Is communication still an issue?

by. Sean McDonald

Throughout my travels, working with credit unions across the country and around the world, there is usually a lot of discussion related to weak communication between employees and management or among departments. This lack of communication is one of the top reasons that executives give for slow growth, decreased productivity, poor performance and low morale.

Many times, a lack or productivity can be traced back to a significant lack of understanding on the part of employees (who are responsible for the productivity) as to what is expected of them.  There is a lack of clarity that leads to conflict between the employees and the managers that are responsible for ensuring that their team members are productive.

It may be because the employees were never given clear and concise goals.  Maybe the expectations of the managers were unrealistic or the managers may think that they have been perfectly clear.  Ineffective communication leads people down different paths, prevents people from getting on the “same page” and tends to create the “silo” effect in the workplace.

Many credit unions rely solely on an annual performance review to provide feedback and to communicate goals and expectations.  In many cases, this is the only time that employees hear from their superiors.  Even worse, the employees are not permitted to add their own input to the proceedings.  So what happens is that the employees loathe review time and since they can’t affect the final outcome of the review in any way, the review does not reach its intended purpose – to provide quality feedback and to improve employee performance.

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