By Mike DuBose

Great leaders have long known the important role that communication plays in business and in life. Alan Greenspan once said, “To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation…in communication skills.” John Powell was right on the money when he noted, “Communication works for those who work at it!”

Having worked in the public sector for 15 years and owned businesses for 22 years, I can conclude that effective communications are critical in order to maximize success. The lack of, confusing, or untimely communications cause more problems in business than any other issue. In business, the left hand should know what the right hand is doing. Communication skills are essential in identifying customers’ and staffs’ needs and concerns, developing products and services that are highly desired, and developing and supporting those services and products in the marketplace. When one division in a company does not know what the other division is doing, prepare for problems! As my staff and I strive to take our six good companies to greatness, we have experimented, failed, and succeeded at developing effective communications between our employees, departments, customers, suppliers, and the community. We would like to share some our communication experiences and advice as we climb that tough ladder to greatness:

Policies and Procedures: Maintain good structure by clearly communicating to staff how to work within the company and with clients. However, be sure to have a human resource professional examine the policies before implementation to ensure they follow the law.

Departmental Meetings: Each division should meet as a group at least every two weeks to discuss issues and concerns and to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Meeting Minutes: For every important meeting, make sure that minutes are taken and then promptly shared at a central location. We use SharePoint via the Internet, where we can post minutes for staff to read without clogging up the server with attached files. Minutes should outline the issue, any follow-up actions needed and the person responsible for these actions. Decision makers can review minutes and identify brewing problems or important issues that may need their attention. Minutes also cut down on the need for subordinates to report progress to their leaders.

Companywide Employee E-mails: Important issues can be quickly disseminated to employees. However, try to limit the frequency of your companywide e-mails to no more than once a week and keep them short so that people are more likely to read them.

Personal Employee E-mails or Newsletters: We alert everyone in the company to employee birthdays, births, family deaths, etc. Instead of a complicated newsletter with pretty graphics, compose simple e-mails that take a minimum amount of time to write and disseminate. Be sure to include some fun stuff to enhance readability.

Customer Newsletters: You want to stay in front of your customers. Obtain their e-mail addresses and send them a newsletter or important information every four to six weeks.

Customer Evaluations: Another way to stay in contact with customers is to measure their satisfaction after encounters with or service delivery from your company. Send them a simple, one-page assessment that can be completed in less than 5 minutes and give them various ways to return the information (like fax, self-addressed stamped envelope or e-mail).

Job Descriptions: To communicate specific expectations of job performance to employees, update job descriptions to list exactly what they need to be doing. Review and update your job descriptions annually.

Ongoing Performance Review: To keep employees apprised of their strengths and opportunities for improvement, give ongoing feedback. A good book to read on this subject is The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard.

One-on-One Time: Leaders should meet with each employee no less than once a month to have a quality dialogue about where the employee is professionally and where he or she wants to go.

Strategic Plans: Companies need to communicate to their employees where they are going and how to get there. Strategic plans should contain the company’s purpose, vision, mission, values, and management plan (goals, objectives, tasks, and targets to reach with date to be accomplished).

Communication with the Community: Distribute a press release or public service announcement every 60 to 90 days that tells the community how the company is making the world a better place.

Leadership Team: Assemble your key decision makers together no less than every six weeks to talk about major issues facing the company, problem solving, case studies and future events. Promote harmony, teamwork, communication, and collaboration amongst the leaders to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Employee Fun: Schedule socials, games with prizes, and other events where employees can let their hair down, informally communicate, and just have some fun (a critical ingredient within our companies). Make communication fun!

Solicit Input: We solicit input from our employees annually using confidential surveys via the Internet using SurveyGold. While the brutal facts can be hard to digest, this process provides another channel to communicate employees’ concerns and issues to leadership.

Create an Open Company: As the companies’ owner, I encourage questions or concerns expressed by employees at any time. Outside of confidential information (such as other employees’ personal information), I will answer any question for any employee. There are no secrets within our companies. I also attend company meetings on a monthly basis and invite employees to ask me anything. This openness builds a trusting and positive work environment and enhances employee communications with management.

Open the Budget: Once a quarter, we open our company’s budget to all employees. They can see everything outside of confidential payroll information.

Create a Centralized System of Customer Data Storage: Using Microsoft Business Contact Manager (BCM), we have stored all of our communications, e-mails, important documents, and key information in a central site that is organized by customer. That way, we can see a customer’s entire history and staff/customer communications at one site.

Avoid Management by E-mails: Technology serves as an invaluable component in the workplace, but e-mails cannot substitute for face-to-face discussions. Avoid the trap we once fell into where the majority of our communications were conducted by e-mails. E-mails and written communications can easily be misinterpreted, causing conflict. People tend to be bolder when communicating through the Internet and often say things they later regret. Avoid e-mail wars and the negative mentality they bring about.

Positive Versus Negative Communications: Praise employees publically and criticize privately and face-to-face.

The way we communicate with others ultimately determines the quality of our lives, our company, and our relationships with customers. By creating effective channels of communication, we add another factor into the success and profitability equation. The bottom line is: communicate to succeed!

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Mike DuBose is a field instructor with USC’s graduate school and has been in business since 1981. He is the servant leader and owner of six debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates and The Evaluation Group.

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