Start the conversation: reflections on the value of 'talking' in the workplace.

You bring such value to your company's internal communication--keeping employees involved in attaining business goals, helping them understand marketplace pressures so they can respond to customers, arming them with knowledge to make sound decisions and clarifying everything from company benefits to operational processes. Effective employee communication programs are good for morale and a positive bottom line, even if we haven't found a sure-fire way to prove it with statistics.

Did you ever wonder how companies too small for a formal employee communication function can possibly be a good place to work, or how they even survive as a business?

OK, so you've never really asked yourself that question. But follow along with me here, and you'll find out how the answer may help you see internal communication in a new light--one that reveals possibilities for enhancing your current employee communication plan.

To cut to the chase, here's the answer: Communication happens in a workplace even without award-winning internal media or creative, engaging campaigns. It's called conversation. Wherever communities exist--and they certainly do in a workplace--conversation is the way in which people share the meaning of their endeavors. They float ideas, ask questions, define value and find commonality. In fact, "in common" is the root of both "community" and "communication."

SMALL TALK

Don't think small businesses have less to communicate to employees or fewer communication challenges along the way to shared meaning. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the current small business atmosphere is one of rapid change and a sense of impermanence. Sounds like corporate life.

The SBA defines small as fewer than 500 employees, and with that definition, the United States has 5 million small businesses. More than three-quarters of those companies have fewer than 10 employees.

The Small Business Coalition in Australia defines small business not only in terms of numbers--20 or fewer fits its criteria--but also in terms that communicators who craft messages can appreciate: "The personal objectives of owners will guide and directly influence business decisions."

With fewer than 10 or 20 employees, a small business CEO can practically shout reminders across the office or plant floor about company goals or guidance on business decisions. In one-on-one conversations, an owner-CEO can gain employees' commitment and reinforce company values. A study currently being analyzed for the IABC Research Foundation shows that small-business CEOs feel competent as communicators, often acting on instinct rather than on any formal training. After all, they simply have conversations about things important to them.

In big business, a CEO like that is ideal: a confident, competent leader who explains the vision and business goals in terms that resonate with employees--as if he or she were on the production floor right there with them. In reality, CEOs of large companies are removed from daily operations and engaged in conversations at a completely different level.

In small companies, conversations ultimately provide insights about the same issues addressed in formal communication programs of larger companies. But small businesses find direction without annual strategic planning retreats, without priority assessments to solidify communication opportunities for the coming year and without budget and staffing justification reports to file.

At least for a while conversation happens that way. Successful small businesses don't necessarily stay small. Entrepreneurs grow companies. Eventually, structure and process replace personal relationships and crowd out certain conversations in the workplace.

MORE PEOPLE, MORE COMPLEXITY

It's not the number of widgets or percent of market share that ratchets internal communication needs up a notch. It's not the years the company has been in business. The deciding factor is the size of the company, according to Jim Alampi. As managing director of Solutions at Work in Farmington Hills, Mich., USA, he counsels CEOs of growing companies. Entrepreneurs are amazed when Alampi reveals how geometrically complex a small company can become just by adding two or three employees--but at the same time, these entrepreneurs nod in agreement that it's the increasing number of employees, not sales or revenues, that have caused communication disconnects in the evolution of their businesses.

"When you are below 10 employees, the CEO is intimately involved in everything. They probably don't even have titles in the company. People are just worried about getting an office with a telephone to take an order," Alampi says.

At this size, a CEO talks with everyone and knows employees' interests and families. And each employee is hearing the company vision directly from the CEO. Knowing what to do to achieve it is fairly self-evident.

The next point of complexity comes when companies grow to 50 and 75 employees. "To get from 10 to 75 employees, you have to start to delegate. You need an accounting system for the first time because now just getting an order is not so important; cash flow is," he says. "And you get into org charts." This is when CEOs start looking for help with something they can't clearly identify, according to Alampi. They just know something isn't quite right, or the business isn't operating as smoothly as it used to. Seldom do entrepreneurial CEOs realize that the cause might be ineffective internal communication.

At this point, the executive team has to start truly communicating. Managers, not just the CEO, carry on the conversation.

Jason Fulp is communications director for Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative Inc. in Kearney, Mo., USA. The company employs 82 people. Fulp concurs that it's the small size of the audience that differentiates internal communication in his workplace from that of larger companies, and that much of the responsibility rests with the leaders. "We have an employee newsletter that's published quarterly, but most all employee communication is handled by department heads or our CEO," he notes.

