Goldilocks and the Just Right Bowl of Communication

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place - George Bernard Shaw

There's a good deal of research on the impact of effective communication on organizational performance, employee engagement, and other important outcomes. For example, a 2009 Towers Watson study found that companies with effective communication practices had 47% higher total returns to shareholders over five years compared to those with less effective communication. Another study concluded that $37B is lost annually in US and UK organizations due to communication failures resulting in employee misunderstanding. It's too soon to know the financial impact of poor communication over the past 18 months, but we can expect these numbers to skyrocket as communication challenges were only exacerbated by the pandemic, and have likely increased the cost companies bear due to feckless practices.

Pandemic conditions have placed leaders and People Teams between a rock and a hard place with regard to communication.?On one side, there's a heightened sense of urgency around business growth imperatives due to nearly 2 years of financial anemia, particularly in industries most vulnerable to the effects of policies aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19. On the other side, there's a raging talent war, intensified by recent economic shifts that are impacting the supply and demand for workers, as well as workforce trends collectively referred to as "the great Rs" (Resignation, Reshuffle, Reset, and the like).

When organizations face tough or ambiguous times (whether caused by internal or external factors) a key struggle is getting communication right. Ineffective communication can lead to poor performance and low engagement due to a lack of information people need to perform their jobs, confusion about organizational priorities, and misunderstandings about the health of the business and future outlook. Leaders and People Teams - to whom employees rely on for answers and sense-making - are asking themselves: Whom do I tell? What do I tell? When do I tell? And, the pressing need to engage and retain top talent makes it all the more critical that organizations get it right with their approach to communication.

The truth is, these questions are always asked - formally or informally - during ambiguous times and periods of change. But in highly uncertain times, there are often few concrete answers - period. Many organizations tend to wait until all the answers are determined, and wind up communicating too little along the way. Others vomit information, inundating their people with so much detail that they become overwhelmed or stop paying attention. Neither is good!

So, what's the formula for the right amount of communication? While Winnie-the-Pooh became a widely acclaimed philosopher with his bestseller the Tao of Pooh, few anticipated that his fellow children’s book hero Goldilocks would be a communications expert. Yet, locked inside her story is the idea that there is a “just right” state of communication – not too much and not too little. Finding this “just right” level is key for organizations undergoing incessant change sparked by the unprecedented events of the past 2 years. But, finding it is tougher than it seems because "just right" communication isn’t only?about how much?you're communicating, but also what?you're communicating.

That being said, there are some universal principles to help guide People Teams and leaders towards a “just right” approach to communication.

• Who? Take a 360-degree look at the issue to determine who has a stake in its outcome. Communication is not “one-size-fits-all” as messages need to be targeted to different audiences. There is a “just right” message for each audience segment. Take time to identify your stakeholders and craft messaging that is relevant and will resonate with each audience.
• What? Tell them what they need to know to do their job. Look for opportunities to share information about company developments that will help them feel like owners, as well as to maintain a positive outlook on the organization's future. Imagine a significant other asks what's happening at work during a particularly tough time. “Management is figuring it out as we speak” is a much better response than “I don’t know, no one tells us" or my personal fave, "They treat us like mushrooms - we're kept in the dark and fed a lot of sh*t." Equally important, take care not to provide inaccurate information. People teams and leaders risk hurting their credibility when they provide incorrect information or back-peddle.
• When? Don’t necessarily wait to communicate until you know all the answers. Many times, simply letting people know that leadership doesn’t yet know the answers can reduce anxiety. People will always fill in the blanks. And, out of natural fear of the unknown, the fill-ins can be more negative than the truth and have a detrimental impact on performance and engagement. The ideal time to give information is when you can tell people what they can do about it. For example, if there will be a RIF, tell people when you know if there will be chances to apply for other internal jobs and whether severance or outplacement services will be available.

It's hard for organizations to get this right. Witness the array of organizations who have stumbled in communicating their return to office plans, only having to backtrack from their plans in the face of employee backlash. In contrast, my employer, Lattice, has nailed it on the communications front. On the spectrum of communication styles between “certain but opaque” and “open and in-process”, early on the leadership team set their sights on the latter, and together with the People team have executed flawlessly on this approach. At the company level, this means that even when there are no “decisions” to share, the People team provides regular and relevant updates about where we are on the journey, with functional leaders applying the same principles and communicating updated plans to their teams.

The benefits of “just right” communication during times of ambiguity and change are huge. At a basic level, people will know what's needed to do their jobs. Additionally, effective communication is an important foundation for employee engagement and a signal of a high-performance culture. But, as Goldilocks reminds us with her porridge that was too hot and too cold, and her bed that was too hard or too soft, people will have different preferences - as will organizations. While there are some universal truths to good communication, the tone (formal or informal) and the delivery method (email, Slack, all hands, memo, etc) will depend on the culture and values of each organization. It's worth the time to identify the approach that will resonate best in each environment, and with each audience.