5 Fundamentals for Effective Communication

Lately, I have been seeing an increase in what feels like anti-meeting content. While the point may be to highlight other methods of communication rather than scheduling a meeting, we shouldn't dismiss or put a negative connotation on meetings. I feel we need a reminder of communication fundamentals. A "checklist" of sorts we can utilize to ensure we are delivering effective and clear messages. In this process, we can choose the appropriate channel or medium to best communicate with our coworkers and, as a result, hopefully, reduce the feeling of meeting overload.

4 Challenges of Outdated Firstline Worker Communications

Each industry has their own version of a firstline worker. They are the ones who often are the first point of contact between the company and the customer or world outside of the organization. They can be found to engage directly with the customer, fulfill product orders, build the product, or perform tasks that keep an organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. Take a look at a variety of different industries and some of the job titles of their firstline workers.

Firstline Workers By Industry

The onset of digital transformation has and continues to change they way we collaborate: IMs & chats, virtual meetings, emails, collaboration of digital documents I can go on and on. Unfortunately, this transformation often does not make its way to the frontline worker. Thus, this group of employees, the ones who interact the most with the outside world, often feel cut off from communication with the rest of the company. This leaves organizations wide open to challenges that impact productivity and performance. Let's identify four challenges organizations face from failing to modernize firstline worker communications and the impact it has on the business.

Customizing your Firstline Worker Communications

Let's start off by stating upfront Firstline Worker Communications does not come in one size fits all. Different work sites and industries have their own unique challenges in delivering the appropriate information to their workers in general, let alone those direct to the Firstline. As eloquently stated in a 2018 Forbes article on going digital and the firstline worker “Digital transformation is a top-to-bottom process of rethinking what business you’re in and how to employ technological advantage to better meet the needs of customers. To get there, you need the full participation and engagement of everyone in your company, from the boardroom to the firstline."

In this Part 2 of our Firstline Worker Communication Series (if you missed Part 1 have no fear check it out), we present a few real-world scenarios of what can be customized along with key considerations to ensure business critical information makes it to the Firstline. We will take a peek into:

Furloughed Staff
Construction Staff
Retail Staff

6 Key Considerations for Successful Firstline Worker Communications

Firstline workers have become most essential workers in most organizations and essential for us all to get the products and services needed in our daily lives.

The Day Outlook Became My Secretary

I feel that I’ve been tricked. Okay, maybe “tricked” is a harsh word, but let’s put it this way: I’ve seen a bit of the future, I like it, and I’m not sure if and when it’s coming back.

Multipliers and Success with SharePoint (or any new technology)

I’m reading a book right now called Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (by Liz Wiseman). It’s about accessing the intelligence and potential of people in organizations. I ask you not to stop here, as this is not a book review. In fact, I’m still in the first chapter, but it has me thinking a lot about my personal impact on my own organization and even more so, about all of my IT contacts at their individual businesses that I consult with. I want to start this article with some information from the beginning of the book, because I hear this issue surface constantly and it sets the stage so perfectly for what I want to talk about.

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