Why Employee Feedback Should Drive Your Communication Strategy
As a former health center CEO and current strategic planning facilitator, I believe that employees are truly our #1 customers. Their insights are invaluable, yet often overlooked when organizations develop strategic plans.
In my years facilitating Balanced Scorecard strategic planning sessions, I've noticed a fascinating pattern: 9 out of 10 completed strategies prioritize improving internal communication. This statistic often surprises leadership teams who believe they're already communicating effectively.
I was once that puzzled CEO. Despite considering myself an excellent communicator, our employee satisfaction surveys consistently indicated that staff felt our leadership team's communication needed improvement. This disconnect between perception and reality is common among health center leaders.
The Power of Neutral Facilitation
When preparing to facilitate strategic planning, I always recommend gathering employee feedback through focus groups led by a neutral party. This approach creates a safe space for honest conversations that might not happen when leadership is present.
As I prepare to facilitate another Balanced Scorecard process for a health center, I'm reminded of how crucial these unfiltered employee perspectives are. They reveal blind spots that leadership teams simply cannot see on their own.
Four Communication Strategies That Actually Work
Based on employee feedback and my own experience, I implemented four strategies that significantly improved our communication satisfaction scores:
1. Weekly Email Newsletter
I committed to sending weekly emails to all staff, highlighting organizational initiatives and departmental accomplishments. These communications included both positive developments and challenges, maintaining complete transparency. Even during slower weeks with little to report, I maintained this practice because consistency matters more than content volume.
2. Monthly Listening Sessions
I established regular listening sessions at each location, creating opportunities for direct engagement with staff. Regardless of attendance numbers, I never canceled these meetings. These gatherings generated valuable ideas and made leadership more approachable as we shared the same table and listened to each other's perspectives. Pro tip: Always provide snacks – food brings people to the table!
3. Communication Policies
Counter to intuition, setting boundaries on internal communications proved remarkably effective. When employees are bombarded with messages all labeled "important," they struggle to identify truly critical information. We implemented a policy requiring all-staff emails to receive approval from the CEO (or designee) and limited non-essential email communications. This ensured that important messages received proper attention.
4. Dedicated Channels for Informal Communication
To balance structure with workplace culture, we created Teams/Slack channels for more casual interactions. Channels like "Mission Moments" for sharing patient success stories or "Happy Hour" for daily positive highlights provided space for connection while preserving email for essential business communications.
The Results Speak for Themselves
By implementing these consistent, intentional, and occasionally playful communication strategies, we witnessed significant improvements in both our organizational culture and employee satisfaction scores. The key was maintaining these practices even when immediate results weren't visible.
Effective internal communication isn't about grand gestures or complicated systems. It's about creating reliable channels, setting clear expectations, listening authentically, and making space for both formal and informal exchanges.
What communication strategies have worked in your health center? Send me an email at [email protected] with your success stories!
If you would like to discuss how to get started on these strategies, or talk about your next strategic planning process, schedule a call with me here and let's connect.
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Jill Steeley is a strategic planning consultant specializing in healthcare organizations. With over 9 years of experience as a health center CEO, she now helps organizations develop and implement effective strategic plans through her consulting practice.
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