Communication Methods
Scenario #1 "One of your employees is constantly late, leaving food and drinks at the work station, and you are forced to address the situation" is best addressed with face-to-face communication. In this method, a conversation will occur, but first the issue will be presented to the employee in question. This will require the manager to speak directly. In this case, habitual lateness negates the need to address specific circumstances; everybody is late once in a while but habitual lateness is unacceptable according to company policy.
Manager: "Good morning, Jones. Please, take a seat."
Jones: "What's up?"
Manager: "I'm issuing you a verbal warning for your lateness. You were late again yesterday. Our records show you as being late 23 times since the start of the fiscal year. Employees are expected to be at their workstations promptly at 9am, and you have continually failed to do this. You do good work, Jones, but it is against company policy to be continually late. You don't even call to explain your lateness, you just show up late."
Jones: "But I ."
Manager: "I don't care, Jones. I brought Watson here as a witness from Human Resources. The verbal warning is the first warning. At this point, however, you have been late more times than the rest of the department combined. That's not going to be enough to maintain your employment. How it works is this. After the verbal warning, the next late in the next six months will result in a written warning. The subsequent late to that, if within six months, will result in your termination."
Jones: "Blah blah."
Manager: "You can have a great reason for being late once, but you have been late 23 times since the start of the fiscal year. That is a pattern, and it is unfair to the rest of your coworkers who do show up on time. It is unfair to the company. That is why the company has this policy in place. One other thing, Jones. There's nothing in the rules that specifies tidiness of workstation, but yours is a mess. The food you leave is a risk for attracting pests, and therefore is a violation of health codes. You are obligated to maintain health codes under terms of your employment, so you will need to tidy up your work station, and maintain its cleanliness going forward. Consider this...
A retirement party will be held in Jones' honor, starting at 4pm, at MacGregor's Pub on West 17th Avenue.
Attendance is, of course, optional, but all are encouraged to join in the celebration. Snacks and drinks will be provided, and full dinners can be purchased from the pub. For those who are planning to imbibe, taxi vouchers will be available to help you get home safely.
Come celebrate Jones' excellent career and dedication to the Company Inc. team.
Further details about the event are available from Sally Jenkins in HR, who is serving as the party co-ordinator for this event. There is no cost for attending this event, and all guests will receive a voucher for a complimentary drink.
Scenario #3: "You hear from a friend that a client is about to sign a contract with one of your present competitors." This scenario will require the discretion afforded by internal verbal communication.
The nature of the communication is unknown, but the principle is that I will have to inform the key internal stakeholders about this rumor. My friend is a trusted source, and they should know that I trust the source. The key stakeholders will need to be gathered in confidence, including the relevant account manager, sales director and depending on the size of the account any other executive or managerial personnel who may need to be involved.
The information will be presented. This will include two parts -- the context in which the information was acquired and the details of the information as best as I know them. The team will then be able to decide among themselves whether the information is credible or not, and what they will do in response to the information. Whether I am involved depends on my role in the organization. My role as communicator is done -- keep things off-book, but make sure the right people know so that they can…
