1.      Defining Communication Climate

            Information will flow much more freely in an organization where there is a positive communication climate, but may not flow at all, especially when it is most needed, if there is a negative communication climate.

It’s a shame that you can’t turn on the radio and get an office weather report on your way to work every day: “A thunderstorm has moved into the top floor this morning, blocking all communication with senior management. This is complicated by a high pressure system producing a hot air mass that will bring rain, fog, and showers on middle management, and a 20 percent possibility of hail on department heads.”

            While all project/programme purposees are based on communication, some organizational cultures and bureaucracies go out of their way to stifle or interfere with it.  Other organizations make it easy and comfortable to communicate with others.

An organization’s climate can be equated to the weather—it is the atmosphere that people feel within the organization itself.  It is an integral part of organizational culture.  More specifically, organizational climate is the atmosphere of supportiveness or defensiveness people feel within the organization and the feelings they have about sending and receiving messages.  An example would be employee satisfaction with organization communication channels.  Do they know that when they have something to say, they have a way to say it so that it will be heard, and that people will listen and take their ideas or comments seriously?  The overall organizational climate also includes the organization’s communication climate—how free people feel to communicate at work, especially about bad news or negative information.  When people feel they cannot communicate bad news for fear of reprisal, then the organization loses valuable information about how it operates.

4. Participative Decision-Making

To create a positive communication climate you need to engage people in the decision making process.  You can do this by having employees participate in identifying and solving problems that affect them and their working conditions.  Participative decision-making means that you assist your employees in setting standards and goals for the work they do. 

You can also allow employees to develop and establish methods of doing their jobs so that they can take ownership in the work that they do.  To make participative decision-making successful you will need to concentrate on issues and problems over which your employees have some control.  By focusing on areas where they can have no impact can only lead to frustration and disappointment.

Participative decision-making means that you cannot dictate to your employees how to do their jobs.  Micromanagement is the antithesis of participative decision-making.  However, the process of participative decision-making is not simply handing decisions over to employees, but rather you need to train and coach them to be able to make better decisions, set and reach realistic goals, and perform their jobs more effectively and productively.  Such training and coaching will also help in the longer-range employee development process.

Another advantage of participative decision-making is that employees are much more committed to outcomes that they have had a part in creating.  When people have been a part of the decision making process, they are much more willing to see those decisions through to a successful conclusion than if the decisions were imposed upon them.
5. Trust

Before there can be effective employee communication, there must be a climate of trust (the feeling that another’s motives are what he or she says they are).  An employee trusts in superiors when they have confidence in the superior’s intentions and motives, when the superior has proven to keep his or her word, when they are sincere not only in their dealings with themselves but with other people, and when the employees are not afraid that they will be met with retaliation for supplying negative information. Manager and leaders do not automatically enjoy trust; they must earn it.

Trust is crucial to motivating employees because, in general, people are unwilling to do their best work for someone they do not trust. Additionally, trust is central to the organizational and communication climate. If trust deteriorates, so too will the positive climate you have worked to create leading to hoarding of information; distortion of messages will likely occur as will deception, low morale, suspiciousness and close-mindedness. No one wants to follow someone they don’t trust.

Trust is also crucial in minimizing message distortion.  The more employees trust their manager, the more they send messages that are more accurate.  Employees that distrust their managers distort their messages, especially in making themselves look good and in minimizing any problems they are having.  We need accurate information to make good decisions.  Building trust is one way of obtaining more accurate information.

Trust, then, is at the top of leadership skills, but it is also runs two-ways. The leaders must trust the subordinates in order to expect the subordinates to trust them and vice versa. When leaders trust their subordinates by giving them more and greater information and responsibilities, they often gain additional respect for their insight into the subordinate’s skills. This growing reservoir of trust can be drawn upon to achieve other important organizational goals.

6.  Building Trust

Build trust by sharing your concerns and encouraging others to do the same.  Do what you say you are going to do and stand by your working teams.

  To build a trusting climate:

·        Express your doubts, concerns and feelings in an open, natural way. Encourage your subordinates to do so also.

·        When subordinates are willing to express their doubts, concerns and feelings, accept them thoroughly.

·        Set honesty as one standard that will not be compromised. Demand it from yourself and from your staff.

·        Be clear in your expectations when assigning work or eliciting opinions. Explain your reasons, wherever possible, behind requests and directions.

·        Encourage subordinates to look to you as a possible resource in accomplishing results, but develop and reinforce independence.

·        When something goes wrong, determine what happened, not “who did it.”

·        Encourage active support and participation in corrective measures from those involved.

·        Share credit for successes; assume the bulk of the responsibility for criticism of your unit.

Once a leader/manager has developed trust with employees, he/she must work at keeping it through consistency, congruity, reliability, and integrity. 

