Last Updated on March 14, 2023 by Dave Schoenbeck
How well do your employees understand your business? I don’t just mean what your company does: I say how their role contributes to your overall success. How clear are you about communicating business strategy to employees?
If your people don’t understand how their work contributes to the business’s success, they don’t execute what you expect. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake I see business owners making. The truth is that effective communication requires much more strategy than you think.
The Importance of Communicating Business Strategy to Employees
A Gallup poll shows that only 41% of employees know what their company stands for and what makes it different than its competitors. This should scare you. After all, how well can an employee advocate for your company if they don’t understand what it does?
When a team understands how their work fits into the grand scheme, they are more motivated to do their part and can deliver better customer results. But, of course, all of that comes from communicating business strategy to employees. The resulting outcomes would be enormous if we could harness a 50% increase in employee understanding.
Tips for Communicating Business Strategy to Employees
Devising an employee communication strategy can help you make your company mission clear. Here are a few of the best ways to communicate with employees.
1. Combine written information with verbal reinforcement to ensure a better understanding. For example, don’t just discuss your business strategy in meetings: make it clear on your website and in internal communications for easy reference.
2. Have a clear flow of information. You can’t always speak directly to every employee, but there should be a clear hierarchy of disbursement when there are updates on your business strategy. Ensure every employee knows how information travels in your organization, starting at the top and trickling down through management to each worker.
3. Keep your list of concepts short to aid in remembering. A complicated strategy is challenging to communicate. You should be able to break it down into key points that are easy to iterate and remember.
4. Use graphics, photos, and drawings to portray concepts. Even a basic flowchart can help employees better visualize company processes. Invest in easily accessible, branded graphics you can reuse in meetings and presentations.
5. Over-communicate why your business strategy is critical and what each employee can do to further your company goals. Include this strategy in their own goals so they can see the effect they have.
6. Reinforce the plan at every opportunity. I have always taught that you are only marginally effective when you get completely tired of explaining your idea. Therefore, you will need to prioritize communicating business strategy to employees and remind them of your company mission many times per year.
Delivering effective employee communication is an essential leadership skill, yet it’s one that many entrepreneurs struggle with. If you’d like help working on your communication skills, fill out my contact form to schedule a free video call.
Coach Dave
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