Lack of communication between senior managers and their wider workforce is leading to low motivation among staff.
In a recent survey, by people development company European Leaders, found that more than two-thirds of respondents said that they fail to understand their company’s vision, leading to a lack of motivation and reduced productivity. In addition to this, almost two-thirds of respondents claimed that they could, and would, work much more efficiently with better motivation.
Currently, less than one-fifth of respondents view the business they work for as a good organisation and, as a result, only one-third describe themselves as working to their full potential.
Ashley Ward, director of European Leaders, said, “It’s widely accepted that people performance is the biggest influence in business performance, yet, as a nation, we’re still not doing enough. If you look at the UK’s best companies to work for, their focus on company values and employee engagement is right at the top of their agenda.
“The fact that people want to be more involved in their work and their company shows they think about their employer’s business and care about how they’re managed. They have more to give and opening the minds of management to fresh ideas can release a huge amount of energy and skill from the workforce, benefiting the business bottom line as well as the employees as they become more passionate about the organisation they work in. A seemingly negligible investment can get teams much closer to their full potential performance, resulting in a happier workforce and significant financial benefits.”
Good Communication is so obvious and, yet, we all fail from time to time. A few managers are “naturals” and never fail to take the opportunity to fluently talk to their people.
But there are many more of us who need help and encouragement to make staff-communication a core part of our working day rather than an after thought.
I recommend regular weekly staff briefings, cascading from the top and reaching everybody before the next “bulletin”. Each layer of management is responsible for making this happen. There is a short briefing note written and issued by the boss at the top to ensure a consistency of message.
We can all do it but it needs encouragement & leadership from the boss and a routine, hard-wired into the system, to ensure communications actually happens.