Public Relations: A Practitioner's Guide (part 11)

Employee Relations (part B)

by

Charles Lamson

Credibility: The Key

The employee public is a savvy one. Employees cannot be conned because they live with the organization every day. They generally know what is going on and whether management is being honest with them. That is why management must be truthful.

Employees want managers to level with them. They want facts, not wishful thinking. The days when management could say, "Trust us, this is for your own good" are over. Employees like hearing the truth, especially in person. Indeed, survey after survey suggests that face-to-face communications---preferably between a supervisor and subordinate is the hands-down most effective method of employee communication.

Employees also want to know, candidly, how they're doing. Research indicates that trust in organizations would increase if management (1) communicated earlier and more frequently, (2) demonstrated trust in employees by sharing bad news as well as good, and (3) involved employees in the process by asking for their ideas and opinions. Effective employee communication means that an organization's leaders have taken the time to clearly and succinctly articulate the vision of the business, show how employees can contribute to it, and demonstrate how it can be lived in the daily jobs.

Today, smart companies realize that well-informed employees are the organization's best goodwill ambassadors. Managements have become more candid in their communications with the staff. Gone are the days when all of the news coming from management is all good. In today's environment, being candid means treating people with dignity,  addressing their concerns, and giving them the opportunity to understand the realities of the marketplace.

Organizations have opted out of print publications for their employees due to the tremendous growth of email and intranet. These instant, direct devices provide greater opportunity today to increase the frequency and candor of communications. A major part of the challenge that confronts internal communications is to reflect credibility and communicating that underscores the level of respect with which employees should be held by management.

Most employees desperately want to be treated as important parts of an organization. They should not be taken for granted, nor should they be shielded from the truth. Thus, the most important ingredient of any internal communications program must be credibility.

S-H-O-C the Troops

Enhancing credibility, being candid, and winning trust must be the primary employee communications objectives in the 21st century. Earning employee trust may result in more committed and productive employees. But scraping away the scar tissue of distrust that exists in many organizations requires a strategic approach.

The question is how does management build trust when employee morale is so brittle?

Part of the answer lies in an approach to management communication built around the acronym S-H-O-C. That is, management should consider a four-step communications approach---built on communications that are strategic, honest, open, and consistent to begin to rebuild employee trust.

• First, all communications must be strategic. What strategic communication essentially boils down to is this: most employees want you to answer only two basic questions for them:

1.  Where is this organization going?
2.  What is my role in helping us get there?

• Second, all Communications must be honest. The sad fact is that while most executives pay lip service to candor and honesty, in the end, too many dissemble obfuscate and pull their punches.

They seem to fear, as Jack Nicholson raged in A Few Good Men, that the staff can't handle the truth.

 Such trepidation is foolish. For one thing, the staff already may discount anything management tells them. For another, you cannot hope to build credibility through lying.

• Third, all communications must be open. This is another way of saying that there must be feedback. The best communications are two-way communications. That means that no matter how large the organization, employee views must be solicited, listened to, and most important, acted upon.

That latter aspect is most important. Often, managers stage elaborate forums and feedback sessions, listen to employee gripes and suggestions, and yet do nothing. The key must be action.

• Fourth, all communications must be consistent. Once you begin to communicate, you must keep it up. Maintain a regular, on time, and predictable program of internal newsletters, employee forums, leadership meetings, and reward celebrations. 

On again, off again communications or programs that start with bold promises only to peter out question management's commitment to keeping the staff informed.  Generally, employee information, education, and morale boosting programs start with great pomp and promise. The CEO blusters his way through a rousing speech, literature pours out from on high, task forces plunge into quick-fix assignments, and then, over time, nada.

 Wrong. Communications, if they are to work, must be steadily, sometimes painfully, consistent.

*SOURCE: THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, 10TH ED., 2007, FRASER P. SEITEL, PGS. 224-227*

end