Excellent Employee Communications a Trademark of Successful Businesses
July 2 2010 - Ever noticed how often employees hear about important business decisions in
their companies from office rumours rather than directly from their managers? Failure to communicate regularly and
effectively with your employees has the potential to create an environment of communications quicksand - people don't
connect and concepts and expectations are not clearly communicated or understood. In the long run, all the
communications efforts are not focused in a manner that intentionally moves the business forward.
Kevin Klaff, a director of Thintana Communications which distributes an innovative, locally developed
software tool that allows targeted employee communications within a local area network (LAN), says that simple, clear
messaging that is timed and targeted correctly, and where receipt is guaranteed, is fundamental to creating an
organisation that has healthy dialogue between employees and where staff wants to go the extra mile.
"Packaged under the banner 'Talk2staff', Corporate Lan Advertising (CLA) is a locally developed
software tool designed to create two-way communication channels between employees and management. CLA has been
designed to overcome the challenges that companies face with employees not paying attention to internal emails
and other internal communication channels, boosting an organization's ability to convey important news and
information to staff, but more importantly, creates dialogue and a platform to gather meaningful feedback from
employees," explains Kevin.
"CLA uses broadcast desktop imaging similar to a computer screensaver, dynamically broadcasting
news, important announcements and information to all members of staff who have access to a computer connected to
the company network, ensuring that the message is seen and remembered. The distribution list can be tailored for
various employee groups and different messages can be sent to select groupings for example financial results, clinic
days, new staff appointments and promotions through to invitations and sales updates. It also allows for the
gathering of feedback from staff through innovative survey and research methods which are effective and
non-disruptive, for example employee satisfaction surveys," he says.
Thintana Communications' own research showed an 85% response rate from all staff within 24 hours on
actual surveys conducted in various client environments. "Traditional internal mail, newsletters and intranets simply
cannot guarantee that employees read or even respond to staff communications. The other problem is timing in that you
cannot guarantee when an employee actually gets round to checking or reading their mail or newsletter. The CLA
technology ensures that an important message is displayed on an employee's computer screen and if necessary, you can
even force the recipient to respond before it disappears off the screen."
CLA is a highly effective tool to get everybody moving in the same direction and allows for
communication in real time. "It can be effectively used to communicate your vision and build morale, make sure
your expectations are clear and create a collaborative environment, deliver reminders about deadlines and timeframes,
motivate team members as well as invite feedback and questions. Or it can be as simple as notifying staff of clinic
days, year-end functions, through to publishing financial results and share dividends," adds Kevin.
The bottom line is that in order for a business to succeed and progress, a huge amount depends on
good communications with employees. Teamwork is critical and most of all, the power of constructive feedback
should never be under estimated. CLA allows for this and creates dialogue between employees and managers that
have access to a networked PC. The programme is easily learned and can be managed by the internal communications
department once installed by the IT department.
The software has been successfully implemented at leading South African organizations employing from
50 to thousands of employees. For more information go to www.talk2staff.co.za or call Thintana Communications on
011 608 3001 to arrange a demonstration.
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