Does your communication have gaps?
There are many evolving changes which are taking place in the business world. Organizations are restructuring the physical presence of staff. Some by the nature of their work contribution must be in a building to execute their tasks. Others can contribute via a virtual or remote work setting. Still others can contribute through a hybrid of both on premises and remote.
As these changes get worked out, the organization MUST address how these physical changes in location impact the roles of the staff and how communication amongst team members is effectively executed. I’m witnessing business making changes but not taking into consideration the impact it is having on communication. They are proceeding like the job roles and communincation will remain the same even though the redesign of the people interactions has physical gaps between staff members.
To some degree, business needs to revisit role descriptions and confirm or update to incorporate the changes in the architecture of staff contribution locations. This is not just true with the present situation which caused many organizations to move to a remote workers but equally so when technology is implemented and changes communincation workflow. Again witnessing the implementation of tablets to a remote workforce changes how communincation takes place. The concept of digital communincation is fine but the results can be less than desirable if not work flowed all the way through the organization.
For example, the service tech completes a work order in the field and enters in their time and notes of work provided on the tablet. This is then electronically set to the office but also to the customer’s email. Wow – sounds like a dream of stopping hard copy paperwork. Yes, that is a definite value but now the technician needs to convey a clean, neat, well worded description of work performed as well as work not performed. If the cryptic work detail is accepted by the organization, it is not too long before the customers are expressing concerns about work not done and being charged for or issues not being brought to the attention of them while the tech was on site. This now requires a potential return visit at the organizations expense – Profit just took a hit.
Another example is when historically a person would walk down the hall of the building and deliver some paperwork to a fellow colleague along with some conversation of what, where etc. was to take place with the documents. Today, in a remote work setting, the documents or files are sent in an email with a brief email expecting the same results as if the conversation took place in the office. As leaders we all know the saying about “assume” so let’s not accept that mantra. Even though location of talent may be different, we cannot accept communincation will remain the same.
This week if your organization has taken steps to either move to remote workers on a more permanent basis or have instituted more technology in the recent months, it is time to step back and review your communications workflow. Where might gaps exist and what needs to be upgraded to make the new communincation workflow most effective.
Mapping out role descriptions, communincation workflows and the like are critical to a well run business. It might not be your natural strength so give us a call at (313) 527-7945 in Michigan or (407) 984-7246 in Florida to discuss how JKL Associates can be “Your Partner in Progress.”