Texas Nameplate Co. hardwired conversation into its core. Its 66 employees manufacture and sell identification and information labels affixed to refrigerators, oil-field equipment, trucks and computers. The Dallas, Texas, company has identified seven key business drivers: customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, process optimization, environmental consciousness, controlled growth, fair profit and interactions with suppliers and community.

Coincidentally or not, the company has seven top managers. Each acts as a champion for one of the seven business drivers. The managers and all employees gather once a month to talk about progress toward the strategic plan. With 32 percent of employees being Hispanic, translators are present at all meetings. Through these conversations, employees can understand what the business is facing, and they are invited to submit proposals for new initiatives.

Success doesn't necessarily require a formal communication plan. Informed conversation is simply a part of business processes at the company. It works so well that Texas Nameplate Co. received the Baldrige National Quality Award in the U.S. small business category. The Baldrige Award is given by the president of the United States for achievement in quality and performance as a competitive edge.

TWO-WAY TEAM TALK

In Britain, companies with 25 to 200 employees fit the small-firm category that the Policy Studies Institute in London (PSI) studied in 1998 for communication effectiveness and financial impact. The study confirmed that what works in large companies is different from what works in small companies, largely because of bureaucracy. The PSI reported that direct communication with employees is not only more effective but also less expensive than more formal methods larger companies employ.

In particular, the PSI study supported the value of team briefings. These conversations bring management and employees together to answer questions and hear opinions. Teams share in problem solving and decision making. They are an inexpensive way to build trust.

The study showed that one way, downward communication from management to employees, which may have a place in larger companies, could have a negative effect in small companies. Such an authoritarian approach conflicts with the collaborative environment in small companies. For employees, it's a say-do disconnect. On the other hand, employees do need to listen to management so they can make informed suggestions when it's their turn to talk--when conversation becomes upward problem solving. Both employees and management fulfill their roles through two-way conversation in a small setting.

As companies get larger and institute internal communication processes, employees still can have a voice. Company newsletters or intranets offer interaction opportunities. Feedback programs or ask-the-CEO phone lines can feel like a conversation, with give and take, within a community.

Universal Technical Institute Inc., based in Phoenix, Ariz., USA, has grown to 1,250 employees. Tina Miller-Steinke, director of corporate communications, was hired into the marketing department in 1999 as the first internal communicator on staff when there were about 900 employees. "There was a need for somebody to be the contact internally, to keep a pulse on what's on the minds and in the hearts of employees," she explains.

As the company has grown, Miller-Steinke has kept the president in the role of primary source for formal communication. Messages still focus on immediate priorities. She instituted monthly face-to-face meetings in which the president talks about challenges facing the company. Employees love it, she says, and it remains one of the most effective tools in her communication program.

She also created an e-newsletter called Monday's Message. "Each week, the president addresses what happened in her executive team meeting and shares breakthroughs and breakdowns across the organization," Miller-Steinke explains. "In an employee-based focus group, they ranked Monday's Message the most believable and credible form of communication in our organization." Employees feel like the president is talking directly to them.

What Miller-Steinke likes about the program she's put in place, and what she didn't see in corporate communication in her previous jobs, is what she calls the human aspect. "The larger the organization, the more emphasis is put on processes and programs. Because you're speaking to a larger audience, I think the personal touch is left out," she says.

"In small companies, we haven't lost touch with the fact that we are all human."

COMMUNITY MEETS FORMAL COMMUNICATION

Miller-Steinke's employer, Universal Technical Institute, trains automotive technicians, and the company has opened campuses in various cities, employing as few as a dozen employees at the sites. Dispersed offices with a small number of employees--whether they are in plants, stores or other facilities--are like small companies in their communication needs. Certainly, a small-office community atmosphere lends itself to conversation.

For employees in various locales, the manager is the center of their universe, according to Kristi Droppers of Davis and Co. consultants, Glen Rock, N.J., USA. "Often these managers don't want to communicate about business goals or issues because they don't feel smart about corporate topics. They aren't confident and don't want to look stupid," she says.

That makes them quite different from small-business CEOs who are completely confident that they can effectively explain business goals to employees.

You can rescue small-office managers, even when they don't necessarily think they need help with communicating. They spend most of their days in face-to-face encounters anyway, Droppers says, so formal communication programs can provide small-office managers with business information and tips for sharing it in conversations. "Communicators can make these managers feel smart," she adds. "Translate the company's strategy for the location. Articulate the location's goals and strategies. Discuss the location's performance results." Remember that managers will deliver these messages in conversations, not PowerPoint presentations.

