All senior executives should be skilled at managing internal communications. What does this mean? They need to ensure that they encourage sharing, input and dialog with and from their co-workers and their staff. They also need to lead by example. They need to be able to get staff buy in and take their team with them on their journey. Consistent and clear messages are important. All staff should be on the same page, use the same language, be focussed on the same goals and be working together to achieve them. Meetings are hated by all, unless they are short and effective. Senior executives need to know how to facilitate effective and efficient meetings otherwise they need to look at alternate options. Improved collaboration through social technologies could raise the productivity of interaction by around 20%, however face to face communication is still important for relationship building. The adage of knowledge is power needs to change so that people share what they know, how they do things, when they need help and where to go from here. Internal communications should also include regular surveys. Finally the key is to listen. Often, listening is more important than publishing information. It’s not enough to ask for input, it is vital to be able to ready to receive and listen to it.
We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say – Zeno of Citium
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