Line management communication Banqueting Hall 14.00 15.00 15.00 16.00 Internal Communication the path to engagement 2 October 2012
Cathy Brown [Line manager communication toolkit] eing an effective communicator is key to being an effective line manager and plays an instrumental B role in engaging and motivating colleagues. Consistently sharing information and news with colleagues and encouraging questions and discussions will help them feel valued and proud to work for their organisation. This toolkit, which will provide role clarification, support, advice, and top communication tips, will serve two purposes. Firstly, it will provide essential information for IC professionals looking to implement effective line manager communication within their organisation. Secondly, it will also support line managers in improving their communication skills. [Communication: the role of a line manager] As a line manager, knowing what your role is when communicating with your team is vital as you are the one person who your team expects to hear information from first. The team will not only expect their manager to be the hub of knowledge but also to be the person with whom they can discuss feedback and ideas that are important to them. 2
Laura Mullan Line managers are people s lens on your organisation and the way they communicate can make or break engagement. Understanding the expectations of your team understanding what your team expects from you, as a communicator, will help to develop your role and ensure you are meeting their needs. Likewise, you can outline your expectations from them. For example, being available for team meetings, contributing information and news, feeding back and asking questions. Seeing the bigger picture as an effective communicator you are responsible for providing the bigger picture to your team and explaining it in an easy-to-understand way. Colleagues need direction and need to understand their purpose within their organisation. They need to know what part they play, what is required of them and how changes could impact on them. Always being in the know you should always question whether the information you have been given through meetings is relevant to your team. During the meetings you attend, it is beneficial to note down any key pieces of information that your team might be interested in; for example, projects, business changes and external information and news. Planning communication ensuring that there is enough time to communicate with your team is essential, including what information should be shared and how frequent the briefing is. It is your decision how frequently you communicate with your team but it needs to be sufficient to meet the individual needs of your colleagues. 3
Sharing information with other teams you are responsible for ensuring you and your team share information and news with the rest of the organisation. Championing this and practising what you preach will encourage your team to do the same. During team meetings, you and your team should address how to share the information with the rest of the business. Encouraging interaction and dialogue starting the conversation during team meetings is key to effective communication, and your role as a line manager is to ensure that this takes place. Team meetings and briefings should be interactive and two-way so it is vital that colleagues feel they can contribute. [Key skills of an effective communicator] Identifying and developing the right communication skills will contribute to effective meetings and briefings. Positive body language having relaxed, friendly body language will help to engage colleagues during team meetings. It is important to not have a slouching posture or crossed arms when you are speaking or listening. Making good eye contact and acknowledging someone s point of view is also key. Try not to display nervous tics, such as wringing hands, as this can easily distract the person communicating with you. Speaking clearly it is important when speaking to be clear and concise avoiding vocabulary that people won t know. When communicating important matters, do not waste time with long drawn-out stories that will cause your team s mind to wander. Make sure you ask whether they understand, and be willing to explain further any of your points. Do not expect someone to just know what you are saying, even if it is crystal clear in your own mind. A good active listener one of the most important aspects of line management communication is the ability to practise active listening making mental notes of key points when a member of your team is speaking to you. Active listening will help you highlight the most vital issues from the conversation and help you comprehend and contain 75 per cent more of the information that you hear. Being attentive a good communicator will try to understand their audience to improve communication with them. This includes gaining an understanding of colleagues work habits, learning styles and individual preferences. Without an overall understanding of your audience it can be difficult to convey effectively your intended message. Once you understand your team better, you should adapt your messaging style in order to communicate the messages correctly. When a colleague is communicating back to you, it is also important to clarify the messages to show interest and understanding. Communicating consistently effective line managers practise the ability of consistent, open and honest communication by remaining available. Leaving communication lines open between you and your team will create a healthy team relationship and will prevent small issues from becoming large issues by talking about solutions in the early stages. 4
Being patient during team meetings or briefings, it is important always to give others the time to communicate their issues as well. Remaining focused on what they are trying to communicate will show them that you care about what they are saying. Communication lines tend to break down when someone is in a rush to get out of the conversation. Good time management time is a precious resource, and no one wants their time wasted. As a line manager you owe it to yourself and your team to streamline team meetings as much as possible. Good time management will also ensure that planned meetings take place. [Top tips to overcome the barriers of communications] To run effective team meetings and cascades, here are some top tips. Practise what you preach the only way your team will take part in meetings and key message briefings is if you are enthusiastic and positive. It is important as their manager to be the one gathering the team for a meeting, being on time, prepared and proactive. Planning is the key you don t need to spend a lot of time planning a meeting, but