Communication is Key

I once served on a search committee where the candidate was asked, “What is the one thing you need the most from your peers?” She quickly answered, “Communication.” Having worked in professional settings with varying levels of communication, I couldn’t agree more with her statement.

Communication is essential but it must also be effective for the organization. I worked for a smaller organization that had had monthly lunch meetings where all levels, from the administrative staff to the CEO, went around the room and shared a project they were working on. It was successful because it showed employees that their responsibilities were of importance to the overall achievement of the company. Being aware of what is happening within your organization is important even if it doesn’t directly apply to your work portfolio. Having learned specific details on a project at one of the lunch meetings allowed me to assist a co-worker at a later time by sharing an appropriate piece of information.

At another company, senior level employees would meet with the director, and then distribute the information down to their department. This works only if details are actually passed along once the meetings have commenced. Withholding important information can lead to a myriad of problems as one might imagine. Fortunately, we still met as a whole office periodically, which allowed people to ask questions and fill in any gaps.

I’ve unfortunately experienced the ‘no communication’ end of things as well. Our department was a group of five and our boss excelled at his own job, just not at providing direction to the team despite daily debrief meetings. The result was high turnover and low morale.

There are many ways to communicate within an organization. When it’s your turn to lead, what previous positive and negative examples will you draw from to communicate in an effective manner? More importantly, is there a clear and consistent form of communication that allows for constructive feedback? Without communication how are employees to understand what their priorities are, or what goals they striving to attain? As a New Year begins, it’s a perfect time to review and perhaps improve our communication methods!

Andrea Cordray is the student support and outreach coordinator at the University of Mary Washington College of Business and a member of the Leadership Colloquium @ UMW Advisory Board.