My latest enewsletter - to be delivered to subscribers soon - touches on the topic of leadership and personality, and their impact on effective communications within organizations. This is the essential ingredient - how well you connect, how much your employees trust you, and how good you are at inspiring the potential of others has the biggest single impact on quality of the workplace, and accordingly, productivity. If the culture in your workplace is less than ideal, the root is most often a bad decision or poor communication, fed and watered by the suspicion and distrust of others. Coincidentally I read an article today by Thomas J. Lee from Arceil Leadership on the three voices of communication and the toxic workplace.

Here’s an excerpt:

Overcoming cynicism is a tall challenge for any leader. But overcome it, you must. The engagement and cohesion of your people can mean the difference between survival and collapse. Ignore cynicism, and you allow its corrosion to undermine the organization you have worked so hard to build.
 
By cynicism, we mean a toxic attitude among would-be followers that assumes the worst of your intent as a leader. Instead of embracing the nobility of your intention, instead of granting you the benefit of doubt, the cynic sees only manipulation and control. He is quick to do the math on the cost to himself.

If you want to read more of what Thomas has to say click here.

This is the time of year every professional journal, magazine, and other media is full of articles on resolutions, predictions and tips on goal setting. Yawn - is there a new angle?

Within the communications sector, popular blogs and networks are full of articles on employee engagement, developing strong internal cultures and building networks. There is good information out there, if you are willing to wade through a whole lot of theory and professionals within the networks commenting on each others’ theories.

The problem is, most of the information is written by professionals working in the profession for other professionals in similar roles, and not of much use for the human resources manager, executive director, communications or marketing officer, or professional fundraiser looking for practical information.

Employee engagement is, and always will be a most important challenge for any kind of organization. Without staff who understand the point at which their personal goals, talents, abilities and purpose intersect with that of others, and the organization, no organization can hope to succeed. With all the chatter about the need for innovation, the big question should not be how, but why?

Most of the time, the temptation is to try to persuade - by sharing numbers, projections, and lately - threats - that jobs will be lost, etc. without the commitment and boot-pulling of staff. This doesn’t work. This is data. Data is logical. Human passion and drive is emotional. There is a hierarchy of needs and emotion at work that has nothing to do with organization structure.

Start with why? Think about why this is important. Put yourself into a staff member’s shoes. What’s in it for them? What hopes and fears do they have? Is there common ground between their’s and the organization’s? How can you help?

I realize this may seem oversimplified - but as with many things in life, simple works. Start there in 2009!

Jaxon looking scary!

It can be really tempting to rush a project and cut corners to meet a looming deadline. We can get so focused on the larger goal that taking the time to properly communicate to staff seems unnecessary. It is rare to find organizations that truly communicate to their staff on changes or important directions that affect — not to mention depend on — them!

Yesterday my seven year old assistant, wise beyond her years, asked me what afterthought meant. I asked her what she would guess, and she said: “when you know you should do or think something, but you don’t until it’s too late”.

I find there are two types of organizations who need help from communications consultants like me - the group that wants to do the best job possible, and is willing to spend the time necessary - and the group that does this as an afterthought, usually in reaction to an issue.

Many smaller organizations feel that staff communications is a luxury for the mammoth corporations with massive corporate communications departments. The reality is, many large corporations face the same kind of pressures and challenges of stretched resources as do the smaller organizations, just on a different scale. 

The truth, and it’s not so scary, is that we all play a role in communications, every day. Do what you can to inspire and lead those around you - and think first of what they need to know and why!

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has released a report on how to harness the power of innovation for philanthropic purposes. It looks at commonly-held concepts and practices more often used in the private sector and adapts it as “a commodity for social good.”

Much of the report talks about building and nurturing an Innovation Culture and the need for it to be systematic and outlines the five stages that are required:

• Setting the conditions required to support innovation
• Identifying the problem or opportunity about which you want to innovate
• Generating ideas to solve the problem or capture the opportunity
• Experimenting and piloting those ideas to test how well they work in practice
• Sharing the innovations with a broader set of stakeholders

Read the rest here.

