By Heather Campbell >> Trust and respect between managers and employees are vital components in creating good industrial relations. Leaders who fail to foster a high level of openness, honesty and two-way dialogue can accidentally create an atmosphere of mistrust, bad feeling and anger. In some cases this can spark industrial disputes. Traditionally, business leaders and managers lead from the front – making the critical financial and staffing decisions, then announcing the changes and leaving the staff to just ‘get on with ...

Building employee engagement is an ongoing goal for most organisations. It has been the topic of two recent lunches that we have hosted for senior leaders in Scotland. At the first of these, two of our guests shared their own stories of increasing employee engagement in their organisations. At the second, we explored the new opportunities that social media brings in terms of engaging people. The discussion was led by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, MD at Intelligise and specialist in the field. ...

By Heather Campbell >> All business leaders have times when they can’t switch off – we all know that feeling as reflections on the day just finished, or the one to come, buzz around in our heads. This can be invigorating when the thoughts are ones of success and achievement. But they are a huge drain on energy when they are more negative. This is a time when self-talk can lead us into a pointlessly negative place. It’s an occasion to ask ...

By Heather Campbell >> The right leadership communication is critical to employee engagement, which in turn is critical to business success. Improved staff engagement reaps numerous benefits: increased motivation, greater creativity and more focused business-thinking leading to greater overall efficiency and effectiveness. While improved engagement is a cost-effective way to realise a wealth of long-term business rewards, too many company leaders do not affect the required communication skills. This is often because they think they will have to adopt complicated communication routines. ...

Effective communication is the key to being a successful leader or manager – and the more successful the management communication in a business, the more successful the business. Survey after survey demonstrates that many employers fail in their communications with staff – impacting on morale, levels of engagement, efficiency and in some cases poor employee relations. The good news is that communication skills are actually very easy to improve. Eight tips for better communication skills: 1. Ask questions If you’re ...

Employee engagement is the new key to getting more from your people. It is also an untapped resource for most businesses, and one that brings rapid results for relatively little outlay. Within a matter of weeks, organisations that improve their employee engagement can reap benefits such as increased productivity, reduced staff turnover and boosted profits. If employee engagement sounds like another fancy term for a costly business system, think again. It is better communication that lies at the heart of ...