“Improve Communication” Means Different Things for Different-Sized Firms

“Improve Communication” Means Different Things for Different-Sized Firms

Over the last eight weeks, I’ve facilitated six strategic planning sessions with AE firms ranging from fewer than 100 employees to several thousand. While the firms differed in size, geography, ownership structure, markets, and strategy, one theme (not surprisingly) continued to surface: “We need to improve communication.”

That statement is probably more than familiar to you. It shows up in employee surveys, leadership interviews, focus groups, management retreats, and board discussions. It is one of the most common concerns employees raise and one of the most common priorities leadership teams identify.

The interesting thing, however, is that people rarely define what they mean by it.

Communication has become one of those business terms that everyone understands in theory, but few people describe with any precision. When employees say communication is a problem, they may be talking about transparency, alignment, collaboration, trust, decision-making, information overload, leadership visibility, or any number of other issues. Different people can use the exact same word to describe completely different experiences.

Like it has in just about every strategic planning session I’ve ever run, it became apparent during these recent meetings. In some firms, employees feel disconnected from leadership decisions. In others, employees are overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive. Some firms struggle with collaboration between offices or service lines. Others wrestle with ensuring that strategic priorities are understood consistently throughout the organization.

All of those concerns get labeled as communication challenges, but they are not the same challenge…Read more