You talking to me, ceo?

What organisation does not have a “communication” problem? As a management consultant, I am always amazed by the admission of employees that their organisation has a “communication problem.” On further probing, the “problem” tends to turn out to be a problem of information sharing and dissemination in the organisation. Simply put, our organisations do not readily share information with their employees. This view is corroborated by the results of a recent survey of close to 5,000 employees in a range of local organisations in our biennial Employee Benchmark Survey. 

Most of the organisations in this survey scored poorly on internal communication.  Specifically, employees say that their organisations don’t do a good job of keeping them informed of matters affecting them; they tend to hear about important company matters first through rumours or the “grapevine”; information is not freely shared throughout the organisations; and they don’t always receive adequate information on their organisation’s goals, objectives, plans, and even policies and procedures. This lack of communication results in a range of negative outcomes for these organisations, greatest among them is the breakdown of trust between managers and employees.  The link between communication and trust is well established in theory, research and practice. 

Simply, open and frank communication by two parties leads to greater trust between the parties. And those organisations that scored low in communication in our survey also tend to score low in management/employee relations, human resource management and leadership — all areas that have a strong communication component. Anyone who has been in any kind of relationship (and that’s all of us!) will know that communication is one of the most challenging of human activities. At the same time, it is the most pervasive of human activities. We cannot not communicate.  We communicate from the womb to the tomb.  After all, we are social animals and our very existence is based on our ability to communicate, by whatever means at our disposal.

Why, then, is organisational communication a problem? There are many barriers to communication in life in general and in organisations in particular.  In fact, the organisational barriers to communication are compounded by the normal barriers.  The main communication barriers in organisations are status or hierarchy and department or specialisation.  Status or hierarchy is a barrier because persons at different levels in an organisation are expected or expect to communicate differently.  In our culture, information is power.  So the higher up you go in the organisation, the more information you’re supposed to have.  That is what gives you your status Departments and specialisations also present a barrier to communication in organisations.  Different departments speak different languages; they have their own jargon, their own “lingo”, to distinguish themselves from others.

Similarly, specialisations also have their own technical terminology that they alone understand.  So the engineer doesn’t understand the accountant, marketing doesn’t know what logistics is talking about and nobody understands IT. No wonder we have “communication” problems in organisations! Add to this the general communication challenges we bring into our organisations: gender, age, ethnic, geographical and personality differences; and we have a situation ripe for problems, conflicts, frustration and just tuning out. So how do we overcome these communication challenges in organisations?  Read any communication book and you will find a shopping list of ways of improving communication in organisations.  My “list” specifically addresses the findings of our surveys.

“Level” with your employees about important organisational issues and matters affecting them.  Organisations should take their employees into their confidence and share information with them.  The new age employee is not just willing to do.  He or she has to know too. And in small societies like our own, they will find out anyway, so why not tell them the “real” story? This could also help to increase management/employee trust. Share organisational information in face-to-face forums.  Yes, use the technology for speed and spread, but we are still a very oral culture.  We like to talk; we want to be heard; to give our “two-cents” worth.  So we still need the weekly or monthly departmental meetings and the annual or more regular company briefings by the CEO. One energy company in the Point Lisa area has consistently scored high on communication in our surveys.  This organisation prides itself on its internal communication process and other organisations benchmark it.

Employees in this organisation are informed of everything from the size of last year’s profits to the state of the national and global economy.  Here the axiom “knowledge is power” is geared to make every employee powerful. Organisational barriers are broken down - the cleaner calls the CEO by his first name, engineering doesn’t mind finance “getting into its business”; specialists understand each other.  Keeping employees informed is a key component of this company’s organisational strategy. 

This is one of the reasons why they are a benchmark company. Communication will always be a challenge in organisations because of the diversity of attitudes, values, perceptions, backgrounds, genders and personalities, that come together in them. We can begin to overcome these challenges by recognising and accepting this diversity and by bringing employees into the communication and information loop in our organisations. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Guardian Life. You are invited to send your comments to guardianlife@ghl.co.tt