Friday, 3 October 2008
Communication is Key
In any growing organisation the biggest challenge and perhaps biggest failures seems to be communication.
In our industry, you can have all the systems and training in the world, but if staff are disconnected and unhappy, that will be reflected in the way they answer the phone and deal with a client.
I am not worried to admit that at our HQ in London, we have experienced disconnects from senior management to supervisors and then to all staff. I would be worried if we did not recognise and try to rectify.
I believe the first place to look if this happens is the top and I realise that while I might be involved in lots of exciting projects and developments, I have to ask myself, have I shared these in a clear manner to my direct reports in order they can do they same within their areas. The answer is no, we have tried to rectify by some simple "open to all" staff meetings at HQ. The disconnect was mainly that staff were sometimes frustrated that they want to serve their client in line with their passion and the company ethos of "client first", but growing red tape with accounts set up, global forms, extra security, management, etc was causing difficulty.
The people that really know the score are the staff and we drew a smiling face on our white board as the objective for every supervisor to ensure their staff start and end the day with this type of smile on their own face. Some simple daily functions like a supervisor meeting at 1715 hrs each day to assess workload, what has frustrated staff today, what can we take away, what has stopped you serving the client has promoted much better communication.
This is not the end it is just the start and as things change we have to assess so we are running the business correctly, but nothing is more important than looking after our staff to then look after the client "better than anyone else would".
To summarise, we must never lose sight. The most important people are our staff and anyone in a supervisory or management position has a duty of care to ensure they have the best environment available to serve the client. Being assertive upwards, directly to me if necessary, is a key factor in company success and I am pleased to have experienced this over the past weeks from staff at all levels.
In our industry, you can have all the systems and training in the world, but if staff are disconnected and unhappy, that will be reflected in the way they answer the phone and deal with a client.
I am not worried to admit that at our HQ in London, we have experienced disconnects from senior management to supervisors and then to all staff. I would be worried if we did not recognise and try to rectify.
I believe the first place to look if this happens is the top and I realise that while I might be involved in lots of exciting projects and developments, I have to ask myself, have I shared these in a clear manner to my direct reports in order they can do they same within their areas. The answer is no, we have tried to rectify by some simple "open to all" staff meetings at HQ. The disconnect was mainly that staff were sometimes frustrated that they want to serve their client in line with their passion and the company ethos of "client first", but growing red tape with accounts set up, global forms, extra security, management, etc was causing difficulty.
The people that really know the score are the staff and we drew a smiling face on our white board as the objective for every supervisor to ensure their staff start and end the day with this type of smile on their own face. Some simple daily functions like a supervisor meeting at 1715 hrs each day to assess workload, what has frustrated staff today, what can we take away, what has stopped you serving the client has promoted much better communication.
This is not the end it is just the start and as things change we have to assess so we are running the business correctly, but nothing is more important than looking after our staff to then look after the client "better than anyone else would".
To summarise, we must never lose sight. The most important people are our staff and anyone in a supervisory or management position has a duty of care to ensure they have the best environment available to serve the client. Being assertive upwards, directly to me if necessary, is a key factor in company success and I am pleased to have experienced this over the past weeks from staff at all levels.
Labels: Core Values, Service, Staff
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