Employee Communication 101 - Think Like a Customer Service Manager

An article recently posted on LinkedIn by David Ward, a risk management advisor, struck a chord with me. 

In the post, Ward pointed out that safety procedures - and therefore safety communications - are too important to be left open to interpretation. 

Ward used some specific examples related to roofing professionals, many of whom spoke English as a second language. (For what it's worth, some of Ward's post was related to a specific OSHA regulation.)

Certainly, there's no room for error in a roofing operation or myriad other occupations that are physically demanding and potentially very dangerous. Proper instruction and clear communication, of course, is vital. 

In one example he shared, Ward put it like this: "In practical terms, this means that an employer must instruct its employees using both a language and vocabulary that the employees can understand."

But I argue, why do we need regulations to specify that employee instruction must be clear and understandable? 

Improved Safety Communications = Better Results

Why don't  we view employee training (which necessarily includes employee manuals and other communications) as critical to the customer service function? 

Because, of course, it is. 

The better your safety communications, the safer your workers, the more productive the team, the better results for customers ... 

Oh, don't get me started. 

Great Examples of Internal Communications

Instead of citing dozens of examples of how not to handle employee communications and training, l'll just say this: Offering clear and understandable communications to employees (AND CUSTOMERS) will position a company heads-and-shoulders above most of the competition. Any company, any industry. I believe communication is THAT important. 

I'm sorry it still needs to be said. 

Rather than offering a lot of bad examples of communication, I'll ask you - do you have any examples of great communication that has helped your company stand apart from the crowd (in a good way)? 

I'm all ears! 
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