Six Tips for Effective Employee Communication

Episode 155: We all know the value of communication, but when it comes to your team it couldn't be more true. Clear, open and respectful communication is what the best teams are built on. Lori and Vonda share six important tips for effective communication. This is a re-play of Episode 42 with valuable information as we approach the holidays.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

You gotta think through this. Is this a rule that I'm willing to follow too?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

And Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Hello, Vonda. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I'm fantastic, Miss Lori.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Good. Um, so we have, I don't like to use the word repeat because I don't know. It just sounds like, oh, they phoned it in. But we we're doing a replay. And we're doing it because I think I was telling you earlier last week I had that I can remember, and I don't have the best memory in the world, but I had at least six six I'm showing six years conversations with Clark Click members. They were getting ready to have a staff meeting before the holidays. They were getting ready to have their big meeting and they reached out to me um with like quick questions or needing a little encouragement, needing a little courage, um, needing to clarify some things anyway. And you know, I love those conversations. You do, those are your faves. And I completely forgot that we had this podcast we had done.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, and it was really good. I mean, because you we really went through how important communication with employees is, right? And especially going into the holidays, and you just had covered this with you know on one-on-one with so many people. So if you have this many people asking, you really said, Hey, you know what? We really need to do a rerun of this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Right. And I totally forgot about it. So that's why we're gonna replay it for this week. Um, I think it is a podcast that is um group worthy, like you don't your whole staff could listen to it and make it a kind of a conversation, but uh it's it's just a great podcast to listen to before you're really gearing up going into Christmas, but also the minute Christmas is over, going straight into Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yep, I I think so. So let's just listen in, see what we said back then. This was actually one of our first, very first years, Lori. This was episode 42 from 2020. So still very relevant. Yeah, Lori, we're back with another word starting with a C.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Yes, this is our third C, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

We did conflict, we did comparison, and this one we are doing the big C communication, communication, the most important one, I would think. Yes, so important.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I actually have a bachelor's degree in communication. You'd think I'd be really good at this, but you know what?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

I'm just gonna step back then and just let you take this one over. You've got this, girl.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

No, no, I will tell you. In going through these steps that we researched and decided upon, I was like, wow, I need to go back and look at some notes, some college textbooks.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I think communication so many times is common sense. Oh, yeah, that's another C. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

There's another C. Yep. It is, but what we have to remember is depending on the situation, my common sense is not the same as your common sense. You know, so true. Our common sense kind of comes from experience. You know how people are like, oh, they got some street smarts or meaning common sense type of things. Your common sense when it comes to creating a design in flowers is very different than my common sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

It's true. Well, that's why we have to work on our communication skills so that we can all communicate properly, more effectively, like effectively, more effectively, and we look at that even when we talk about floral design. So sometimes I'm showing somebody a technique. If I'm talking about it, I'm not sharing every one of the steps because I'm just doing it, and so communication is both verbal and nonverbal. And in floral design, in teaching, yeah, that nonverbal communication is so key.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

You know, a good example that reminds me of when you and Julie Poulter were teaching me how to tie bows when we were doing flower prep school. Do you remember that? And even this week, you and I had a person that's going through the training mention I really liked that segment on bow making because you gave different options. But if you remember before we hit the record button, you were going over with me because of course I was trying to practice, so I didn't look like a complete idiot when I was doing it. And I was like, wait, Vonda, wait, wait, wait, wait. What did you do here? And you're like, Oh, okay. Like, it's so in your street smarts on how to do it. Second nature had to stop, and you actually took a piece of scrap paper and you kind of wrote out like step one, step so you would know I gotta hit all these points, and sometimes that's what happens when communication, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

That's where communication breakdown is, is because I assume you should know that. Yes, and there is no way you would know that.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

No, I didn't know how to tie a bow, I've always bought them pre-made.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

I didn't know, and I mean everything in communication. So let's just dive into the list that you came up with.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

We went through this list and dwindled it down to six. Yeah, really, we have six steps now. So number one, and this is when communicating with your staff, your employees. You also, Vhanda, we didn't really talk about this, but I think all of these are good when thinking about communicating with your customers too. You know, as far as number one, be clear and concise. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Whether you're talking to your employee or you're talking to a customer, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yes, right. So using technical jargon or floral industry jargon with new employees andor customers can backfire on you. It can cause confusion for sure. Like if I was calling a flower shop and you were describing, I don't know, maybe I wanted some pink flowers and you were telling me all of the different things in it using your Pitasporum, all of these things that I don't really know what they are.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Or if I would say, Lori, I'm going to create a Bietermeyer arrangement with pink roses and blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

