Sharpen up your communication
How to adapt and thrive in times of change It’s said the only constant in life is change and this applies to all aspects of our lives -especially the working environment.
For example:
With change comes new opportunities, particularly as different industries recover and reset after the disruption of the last few years, or tackle new environmental and economic challenges.
Anticipate problems and pitfalls
As we now know, change can come at us really fast and when it does, we have to rapidly change focus and the way we do things.
• Information overload
People’s roles may need to change; you may have to lay off staff or hire new employees, or diversify your products and services to keep your business afloat.
Expect change
• Changes to policies and procedures • Staff changes and role expectations • Environmental changes, supply chain issues.
While countless books have been written on this topic, here are a few common pitfalls that see communications fail: • Poor timing, wrong channel • Lack of process documentation and training • Unclear or mixed messages creating confusion. So how do you know if the quality of the communication in your organisation is fit for purpose?
Whatever your circumstances, whether you are looking at scaling up, downsizing, streamlining operations or diversifying, clear communication ensures people know where they stand and what is expected of them.
A good place to start is by reviewing the systems, processes and channels you currently use to identify what works well, and what could be improved. And as you do so, consider some worst case scenarios you might encounter to help you avoid potential pitfalls, for example:
And while it’s impossible to predict exactly what upcoming changes and challenges will look like, you can anticipate the different types of information you might need to address.
• Systems access gets lost when a staff member keeps business passwords in a personal notebook and forgets to pass them on when they leave
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• People save files locally to their desktop instead of in the centralised file management system, which means that others waste valuable time tracking information down • Unclear sales and customer service processes result in multiple people contacting the same client, giving them mixed messages; or conversely, nobody contacts them at all. This can impact the quality of the customer
experience, damage your reputation and cost you money • Lack of documented induction and training processes sees new staff come on board and make things up on the fly in a way that misaligns with your goals, values or organisational culture • People leave your business expressing frustration which reflects poorly on your reputation as an employer.