Role of Communication in Knowing Employees

It is essential for managers to know their employees well to expect loyalty and commitment in return. Employees need to feel comfortable at the workplace for them to deliver their level best. It is completely unprofessional to address your employees as “Mr”,“Ms”” or “hey”. There is absolutely no need to address them as “Sir“ or “Madam” even. It is absolutely okay if you call them by their first names.

Communication plays an important role in knowing your fellow workers. The role of a supervisor is not just to exchange mails with his team members. You need to sit with your employees and understand what exactly they expect from you and the organization. Find out whether they are satisfied with their performances or overall job responsibilities or not? You need to know where all he is lacking and what all initiatives would help him perform even better. Interaction is very important. Yes, emails are essential but why do you always have to depend on emails and SMSes? Why can’t you directly speak to the individual concerned? Trust me, it will solve half of your problems and make work easier for you.

There is absolutely no harm if you speak to members of other departments as well. Sideways communication plays a crucial role in strengthening the bond among employees. Knowing employees well also enables managers to understand which employee can perform a particular task and which employee cannot? It helps you decide the key responsibility areas of your team members as per their specialization and capabilities. It is important for you to know whether an individual has any criminal background or not, how has he performed at his previous organization, his contact number, address and so on. If you do not keep a proper track on your employees, don’t be surprised if he leaves the organization all of a sudden. Interacting with employees does not mean you start interfering in someone’s personal lives.

Informal interactions are also important to break the ice and know your employees. Encourage morning meetings at workplace where employees can plan their day and also brainstorm ideas to come up with innovative solutions. Trust me; it will increase the overall productivity of the employee as well as organization. Allow employees to bring their cups of coffee with them. Let them open up.

Greet everyone with a smile. No employee can work at a stretch for nine to ten hours. Encourage employees to have lunch together. Let employees interact with each other. Even managers can join their team members for lunch or small get-togethers once in a while. It is the responsibility of the human resource professionals to send birthday greetings to the employees.

Celebrate important festivals at workplace which would bring employees closer and also give them an opportunity to interact with each other. Such small initiatives also lead to a healthy work culture. No one likes to work in an organization where employees do not speak with each other.

Employees should have an easy access to their manager’s cabin. Healthy Communication leads to free flow of information and better relationships at workplace.