Communicating helps with growing pains

An organisation I am working with is going through an interesting change. It is growing. Yay! But growth brings its own new headaches. It is growing from being a small group of passionate, like-minded people, into a structure where there are managers and team leaders, some people work remotely, some drop into the main office now and again.

So how do you keep that sense of identity? How do you tell them of new changes in the work place? How do you tap into their ideas and innovation? It is a common problem for so many organisations, whether they are charities or businesses.

As a company or charity grows, those activities that used to be implicit in how a group of people work together have to become explicit. Who is doing what, where are people up to with activities, informal tips and hints, leads and contacts are often built into the glue of general conversation in an office.So instead of a number of people in a room sharing duties and chatting with each other informally to make sure you know what everyone is doing, you have separation of duties. You therefore have to make sure formalise communication.

That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? But here is a way to look at it. If you were working remotely, how would you like to be kept informed of new changes? Would you like to dial into conference calls? Read newsletters or e-mails? Have face to face meetings? What information do you need to be able to do your job proplerly? What information do you need to be able to feel part of the overall group? Or to be able to confidently and sincerely represent the organsaition to the outside world?

Bear in mind, though, that people have different styles. If you asked everyone in you organisation those questions, you’d have a range of answers. Some like to read, some like to listen, some like to be actively involved.

So …. When you need to communicate your next big idea to your organisation or need to explain changes or new information, remember … do it in different ways, at different times and keep checking your message is getting through.