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Valuable Handbook for Reaching Employees, 2003-10-11
Today's employees want to be informed, included, and even consulted regarding corporate decisions, directions, activities, and issues. If they are not connected with their employer, people will leave the organization to seek employment opportunities where they can be more engaged. Anything and everything a company can do to relate more closely with the people who matter will make a difference. An experienced corporate communicator, Holtz emphasizes that internal communication in a company is much more than just publishing a newsletter or magazine for employees. The behaviors communicators influence are "the ones that would support the company bottom-line business efforts." There's more to this process than reporting birthdays, babies, brides, and bowling scores. Employees must be reached with compelling, understandable, and credible messages that are easy to access, grasp, and absorb.
This easy-to-read handbook explores a number of facets of employee communications. Readers will learn about the types of communications, planning, and traditional communication tools. More modern approaches of online communication are discussed, along with insights into the sustainability of the communication process. Holtz devotes chapters to special situations such as communicating bad news, and change. Chapters on organizing and budgeting, as well as measuring the value of communication, provide some professional tools that will be useful to the reader.
The value of the book is enhanced by appendices on messaging policies and resources, as well as a good index. The text, written in a relatively conversational style, is seasoned with case studies from two fictitious companies-one that does communication right, and one that misses the mark. The book is current and is designed with enough white space to make it comfortable to read and benefit from.
While I might have organized the chapters a bit differently, that's an easy task for a wise reader to accomplish. The content is here-valuable for the newcomer to the field, the seasoned professional who could benefit from a refresher, and the manager or executive who just needs to learn and appreciate a little more about how to communicate more effectively with a workforce that's hungry for information and interaction.