In this article I would like to talk to readers about a variable that I think we should improve in organizations in the future: intra-organizational communication.
Much has been written and disseminated about it and in this case I will try to think about why rumors circulate more effectively than formal communication.
I'll start with some questions…
Who are the spokespersons for internal communication?
As the structures mark it well, the managers, bosses, are the spokespersons and it is part of their role to assume the commitment to carry it out. This goes beyond billboards, intranet, house organ, because if the boss does not speak to employees, why such investment and deployment.
What are we looking for with this?
We seek to "move" the organization, people need to share, employees demand "first-hand" information. That is why we must be clear about what we want to transmit, taking into account that what is said and heard causes an impact on people.
We need organizations with protagonists in this communication process since it affects the performance of the collaborator.
Now, if the communication plan is designed and all the supports that are within our reach implemented, perhaps, we need to ask ourselves new questions such as:
- What is our audience today? What are their needs? What are employees interested in knowing about the company? Is internal communication led at the highest level? What are we talking about? How do we verify what was heard or understood? ? What is our style of corporate language? What language do the new generations bring? Do we adapt to them or do they adapt to us? What communicative actions do we take in the face of rumor? Do we neutralize them? Do we learn to live with the rumor? Could it be that in the face of the fear of communicating and that in the face of the lack of information, the emergence of rumor can more?
I will focus on the rumor since it is part of our organizations, Mark Knapp says that the rumors "are uncontrolled news" that are usually spread orally. The rumor consists of the repetition, to different people, of something that really happened or not, it is informal communication that does not respect channels. The rumors are large snowballs moving at the speed of light.
What are the characteristics of the rumors?
- They are interesting, ambiguous, secret. "In the rumor there is often a little truth," unknown source.
Who has not echoed a rumor? What causes it?
Disinterest, concern and concern among staff. To destabilize or discredit a person or company.
What is it for? What's its purpose?
Rumors help relieve emotional tension, nervousness about something that is not working well in the organization. They are launched and continue their journey through informal networks that arise spontaneously from common needs or affinity between people.
The rumor explains, justifies and attributes meanings. Its transmission is exponential.
It is continuously present in our work and social life. It has different versions, it loses details, a subjective interpretation of the emitter and successive distortions.
It should be borne in mind that the rumor, in order for it to survive, must have fertile soil, that is to say, an adequate moment for it to “catch on”.
Can we manage rumor in organizations well?
If in organizations we have fluid communications, adequate interpersonal relationships, leaders who know how to manage the conversations they have with their collaborators, since they are carriers of confidences, we are facing the necessary variables to: (1) recognize it and (2) accept it and in this way, design the necessary strategies to neutralize or discredit it through the leaders themselves.
It is also necessary to know the people of the organization to detect who are the bearers of the rumors, what the chains of interpersonal communication are like and to prevent them from spreading through the corridors of the organization.
What information do rumors give us?
We could infer that the formal channel of internal communication has deficiencies, is not reliable or transparent, that what we are communicating "does not unite us", that we do not speak from the heart, we do not say anything new, we do not know our interlocutors.
The rumor distorts reality and is like a virus that is updated every time it infects another person. We need to generate a rumor antivirus therefore it is better to share the maximum information.
To finish, let's analyze our communication channels which work and which don't. Let's be quick, clear with that information that is important for the staff to know, let's be honest and consistent.
Let us remember that misinformation and founded or unfounded rumors have a cost, that this is paid by the organization itself, that words within the organization have creative power and that language, builds or destroys the future.
