How to improve team briefings

How to improve team briefings

Q: If the primary objectives of a team briefing system are to get information out to staff and to encourage face-to-face communication, is there a better way to do it in this e-enabled age, or could even a very short, daily briefing system work instead? And how do you make sure managers use this system? Has anyone seen a team brief cascade system that works right across the organization?

A: Alasdair Edwards
E-mail and intranets are fine if every employee has access to a PC or is office-based. However, the telephone is the most universally available communications tool and a briefing from a chief executive or department head can be recorded on most voicemail systems.

Daily briefing sounds a little impractical. The key is to broadcast a monthly briefing from the top of an organization (conveyed by e-mail, intranet or telephone) so that all staff have access to a message before team briefings take place. The message from the top is then consistent and is not watered down or garbled and the team meeting can then deal with the issues raised.

The team meeting need no longer consist of the team leader sharing news and can become more issue- or discussion-focused as the "news" has already been delivered. In addition there is an increased obligation on the team leader to ensure the team meeting takes place as staff know that a briefing has been issued.

I can't say I have ever seen a cascade system that works right across the organization, as this scope usually means it depends on too many people to make them work effectively.

A: Arlene Muys
Organizations where the team briefing process operates best usually have it backed up by their performance management system (i.e., it's a specific requirement in the managers' performance agreements, linked to promotion or bonuses).

The most difficult aspect of getting a team briefing process to work is the behavioral change you are bringing to the way managers do their jobs and communicate with their staff. Perhaps you could talk to HR or look into other ways you can influence behavior, such as using reward and recognition; running focus groups or interactive training sessions with managers; and maybe even creating a minor embarrassment for people who are not doing it. (This can be done in many ways, but one is simply to publicize communication survey results by department – the under-performing ones will suddenly feel the pressure.)

If you are looking at ways to make briefings more effective, maybe you should get a few of the managers who use them to help redesign them. They will then have more ownership of the process, and it's more likely that you will find the best fit with their needs and working styles.