7.  Building Trust (Continued)

            Again, it is not enough to build trust.  Trust must also be maintained through consistency, congruity, reliability, and integrity.

Consistency is the ability to keep going and remain focused on the organization’s goals despite challenges and setbacks that may arise. It is easier to trust a leader who remains calm and directed when difficulties emerge.  Consistency also means people can count on your behavior to be predictable.   To be trusted you cannot be seen as being capricious and erratic.  This does not mean that you should not be flexible, but rather than changes are discussed and your behavior is not seen as inconsistent.

Congruity refers to how well a leader’s behavior matches what he/she says. To maintain employee faith and trust, the manager/leader’s behaviors should match that what he/she says.   In order to be trusted you need to have your actions match your words.  In other words say what you mean and mean what you say—but say it in a way that is not mean or malicious.

Reliability refers to what degree employees can depend on their leader/manager to support them, especially in times of need or challenge.  Employees are much more likely to trust a manager who is willing to do his or her utmost to support them.

Integrity is the ability to keep promises and commitments that promote the well being of the organization and all of its stakeholders both internal and external.  In other words, it takes more than keeping your word, but to not make promises that compromise the organization in the first place.

            Building and maintaining trust is not easy.  Unfortunately, it is much easier to lose trust than to keep it.
8. Behaviors That Endanger Trust

In the same way that a manager can encourage trusting relationships, a manager can also endanger trust by keeping secrets, discouraging interaction or looking for people to blame when something goes wrong.  By avoiding the behaviors listed here, you will help ensure the maintenance and enhancement of a trusting atmosphere:

·        Look on expressions of feelings and doubts as signs of weakness.

·        Be sarcastic, but cleverly so.

·        Let your subordinates know that you expect them to "stretch the truth" a little if it will make the organization look good.

·        Be secretive.  Never let anyone really be sure what's on your mind.  This keeps them on their toes.

·        Discourage subordinates from coming to you for help.  After all, they should be "stem winders" and "self-starters.

·        When something goes wrong, blow up, hit the ceiling, and look for the guilty party.

·        Gossip about and disparage others on the staff when they are not present.  Over react to casual comments by others about your people.

• Take credit for others' successes.  Plan vendettas and other ploys that make other organizations look bad.  Draw on subordinates for carrying these out.  Always insist on plenty of documentation to protect yourself.

It is important to be aware of both the behaviors that build trust and those that endanger trust so that you can create a trusting climate in which there is a free flow of information.

9. Openness

Openness refers to the candid disclosure of information, particularly negative information and the sharing of feelings and opinions regarding the organization and its activities. Open communication in terms of expressing your ideas and feelings through verbal channels in organizations has led to higher production and better performance within the organization. However, simply “showing” feelings and not discussing them openly, is viewed as dysfunctional and can be very counter productive.

There are several things that can be done to improve openness within the organization. To encourage openness:

·        Establish Two-Way Communication.  Establish genuine two-way communication within the ranks of management, between management and employees, and among employees themselves.

·        Improve Accessibility.  Improve management’s accessibility to employees especially in terms of listening. People will be more open if they feel they have a non-judgmental, trustworthy audience.

·        Establish a Welcoming Climate.  Establish a climate that welcomes the new and the different and be open to hearing all ideas.

·        Reward Creativity.  Offer obvious and visible benefits for both employees and management who have shared creative new ideas.

·        Solicit and Accept Criticism.  Be open to and accept criticism without becoming defensive (we all have room for improvement here).

·        Show Genuine Sensitivity.  Show a genuine sensitivity to employees and a willingness to grapple with employee problems and difficulties.

10. Emphasis on High Quality, High Performance Goals

            Up to this point the issues that have been discussed concerning communication climate have focused on relationships rather than on information.  That is, all of the aspects that we have talked about that create a positive communication climate have to do with how you interact with, relate to, and treat your employees. 

Placing importance on high quality and high performance goals has to do with the content of the communication that you have with your employees.  Such an emphasis is the most important focus of the content of your messages to your employees.

It is not enough to be a nice manager and create a nice environment in which to communicate and work.  You must also communicate a sense of challenge to your employees. 

While you do need to communicate openly, create trust, let your employees know that you support them, and have your employees participate in decisions that affect them, you also need to let them know that it is important to achieve not only the goals they have set for themselves and the team or department, but also to help the organization achieve its goals.

It is also not even enough just to stress challenge, high quality, and excellent performance in your messages to your employees.  You also need to give your employees the information they need to get the job done and to do it well. 

Establishing trust, openness, support, and a participative environment creates the setting in which employees will accept, be open to, and be ready to work toward team, department, and organization goals—and be willing to do so in a productive and effective manner.