Every one of your employees or anyone who interacts with them about your company is, by default, a major element of your marketing, sales, PR, recruiting, community relations, production, fulfillment and other departments.   Does everyone in your company have a business card along with a current understanding of the goals and precepts of the company?  These all help them better understand how important they are to the success of the company.

If they are proud or frustrated by their jobs these feelings will be communicated to anyone they communicate with if your business comes up.  Trying to ensure that this message is positive or at least neutral should be a constant effort by everyone at the company.   You never know when an off hand comment during a dinner about how frustrated someone is about their job will become something that changes a potential employee or customer’s mind.

One of the best ways to ensure a happier workforce is to have open and frequent discussions with not only individuals but the entire company where everyone has the opportunity to speak.  Many times the solutions to problems are brought forward by individuals who usually didn’t have the ability to talk directly with senior management.   A program that provides a means for people to voice their concerns without fear of reprisal is also essential.

One of the best ways I implemented was that each manager needed to submit a short report each Friday morning about what their department had accomplished that week, what they weren’t able to do and what they intended to do the next week.  They only got this information by talking with each of their reports.   I then combined the reports into a company wide email containing all of the reports on Monday morning so that each department could know what other departments were doing.  Many times this resulted in department heads or individuals having further discussions about ideas that could improve results.   It also helped in addressing grievances and problems voiced by employees.     It’s all about breaking down the silos of information.

Russ