Don't Assume They Won't Understand
Strategic decisions can be tough to make, especially in a time of limited resources; but communicating those decisions is often a tougher challenge. One of the most common communication mistakes leaders make is to assume their audience won't grasp the complex reasoning behind a decision. Instead of presuming "people won't understand," find ways to explain the details even to those who may not have the same organizational or financial sophistication as you. If your people don't understand, it's your job to find a way to explain it to them. All employees deserve to know where the company is headed and the rationale behind key decisions. They will be happier and more productive when they are clued into, and on board with, the company strategy.
Good article, just some more thought into this point. Employees certainly deserve to know what is happening with their company but are they really interested in doing so? Leaders dont assume that their audience wont grasp the complex reasoning but instead they give it out in a way which is not complex, lets see how many people in a company will read their quarterly report? it is out there, Quartely reports are out there and not that comlicated to understand, and still less than 15 to 20 percent will read it, not sure how many of that 20 percent even get the sense, of these reports, last question which arises due to lack of clarity in the above article, is the author assuming that explaining things or making your employees understand the reasoning of the strategic decissions help a company put itself out of the financial troubles?
ReplyDeletePoint taken that many employees are not keen on knowing about the company's progress.But there would be some strategic decisions which employees ought to know. Eg: What is going to be the future of Satyam (now mahindra satyam) employees when the fraud happened? Nobody would understand the financial mess that happened in detail.However they need to know what's going to happen with them.Any complex reasoning regarding the balance sheets would not help.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly in times of recession like now,the rationale behind downsizing or rather rightsizing needs to be communicated.
And regarding your question at the end, the author is not under any such assumptions.And communicating strategic decisions is not for overcoming financial troubles but to have harmony in the company and making the employees feel more responsible towards work thus increasing their productivity.