Do you want to learn more about building a culture? Check out my new resource on Building a Better Fundraising Team.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this statement, I’d be independently wealthy: We need better communications. Everyone says it, everyone knows it, but hardly anyone does it. I think there are many reasons why this is so: different understandings of the term, mismanaged expectations, or unclear goals and objectives, to name a few. When you get right down to it, communications is a broad concept. There is the act of communicating, and there is the profession of communicating. Everyone communicates but not all are communicators, professional or otherwise. As a profession, communications is a broad field with many areas of specialized skills.

What communications isn’t, is a band aid for organizational issues, lack of strategic direction or focus. When I am told by management or staff that better communications is the missing piece they feel is needed in order to be successful at X, Y, or Z, I know from experience that this is usually the sign of a larger issue or challenge that needs to be addressed, and then communicated. Here are a few common scenarios I hear often:

• Staff aren’t excited or supportive of a new, positive initiative
• Board members seem disconnected from the workings of the organization
• Long-term volunteers or staff are becoming disinterested, and are leaving
• Despite an open door policy, no one comes forward to discuss concerns
• Media never cover happenings or news about the organization
• The organization isn’t recognized in the community
• They (insert group here) don’t understand our issues
• Donations are down and we think it’s because we don’t have a high enough profile
• Members aren’t renewing and we don’t know why

There are many valid reasons why any of the above situations occur. But most often, it is not a single cause that is the issue. So trying to solve one generally leads to another. Good communications, if done well, is integrated into the core of the organization and is consistent throughout all functions and activities. But the need never ends or is completed. Think of it as a series of decisions and interactions. Multiply it by the power of the individual and the perceptions, motivations and interests of each person and you can imagine why achieving communications nirvana is a continually moving target.

I fundamentally believe that all organizations need these pieces for each corner of the puzzle: a clearly articulated vision and strategic plan, realistic and meaningful goals that can be interpreted at the individual level by each person in the organization, a comprehensive and two-way internal communications program, and an annual communications plan that specifies both internal and external communications objectives and activities that directly support the organization’s broader strategy. Only then can you begin to fill in the pieces.

A lot of time, energy and money is spent each year by organizations striving to strengthen their internal teams and therefore improve their performance. But is there such a thing as too much love?

Sadly, yes! Although it’s been a few decades since Irving Janis first coined the groupthink concept,and it is one of many communication theories, there is still much to be learned from the essence of his original concept. It goes something like this: groupthink occurs when highly cohesive groups are pressured to make important or quality decisions; they desire unanimity above all and therefore do not consider alternatives, leading to faulty decision making.

Now, this is not to say you should be worried if you have a highly functioning group of team players who understand and are committed to your vision. Celebrate it! But you might want to watch for signs of groupthink and adjust your planning approaches accordingly.

Why does this matter? Because failing to examine alternatives or offering constructive criticisms, or not thoroughly gathering information means you are not getting the whole picture. And you might be missing out on the great ideas which often happen when obstacles become opportunities. Classic signs of groupthink are a feeling of invulnerability or superiority and the ability to rationalize poor decisions. Members hold back their thoughts in fear of upsetting the group. It’s like peer pressure in reverse!

Here are some updated suggestions for combating groupthink in your organization:

• Ask each team member to critique suggestions and provide objections and doubts.
• Avoid expressing your opinion when assigning a task to a group.
• Assign several independent groups the task of working on the same problem.
• Use an independent peer review, a panel of objective experts to review your proposed plan.
• Appoint a devil’s advocate whose job is to deconstruct and shoot holes in your plan.
• Divide into groups and discuss differences; report back to the larger group.
• Use the services of a professional facilitator.
• Hire outside help to guide your planning.
• And my personal favourite, have a "last chance" meeting to offer one final opportunity to choose another course of action.