Communication strategy frameworks and applications

Communication Strategy

What inferences can you make about the President/CEO's impact on the business?

In this company the audience awareness is practically non-existent among the staff members. For one thing, the senior management staff is "unapproachable" which suggests that an elitist attitude prevails in the company. Audience awareness should incorporate all employees when it comes to communication, whether it is a memo, an email, a text message, a face-to-face contact or another form of communication. Hence, Sam Smith, the President / CEO is doing a very poor job of involving his employees and as a result the business isn't likely to be as productive as it could be.

Analyze the management team's communication strategy vis-a-vis audience awareness, conciseness and clarity.

Every aspect of a company's communications should be provided to the audience, which in this case entails all the employees of Evergreen Partners. Audience awareness means that the audience a manager or CEO should be addressing (his or her employees) in an open, friendly, and factual manner. If one component of a company feels left out, that reduces the effectiveness of that component and reduces the overall sense of teamwork among employees. A company that strives for conciseness understands that there is no need for long-winded, wordy instructions or memos. However, the management team doesn't even make contact with employees in all situations and by giving just a few minutes' notice for an important team meeting suggests poor communication which in turn suggests sloppy management strategies.

As for clarity, without an agenda employees are going into meetings blind, with no idea what the point of the gathering really is. Without a strategic direction for the company, employees are left in the dark, and simply coming to work to get a paycheck. Clarity suggests that everything the company does is fully yet concisely explained so all employees are in the loop.

THREE: How is management's communication strategy affecting employees?

First of all, if employee turnover is "very high" at Evergreen Partners that should tell the human relations department that something is wrong. Human resources should be the component of a company that keeps the company sufficiently staffed, that does the hiring and training and has a grip on the culture of the company. Are people enjoying their jobs? Why are there open positions that have been budgeted for but not filled? Any competent HR professional working at Evergreen Partners should be asking these questions.

FOUR: What recommendations would I give to management based on the readings?

First of all, because employees are quitting, this company is: a) offering "not-so-interesting jobs" and not giving proper training, mentoring, or motivation (such as incentives); or b) failing to give "positive feedback" when good work is accomplished; or c) the wrong people are being hired, people that aren't being integrated into the system or people who don't have the skills (Larry Fliegelman). Recommendation: As in the TED presentation, the ability of a company to succeed relates directly to its ability to solve problems. The problem here is a lack of good communication and the lack of leadership at the top. What's the solution? The board of directors needs to hold Smith's feet to the fire and implore him to get some help in terms of his communication with his staff. A leader doesn't announce plans for a monthly internal blog and simply forget that he made that announcement. This company is dysfunctional until it begins truly communicating, until it has a strategic plan, and until it makes its employees happy.