scheduling in regular dates, understanding the messages you want to convey and thinking about what you want to achieve will contribute greatly to the value of meetings and help avoid repetition and hesitation. A simple planner will help to focus your mind on what each meeting will entail. If you want to host a longer meeting, consider bringing in an external speaker or colleague to talk about a particular project. Choose the right place to communicate important information is best delivered face to face, so you can answer any questions and be more engaging too. Speaking to colleagues also helps them to feel more inclined to ask questions. Choose the right format of communication there is not always a need to meet face to face, so choosing the best format to communicate a message is crucial. Talk to your internal communications team about some communication format ideas. Understand the content content needs to be meaningful to the person communicating it and for the people being communicated to. Having time to prepare the content beforehand will help you familiarise yourself with what needs to be said in order for it to be communicated effectively. Start a discussion people are more likely to understand things when they are involved in the discussion, as opposed to only listening. They are also more likely to get involved in the meeting. Asking open-ended questions, sharing feedback, and valuing different points of view can open up discussions. Engaging, relevant content tone of voice is really important, as is adapting the language used for different people in the business. Jargon should always be avoided, as it will give the impression that you are not communicating openly. Share real-life examples and communicate alongside people who can add value or bring to life what you are saying. 5
[The six steps to implementing an effective cascade system] 6 1. Getting buy-in from the top and ensuring the business is supportive and enthusiastic about line managers is a key role in engagement. Understanding leader expectations and the types of messages that need communicating are essential before implementing anything. Investing a small amount of time with leaders at the very beginning will set strong foundations and a clear focus of the cascade purpose. 2. Knowing your market is essential before structuring any cascade system. A quick pulse survey will help to determine the number and type of line managers, what team meetings currently take place and how effective they are and if there are any gaps in communication skills. 3. Managers play a key role in an effective cascade system so it is important to train and provide the right tools to support them. This can be approached in a number of ways: Communication training this can either be a structured training course that teaches managers the general tools and the importance of communicating to the team, or a mentoring programme. The training or mentoring will allow managers to create motivating, fun and energetic sessions and meetings and give them confidence to cascade messages to their teams. Management communication portal often linked to an intranet site, the portal provides managers with all the necessary information and tools to communicate to their teams. It could include a corporate team brief and a local team brief template, allowing managers to customise the information for their teams. The portal can also include suggestions and top tips on how to communicate with teams, a forum for managers to share best practice and a section to flag up key dates or important information that must be cascaded. Management toolkit a toolkit is an easy and effective way to support managers when communicating to their teams. The toolkit, which can come in many forms, including an online PDF, presentation or booklet, is a great way to provide consistent communication across teams and ensure that certain messages are being cascaded. The toolkit would feature company news but allow mangers to add in local news and stories. 4. Once training has taken place, deciding on the structure of a cascade system is key. Some organisations work well with a robust, consistent system, while others prefer a less formal approach just communicating when needed. Whatever the approach, it is important to outline the specific purpose of the cascade frequency, audience, process of communication and sign off, types of messages, expectations and measurement. It also important to ensure the cascade is two-way enabling team members to share ideas and discuss concerns with the wider team. Incorporating this bottom-up approach into the cascade is crucial. Once this is agreed, communication and promotion of the cascade system should take place to ensure everyone knows what role they play. 5. Before launching the toolkit to the wider business, a pilot phase should take place to ensure it works well and has the desired outcome. Sampling the cascade with a number of teams from across the organisation will provide a good representation of the business. The pilot phase will also allow tweaks to be made before the launch and also understand what the realistic KPIs are for measurement.
6. Measurement is something that can be missed when implementing a cascade system. When the cascade is launched, measurement milestones should be implemented to understand how effective the cascade is. Feedback should be gathered through surveys and anecdotal feedback from managers and team members. Continually improving the cascade system will help with the longevity of the channel; and ensure it is valued across the organisation. [The importance of internal communications in effective line management] The internal communications team can provide key support for line managers. As an IC professional, you will manage all the internal communication tools and channels, which are designed to help colleagues share information. Using a clear channel guide can be helpful as it can outline the scope of channels and provide clarification on the types of tools that are available. The internal communications team can also provide support and advice on how to communicate key departmental news and activities to colleagues, as well as updating the line manager resource, such as the toolkit. 7
Creative Diversity Engaging Automatic Enrolment Internal Identities Strategic APS Consultancy targets Newspapers Structure Line Management Stakeholders Film Surveys Delivering internal Communication communications fit for business ROI unleashing the power of Publications Automatic Enrolment engagement together content Reward and Recognition Audits Change Management Animation Forward Ensuring business Thinking is fit for internal Engagement Vision communications and Values Leadership Headlines.uk.com / 01908 393303 Icon-ic.uk.com / 0207 129 1494