The Lakeview Blog

Communication is everyone's job. That's right. I said it. Your communication department can't do it all alone. Whether you lead a team or are an employee, you are the face of the organization inside and outside. As a manager or supervisor, your team counts on you to share organizational updates, to recognize good performance and to listen to ideas and concerns, and escalate them as appropriate. The communication culture you create can build a great team or destroy it. An an employee (regardless of where in the organization you work) you should be aware of what your organization is doing, what it's goals are and how you fit into the picture. Your employer should be providing this information. It's up to you to stay informed. So, if we have to do all this, why have a communication department? you might well ask. Your communication experts not only must provide information and set up the avenues for you to be informed, they are also responsible to: ...

Many employers believe that delivering a paycheque is all they have to do to ensure that their employees are doing all the things the employer has hired them to do. But is it? There's a big difference between those employees who show up to work, sleepwalk through their shifts and leave the second the clock tells them it's time to go home, and those who are enthusiastic about their work, deliver great customer service and think about improvements or innovations to your business. Studies over decades have shown that engaged employees -- those who give the extra 10 per cent, who are committed to their workplace -- deliver better results, take fewer sick days and stay with companies longer. Don't believe me? Here are 32 studies that show just that. Communication is an important piece of employee engagement. HR Review cites it as being a top-five contributor to employee engagement. Great communication reduces the need for the rumour mill and the negative envi...

With the corporate mess-ups that have been in the news recently, a few comments about apologizing are in order. Let's suppose you've messed up. A mistake was made. You can't believe it turned out this way, but it has and to make matters worse, people noticed. What are you going to do? 1. Think fast. You won't have days to react. Often you won't even have hours. Figure out what went wrong, why people are upset, how damaging it is and to whom, what the likely impact will be to your customers, your staff, your reputation. 2. Apologize and be sincere. Say you're sorry. Not that you're sorry that people feel bad or that you're sorry that people took something the wrong way. That's the same as telling them that they are to blame, not you. A phoney apology is no apology at all. We've all been on the receiving end of one of these and it only makes us more angry. Say you're sorry that you messed up. Explain what happened. If it's appropr...