All I know is roses and pink, and I thought you said Betelgeuse. And with the movie. There you go. And I have no idea. I'm thinking of bugs now. So the jargon can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, right? Simplify what you say. Uh use language that everybody uses in everyday life. I think you're going to outline whatever your expectation is, whatever the end result you want out of this communication. Outline that so it's very clear. One of our Flower Click members talks about this. She had a new employee, and she said it was one of those moments where she had to check herself and go, wow, who do I think I am? She was teaching them, I think it was even like buckets, like, okay, I need to go back and wash the buckets, cleaning my bucket that's out in my backyard that I put leaves and things in is very different than cleaning a bucket that you guys use in the shop. And so she went back there, and I don't remember what the girl was doing, but the owner was a little taken aback, and the girl very bug-eyed, was like, But I don't know. This is how I clean buckets. I just thought she's like, Oh God, you know, so it was one of those moments.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yeah, for sure. We assume people know, and we can't. Again, I know I just said that, but we can't assume.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

So clear and concise in your communication. Don't assume everyone has the same experience, background, street smarts, common sense as you do.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Perfect. Love it. And the next one set the tone at the top.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

It all starts at the top, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

It does, you know, and match your action with your words. As a former flower shop owner, I always knew that if I expected somebody to do something, I'm gonna model that. I'm going to let them know that I can do this and you can do this.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

This reminds me of a good friend of my husband and I. We've been friends with them for years. He and two other men own a lot of companies. They're out of Cleveland, they got into the steel industry, which is a big deal in that area. But one thing he told me a long time ago, and again, very high level. Like he flies in his own private jet wherever he needs to be. But he said, Lori, I've done everything you can do in a steel mill. He started like in high school because his dad worked at one, like normal, good blue-collar worker. So he learned the trade and he went on to college and then he started working there. But when he got the job, they were like, You gotta know every facet of this. And so he knew everything from what the custodial jobs seriously, what the custodians did all the way up, and now he owns these companies. But he said, There is no employee that cannot come to him with a complaint where he can't say, Yeah, I get it. I remember that. Wow. Deal with that too. I know not every business owner comes with that. Like you've been in the business since you're 14, then you owned your own flower shop. So you could say, Yeah, I've been there, done that. I get it. Here's how I handled it. If I was to buy a flower shop and didn't know, I would for sure need a good manager or somebody that has walked in their shoes before.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

And I think that is something we're seeing more and more, right? So we're seeing people who are investing in flower shops. Yeah. And then the communication needs to be key between the person who owns that shop and the manager. And then the manager, especially if that owner is not in the shop much, then that manager is the one who really has to have key communication with the employees. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Right. Communication through all channels. Yeah. So the manager has to have great communication with the employees, but the manager also has to have a free line to that owner.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

That that I feel like that could be kind of a scary job to be the new manager of a new flower shop, even if I had the experience, but I wasn't sure on what my boss's thoughts were. I don't know. That's interesting. That'd be a tough situation, but I know it can be done.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

It definitely can be done. And I do think that it has to be a strategic plan on we're checking in once a week or whatever those checkpoints are. But the communication, whoo, that one's key more than ever, really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

So um, number three thing to remember understand your employees. This to me goes back to when I taught school, and every student learns differently. For the most part, they're different levels of learning. And so it's my job to figure out okay, this one's more of an auditory learner, this one's more of a visual learner, and to implement enough curriculum that covers all those bases so that they're all gonna learn, even though they do it different, different ways. And I feel like that's kind of what a manager has to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Definitely. Some of it I found had to do with whether you were working with an introvert or an extrovert. The extroverts, obviously, you could tell they were getting it, they could really communicate, or if they didn't, they would tell you. But as an owner, you have to really pay attention and say, okay, she's back there. She seems to get it, but I can't tell for sure. So I need to do more communication with the introvert to see that she's understanding it and feels like she's part of the team.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Yeah, no, that's good. You always got to have your eyes and ears open for the quiet ones, you know. We need quiet ones. Heck, clearly, I am not the quiet one, but we need those people.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Well, that's kind of down to why it's so important to understand the employees. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Number four. Oh, this one we dabbled with this one, and it makes complete sense of why we put it in here. Notify your employees first. If you are making a change in your business, let's be clear, we're not talking about if you've decided you're gonna retire and you want to sell your business. We've had a lot of people come to us that are in that position and like, but I don't want my staff to know yet because I don't want to freak them out. Let's put that one aside. Let's like put that category over to the left as not really what we're talking about. What we're talking about is if you've made the decision, I don't want to do weddings anymore. I'm tired of big weddings. They take way too much time, they take energy. I talk to businesses all the time that are kind of moving in that direction. Well, you need to let the whole staff know. You need to let them in on your little secret so that when somebody, a bride comes in and wants a consultation, they have the verbiage they need to say no, but here's what you can do. The other thing is you might have an employee that loves weddings, like they want that to be their thing. And if you're removing that from your business, they deserve to know.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

