What’s going on?
Brent Renneke, Managing Editor
January 25, 2013
Filed under Brent Renneke
The question is one you do not want to hear your employees asking, but it is an inquiry many small business owners may hear in a quickly growing company.
Small business owner Bryan Burkhart wrote about his own communication issues as his floral business quickly grew and crossed state lines in this New York Times article.
Burkhart said he and his team used to have informal debriefings when his staff consisted of eight to 10 people. As the number of employees grew to 75, “informal” meetings no longer cut it.
At this point, Burkhart stepped up his communications game, implementing weekly email updates, monthly all-company and local meetings, as well as online sessions during office hours. The strategy was successful, and Burkhart’s employees were no longer out of the loop.
This issue is one we have seen in our Top 100 Dealers program, where many dealers feel a disconnect between locations. To battle the feeling, Rob Brown of Clark Marine in Massachusetts, for example, began hosting monthly management meetings where all department heads met on the last Thursday of each month.
The meetings were held with concrete goals, including the discussion of financial numbers, personal needs, equipment needs, goals, etc.
“It helps to keep the air more clear around here and has given us a better definition of our short and long term goals and in the end keeps us all on the same page,” Brown said in his Top 100 application.
That is just one example, and many of Burkhart’s strategies can also be easily implemented in your own business. Even just an hour a month would go a long way in creating an atmosphere where the keys to your company’s success are clear for your staff.
