Cop an attitude for effective employee communication.

You've probably visited companies - or heard about companies - where employees feel that management communicates well.

Employees in these companies read internal publications and listen during meetings. They ask questions and actually hear the answers. They feel that their management is at least trying to communicate what's happening in the business.

In other companies you've seen, employees sneer at every management attempt to convey a message. They scan publications for management lies - "that's what they want us to believe" - and only endure meetings.

What's the difference? Attitude.

Sure, you're thinking, the attitude of the employees in one company is far superior to employee attitudes at the other. But I'm talking about management attitude. When a company's management cops the wrong attitude - a superior, controlling, condescending attitude - it drives employee attitudes in the wrong direction. Employees become suspicious, distrustful, cynical.

Copping the right attitude - five attitudes, actually - can help management take a giant step toward winning employee trust and commitment. After all, your attitude shines through everything you say and do in communicating with employees. Copping the right attitude can help management effectively communicate its message, its vision for the company's future, and the employees' role in that future.

In other words, effective employee communication can be as much the result of how you do things as what things you do.

Copping these five attitudes is essential for success in employee communication:

Respectful Attitude. Talk to your employees as you would any adult. You'll find that most of them, after the initial shock, will react in an adult manner.

Never, ever, cop the attitude that the company knows what's best for employees, as if employees don't know what's best for themselves.

How do you make sure you're copping the right attitude, that you're not talking down to employees? When you prepare any communication, pretend you're getting ready to talk to your spouse, a sibling or a close friend. Think about how you would phrase the company news in a conversation with any of those adults; use that attitude to drive the way you phrase the news to employees.

Remember this: Your company probably tells applicants and new employees that you're dedicated to hiring the best possible people. Cop the attitude that your company really does hire the best people. Treat them like the best.

Honest Attitude. Haven't we all been told that honesty is the best policy? That's definitely the case with employee communication.

And it ties in with respect. If you cop a respectful attitude toward your employees, you will talk straight with them. You will use company communication vehicles to inform, not to mold opinions or "position" information.

Watch how you react - and how other adults react - to efforts by politicians to position an event or put a positive spin on some not-so-positive news. Many of us - maybe even you - react with a cynical sneer. We wear the same look employees at some companies wear.

I know of one company that decided it had to reduce the cost of its benefit package to continue to compete in its industry. In announcing the changes it was making, however, the company emphasized how much better the benefit plan would be in some areas. The health package, for example, would now provide more types of preventive screenings and checkups in the standard package without an employee co-payment.

Several months later, employees were still steaming over management's attitude. An employee of one division said the company must think he's really stupid. "Don't pee on my boots and try to tell me it's raining," he said. "I can tell the difference."

Cop an honest attitude. If you're cutting benefits, but offering the best package the company can afford, say so.

Be Open. Corporate security is important, and it's always a consideration in employee communication. Cop an open attitude, though; don't let only security concerns dictate what information you share with employees.

Whenever you think information might be too sensitive to release to employees, ask the following question: "Is this information really something our competitor can use to beat us?"

If the answer is "no," publish the information for employees. If the answer is "probably not," publish the information to employees.

A manager at a privately held company was concerned that publishing sales figures in a weekly employee publication would give competitors valuable knowledge. "Isn't the company asking all employees to provide extra effort to help boost sales?" I asked. The manager agreed that request had been made. "Don't these people who are making extra effort deserve to see how their company is doing?" I asked. The manager agreed that they deserved to know that information.

Finally, I asked if competitors could really hurt the company by getting their hands on the information in the employee publication. The manager said, "Well, they could possibly have an impact." The company continues to publish its sales figures.

Timely Attitude. Cop the attitude that employees should always be the first to know what's going on.

Once you do, you'll take the necessary steps to make sure your employees aren't the last ones in your community to hear a company announcement. You'll make sure they hear official company news from you, not from the local TV news anchor.

It's not always easy to time internal and external announcements so employees hear things first, especially if your company has plants running around the clock. Invariably, there are times when one shift gets news from outside the company first.

But good planning - including a standing plan for getting a company announcement to all employees rapidly - can, at least, minimize the number of times employees hear news from you after they hear it on TV.

Don't ignore the advantage of a company E-mail system or intranet for communicating news to all your employees instantaneously.

Receptive Attitude. As you work hard to communicate to employees, remember that they have messages for you. Cop the attitude that their views, concerns and questions are important and constructive. Resist the attitude that employee concerns are only threatening.

Too many executives cop the attitude that silence is golden, that employee silence means everything is fine. In reality, the absence of complaining doesn't necessarily indicate that everyone is happy.

Employees who care about their company will gripe and complain at times. Develop good antennae and listen carefully. Does the complaining indicate a communal bad-hair day, or is it the beginning of a groundswell of emotion, a reaction to some poorly planned policy statement? Is it an issue that needs to be addressed?

Every message employees communicate to you can be helpful. Remember, employees who care nothing about their companies will keep silent.

Those are the five attitudes you need to cop - Respect, Honesty, Openness, Timeliness and Receptiveness. Copping those attitudes and letting them direct your communication efforts are the first steps toward an effective employee communication program.

Barry House is principal of The Creative House, Quincy, Ill.