Companywide communication is routinely, summarily dismissed for a variety of reasons.
Instead of falling victim to ignored emails, video clips and newsletters, leaders need to wake up to the fact that they need to make their method of messaging vibrant and brief for them to effectively rally their workforce.
This situation has hit a crescendo today when everyone is assaulted with a barrage of messages via an assortment of platforms all the while organizations swim frantically in the tumultuous ocean of risks and change assailing on every front.
Bland
Having been in the middle manager trenches, caught at the crossroads between senior management objectives and line organizations’ implementation of them, I had a very clear sense of why senior leader communication was often ignored.
One of the first, and easily mitigated, reasons why so many emails from top management is ignored is simply because it is mundane and uninspiring. Much of the language used is bland and void of color and life and, as a result, fails to create the range of emotions that readers need to experience to compel them to act. The vast of majority of top-down communication is also either too long to maintain employees’ focus, or too short to meaningfully convey a valuable message.
A newspaper article brought to light the notion that 43% of people that receive what they perceive to be longwinded emails simply ignored it altogether. While a 36.6% batting average would land you in MLB history (such as Ty Cobbs), an email hit rate of less than 60% will ultimately render you as an “empty suit” in corporate America!
Repetitive
The themes that management communication revolves around is repetitive. The typical focus on sales, profits, customer acquisition/retention, risks and the like are used ad nauseam. While these key corporate wide metrics are certainly significant, they should not be the only theme executives choose to include in their communication to employees.
Corporate life, at all levels of the organization, is as varied as the lives of the individuals that form the company and leadership communication should be reflective of that dynamic. Otherwise, middle managers and employees alike will continue to put those emails aside, to be read later when they “have the time”.
Not relatable
Another troubling theme concerning corporate communication is that it is simply not relatable to 90% of the intended audience. Executives become consumed with issues that are inextricably exclusive to the executive suite and often far removed from the everyday issues and environment the rank-and-file live in. Consequently, the frame of reference senior leaders use when creating and sending communication is not germane to line organizations and desperately fail to strike a chord with employees.
Lack relationship
The final reason why management communication is ineffective is because line level employees simply have no real or consistent relationship with executive management. Maybe one of the employees sat across the table from one or two executives at the company Christmas party or annual awards dinner and exchanged a second or two surface level conversation.
This level of interaction does not constitute the basis of a working relationship between the senior leader and the rand and file and, as a result, communication from this group of individuals fails to resonate time and again.
Questions to Consider
How much of your communication successfully inspires action and behavior among employees?
Are any of your communication efforts ignored?
How much value could you create, on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis, if everything you communicated was reviewed, internalized, and acted upon by your recipients?
How much time could you add to your week by eliminating rework due to ignored communication?