Guest Post: HR Managers as Communications Facilitators

Note: This is a guest post from author Heather Johnson (who also did a post on networking as well). If you are interested in doing a guest post or would like me to do a guest post on your blog, contact me.

A study conducted by international consulting firm Randstad and Harris Interactive shows that only 32 percent of employees believe that the companies they work for are capable of achieving organizational excellence. The reason they cite for this primary inability is poor communication. Effective and proper communication between employers and employees and proper management of the flows of information are some of the main drivers of sustained success in any corporation, so if there are no established channels of communication in place or if any of these should break down for some reason or the other, it could lead to disastrous consequences. With HR managers being the mainstay of the communications function in any organization, it’s time they realized how important the role they play as facilitator is to the company:

• Human resources personnel must ensure that the proper foundation is laid for effective communication to take place. They must make sure that employees are receptive to the ideas and information that are imparted to them. The only way to achieve this is to ensure that employees are satisfied with the core aspects of their job, like salary, work routine and understanding colleagues and superiors.
• HR managers must play an active role in not just communicating changes in the organization to its employees but in also helping them understand why these changes are taking place, how decisions are made, how these decisions affect them, and the role they play in these decisions. Trust and loyalty are essential qualities needed in employees during organizational changes, and these are characteristics that are built only through effective and honest communication. Proper communication channels are necessary to ensure that the rumor mills don’t work overtime and generate negative feelings all around.
• Effective communication opens the gates to measuring employee motivation and commitment – when employees are rated on how whether they received the message that was communicated, how they interpreted it, and how they reacted to what was said, it’s easy to gauge their feelings towards the company.
• HR personnel must have their finger on the pulse of the relationship between employees and their immediate manager or supervisor. The communication between these two entities must be strong so that each employee knows where their job fits in and how important their work is to the company.
• It is important that negative aspects be laid out in the open as soon as possible with no room for stalling.
• The message and the medium should be chosen with care depending on the former’s importance or lack of it. Personal communication is suited for the more serious issues while a memo or an email will do for routine matters.
• For communication to be effective and bring about a change in employees’ attitude towards the organization, it has to be regular and honest.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of talent agent. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.