Cultivating Transparent Communication

by Mathew Bowen | 30, Nov, 2023 | Newsletter

Significant media attention fell upon Optus recently on the back of a system-wide outage that affected millions of customers across Australia. The resignation of CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, raised questions about the blame culture that pervades many organisations and the broader Australian landscape, affecting our ability to learn from events rather than simply find a scapegoat to wear the blame. Compounding the outage, in the immediate minutes and hours, was the absence of communication with stakeholders and customers which infuriated many and led to widespread condemnation of the handling of the crisis. Whether it is fair or not, we operate in a world where fast and open communication is expected. This expectation extends to the way we communicate internally in our organisations, as much as it does in our external communications.

There’s no doubt that the Optus outage represented a major crisis for the business, requiring all hands on deck to find the source of the problem and get the system back online. It is easy to understand how amid such a crisis, communications to external parties may have taken a back seat in the list of priorities. Managing major crises is not a new issue for organisations, with many who have gone before having laid out the blueprint for how they can be managed effectively.

In 1982, Johnson & Johnson was faced with a major crisis of their own, as their flagship pain relief product, Tylenol, was laced with cyanide by an unknown offender, leading to the deaths of seven people. Rather than deflect responsibility for the issue, the company was quick to respond, removing their product from shelves across the US, and engaging in immediate communications focused on the safety of consumers. They then set about finding a way to protect people in the future, designing three levels of security in their packaging and creating a competition-leading approach to the safety of their product.

Critical in their management of the crisis was the speed and transparency of their communications, and an adherence to their credo (values), which put their customer first.

While the importance of our communications in the face of a crisis can not be understated, it is our ongoing communications with our internal stakeholders that often define the culture of the organisation, and either drive us toward a flourishing workplace or toward a cynical and disengaged one.

So why is good communication so important for the culture of an organisation?

According to Gallup, companies with good communication practices are 43% less likely to lose employees and their employee engagement levels can be up to 70% (which is well above the national average of 23%). Other research suggests that these companies also enjoy almost 50% higher profits over five years compared to their counterparts who lack effective internal communication strategies.

These statistics emphasise the critical role internal communication plays in the health and success of any business.

On the flip side, when transparency is lacking, the impact is significant. Trust erodes and innovation stalls. Critically, in the absence of clear communication, employees become storytellers, crafting narratives that may diverge from reality but provide context to evolving situations. These stories can snowball into misinformation, further undermining trust and the organisation’s credibility.

As a human species, we crave clarity and certainty. We like to know what’s going on, and where we are heading. Having this clarity enables us to make effective decisions, and to feel informed, involved and included in the organisation, rather than feeling like we are just a number. By promoting a culture where information flows freely, we build trust, and an engaged workplace, while ensuring the long-term success of the business.

Here are some points we feel are important to keep in mind when considering good internal communication strategies:

When you have information, share it: the speed at which we share information impacts how people deal with the information. Delays can lead to questions and scepticism, and of course, when it comes to the safety and productivity of the organisation, getting information ASARP (as soon as reasonably practicable) can enable people to better apply the information in their work to be safe, well and productive.

If you can’t share information, provide context as to why: there are times when we simply can’t share information with everyone in the organisation, and that’s ok. In these situations, providing context can help to manage the way people respond. Highlighting that there are legal or personal issues preventing the sharing of information, rather than just ‘I can’t say’ can support people in developing their understanding of business realities, and an appreciation for leaders who can at times be hamstrung by an inability to share information with their teams.

Weigh up the costs of sharing the information against the costs of not sharing: there are many varied reasons that we have heard from organisations on why they shouldn’t share information with their teams, including ‘they don’t need to/want to know’, ‘it’ll just distract them’, and many others. Conversely, we’ve also seen many organisations face the distractions caused by a failure to share information. These are largely related to the fact that we as humans love to make sense of the world around us, looking for explanations for everything that happens. Consider the explanations that people come up with for why an organisation isn’t sharing information, and what this ‘story’ can do to the morale and culture within a team.

Encourage Four-way communication: we often talk about two-way communication, but organisations are more complex than that. We need to ensure communication flows up and down through the organisation, as well as within teams and between teams. Setting the tone with fast and open communications encourages teams and individuals to do the same.

Find ways to hear from your people: there are many ways to hear from the people in your organisation, both formal and informal. Time in the field, attending team meetings, suggestion boxes or organisational surveys are just a few. While creating opportunities to hear is important, doing something with what you’ve heard is even more important. “Thanks for sharing” can seem a bit hollow when issues have been continually raised, with no action being taken.

Be guided by your values: most organisations have a set of values to guide the way people work, yet for many, these can be nothing more than words on a poster. Bringing values to life through our communications can send an important message to employees and leaders alike, that this is how we do things around here.

We hope you have a great and safe rest of your week.

– The Cognicent Team