“Send Three And Fourpence, We’re Going To A Dance”
Strangely enough, it’s rather fitting that I should start this blog by explaining the title.
Some years ago, military orders and messages were relayed down the line via a series of radio transmissions. The radio operator had to listen carefully to the command and repeat the message onto the next operator in a series.
If you have ever played ‘Chinese whispers’, you may very well know the outcome of the process.
So, “Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance” famously degenerated to the title of this blog.
Now it may seem amusing and intriguing how passed down messages end up as garbled miscommunication, but actually, communicating accurately is paramount in any organisation. Avoiding the pitfalls of poor communications practice is not easy. Afterall, we give and receive messages day in and day out without giving it much thought. Therefore, because it comes naturally to us, we very often omit to think about the process of communication.
Communication is all about conceiving, sending, receiving, interpreting messages and confirming reception of these messages. A failure at any point during the communication process could have disastrous outcomes.
Effective, accurate communication plays a key role in product development, customer service, productivity, employee engagement – virtually every side of an organisation’s operations. Employees are a crucial audience because they’re often the channel to other audiences. If employees are informed and engaged, communications with each other, customers and external agencies are likely to be strong as well.
With this mind, it would be prudent of any organisation to develop a communications strategy. A communications strategy is designed to assist and guide your people and your organisation to communicate effectively and meet core organisational objectives.
Having a communications strategy creates a sense of community and trust with employees, creating a line of sight for them and engaging them to be key in making the organisation successful.
Here, we outline just a few of the payoffs of good communication:-
- Where Is The Organisation Heading
Think of a communication strategy as a roadmap; you know where you want to go, but you need to know how to get there.
- Improved Leadership
By implementing a communication strategy, leaders are better able to understand their people’s needs and how to meet those needs to motivate, inspire and engage them.
- How Employees Fit Into The Bigger Picture
People need to know what they will be contributing to their organisation and what they are responsible for. A communications strategy will help manage people and their responsibilities.
- Reaching Out
Having a communication strategy will outline how you are going to reach out to your people, customers and external organisations. Effective communication can also create a situation whereby you receive honest feedback and can adjust your strategy accordingly.
It’s fair to say that top-performing organisations probably have the most engaged employees. Taking the time to develop a communication strategy will help increase productivity, boost morale and improve the organisation’s bottom line.
The Survey Initiative are an experienced employee research company. If you would like to know more about how we can help your organisation with any employee research matters, then give us a call on +44 (0)1255 870735 or contact us via our website.