When communicating with people do so in an open fashion. Do not try to hide behind catchy phrases and shallow words. It is OK to admit that you do not know all of the answers during these changing times we are living through. For instance, don't have the Office of Human Resources Mgmt tell us in the morning of the furlough that this is a normal business day and then that afternoon be the first in the unemployment line. Don't let the branch managers find out on their own that there are unemployment procedural papers available for employees where the Office Human Resources Mgmt knows that this paperwork exists but announces nothing.
Communication is Key.
In this day of instant communication around the world, we have gotten accustomed to hearing quickly of information that effects our lives. Lack of communications was one area of great weakness during the early part of this year. We were able to get more substantive information about important events effecting our lives at Lewis from the Internet than from our management. Senior management has been making better efforts in this area but improvement is an ongoing process. There needs to be a better connection between management and the individual employees.