When companies put concise communication on the back burner, a lot can happen fast. You may not realize how closely communication is tied to your bottom line. But in reality, a poor communication strategy can translate to low engagement and productivity, along with mistakes and conflict. Essentially, weak employee communication is a recipe for disaster in any work environment.
1. Employee Engagement Plummets
Unsurprisingly, the first indicator of a faulty communication model is low employee engagement rates. The problem is, it’s not always easy for busy managers to recognize that their employees are bored and disengaged. In addition, many employees are not truthful when asked about engagement. So the best thing to do is look for signs such as lateness, high turnover and missed deadlines. If you find that these are recurring issues, it’s safe to say engagement is an issue you need to tackle.
2. Productivity Slips
Much like low engagement, it’s not always easy to see when your productivity as a company slips. You may have revenue coming in, and the business may even be growing, but is your productivity all it could and should be? One way to streamline and increase employee productivity is with an employee intranet solution. Rather than team members going back and forth with emails about a project, or holding countless meetings to brainstorm a project, intranet unifies your team to communicate directly and without fuss. This typically speeds up project completion and cuts out a lot of unproductive fluff that tends to happen in team environments.
3. Content Become Stale and Outdated
Another sign of trouble is weak content – it’s boring, redundant, and just not making an impact on its intended audience. In an organization that struggles with internal communication, it’s no surprise that its outgoing communication suffers too. As employees become less productive, less inspired, and less engaged, content ideas naturally lag behind too. Workers may feel generally blocked from conceiving good ideas and unable to create content that is new and useful. What’s worse, this lack of creativity can spread through everything a team does – which means minimal innovation.
4. Innovation Is Minimal
Going hand-in-hand with low employee engagement, a lack of innovation in your company shows that team motivation is waning—engaged employees are innovative employees. This problem requires a re-connection between managers and teams. Employee communication software can help reignite the spark of inspiration and remind your people that innovation is encouraged and rewarded. Be sure to demonstrate this before expecting a huge turnaround in employee behavior. Encourage signs of initiative in your employees, even if small—your team will take notice and feel more comfortable about sharing their ideas.
5. Silos and Factions Arise
Sadly, when communication really slips, you may find that your team starts to break apart and people become isolated from each other. There may be an “us vs. them” mentality when it comes to employees and management, with both sides feeling frustrated with the other. There may be resentment, secrets, gossip, and above all else, a deep lack of trust begins to spread. Leaders need to take swift action in this toxic environment and start having more open and honest conversations right away. You can’t force your employees to do the same, but if you uphold honesty you can begin to retain honest employees and let the others go.
Looking over these five signs of a poor communication strategy, what changes can you make right away in your organization? What has needed attention for the longest, and how can you begin addressing and reworking your communication strategy for greater success?
