Strategic Communication

When communicating with anyone… employees, customers, friends, or family here are some guidelines to make communication effective.

First, when communicating something that could be perceived either way, do it face-to-face:

When communicating bad news:

  1. Collect all the information to have one conversation vs. a death by 1,000 cuts
  2. Give your customer, employee, partner an option… even if it’s equally disagreeable, they’ll feel better because they had a choice

Employee Engagement: Getting Feedback

It’s good to create proactive ways to get employee feedback:

Here are my favorite questions to ask employees:


Employee Engagement: Feeling Valued

Here are some questions your employees would be asked about feeling valued in an engagement survey:

Here’s some feedback on having a positive/flourishing relationship:

Here are a few tips on praise… let someone relive the win by asking how they did it and don’t underestimate the power of a handwritten note.

Here’s the recipe for a good thank you:

Employee Engagement: Benefits and Pay

As it relates to pay, the goal is to make it not a de-motivator. As a board member shared, he’s never been paid enough in his 40+ years as a professional:

When thinking of benefits, what can you offer that’s a benefit for your employees but not a significant cost for you?


Employee Engagement: Job Satisfaction

When looking to improve job satisfaction, we want to start from the inside sphere and work our way out… start with a challenging job and a healthy relationship with a person’s direct manager.

From first to last, below are the areas needed to create a job that’s fulfilling:

Look for opportunities to make a job more than a job: