corporate culture. Employees’ silent is not gold…

If there is poor internal communication in place, employees will find their way to communicate: rumors, gossips, mistrust, silence. Open communication between the management and the employees will provide context, support, understanding and opportunities to ask questions and to find solutions to issues.

It is clear that no all the people are ready for feedback. However, promoting open communication among the members of your organization will help creating a healthy organizations with more space for innovation and creativity. We all play a role when developing the communication in the company. Supervisors and managers are essential for creating a workplace where employees feel safe to have an opinion. Their main role is to “convince” and demonstrate to employees that the organization truly wants to hear about their concerns, ideas and aspirations. Actions are more important than words.