As an organizational consultant and coach, I commonly enter buildings that are frosty in their silence. I walk through tunnels of Dilbertesque cubicles and hear the murmur of lowered voices.
E-mail is the new unwritten code of communication. Project planning meetings are rare, as is face-to-face communication. Inside these state-of-the-art buildings, originally designed to facilitate communication, people are not brainstorming. Instead, employees work on their own, receiving little or no feedback about their performance.
Employees say they are afraid to speak up, or that it won’t matter even if they do because they won’t be understood by their managers. The quality of relationships — essential to a thriving work culture — is dying.
On a daily basis I see managers and employees speaking in shades of truth; people say one thing but mean something very different, lacking the courage to voice what is really on their minds. A manager in a small pharmaceutical company explains, “I see no point in speaking with my manager about what is going on in my team. He doesn’t listen. When I present new ideas or initiatives, his eyes glaze over. I know I have been dismissed. Now I just don’t bother. I am losing interest in my job.”
The results of this failure to communicate is seen in the breakdown of teamwork, performance issues, lack of loyalty, high employee turnover, the loss of joy and fun once associated with work and increasing numbers of stress-related leaves.
These are the waters in which HR professionals are swimming every day. They can either go against the current and risk their status, or swim with it and survive. Many want to be part of the solution, but can no longer see how.
It is time for HR to step up to the plate and begin to address the growing silence that is invading workplaces. HR professionals have strong communication skills and those skills should be modelled to peers and clients.
But how to begin? By telling the truth. This does not mean being brutal; it does mean being clear, honest, kind and not beating around the bush. Truth telling begins with introspection. HR needs to ask, “Are we being so diplomatic in our HR role that we are ineffective? Are we saying what we really mean and what needs to be said? What do we fear will happen if we communicate authentically and with candour?”
Next, meet with people, face to face. Enough with this distilled communication called e-mail and voice mail. It eliminates body language, emphasizes tone and often aggravates staff. People need human contact. It is HR’s job to close the distance. Listen and affirm. Find reasons to compliment others on their performance. Find ways to support others as well as challenge them in their development. Celebrate successes.
The great challenge facing HR professionals today is how to rise above the posturing and agenda-setting that does not serve the organization well. HR professionals can live up to the focus on humans that’s implied in the title. If HR practitioners don’t lead the way by modelling effective communication and dialogue skills, who will?
Betty Healey is an author, speaker and trainer. For the first 25 years of her career she worked as a manager in health care. Her latest book is roadSIGNS: Travel Tips for Authentic Living. Contact Creative Bound Inc. at (800) 287-8610 or www.creativebound.com.
E-mail is the new unwritten code of communication. Project planning meetings are rare, as is face-to-face communication. Inside these state-of-the-art buildings, originally designed to facilitate communication, people are not brainstorming. Instead, employees work on their own, receiving little or no feedback about their performance.
Employees say they are afraid to speak up, or that it won’t matter even if they do because they won’t be understood by their managers. The quality of relationships — essential to a thriving work culture — is dying.
On a daily basis I see managers and employees speaking in shades of truth; people say one thing but mean something very different, lacking the courage to voice what is really on their minds. A manager in a small pharmaceutical company explains, “I see no point in speaking with my manager about what is going on in my team. He doesn’t listen. When I present new ideas or initiatives, his eyes glaze over. I know I have been dismissed. Now I just don’t bother. I am losing interest in my job.”
The results of this failure to communicate is seen in the breakdown of teamwork, performance issues, lack of loyalty, high employee turnover, the loss of joy and fun once associated with work and increasing numbers of stress-related leaves.
These are the waters in which HR professionals are swimming every day. They can either go against the current and risk their status, or swim with it and survive. Many want to be part of the solution, but can no longer see how.
It is time for HR to step up to the plate and begin to address the growing silence that is invading workplaces. HR professionals have strong communication skills and those skills should be modelled to peers and clients.
But how to begin? By telling the truth. This does not mean being brutal; it does mean being clear, honest, kind and not beating around the bush. Truth telling begins with introspection. HR needs to ask, “Are we being so diplomatic in our HR role that we are ineffective? Are we saying what we really mean and what needs to be said? What do we fear will happen if we communicate authentically and with candour?”
Next, meet with people, face to face. Enough with this distilled communication called e-mail and voice mail. It eliminates body language, emphasizes tone and often aggravates staff. People need human contact. It is HR’s job to close the distance. Listen and affirm. Find reasons to compliment others on their performance. Find ways to support others as well as challenge them in their development. Celebrate successes.
The great challenge facing HR professionals today is how to rise above the posturing and agenda-setting that does not serve the organization well. HR professionals can live up to the focus on humans that’s implied in the title. If HR practitioners don’t lead the way by modelling effective communication and dialogue skills, who will?
Betty Healey is an author, speaker and trainer. For the first 25 years of her career she worked as a manager in health care. Her latest book is roadSIGNS: Travel Tips for Authentic Living. Contact Creative Bound Inc. at (800) 287-8610 or www.creativebound.com.
