Are Your Communications Building Shared Mindset?

You don't expect the CEO of a financial services company to trot around the globe for a series of in-person employee meetings, let alone broadcast them on YouTube. But Jim Schiro, head of Zurich Financial Services, the insurance giant, is clever enough to realize that communications is especially crucial in tough times.

In a May 9 article for the New York Times, "The CEO, Now Appearing on YouTube," Schiro described the importance of keeping employees informed and confident that the company was aware of the industry challenges and taking appropriate actions with appropriate urgency. Hence the road show and online videos.

In a similar effort, Helga Lund, CEO of StatoilHydro, has been making the rounds to remind employees of this Norwegian-based oil giant that "the future has not been canceled." I spoke several months ago at the StatoilHydro HR community conference, and appreciation for Mr. Lund's comments couldn't have been greater. People need to know. And, what they don't know they tend to infer or invent. (Full disclosure: both Zurich Financial and Statoil are clients of our firm.)

In our new book HR Transformation (McGraw-Hill, June 2009), we provide a simple model of what good communication and information activities ought to include: Download file.

Think of it as a communications compass pointing at five directions:

Compass Direction: Outside-In
What: Employees are regularly informed of important external trends and events.
How: Executive podcasts

Compass Direction: Inside-Out
What: Key external stakeholders are regularly informed of important company achievements and plans.
How: Analyst meetings; conference calls

Compass Direction: Top-Down
What: Executives regularly communicate with employees on issues of importance to management.
How: Town meetings; Internet cafes; CEO blogs

Compass Direction: Bottom-Up
What: Managers regularly solicit employee suggestions, views and concerns.
How: Employee surveys; pulse surveys

Compass Direction: Side-to-Side
What: Units regularly share knowledge of important activities, learning and initiatives.
How: Joint team meetings; unit executive blogs

How effective is your organization at managing communication? Are you effectively using all the point of the communications compass, or are employees in your company feeling lost in the woods?

Use the list above to rate your team, organization or company overall. Ask yourself, or involve your colleagues, in answering three questions:

1. For each compass direction, rate your effectiveness based on a 5-point scale, with 1=generally poor, and 5=outstanding.
2. Agree on one area where you need or want to see improvement and be clear about what needs to change.
3. Identify one action you or the team will take in the next 30 days, focus on that improvement area and build the plan to do so.

In Jim Schiro's interview with the New York Times, he mentioned a great comment made by General Colin Powell: "The most important thing is that the troops have to understand where they are going." Schiro went on to say, "People don't like change, but they can manage change. They can't handle uncertainty. The job of the leader is to reduce the uncertainty".

He's right of course, but not complete. As my partner Dave Ulrich might say, "Good communication is not just the job of the leader. It's the job of the leadership system."

A great leader can do many important things for his or her organization. But the bigger impact comes from an organization and its leaders and leadership systematically addressing all of the directions on the communications compass -- up, down, in, out and across.

Jon Younger is a Partner of The RBL Group, a strategic HR and leadership systems advisory firm. Jon leads the Strategic HR practice area and is also a Director of the RBL Institute. He is co-author, with Dave Ulrich and three other principals at The RBL Group, of HR Competencies (SHRM, 2007), HR Transformation (McGraw-Hill, July 2009) and many articles. Last year he logged client work in 35 countries.