The clichés ring in my mind as I sit looking at the whiteboard with my 5 strategies that will need to be built to create the retention structure scribbled across it.
People do not quit jobs, they quit managers.
Managers manage, leaders lead.
I stare at the board, thinking through the process of communication. What is it that employees are looking for in the company they work for? What have we been communicating to this point? When and where do they receive our communications? The fact is that every interaction and touchpoint with a team member is a communication that needs to be structured to deliver the message we want. Lack of communication delivers the message of what that employee implies your response to be. At this point, I still do not have a direction to move this forward, as I believe that I had written this down to implement a plan for outbound communications. I had not yet begun to think about the brand communications that occur through our external methods.
Brand Communication
My door sits open, facing the main office and I can hear her footsteps approach before I see her. My hiring manager walks into the room for a quick conversation. She was not someone who speaks out often but was eager to discuss this plan. We had discussed communication as a variable in our retention structure. She had recently taken on this role and was fully ingulfed in the process of figuring out our process. She was meticulous in her efforts, dotting I’s and crossing T’s in compliance but had not tried to change anything because she was unsure of my reaction. Our meeting and new direction was something that lit a fire in her as she was able to make an impact. She had a background in media and PR and was unable to showcase these skillsets until now.
Our ads were cookie cutter flyers, advertisements and postcards from previous managers that we inserted our address and contact information. They were cumbersome in approach with cropped photos of events from years earlier. The verbiage was smashed into the framework that was detailed to a fault and hard to read. This was one of her pet peeves, but in taking direction for her current position, she utilized our process. She was ready for change.
She walked through the door with a commitment to task; two examples pinched between her thumb and forefinger as she made her pitch. She approached the desk upright, straight and proud but eagerly leaned forward to place her samples in front of me. The task chairs were brushed aside by her leg as she placed the two documents on my desk. They were clean and professional, not too wordy with the pictures and the verbiage linked in description. There were shapes that created movement in the layout without interfering with the content. The simplistic layout was a dynamic approach and made it easy to see that this was the better way. I took out a few of the current ads we were utilizing and pushed it back to her.
“Why are these better?” I asked, even though it was obvious.
With a confident smirk and contained excitement, she explained the reasoning behind the redraft of the advertisements. She spoke to Brand Identity and the message we are giving to our community. Our logo and name say something to everyone who sees it. I received a lesson in advertising that day and helped me to develop the basis for our communication platform: create a brand identity in our local market that people respect.
We identify our brand touchpoints for brand communications as the following:
- Advertisements
- Digital
- Social Media
- Posters
- Flyers
- Postcards
- Apparel
- Signage
Moving forward, we addressed each location that our company was displayed as an opportunity to showcase our brand. We ensured that our logo was on all distributed media to include our office doors, directional signage and administrative apparel. Communication begins with what people see and read.
Operational Communication
The front of the office was loud and active, with employee conversations waltzing in and out with information transforming the outcome of our events. The sound was buzzing as the overlap created an incoherence of conversations as they continued throughout the day. Employees calling in for scheduling information on one phone, and payroll on another, each expecting honest, detailed responses from the operator. I walk to the front of the office and sit beside the copy machine that rattles as it prints and adds to the orchestra of sounds.
Our office had a chest high countertop with a sliding window in the center of it. We had 4 schedulers desks that were positioned facing each other in a row, two-by-two. The window counter was at the end of the row of desks with a view past the schedulers’ desks and into the rest of the office. The window slid open and a handful of employees stood awaiting assistance. They wait impatiently as the phones relentless assault on our office takes precedence over their needs. I watch as their willingness to wait turns to bitterness and teeters on belligerence. I stand to take the lead and another manager seeing my readiness to get involved, hurries to the window to help our employees.
Flustered by the frantic pace of the office and impatience of the persons at the window, our manager snaps a response to the employee request. Immediately the conversation escalates to two individuals separated by a countertop, bickering their reason for why the other should not be rude. Seeing this, I step in to diffuse the situation and resolve the issue. I take my manager aside after the issue was resolved and explained where the problem occurred. Our environment was putting us at a disadvantage and our employees could see what we were communicating.
