Transparency, strong internal communication really help employees thrive

Transparency, strong internal communication really help employees thriveTransparency, strong internal communication really help employees thriveAs many founders and team leaders would attest, clear communicationcoupled with genuine transparencyis key to inspiring employees and, ultimately, growing as a company.But in a truly collaborative environment that consists of powerful, capable hires, transparency is important for more than just inspiration. Its critical for giving your people what they need to effectively do their job. If you dont share data, plans, or concerns with your employees, youll hamstring them. Instead, you need to equip your people to make the best possible decisions for their area of responsibility.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBut this needs to work the other way around, too employees themselves need to be transparent about where theyre at in terms of progr ess, what resources they need to get their job done, and the challenges theyre facing or foresee facing in completing new projects. When that happens, everyone in your company has a weg to thrive.That said, fostering and sustaining a culture in which this kind of two-way communication and trust exists is difficult, and it gets harder the bigger you grow. It requires you as a company leader to constantly prioritize and reinforce these values.If this is something youre struggling with right now, here are some steps we took to improve this at our company,Honey, that might be helpful for you1. Hire Someone Who Is Solely Focused on Internal CommunicationThis is what it looks like to truly prioritize strong internal communication you have to invest in it.Thats what we did at Honey, at least. We hired someone to set the cadence of internal discourse, fine-tune the messaging from leadership to ensure were conveying things the right way, and to facilitate back-and-forth between teams. Especi ally as we crossed the 100-employee threshold, we realized this was something we simply werent equipped to do on our ownnot while also doing the work of COO, CEO, CTO, etc.The truth is, you have to treat communication as its own department or vertical. Thats because it reallyisas crucial to your companys success as your product, or your marketing, or your sales.If people on your team lack essential understanding of the reasoning behind certain decisions or company direction, or if they dont have the information they need to do their jobif you or your teammates ever enter meetings surprised by whats being discussedyou wont be as efficient as you could be.Dont let that happen. Approach communication with careful and purposeful orchestration.2. Be Honest and Sincere with Your EmployeesOf course, you cant just outsource communication and transparency and hope it improves or sustains. You have to do your part as a company leader.That means being honest and sincere with your people in you r messaging and in your conversations with them.As we all know, communication hinges upon trust. Your people will only be 100% honest with you regarding their needs and challenges ifyouare 100% honest with them. They will only care about your company and the integrity of your communicative philosophy ifyougenuinely seem to care.That means you should share news and updates across departments. Share updates from the executive suite with your engineers. When you have a potentially exciting conversation with an investor or advisor, tell your people. Engage with them if its appropriate to do so.Communication is very much a two-way street.But its also true that sometimes its hard to be 100% transparent with employees. If youre in the midst of an acquisition, for example, you may not be legally able to.But employees will give you the benefit of the doubt in these situations if youre sincere with themif they know that honesty is a core value of the company.3. Establish the Right Flow During All-Company MeetingsTo get a bit more in-the-weeds, how you relay information and conduct conversation is very important. But you cant just say that communication is important. You must also set out to communicateeffectively.The most likely way youll do that is during meetings.Its important, then, that you hold and conduct meetings the right way. Things like whether everyone in the room is comfortable, whether your delivery is engaging,the lengths of meetingswe find people can generally only focus for 90 minutes at a timeall matter.In fact, your attention to detail as a leader will go a long way in determining how effective you are at facilitating internal communication. In our company, even small adjustments like asking presenters to abide by certain templates and formats in their presentation slides went a long way.You can say communication is important all you want, but unless youre communicating correctly, it wont matter.4. Allow QA Time with Your EmployeesAside from all-hands meetings, you also need to schedule time specifically for question-and-answer sessions.These could look like one-on-one meetings (if youre a smaller team) or forum-oriented meetups where you as a leader dont have any specific agenda other than fielding and answering questions from your team.If youre not already doing this, try it. Youll be surprised how much your employees want to utilize their voicehow many concerns or questions they want to be addressed.5. Do 360-Degree ReviewsFinally, to truly encourage and sustain a culture of transparency, you must submit yourself to the same expectations of reflection and appraisal as your employees.That means conducting 360-degree reviews.Most people dont enjoy receiving constructive feedback. Thats as true of executives as it is of managers and engineers.We get defensive and fold inward because we feel like were being attacked. But designing feedback sessions as two-way conversations helps ensure the person sitting on the other side of the t able understands that the purpose of providing feedback is to help the whole company improve and become more effective.It also proves to your people that you really do value transparency and that your culture really does value equality.The Bottom LineAt the end of the day, improving your internal communicative processes is something of an ongoing project which you can always work to improve. But prioritizing communication and transparencyand investing in it to prove itisimportant to youis still crucial for inspiring your employees, helping them improve, and elevating your companys overall effectiveness. It encourages growth and asks everyone to level up to be the best teammate they can be.Its a critical component, in other words, of your overall strategy. Dont neglect it.This article first appeared on Quora.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benja min Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people