Communication - Til Death Do Us Part!

We are human. Its natural, normal and dare I say it HUMAN to have needs and its essential in some way to communicate those needs to others around us. So what happens when our methods of communication start to break down? Or even worse, disappear altogether? You end up with one hell of a frustrating mess, that’s what.

So, with this in mind, I’m laying down a challenge for you. If you do nothing else with your employees this year, I want you to do one thing – communicate more!

I’m not just talking about in the business sense, I want you to REALLY get to know the people that work for you. Use your small talk, social skills and ask questions and find out things about your employees that you didn’t know before. Sure, this could make many a boss twitch in fear, but by starting a rapport with fellow workers not only do you begin to understand them better, but you’ll most likely find they’ll appreciate you asking about their work AND their life.

Of course there are lines you shouldn’t cross, topics that border on the inappropriate, but as an employer you already know this. Keep it casual, no one likes to feel like they’re being interrogated for state secrets, especially by your boss. For some reason it takes you back to when you were ten years old and summoned to the principal’s office. Not fun.

It’s about starting a dialogue. If you aren’t able to rattle off three key facts about each of your direct reports then, I’m sorry, but you’re not keeping up your end of the leadership deal. Communication is not dissimilar to marriage vows….in sickness and in health 'til death of this employment relationship, I promise to listen often & communicate well.

Find out about their interests. What sports do they follow? How many grand/children they have? This isn’t only going to be your first challenge for the year however this could well be your most important task.

Think about how easily things can be misinterpreted without proper communication. Even an email can have the wrong tone and have the receiver on the defence when they don’t need to be. If your employees know you a little better, and vice versa, then the likelihood of this happening will reduce. Not only will they feel that they can approach you over any concerns, but you’ll be able to write the initial email in a way that won’t have an employee’s hackles raising.

There’s research out here in the web-sphere that 70% of workplace mistakes are caused by a lack of communication, which aren’t just costly but time consuming. So look at all the benefits of sucking it up and getting to know those under you.

Dispersion of information is another key communication issue. If one person holds something important and holds on to it like Gollum with his precious, it can cause some serious issues. Just because you have the information doesn’t mean that you own it. It’s not finders keepers. Which is why you need to check out our next post all about what your mother and father taught you – Sharing is good.  

PulseHR Who??? We All Love a Fairytale With No Ending

Once upon a time, it all came down to business owners and managers either needing to do all the PEOPLE stuff themselves or employing a personnel clerk to do all that people stuff and those pesky things like IR, WHS and those annoying documents, forms, policies, procedures…..ok don’t get me started, you get the picture. It was a timely and more importantly an expensive venture. 

Then, one day, there was a passionate and extremely skilled HR professional who found herself back in country NSW, married with a baby tossing up her life options of moving back to the city to work and potentially giving her soul back to international corporate (nothing less than 150% commitment would do) or stay at home with her beautiful baby longing to hold part of a career in her arms again. She so desperately wanted BOTH and there was no option not to have both right. Cause WOMEN can at least ask for it all in this day and age RIGHT?? 

Why did businesses and organisations need to hire someone full time to do the PEOPLE stuff, when she had the methods, the systems, the processes and most importantly the vision to streamline and make life easier for employers of all shapes and sizes - by taking this prickly area of business and making it look like a walk in the park. 

And so PulseHR was created…..

The next step was to source the finest workforce professionals in the land to join her team. Like any worthwhile hiring process, the fit was far more important - ‘did they hold similar values and believe in the vision’…so there was many a talk whilst breaking bread. The team was finally in place and my, did they hold many years of combined experience across all areas of workforce management. All of this with the added experience of most of us here at PulseHR being Mums to young children and lets just say we are all very well versed in multitasking. And do it well!

Parenting is very much a transferable skill with regard to workforce management. Let me join the dots for you….

Parenting Moment: "Please go to your room now for 'time-out', that is not acceptable and you need to think about your behaviour."

Workforce Specialist: "Can we please talk somewhere private about the incident yesterday, I think we need to agree on a performance improvement plan."

Parenting Moment: "What shall we do for craft today? Should we make a reward chart...that would be fun!"

Workforce Specialist: "Have you considered reviewing your reward and recognition program? It is generating motivation and a morale of focused achievement."

Parenting Moment: "Oh no, I have pooed my pants...they're my favourite pants!" *Small child the sky is falling look of sadness.*

Workforce Specialist: "It's okay...take a few moment to gather your thoughts there is no topic we can't work through and come up with a way forward."

We own cleaning up messes and kissing boo boos on some days, all while interviewing, surveying, advising, consulting and helping our clients on other days. 

Enough about us though. The real reason for this blog is all about you. How can we support you as a manager or employer to make life easier? Struggle with communication within your business? Challenging employee behaviour? Don't know where your career is headed? Well, watch this space. We've got you covered with advice, tips and strategies there's sure to be something for everyone from aspiring employees to zion's of business, all the way from a-z.