Communication and Collaboration
Two of the most over-used and hyper-inflated terms currently used in corporate environments, I think innovation is number one and I will dedicate one whole post/article specifically for innovation as it very close to my heart. Communication and Collaboration is vital in any organization, even in relationships and in our own families. It is therefore not new for private corporations to set it's sights on these two to be capitalized.
Communication is almost always a highlight in all corporate presentations, strategic discussions, evaluations and planning. I believe that the executives at the peak of private mountains, I mean corporations, have very good intentions, plans and visions for bringing communication at the forefront. As corporations have very diverse individuals and job roles, proper and open communications will directly affect retention, productivity and ultimately profits.
However, as with most initiatives being cascaded top down, it most of the times gets blurred and mis-interpreted and worse implemented and measured wrongly. One of the most common scenario is that great measures and pressure is put on a organization to develop open communication, sometimes it works among the ranks, however, vertically it does not as the team leaders and managers often feel they are not part of the initiative and that it is only for the ranks, these types of individuals often believe that another set of rules apply to them and they are not covered by most corporate initiatives.
These kind of mentality is what tends to leads ranks who are trapped in these types of situations to be disgruntled. The whole initiative fails and tendency is the ranks get the bad end of the stick.
The point of developing communication does not only apply for the lateral type of interaction, it is more important for the vertical hierarchy. It is understandable to have more confidentiality as the hierarchy goes up but is also more important to cascade properly and delegate efficiently so as the team, the organization can work as one to achieve the company's objective. A organization will be far more agile, flexible and pleasant if the vertical approach is through collaborative management.
As it has been proven already, celebrating quick wins always leads to the up-liftment of moral and the visibility the organization gets from that will lead to improvement in perception and brand building. This all ties up and is held upon by having a very good foundation on communication and collaboration.
It is therefore imperative for organizations to focus and be careful in the implementation of such initiatives, the development, implementation and maintenance of such is very crucial and special attention must be made for the vertical aspect of the organization as this tends to be the filter from top management to the ranks and how it is filtered will have great impact on how it will be implemented. Communication must be first opened up from top going down, the only way this will happen is to have a conducive environment for communication and a open door policy, as the personal life is a part of an employees life and corporations must make sure work life balance is given it's share of focus.
Open communication from down up will follow when the top down as already been opened up, a collaborative approach on most aspects of the operations and strategy of the team and company will lead to better acceptance among the ranks and great ideas are given the chance to be nurtured and bloom.
P.S
Internet was non-existent last night here at the hotel, after waiting for almost an hour, the guest gave up and trickled down back unto their rooms.
Just shows how much internet connection is very important now a days.