Five Dumb Things You Can Do to Ensure Poor Communication in Your Organization

By Kelly Mollica, Ph.D.

Communication is not the most important part of a manager's job – it IS the manager's job.  Here are five things managers do that can result in poor communication.

Don't let employees know what's going on in the organization.

Employees want to know what's happening in their organization.  Where are we now?  Where are we headed?  Are we growing?  What problems are we trying to address?  What changes can we expect?  Keep people in the dark, and you will ensure they are detached from the organization and don't feel they are a part of things.  On the other hand, sharing information with employees on a routine basis helps strengthen their commitment to the organization, even through the bad times.  Make it a habit to routinely let employees "in" on what's going on in the organization. 

Don't pay any attention to rumors.

Rumors begin when employees "fill in the blanks" with whatever they think is the real story.  Sometimes it is the real story; more often than not, the story is distorted and even untrue.  Managers who ignore rumors can lose control of the situation, and they are missing an important opportunity to openly communicate with employees.  If much of the information in your organization is spread through rumors among employees, rather than face-to-face conversations between employees and managers, that should be a sign to you that something is wrong with communication.  When you hear of a rumor, whether true or not, expose it in a constructive manner.  Be honest with employees.  Employees would rather hear bad news than no news.  Don't be afraid to say, "I know there's a rumor about X.  Let me share with you the facts about X."   

Don't tell employees why their job is important.

There are still some "old school" managers out there who say, "I don't have to make my employees feel important.  Why should I?  They're getting a paycheck.  That should be enough!"  Are you one of these managers?  Do you really believe that a paycheck is enough to make employees feel important?  You're wrong.  People need to understand how their job fits into the organization's big picture.  They need to know that what they do every day matters, that it helps the organization achieve goals.  Tell them why and how their job is critical and why they are a valuable part of the organization.  (And if you can't explain these things to a person who works for you, why are you giving them a paycheck to begin with?  Think about it!)

Don't give feedback. 

People want feedback.  Some may want more than others, but almost everyone wants to hear how they are doing.  If you fail to provide feedback to your employees, you are not doing your job.  Period.  Understandably, it's unpleasant to give negative feedback to poorly performing employees, but are you really doing them any favors by withholding honest feedback?  And aren't you making it much harder on yourself in the long run?  It's always much easier to give positive feedback to the "star" worker than to the poorer performer, but some managers won't even do this, leaving the "star" to wonder why his or her outstanding performance isn't noticed.  Some managers operate by the rule that "if you don't hear anything bad from me, you're doing fine," which means that the only time a person gets feedback is when they screw up.  Give feedback all the time, not just when the employee does something wrong 

Don't ask for feedback.

A story is told about a worker at a Ford Motor plant who came up with an idea for a manufacturing improvement that saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Henry Ford himself visited the worker, handed him a reward, and asked him when he came up with the idea.  "Oh, it was years ago!" the worker said.  A shocked Ford asked the worker why he didn't say something earlier.  "Nobody asked me!" the worker replied.*  How many times does this happen in companies?  How often are employees' ideas, concerns, and suggestions overlooked simply because no one ever asks them?  When people need and want to communicate their thoughts and concerns, but aren't given the proper channels to do it, the company loses out.  A suggestion box next to the time clock isn't enough.  Regularly meet with employees and ask them questions such as "What are we doing well?  What can we do better?  How can we save money?  How can we better serve our customers?"  You may be surprised at the valuable information you get by doing this.  Don't ever assume that your employees have nothing to say.  They do.  Ask them.

* S. Suzawa. "How the Japanese achieve excellence. Training & Development Journal, May 1985.

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