Achieving a trustworthy and collaborative workplace is always a dream for any corporate, whether large or small. When the employee base strongly believes in the company’s ideas, ideals, values, thought process, and the way the company deals with internal and external audiences through communications, they tend to work in more cohesive and collaborative ways. Something, that paves way for their professional behaviour that is well-aligned with the corporate mission and vision.
For the employees it is always encouraging if they are given a chance to be heard more openly, to speak their minds, to share their creative ideas, to bring out their concerns, and to talk about everything in a transparent manner. If a company can keep its stakeholders well-informed, with facts and real situations in time, as per individual audience requirements, it can make a strong bond with the stakeholders, whether internal or external.
A company might be going through different situations at different times. It might be seeing the times of rising and positivity and growth for the company, and in some instances, the company might be facing difficult situations, challenging business environment, competition, low revenues and falling bottom line, etc. It’s a great idea to communicate about all of this in a structured and planned manner to various audiences to ensure their role and participation to address the situations.
If the company is making good revenues, making good profits, expanding business geographies, gaining new clients, adding more and more employees but fails to communicate this to their staff or customers, it stands a chance to lose the momentum of growth. All such positive elements have a strong potential to keep the mood of stakeholders upbeat, whether internal or external.
Employees feel motivated to work and deliver beyond their mandate, there is also an increased sense of belonging among the employees for being a part of a great successfully running business, they are hopeful of a good future and see a secured outlook for the long-term themselves and their families. Thereby, delivering a great benefit to the organisation as this helps in creating a trustworthy and more committed employee base.
If the organisation is going through a downturn, facing setbacks, hitting challenges, increasing competition, and observing a reduction in topline and bottom-line, but fails to communicate to their stakeholders, it is bound to suffer. Imagine if an organisation takes certain measures to reduce their costs by cutting down some wasteful expenses, a few perks & staff welfare expenses, and maybe a few short-term salary cuts for the staff.
If such measures are taken without properly communicating truthful reasons, by informing and explaining the employees, they can backfire, and many employees might leave the organisation for greener pastures. However, a truthful explanation of the situation, true reasons behind such measures, a timeline when these measures could be revoked, and sharing the positive outlook that can be achieved by such measures can instil a sense of belonging among the employees.
Not only a truthful and transparent communication in difficult times can help identify loyal staff base, but also can develop more committed and is more emphatic towards the organisation. In fact, when the large employee base sees any situation collectively, there is an increased sense of responsibility, collaboration, trust, and germination of innovative ideas to face the situation better.
An organisation can apply transparent communication by informing the stakeholders soon after learning about the situation, addressing their concerns & queries as they come in an honest manner, and thereby aligning the communications towards the larger goals, mission, and vision of the organisation as transparency and honesty in corporate communication have an uncanny ability to deliver long-term value.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Praveen has been closely associated with many national and international events related to cinema for children, art and culture. He has a well-rounded experience that cuts across all key sectors of PR & Corporate Communications.
He started his career with URJA Communications, an advertising agency specialising in technology brands, where he was instrumental in developing the PR division. Post this, he had a stint with Horizons Porter Novelli, a global public relations consultancy. Thereafter, he was heading the IT & Telecom division at Clea PR, a leading Indian public relations and communications company followed by a fairly long stint with Omnicom Group agencies viz. TBWA\India and Brodeur India.
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