If you are advising small office managers, it helps to know something about their individual perspectives on communication. You'll find hints in a forthcoming IABC Research Foundation study (available in early 2005), which was led by Dixie Shipp Evatt, Ph.D., assistant professor of public relations at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York.

The study shows that small business CEOs tend to fall into one of three categories based on their perspectives on communication; these distinctions may be helpful in devising communication opportunities with small-office managers as well.

The first group includes individuals you might call naive. They see communication as a personal rather than a managerial trait--PR is in the personal touch. They tend to think in terms of tactics and measure success by counting the number of people who attend an event. They think the power of persuasion is their power tool.

In the second set are practical people. Two-way communication is practical. Measuring how people think both before and then after communication is practical. Using communication to change behavior offers a practical benefit to the business. Sharing accurate information and withholding negative information is practical. These people agree that it is important to find mutually acceptable solutions to problems, but they don't think formal communication necessarily has a role in creating that understanding.

Let's call the third group enlightened. They don't think communication should be manipulative; instead, it is a means to mutual understanding. It's not about publicity or persuasion, perhaps because ethics and social responsibility are important to them in all business activities. They are willing to adapt operations to accommodate others' concerns. They clearly see communication as a management role and recognize the need for communication training.

Good communicators know the characteristics of their audience. When the message is a conversation starter, there may be two audiences: the ultimate community and the intermediate bearer of the message to the community.

It's wise to call on other people to guide conversations within communities in your company, especially when you lead them with an internal communication plan. A positive working environment and business success can result from informed conversation, as people come to work and just naturally talk about the business.

LET'S TALK

"Talking about the culture" will be a topic in a future issue of Communication World. Find out who influences that conversation within your company. (Hint: It's not management.) If you have examples to share about communities where you work, contact Sheri Rosen at [e-mail],

RELATED ARTICLE: Huddles and hassles.

Four years ago, The Scooter Store started holding daily "huddles" so that all 90 employees could join in the business conversation. With more than 13,000 employees today, huddles still work--and they define internal communication at the New Braunfels, Texas, USA, company that provides scooters and power wheelchairs. This year, The Scooter Store was named to Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the first time.

Huddles begin each day at 8:30 a.m. Within an hour, every employee will have communicated up, down and across the entire company.

For 15 minutes, frontline employees meet as a department with their managers. Then managers leave for a second 15-minute huddle with their directors. Directors then meet with vice presidents. Finally, vice presidents huddle with the CEO and finish by 9:30 a.m. People in the field participate by telephone. The most any one person dedicates to the process is 30 minutes, and it gives everyone a daily connection to the CEO.

They talk about the day's business priorities, anticipate problems and put rumors to rest. Each department has quarterly goals, and at every huddle, each employee states what he or she will do that day toward achieving goals.

"We go around the group, which may have as many as 10 people, for each person to give his or her number one focus for today, given the clear quarterly focus," says Jeff Austin, human resources vice president. "It's a chance to talk about any bottleneck you think you might encounter." Managers address bottlenecks at that time or in the next-level huddle. Managers also ask each individual if he or she completed yesterday's number one goal.

By identifying what an employee can accomplish today, and what an employee accomplished yesterday, quarterly goals break into doable chunks. "It's a great exchange of information and sharing time. Sometimes people will get into a side discussion that turns out to be critical," says Debbie Featherston, vice president of PeopleWerks--Celebrations and Communications.

Bonuses are based on reaching quarterly goals, so employees--who own 40 percent of the company--take interest in daily performance charts. Huddle time taken from the workday is balanced by the assurance that everyone is moving in the same direction and everyone feels involved.

Huddle conversations also include whatever a manager thinks is appropriate. Maybe it's a quick lesson, a customer story or something gleaned at the next-level huddle the day before. "As information is going up, it goes across. Then it should cascade down," Featherston says.

Employees can submit a "hassle" card with a question or idea once a week. Sometimes, a manager can resolve the hassle right then. If not, it goes up a level, even to the CEO's huddle if necessary.

Employees keep up with solutions to hassles and answers to questions through a web site. At The Scooter Store, formal communication programs complement huddles by also focusing on goals. Other ways of achieving shared meaning about goals and ideology are through company town hall meetings and celebrations--with rallies, awards and general craziness that rivals Southwest Airlines' famed fun.

"Everything starts with clarity of where we are going," Austin says. "We tie it down with what we are going to do today. There's plenty of feedback, and we get daily results. Then, we celebrate along the way."--SR

Sheri Rosen is president of Rosen Communication Group, LLC, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. She can he reached at [e-mail].