I look around the office and realize that every day the window opens to display our clutter, the sounds of our operation and banter between managers. There was a clothing rack that sat in the middle of the office with event shirts. A black trash bag sat on the bottom crossbar of the rack, full of soiled uniforms from an event a few days prior. Next to the copy machine was a stack of empty paper boxes that had not yet been taken out to the trash. The general display of the office was cluttered and disorganized.
I listen to the phones get answered and the window addressed, at the beginning of the day and then at the end of the day. The fatigue of interactions differs in the quality of responses. I make it a point to come to the front of the office and watch these interactions several times during the week. How we communicating to our employees becomes a focal point.
In our office, we were actively communicating with employees through phone calls, personal interaction and what they saw when they looked through our window. We wanted our brand to be a professional company that should be respected for our services but were not communicating this in behavior to our own employees.
We translate our intentions into behavior through several points in operational communication by:
- Approachable management, that is both knowledgeable and kind.
- Inviting work environment, that is neat and clean
- Process management, that is professional and reasonable
Engagement Communications
I think back to a time when I had a Nokia cell phone with a battery I had to purchase separately to allow it to vibrate when I received a call. It was curved in the backside and fit my hand. The screen was an off-color green with large numbers on the backlit rubber buttons. Everyone in our office had a similar phone and each of us utilized a label maker to place our names across the backside. For fun we would change out the names so people would take the wrong phones home.
We are nearly 20 years from the moment I walked around with that phone in my pocket, the cell phone battery controlling whether I felt the call or not. My phone now vibrates for alarms, dings for emails, and vibrates with a loud ringer for an inbound call. I receive schedule updates from my dentist, doctor and food deliveries. The evolution of the cell phone, social media, the internet and other technologies has created an environment where employees can get their information from multiple platforms in an instant.
While communication has become easier, it is not always a priority for organizations. Excellent intentional communication is a very valuable tool in reinforcing what we would like for someone to believe about our company and our culture.
The communications of the past have now been replaced by a digital process, making communication easier, but also very easy to fall victim to the pitfalls of simplicity. We communicate to our teams through several platforms with one common theme: It is not always what you say, but how you say it.
This theme applies to all mediums of communication, utilized in all stages of the employment cycle: pre-hire, hiring process, and post hiring process. While messages will be tailored to different audiences and we may be limited by character/word limitations, there are certain rules to follow when communicating with potential and current employees.
Message Content and Quality
- Introduce ourselves and/or organization: in a part-time job environment, many employees will have other jobs. It is necessary we introduce ourselves in a way that is appropriate for the specific mode of communication.
- Time is valuable: we are always considerate of an employee’s time when sending messages. We make sure to be informational and communicate the point of the message effectively while maintaining brevity. We make a point to strive for quality over quantity.
- Be professional: no matter the medium used, it is imperative to remain professional in messages. It is easy to fall into “text talk” when communicating with employees via texts, social media and email — it is important that we refrain from doing so.
Call to Action
- Why was this message sent? We are typically asking our applicant/employee to do something. The message should include pointed instructions on how to accomplish it, especially if it is a tedious task. If the message is simply informational, we are sure to encourage feedback. Reactions to messages is how we judge their effectiveness.
- Reminders: did we send a reminder text/email? While this does not warrant a response, we always ask for a confirmation “yes” or “no” if they will be in attendance for an interview, event, etc. This can prompt constructive conversations and maximize efficiency in our events.
Communication is Not One Way
- Show our applicants/employees that we are listening: encouraging feedback shows that we value what they have to say.
- It is our responsibility to provide an opportunity for the employee to be heard. Everyone, especially front-line employees, has valuable information to share.
- We always provide information on how we can be reached (phone, email, in-person, etc.)
Show Appreciation
- Our applicants and employees deserve the customer service that we would provide guests at our facility.
- We make sure to thank your applicants for applying and thank our for employees for a job well done. We let them know that we look forward to meeting them or working with them.
Communication should be intentionally designed, as our brand identity is often controlled by this process. How we communicate with our particular audience directly reflects our organization’s values and culture. If we are practicing excellent intentional communication, the employee is more likely to be engaged in the company and their work. To retain employees, they must believe they are working for a company that is professional, and able to communicate directly with them.
Engaged employees are retained employees.