Tips for your communication with your employees…

1. Express Expectations. Talk frequently and concisely about expectations, all levels of expectations. This means the job’s expectations of the employee, the company’s expectations of your department, your expectations of the employee, your expectations of yourself, the employee’s expectations of himself….
2. Two-way Conversation. Engage your employees in two-way conversation at every opportunity. Two hints: (1)pause for response anytime you offer information and (2)ask plenty of open-ended questions. Third hint: listen to everything the employee says.
3. Engagement Lingo. Create and use your own set of engagement terminology. The phrase “employee engagement” can get old if it’s all you use. Think of other words, phrases and sentences to build out the meaning of “employee engagement.” Then use them frequently.
4. Itemize Engagement. Include an engagement item in every meeting agenda. These can (and should) vary from Big Items to Merely Mention items. Over time, they should provide opportunity for all attendees to offer ideas, suggestions, experience and expertise to the engagement discussion. (Visit the Tips at the Kiosk to download this list.)
5. Informal Conversations. You don’t have to know in advance with whom or how the conversations will occur. But if you commit to “3 separate conversations about some aspect of engagement this week,” it’s likely to happen.
6. Communication Vehicle. This may be a weekly internal news brief, a column about engagement in the company/department newsletter, a once-a-month list of Engagement Examples. Let your creativity create your communication vehicle.
7. Town Hall Meeting. Bring together as many employees as possible. Have leaders and managers available for open-ended, two-way communication. Often, it’s a good idea to have a facilitator moderate the flow of Q&A. The size and geographic expanse of your business determine how often these meetings occur and how large their attendance.
8. Stories. Flavor all of your conversations with stories you’ve discovered, heard and experienced that illustrate the power of employee engagement.
9. Employee Engagement Folder. As you read, hear of, and witness examples of employee engagement (or examples of its absence) put them in the folder. These may be in-house examples or stories from other businesses, other industries. Be ever-ready to share a story.
10. Open the Door. A true open-door policy in which anyone can drop by anytime is unrealistic. But you can establish a regular time when you are available for questions, discussion, issues. Announce, then publicize and re-publicize the Open Door Time until it takes hold in the minds of your employees. You may have only few takers the first few weeks, but in time and with your persistence, this will become a valuable communication time for and with your people.

Feel free to download this and other lists of C.O.R.E. Tips at the Kiosk.