The experience of working with a new client recently gave us a first-hand feel of how the achievement of Organization suffers when the employees are not aligned with the organizational goals and vision. Be it alignment of the organizational vision, employee engagement or a positive work atmosphere, effective communication is quintessential for an organization.
To understand the importance of that, we will dive into this subject with the help of a case study. Consider a case study wherein TechnoJungle Innovations, a mid-sized IT Services firm, was able to successfully implement a holistic communication channel to handle pain points around vision casting, employee engagement, morale and loyalty.
Background: TechnoJungle Innovations had a few challenges such as the disconnect between organizational vision & departmental goals, low employee engagement, declining morale, and increasing turnover. In response to those issues, the leadership team brought in GatewaysGlobal team to implement a new communication channel aimed at creating better clarity, engagement, and employee satisfaction.
Path: Developing strong communication channel that is in line with function goals, which increases employee engagement to improve morale and loyalty across the bottom line.
Methodology
My consultants used their OrgEfficience – an Assessment tool designed and used by them to understand the processes, policies, procedures and systems of the organization in 5 days. Our tool is used for assessments diagnose organizational problems like; understanding of organization goal, employee engagement, understanding of HR policies, grievance management, workflow inefficiencies, team dynamics, effectiveness of leadership, etc.
An in depth report from our Consultants after the assessment. The following is a list of known issues / concerns.
1. Some communities offer data on their organisational structure and hierarchy.
- Top-Down Communication: Communication was predominantly top-down; employees were disconnected or unaware of decisions and changes. Somehow the communication did not / l the Project Managers / Team Leads (middle management) level in the organizations
- Siloed Departments: The majority departments worked in silo’s. Lack of collaboration among department.
2. For more than five hundred thousand staff, unfortunately, our channels of communication suffer.
- Poor Tools: Most communication used to happen on emails. The organization employees were using a common ID’s for emailing which created communication gaps and created gaps within employees – some updated about the changes in the organization and some un-updated.
- No Standardization: There were no communication standards, so the grapevine communication was at its best. “It was not clear how or when employees should share information.
3. Issues in Leadership and Management
- Bad Middle Management: The middle managers were generally not the best communicators. They were in the organization for a long time so they faced difficulty in communication in new age mode.
- Inconsistent Messaging: The Project Managers / Team Leads were giving inconsistent or unclear messages which resulted in a lot of confusion and dissatisfaction.
4. Employee Engagement & Staff Morale
- Disengagement: Because employees had absolutely nothing that they knew about the organizational mission, expansion plans, etc., they become disengaged or dissatisfied with their roles. In the end, it resulted in them being less involved in most of the engagement processes.
- Risk of Backlash: Employees held back their voice and did not share their opinions considering that the organization was not aware of policies. They were concerned that, if they approached them directly, there would be repercussions from the management.
Conclusions
At GatewaysGlobal, we understand that every organization is different – each organization, like humans, has a unique DNA. That is why we think outside the box and develop custom solutions for each client that we service. There were a myriad of steps we took to resolve this that included vision alignment workshops, Townhall, Newsletter, was to have a performance management system in place, running engagement programs, and getting involved with Cross Functional Teams. While these initiatives contributed towards greater employee engagement, improved morale & loyalty, the results were also visible on TechnoJungle’s bottom-line which had stagnated for 3 consecutive years.
Are your employees aligned to your organization’s vision? Avoid falling into this trap and let communication overcome the barriers. Utilizing Enneagram and other psychological tests, co-create systems and processes customized for the collective energy of the group are relatively fast to execute. Together, let’s transform your organization. Contact us today!
