Successful leaders know that effective communications are a competitive advantage.\u00a0 As you begin 2017, make a resolution to evaluate the health of your employee communications. Are business goals and actions aligned? Do employees understand priorities and do they have a way to participate and share ideas?<\/p>\n
Everyone talks about the importance of communications, but it\u2019s just lip service without an actionable plan. \u00a0\u00a0Here are four ways to achieve better communications in your ESOP in\u00a0 2017.<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0Map out your communications calendar right now<\/strong>\u2014Begin with a \u201cWelcome to 2017\u201d message. Schedule dates for the entire year now to ensure it remains a priority. Keep the content fresh with a mix of performance results, customer and employee stories, and encouragement.\u00a0 We all need more of that.<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0Articulate the vision<\/strong>\u2014 If a customer asks an employee what your business was about, what would they say? Everyone on your team should use the same headline.\u00a0 When people can connect their work to big goals, they are more engaged. \u00a0Leaders who communicate the vision and values, then put those values into action, see performance climb.<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0Use stories to make an impact<\/strong>\u2014Think back to the most recent story that struck a chord with you.\u00a0 Was it complicated or overstuffed with facts?\u00a0 Simple stories make an emotional connection with the audience and hold their attention.\u00a0 Use your own experiences to make a point.\u00a0\u00a0 Leaders who share a little of themselves in communications are viewed as credible and human.<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0Get visual<\/strong>\u2014Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.\u00a0 If you rely on email as your primary form of communication, there is a better way. In 2016, there were 4.6 billion cell phone users in the world and most phones have video or photo capability. Your team members are viewing or creating visual media every day. Use photos and video as frequently as you use memos. Video is an excellent way to improve message retention, connect with remote workers, and engage senior leadership with teams.\u00a0 The best part is you don\u2019t have to have a large budget or be an on-camera pro.\u00a0 If you\u2019re sincere, it will be memorable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Successful leaders know that effective communications are a competitive advantage.\u00a0 As you begin 2017, make a resolution to evaluate the health of your employee communications. Are business goals and actions aligned? Do employees understand priorities and do they have a way to participate and share ideas? Everyone talks about the importance of communications, but it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esopmarketplace.com\/esopblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}