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By Leslie Hildula Empowering employees to improve your organization will require greater
amounts of communication than you ever thought possible. It will ask that
you not only increase the amount of time you personally spend giving and
receiving information, but also that you improve your style and methods
of communicating. In addition, the communications structure within your
organization will need to change. For example, you wish that your employees cared more about the well-being
of the firm. You would like them to propose more solutions to problems
instead of just complaining to you and waiting for you to fix them. Well,
to do so, employees need access to the kind of information that makes you
capable of problem-solving. What are the firm's resources and plans? What
parameters are we working within that affect our problem solving? If all
your employees know where the firm is going and what resources the firm
has to get there, they too will be able to develop solutions that make
sense. If all this sounds time‹consuming; you're right, it is. But so are customer
complaints and organizational conflicts. Companies practicing employee
empowerment have found it well worth the investment of manager's time spent
communicating with employees. Companies committed to employee empowerment provide more information
in greater detail than the average company. One firm, a film processing
lab with 120 employees, posts charts that show financial results and sales
trends per product line. The senior management meets monthly with employee
groups to share business issues and answer questions. Every employee's
compensation is partially affected by how well their particular product
line performs in the marketplace. A construction company, that also runs very profitable service and manufacturing
operations, holds quarterly planning sessions. All employees are invited
to a Saturday breakfast, unpaid but hosted by the company, where their
department's performance is reviewed. Problems are discussed, successes
celebrated, plans made, and full participation is encouraged in this process.
All financial information is open to all employees, including wages. The
owners feel that if an employee thinks they should be making as much as
someone else, then that employee can freely discuss that with their manager.
The management believes that if their compensation is fair and adequate,
no apologies or secrets are necessary. Another principle of employee empowerment that strongly affects communication
channels within a company is the "twenty foot rule." This rule
states that the best people to solve a problem are those people who work
within twenty feet of the issue. So, if client reports are reaching your
desk late or with errors, then the best approach to take is to bring employees
together who are part of the process of preparing and delivering that report.
That is, it's not an issue that management can solve alone. They lack valuable
information that only the people with their hands on the process can provide.
If we don't involve the people who actually do the work in the problem--solving
process, then we won't reach the most effective solution or have the solution
implemented smoothly without resistance. As Stephen Covey succinctly said,
"No involvement, no commitment." Employee empowerment relies upon effective coaching as managers help
employees take on more responsibility. It requires that we ask more questions
and listen well. We must first seek to understand issues from our co-workers
and clients' perspectives before we jump to problem solving. This may require
that we further educate ourselves and our employees in coaching techniques.
As leaders in organizational improvement, your co-workers will look
to you to model the change. The demands upon your communication skills
will increase. You'll be asked to model self‹assessment and continuous
improvement‹to own up to your issues and needs. Here are five specific suggestions to help you improve your interpersonal
communication skills: 1. Use "I" statements instead of "you" statements.
When you say, "Mary, I really needed that report on my desk,"
rather than "Mary, you didn't get that report to me again," you
reduce defensiveness, increase cooperation, and speak with authority. "I"
statements describe your experience instead of laying blame on the other
person. 2. When discussing a problem, be specific and focus on the behavior.
Instead of saying, "Bob, you're not a team player," say "Bob,
I've noticed you have been late frequently to our planning meetings. I'm
irritated and frustrated by the time wasted because the meeting can't start
without you." Many conflicts in organizations result from vague language
or expectations. When you describe specific behavior, the person now understands
the problem and knows what you want changed. 3. Resolve conflicts early. Don't let conflicts fester.
Research indicates 70% of a manager's time involves dealing with conflict.
To reduce that amount, deal with them early. Also, ignoring conflicts means
that they go underground, where, like toxic waste, they pollute the morale,
motivation, and productivity of an organization. 4. Make sure you understand the message. Repeat, in your
own words, what someone is trying to tell you. We often misunderstand,
perhaps because of our own mental models of the situation or because the
speaker is unclear. By taking time to ensure that you understood by paraphrasing
what the speaker said, you will increase rapport and clarify any distortions.
5. Ask questions, especially when you are angry. When
we are angry, we tend to jump to conclusions and try to win the argument.
It means we may be trying to solve a problem with insufficient data. Stay
calm, breathe, and ask questions. You can often solve the problem without
escalating the conflict. You'll feel better, too, and your relationships
will be stronger. Changing style and methods of communication can often feel awkward.
We learned our skills when we were very young in our families and from
our early bosses. And, unless your family and early work experiences were
exceptional, there are probably still things you can learn about communicating
better. Doing so will help improve your co-worker's effectiveness, your
company's profitability, and your personal well-being. * Leslie Hildula is a consultant with The Babicky Consulting
Group. Reprinted by permission of the Oregon Certified Public Accountant,
Copyright 1995 Editor: JANUARY 1996 / THE CPA JOURNAL
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