Five Easy Ways To Connect With Employees

Employees should always be your first audience. Employees are your organization’s ambassadors, advocates and champions. Keeping them well-informed should be a top priority. Some simple tactics and tools will help you maintain and build quality relationships with employees:

1. Have regular employee meetings. And make those meetings productive.

Employees want to know how to succeed at their job. Whether a customer service rep, or marketing director, or CEO, Good meetings can go a long way to keeping employees informed. If you have a large, or dispersed, staff, make sure the line of communication with middle managers is clear and empower those managers to deliver company messages.

2 . Communicate regularly in multiple ways.

Employees, because they are people, respond differently to communication channels. Some may respond through electronic channels – so create a monthly email newsletter that highlights information employees need to know. As with all newsletters, consistency is key. If you’re planning to send a newsletter at all, plan to be consistent and send every month. Include regular columns and accurate, up-to-date information.

Other employees may prefer printed communication – so provide the same updates and bulletins in printed form as you do electronically. You might even consider an employee podcast or videocast.

3. Create a recognition program.

Recognizing successes helps motivate employees. Afterall, how will employees know the difference between ok, good and great performance? Recognition programs can vary as widely as what may motivate an individual employees. As it turns out money is not much of a motivator. So you’re going to have to be more creative.

4. Have one-on-one sessions.

Give employees a chance to meet with company owners, CEOs or other C-Suite managers. Employees appreciate the respect that a one-on-one meeting infers. It says that the company cares about their success and is interested in receiving feedback.

5. Establish clear organizational and department goals.

And make them known. No employee can help achieve the organization’s goals if those goals are unknown. Share them, measure them and ensure that everyone is working toward organizational and individual success.

What other tips do you have? What motivates you?