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Leadership Forums
Encourage leadership to regularly meet with employees.
Specifics will vary based on the employee count. If leadership can't meet with everyone at once, encourage more frequent meetings with various groups of employees.
This idea provides employees with the opportunity to have open and interactive discussions with leaders about the company's current status, goals, and future plans.
The crucial aspect of this approach is that leaders are encouraged to engage in conversations with employees rather than simply talking at them. The goal is to create a two-way communication channel where employees can ask questions and actively participate in the dialogue.
Employees are likely to trust their leaders more when they can relate to them and feel a personal connection.
To foster this, you could introduce a "Day in the Life" series featuring your leadership team. This series would provide insights into their personal lives, such as family, hobbies, interests, and their feelings about the company. Alternatively, during forums or other interactions, leaders can encourage casual conversations and show genuine interest in their employees' lives.
By engaging in such open exchanges, leaders can build stronger connections with their staff and create a more trusting and relatable environment.
Skip-Level Meetings
Encourage leaders to schedule coffee, lunch, or other informal meetings with employees other than their direct reports.
These individuals can be high-potential employees, top performers, supervisors from highly engaged teams, teams undergoing significant changes, or selected randomly.
These meetings offer leaders a chance to personally get to know employees and listen to them directly. It creates an opportunity for open and meaningful conversations that can lead to better understanding, stronger connections, and valuable insights into the organization's dynamics.
Consider using the GOOD meeting template.Podcasts
Leaders have the option to record a podcast in either audio or video format, which faculty and staff can access whenever they want.
This approach offers an excellent means of communication and allows listeners to hear the speaker's tone, emphasis, and facial expressions (if video is used). It creates a more personal experience compared to written communications.
You can decide whether to keep these podcasts private for your employees only or make them public, allowing anyone outside the company to access them as well. This way, you can tailor the content to suit your specific audience and communication needs.
Blogs
Blogs provide a means of written communication that employees can access whenever they need to.
They serve as a great platform to document information that doesn't require immediate reading by others. Additionally, blogs offer the flexibility for more informal or personal communications.
For instance, leaders can share impactful experiences they recently had within the company or tell mission-filled stories about customers or the communities they work with.
Just like with podcasts, you have the option to keep these blogs private for employees only or make them public. This gives you control over who can access the content, allowing you to tailor it to your intended audience and communication goals.