The six principles of performance communication
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580000805 |
| Date | 01 May 2005 |
| Published date | 01 May 2005 |
| Pages | 32-35 |
| Author | Patricia Bayerlein,Rose Gailey |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
32 Volume 4 Issue 4 May/June 2005
N A RECENT CONVERSATION with an HR
manager on the topic of employee engagement, we
were surprised to hear resistance to the concept of
using communication as a tool to reach employees,
shift mindsets and drive performance. Joe, an
experienced HR professional at a Fortune 500
manufacturer of automotive equipment that we’ll call
“AutoParts,” had significant credibility and rapport
throughout operations. When the VP of operations
called in the communication team to help align all
operations leaders in a new Global Manufacturing
Council, Joe took offense. His expectation for the role
of communication in engagement was just to “get the
messages down in writing” and distribute the news.
We shared our position with Joe that communication
is much more than reporting on the business: It’s about
thinking strategically about communication to drive
engagement (see Figure 1, overleaf). So why all the
confusion about the role of communication? Why do so
many managers like Joe fail to leverage communication
to drive engagement and high performance?
Winning “hearts and minds”
Many companies realize that the typical path to
engaging the vast untapped middle of the workforce –
raising compensation and benefits – will not be
effective in today’s workplace or in the workplace of
the future. In fact, winning employees’ hearts and
minds involves a complex set of factors that define an
employee’s rational and emotional connection to work
and the workplace. Studies on engagement examine
company culture; trust in management; job fit and
compatibility; relationships with managers, supervisors,
and peers; open communication; opportunities for
growth and challenging work; quality of workplace life;
and overall compensation and benefits.
How can companies address all these factors? Leaders
need to articulate the vision, live the company values and
provide a line of sight to business goals. Managers and
supervisors must prepare employees to meet the challenge
of ongoing growth and organizational change.
Supervisors must become the ultimate communicators
and provide open and honest information on the
organization’s goals, policies, systems and practices.
Seamless alignment between HR and
communication professionals is at the heart of
implementing all the elements needed for true
engagement. Clearly, HR plays an obvious role in
engagement, yet often it is faced with the challenge of
executing on a myriad of tactical and strategic
deliverables. In our experience, results are even more
powerful when an organization taps into what we refer
to as performance communication principles.
Six performance communication principles
There are six basic principles designed to engage
employees in a way that improves performance and
by Patricia Bayerlein and Rose Gailey
Gagen MacDonald LLC
The six
principles of
performance
communication
How effective HR and communication
partnership creates true engagement
I
Increasingly, organizations are becoming aware that
engaged employees are fundamental to achieving
business success. Here, Patricia Bayerlein and Rose
Gailey describe why alignment between HR and
communication is at the heart of achieving true
engagement and show how one company used their
six principles to turn its performance around.
© Melcrum Publishing Ltd. 2005 For more information visit www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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