I didn't know if the team assigned this chapter is still in existence, and since the chapter is so short, I thought I would put a quick summary up so we can add our comments:
Three choices for notifying users of new policies/procedures:
- Announce it in person
- Communicate it in writing
- Send it by e-mail
Notifying in Writing:
- When you are writing for an external audience
- Audience is large or widely dispersed
- Complex or lengthy material
- Noncontroversial subject
- Personal contact unnecessary
- When subject is sensitive or controversial
- Importance or urgency needs to be emphasized
- Unofficial expectations differ from the official policy or procedure
- Examples or elaboration are required to be fully understood
- When you have online policies and procedures
- Organization is used to this type of communication, and users are comfortable with this
Make sure your managers are notified first so you can get their support.
10 comments:
Our company does 90% of their communication by e-mail. Employees are used to this method of delivery, and more than once we've had a bomb dropped on us via Microsoft Outlook.
For the really sensitive stuff, we have used teleconferences and those seem to be very effective, especially when you open it up for questions after the message has been delivered.
As I read this chapter I was jotting down ideas to improve communication in my work group for future policy/procedure changes. I recently received an email informing me that I was no longer responsible for retrieving timecard information that is requested by one of the work groups. Funny thing is I was never told I was responsible in the first place! Because the notices went out via email, I could check back to make certain I wasn't on the initial email (and ease my mind that I hadn't simply forgotten!). Unfortunately, this happens a lot in my work area and has caused conflict, misinformation, and affects the consistency for updating our web manual. After reading this chapter, I'm going to develop a form to fill out that will make sure the change is identified, the appropriate parties are notified, and the changes are made to the manual. This is similar to the format Lindsay and I used for the policies and procedures project in this class. Campbell is right on the mark with the importance of informing via whatever format is the best for a specific group.
The company I work for communicates by email 90% of the time. I remember one day recenlty that we received an email from management that we were to do all of our communication in person for one day. Boy that was a laugh, with all of the lean inititives and time waste analysis that we do, it is much faster to communicate by email than to walk office to office and communicate the message. Besides, I wonder how many messages were not understood with the same meaning as when you take the time to email your message. All new policies and procedures or new effective revisions are communicated through an email message to all users that training is available. The software used for training generates a message to the user that a policy is effective and must be trained to within 30 days. And yeah we hear the occasional "I didn't know that" scenario.
Thanks Kathy. I do think there should be certain etiquette in notifying about new policy and procedure. The company that I work for mistakenly relies heavily on word of mouth in order to update people. The danger in this is obvious but I find it funny when I realize how each person seems to put their own spin on the policy and therefore it comes across inaccurate. I think in any company there can be improvements on communication and the fact this chapter even exists proves that.
I have heard that many times: No one told me about that! As the text suggests, it is all too common. In our office, we use emails most often to notify others of changes. Most of the time it’s pretty effective; however, there are times when people have questions and, rather than asking the writer of the email, coworkers start rumblings among themselves. This can lead to misinterpretation, misinformation, and generally has a negative impact on the message. Another pitfall I have seen is when there is disagreement among managers as to the information that is shared. While I can understand not wanting to share preliminary information, I have a hard time with those who “withhold” information in the name of control. Can you tell that’s a sore spot with me?
The company I work for relies heavily on both email and word-of-mouth. I love email because it is efficient, but sometimes I think messages should be relayed in person or by phone or another manner, especially important messages where there needs to be confirmation from the recipient. Our corporate office relies most heavily on email to communicate to us, but within our office many things are related word-of-mouth and the part time people (like me) miss a lot of the messages just because we aren't there every day. Our stores also use the group email systems where they can send one email to a group of people (like the sales people) but when it is something that the office people need to know, they aren't listed in the group and they don't get the message. Many times, this is when miscommunication happens because someone simply forgets to tell other employees about emails.
At my work, even though there are only about 7 employees, information is constantly being construed about who works or who did what. It would seem even though we post a work schedule through Gmail that we all have access to from other computers all the time and also print a paper one at work, something as silly as who works when is still a problem for many employees. Actually about a month ago I got a call while I was in class from my boss saying that he thought I was supposed to be working right now. Come to find out, another employee was confused about what days they worked and signed me up for a shift I would never be able to work because of school. It was a little frustrating.
Our company currently found a way to communicate with everyone even though we don't have word or company email for our department. We started a WordPad file so that every day when we start our computer, it has up to date information on policies and procedures for our order process. The email, in person, and bulletins are all interesting when put into categories this chapter talks about, but our company is different in that we have full and part time employees who work different shifts so it's hard to have the manager be there all the time for sensitive information and information changes for us on a regular basis. This WordPad has been very helpful to keep our communication open to everyone.
I liked this chapter. I am often dealing with how to inform my co-workers of changes. The hard part is finding a common ground. Some people want email- some people hate email. Since you can't inform each person in their own way, you must find a compromise.
I think this chapter has some good tips.
One concept I didn't see addressed in this was having a catch-all location for all wide-spread announcements. To set it up, you have a website (a blog works fine) where all wide spread announcements are posted for all to see. When you send out a company wide email, you also arrange it so that the message is posted on the website. I believe most blogs enable you to post to it via email, you merely send a copy to a unique email address (probably want to CC it so that other people don't find out the special address). Now for confidential information this doesn't work, but in many cases it will provide a sort of news board, and you can even set it so that browsers use that location as a home page, making it easy for everyone to notice updates.
Post a Comment