Internal communications in midsized firms are often irregular or absent, causing bad decisions and bad execution.<\/p>\n
A Towers Watson study (Capitalizing on Effective Communication \u2013 How Courage, Innovation and Discipline Drive Business Results in Challenging Times, 2010) concludes that companies with highly effective communication practices enjoy 47% higher total returns to shareholders compared with the firms that are least effective at communicating.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a case where poor communications destroyed value.\u00a0 One software firm created an IT development tool (after many months of effort) and pressed it into service for its global development teams.<\/p>\n
It caused an uproar; most of the teams ultimately refused to use it.\u00a0 Within a few months, the company backed down and had to shelve the tool.\u00a0 What a waste.<\/p>\n
Internal communications should be strategic, planned and regular for the growing arms and legs of a midsized company to work in unison.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Midsized firms ought to create, publish and execute an internal communications plan so that the right people are communicating in an efficient and effective manner.<\/p>\n Small businesses communicate naturally.\u00a0 With only a handful of people, they all hear about new ideas quickly; as a result, feedback and discussion happen organically.<\/p>\n However as companies grow to midsized (generally regarded as $10 million to $1 billion in revenues), work is compartmentalized, employees are housed in many locations, reporting structures are developed that separate people, and ongoing\u00a0 projects are multiplied to the point that the natural flow of communication ceases.\u00a0 Without good communication, leaders make decisions in a vacuum.\u00a0 Crucial input is missing.<\/p>\n The people who must execute the decision haven\u2019t been asked for input and consequently haven\u2019t bought in. Their potential resistance and slowed or poor execution all harm results.<\/p>\n Or consider the case of\u00a0Hurricane Grill and Wings<\/a>, a franchised restaurant operation based in Florida.\u00a0 Just after acquiring the restaurant, management decided on a limited time offer (discount) and so informed the franchisees (whose profit margins were thus reduced).\u00a0 They pushed back; it took a lot of time and effort persuading them to move forward with the program.<\/p>\n Their President Martin O\u2019Dowd said, \u201cWe had failed on several levels because we just rolled it out and didn\u2019t pre-sell it.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t set any expectations.\u201d\u00a0 Hurricane knew they had to change communication procedures.<\/p>\n Internal communications form a crucial element ofleadership infrastructure<\/a>, the set of people and processes used by the leadership team to create stability and predictability throughout the business.<\/p>\n A midsized company ought to design the optimal communications process for their particular business, write it down, then execute it like any other project.\u00a0 For example, in a ten million dollar revenue firm, it might be as simple as weekly 1:1 meetings between the leaders and each direct report, a weekly operations meeting, a monthly business plan review meeting, and a quarterly all-hands meeting.\u00a0 But one solution does not fit all companies.\u00a0 Consider the following approach to constructing and executing a thoughtful internal communications plan.<\/p>\n Start by calling a meeting with the senior leadership team with the sole agenda item:\u00a0 how to optimize internal communication.\u00a0 Display a straw man proposal as to the type of meetings, the frequency of those meeting and who should be in which meetings.\u00a0 Listen carefully to see if there is alignment on a clear path forward.<\/p>\n Think about all the constituencies who would be ideally involved in the company\u2019s decisions.\u00a0 Ask each functional leader to construct a similar plan for what they plan to do in their own function.<\/p>\n Hurricane established three standing committees which met on a twice yearly cycle:\u00a0 the food and beverage committee, the marketing committee, and the president\u2019s advisory council (PAC) composed of their top 20 franchisees.\u00a0 In addition to the meetings, frequent communications are ongoing via e-mail and phone when feedback is sought.<\/p>\n Standing meetings form only one element\u2014albeit a crucial element\u2014of your communications plan.\u00a0 Commit your plan to<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0paper, starting at the top with board meetings, cascading down through all hands meetings.\u00a0 Schedule repeat invitations for everyone\u2019s calendar extending out a full year.\u00a0 Use\u00a0RACI<\/a>\u00a0as a framework for thinking about who is essential to the meeting versus who simply could be updated through meeting notes.<\/p>\n Consider how to communicate for special purposes, like projects or decisions that impact various subgroups.\u00a0 Identify the communication cadence required.\u00a0 In your project plan you may need to allow more time for discussion and subsequent course correction.\u00a0 Midsized companies can\u2019t afford to kick off last-minute-Charlie projects and execute them badly\u2014they must anticipate needs and allow time for quality execution, including taking the time to communicate.<\/p>\n Today, when Hurricane plans a limited time offer, it goes through a set of procedures involving both the food and beverage committee and the PAC.\u00a0 O\u2019Dowd says, \u201cWhen we roll them out now, everyone is already on board.\u00a0 It\u2019s seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n Communicating status updates to the broader team is important too.\u00a0 These might be e-mail updates,\u00a0video announcements<\/a>, or even conference calls\/webinars.\u00a0 Sometimes a monthly \u201cstate of the company\u201d address from the CEO makes a broad and growing team feel included and involved.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it seems that much of the time internal communications are far too much output and not nearly enough input.\u00a0 Good meeting procedures should include asking for input (especially from quiet people).\u00a0 Another crucial element is the\u00a0weekly one on one meeting<\/a>\u00a0between leader and subordinate where feedback can be actively solicited.\u00a0 Setting aside time for teams to connect informally (read \u201cSocial Time\u201d<\/a>) can be critical as well, but may only happen if it is part of the plan.<\/p>\n Just like anything new, too many communication processes innovated too quickly can backfire.\u00a0 Avoid over-doing meetings!\u00a0 Keep them short, focused,well facilitated<\/a>, and with as few people as practical for the purpose.\u00a0 The meeting either should be very valuable, or should not happen at all.\u00a0 Giving more time for communications may in certain circumstances only slow things down:\u00a0 generally a bad thing.\u00a0 You can avoid that result by starting projects sooner, and by multi-threading, having a number of projects running simultaneously.\u00a0 With a good project plan and active management, all projects can finish in time. In fact, plan execution will happen more quickly with fewer objections and problems.<\/p>\n