Enterprise Management Should Attach Importance To Staff Communication

This article introduces the efforts of famous multinational corporations such as 3M, Unisys and KPMG in promoting staff communication, and provides valuable experience for Chinese enterprises to establish an open channel for employees to communicate.

Speaking of organizations and employees

A research conducted by Stephen Erbschloe of University of Denver shows that the 46 main reasons for the slow down of business opportunities brought by the Internet are the lack of communication and administrative chaos in the two main reasons.

How can employees be willing to talk with you? How can you turn your company into a lean, balanced and adaptable machine? If you discuss this problem with human resource experts and communication experts, you can summarize the following three ways to improve communication.

Make communication a priority in your company and let every employee know that you value communication.

Provide employees with opportunities to talk with management.

Build an atmosphere of trust.

Without trust, employees may not be willing to share their thoughts and opinions with others.

In today's era of streamlining, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, employees are often afraid to say what they think.

How can you encourage two-way communication in your organization? It's easy to show them that you value their opinions.

Donald Sheppard, chief executive officer of Sheppard Associates, a consultancy firm specializing in internal communication strategy, points out that the most important message you need to convey to employees is that any solution to any problem will never be a one-way exchange of information, but it will always be interactive, allowing everyone to participate in the discussion.

In other words, you have to make sure that employees know that you are willing to listen to their opinions.

One of the keys to encouraging staff to communicate with superiors is to clearly communicate the kind of communication you want and encourage this kind of communication.

When this communication occurs, you will pay attention to it and give it back, "said Barbara Perkins, manager of communication pformation at 3M (Minnesota mining) company.

In 3M, "companies clearly expect employees to have cross organizational communication, and new ideas are always encouraged," Perkins said. "These are part of the effort to keep innovation within the company."

Emphasis on communication often requires managers from different departments to take collaborative and team action. For example, departments responsible for human resources and internal communication need to have a unified pace.

According to Denise Baron, an internal communication consultant of Unisys computer company, the same is true in Unisys.

"The head of our human resources department is an active supporter of communication, and has made practical efforts, such as people who participate in communication to work closely to improve their internal communication level," she said.