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!

Many organizations plan state of the organization presentations for the early part of the year. These are a great opportunity to share high level information with all-staff audiences — but don’t overlook that the greatest value is in the dialogue, and the follow up.

Especially in the current economic environment, we need to unbutton the formality and actively seek out conversation, input, and sharing. This is usually the opposite of what most executives expect, and are comfortable with.

More tips on this topic:

• From Melcrum, How Not to Conduct a Town Hall Meeting
• My November enews - Communicating in Hard Times (you might also want to read September and October 2007 articles in the newsletter archive)

Many of you are leaders, managers or consultants with at least 20 years of experience. Like me you cut your teeth in the days of fat communications budgets, power suits and decidedly top-down modes of communication.

Old habits are hard to break. If you tend to think of dealings with staff as “telling them what they need to know” you have the equation only partly right.

Here are the new rules:

1. Listen then talk
2. Ask what they want then provide
3. Don’t write anything until you talk to real people who you want to reach
4. Get to know their interests, what’s keeping them up at night, what gets them out of bed in the morning, and what makes them want to stay home
5. Think of yourself as the United Nations instead of the Vatican - representative vs. traditional authority
6. Forget trying to sell your organization’s message - focus on sharing information and a two-way relationship with the people that are part of it

The old way of cascading, top down information does not work (if it ever did…). We all expect and deserve more. We want connection, answers and most of all, to be heard.