Leadership effectively communicating with employees is not a simple feat. Things get lost in translation as they move down the ladder and what you meant to say may not be delivered in that way. Here are some common communication mistakes that leaders make that risk employee engagement and retention, and the simple solutions to these problems.
Employee NPS drives customer NPS and customer NPS drives company growth. So what is NPS? It stands for Net Promotor Score and it measures experience and loyalty. Basically, if you want to make money you have to keep your employees happy and loyal. Clear communication will outweigh any perks an office provides to its employees. If employees feel that management and leadership don’t effectively communicate with them and if they feel unfulfilled in their work, basketball tickets and raffles won’t stop them from seeking fulfillment somewhere else. This is why maintaining a feedback loop is crucial to running a good business. Here are some ideas to assure both leadership and employees are “in the loop”.
Did you know that 65% of all lost customers can be traced to a disengaged employee? In many ways, the deskless workforce is the face of the company that customers see first and interact with directly. They’re on the sales floor, greeting you as you enter a store, working the lines in factories, performing inventory and more. They’re on their feet, in the field, facing customers daily. They're the backbone of most large companies making them an invaluable tool for leadership. They are who provide information on the pulse of the company’s day to day business. Who else knows the customer better? For these reasons and more, it’s crucial that deskless employees are aligned with leadership and a company’s vision.
The 9-5 workday is old-fashioned. People, especially millennials in the workforce, simply expect more from their employer. They want flexibility and freedom, the feeling of not being tied down, and an escape from the traditional. So what’s so great about working remotely?
Cascading goals is the process of setting and linking goals at different levels within a company. The intention is to ensure and maintain the alignment of a company’s objectives and employees’ goals and activities.
At the top, the CEO sets a company-wide goal, then assigns roles or tasks to lower leadership in order to accomplish these goals. As you can assume, these people assign smaller goals to the employees beneath them, and it goes on and on. Although the goals get smaller, they must stay linked to the ultimate, company-wide goal. Employees should always keep in mind what picture their piece of the puzzle is helping put together.
With a surging percentage of millennials entering the workforce, employers are having to rethink old strategies for attracting new talent. A large salary is not attracting prospective employees the same way it used to.
According to Deloitte’s 2018 annual Millennial Survey, millennials prefer “a preference for plain talk, inclusiveness, and directness in their bosses; businesses that are involved in social issues and good causes for positive change; and the obvious potential benefits of automation in terms of productivity and economic growth, to name a few.”
The Work Institute issued its findings into a one-of-a-kind report into employee retention last year, and the results are probably not that surprising to HR professionals across America. They estimate that almost one in four employees are leaving their jobs.
It is generally understood in business management that lower employee turnover rates yield more profit. There are situations, however, when a business may have an intentional high employee turnover rate.
Low turnover rates fall in the category of good business practices. It is a reassurance that the employees hired value the company they are working for. And if KPIs are being met, the company knows they have a valuable employee and do not need to spend money on replacing and training a replacement.
Internal communication is the lifeblood of your business. It doesn’t matter how well you set up processes and procedures, if your employees do not feel secure enough to communicate to fellow colleagues and management, work will not be efficient. Problems will not be addressed properly, innovation will be stagnant, and your customers will not be served well.
