Avoiding common management mistakes

Improving communication can turn employee problems around

If you think you are doing a lot right as an employer, but you just can’t seem to keep your employees happy, look to see if you’re making one or more common communication mistakes. Correcting them just might turn your employee problems around. Research tells us that 95 percent of the time lack of communication is the top reason why businesses have high employee turnover or other employee problems, such as low productivity. That’s 95 percent of the time!

As in all facets of life, effective communication in business — including agricultural businesses — is a key ingredient of success. Good communication can help you relate to your employees, integrate them as members of a cohesive team and help you effectively define job responsibilities. In short, it can help you build a productive work environment, where good employees are more likely to stay long term.

This article offers helpful tips to get employers and employees talking regularly and effectively. We think that if you try these ideas, you’ll find that nothing is as effective as face-to-face communication.

Getting started

It is important for employers to realize that the work environment has changed. Of course, you can employ some folks who, no matter what you do, will not be committed to you or to your business. But the majority of employees are hardworking people who are mostly looking for a positive working environment.

Work is more than a job and a paycheck. It is a place where people spend 30, 40, 50, 60 or more hours together a week. As an owner or manager, you need to offer your employees more than just a paycheck. Employees are looking for an entire package, including:

• a competitive salary and benefits
• a clearly defined job and responsibilities
• positive feedback about a job well done
• opportunities to contribute ideas, opinions and comments
• fair, supportive and timely critiquing, when appropriate
• quality leadership
• a vision of where the business is going
• perks (like a pizza at lunchtime once in a while)
• training
• time off.

But that’s not all …

Talk to your employees

Here are some suggestions for focusing on better employer and employee communication:

• Regularly tell your employees how well they are doing. Without your feedback, employees are alone on the job, and unsure about their performance. This is especially important for new employees who are just learning their job. A simple “nice job” or a “well done” goes a long way to make someone’s day, and improve his or her attitude about work.
• Ask top-performing employees to help train new employees, and make sure that you also thank them for their help and cooperation.
• Address mistakes immediately, and with sensitivity. Most employees sense when something isn’t going right and are relieved when their supervisor gives them an opportunity to talk about it. Discuss options to correct the problem, and let employees choose which option works best for them so they will feel ownership in doing a better job.
• You’ll be amazed at how a positive tone of voice can improve communication. Surprisingly, nonverbal communication— hand gestures, facial expressions, tone — comprises as much as 60 percent of overall information content in person-to-person communication. Two sentences with exactly the same words can have entirely different meanings depending on voice tone.
• Work with employees on large or difficult tasks. This is also an opportunity for you to give employees ongoing feedback as they work through an assignment.
• Don’t be afraid to emphasize a point. Sometimes an employee needs an extra nudge to get your message. But be sure to keep it private. Let employees know their work is important and that you have confidence in them. Encourage them to ask for help, especially when they have a new assignment that is unfamiliar.

Help employees talk to you

Talking to your employees is only half the solution. You also want to ensure that your employees feel comfortable talking to you. That way, you’ll know if they understand their jobs and are happy in their work. Here are some suggestions on how to encourage employees to “open up”:

Meet with employees regularly

If business meetings with your staff seem like an interruption to your busy day, think again. Remember that lack of communication between employers and employees is the number one reason why many business have high turnover.

Every productive meeting starts with three very important parts:

• A purpose. Why are you meeting?
• A leader. A person who will take charge, keep folks on track and pull ideas together in an action plan. A leader also encourages members to participate and ensures that all ideas are heard, and not criticized.
• An agenda. The leader sets an agenda and sticks with it. Here is a typical agenda:
    – goals to achieve during meeting
    – decisions to be made – consequences of decisions
    – new projects or other new business
    – new equipment
    – follow-through on last meeting
    – specific problems

Conclusion

It is easy to stay focused on the day-to- day operation of your business, and forget that your employees also need your attention. But take time with your employees. Make sure they have the information they need to make informed decisions. Ask if they clearly understand what you expect of them. Train them by continuously improving the specific skills you hired them for — and allow them to learn new skills, too. In short, check to see how effectively your employees think you communicate with them. Making the four changes listed in this article — talking to your employees, helping employees talk to you, meeting regularly with employees and running productive meetings — just might turn your employee problems around.

In their own words...

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