And it might make you change your mind. You might say, Oh, well, if you love them and you're willing to work weekends, maybe we'd not want to stop doing that. Yeah. But I think also little things that are happening in the business. Flower shops have a lot of part-time employees. So if you have a part-time employee who's working Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then on Tuesday, you will make an announcement to the rest of the staff that you're gonna do pedal it forward this year, or that you're gonna have a virtual open house. Right. The rest of the staff will come in on Wednesday and you're starting to do changes, and they're like, What's going on? Yeah. So I think just that communication notify them before it's in the newspaper or on social media and they say, We were doing this at our shop.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

I'm curious how many flower shops have like a group text of their staff or a group uh email, especially during COVID, you know, with all of us kind of being in and out. So I am interested in knowing if that's been more of a form of communication than it used to be. I don't know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

That's just so easy to be able to communicate everything that's going on. Right. Great idea, Lori.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

I was on the phone with one of our members this morning. I was calling her about something, and that's noise in the background, and I was like, What are you doing? She goes, Oh, I'm on a Zoom call, I'm on a Zoom staff meeting right now. I was like, Well, good for you. And then I'm like, why did you answer the phone? I felt she's like, because I knew it was you. I thought that good for her.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

The next one we totally believe in so important, and that's to train often to continue education, whether it be floral, whether it's sales, maybe it's technology, something that they can continually be informed of and grow within the business because it's good for you as far as an owner, but it's also good for them. It's for value. They feel important, they feel like they're being fed. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

I think of Allied Florists of Houston before COVID. I loved when I would go to those events and the owners would be bringing all of their employees and you know, each cost. I thought how valuable those employees must feel.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

It's really important as an employer to be able to look at the employees with pride when they come through that too. And say, wow. Yeah. Look at how much they got out of this, whether it is they set through a sales presentation and really got what's going on or learned a little bit more about the industry. If it's design, it's obvious because you can see the change in their design. But there's so much that as an employee, you can get out of this by seeing that. It's just really great.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Yeah, exactly. Uh, number six, communicate regularly. So here's another C consistently. I think now more than ever, being consistent in your communications, whether it's every Tuesday, an email's gonna go, an all-employee email go out, or every Friday morning we're gonna have a staff Zoom or you know, whatever it is. Be strategic. And even if you have to make yourself a little notification, like it's easy to lose sight, especially of the part-time employees, maybe the ones that aren't coming in as much, or the ones that are choosing to stay home right now because maybe they're immune compromise. You know, they miss you guys. So as long as you can be as inclusive as possible, even if it's a quick little email or a group text, I think that's huge.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

It is, it really is. And that's what, like you just mentioned, Janet, with staff meetings. Staff meetings are huge to be able to do that, and then one-on-one check-ins with your employees, you know, whether it's once a year, sometimes it needs to be more often than that. But make sure that you're having those strategic checkpoints to see one, how they're doing, but also to get the advice from them. How am I doing? How do you think you're doing here at the shop? Is there anything that you think that we could do to improve what's happening here? And we've talked about that before, not feedback, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Right, not feedback because that's negative. That for some reason the psychology in our brain tells us when a superior asks for feedback, we tend to be uh, we're not gonna ask, we're not gonna say anything because they're gonna see it as negative. But if you say, Do you have any advice for me? When when you're asking someone for advice, that kind of changes the whole sentence, the context of the sentence where I'm like, oh, they're wanting my advice on something. Well, yes, I will tell them, hey, I don't like that shirt you're wearing. That's my advice. Don't wear that, you know, whatever. But in my mind, I'm helping them because they asked for it.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

So now you value what I say. But before, when you're saying feedback, you're like, yeah, okay, what what are you gonna give me? Yeah, otherwise, when you're saying, What advice I'm giving you value as an employee. I think it's huge. No, I do, I absolutely think it's huge. You want to make sure that they have trust, they have to have trust in you to be able to give that advice or feedback, and you have to be able to trust them. So it's the two-way communication. It's not like I'm on the top, Lori, and you're gonna listen to what I have to say, and this is what's going on. Right, right. Boys have so much value.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, I think this one probably falls under set the tone at the top, number two. But one thing that I think is kind of a a big deal. You and I have joked about our parents saying, do as I say, not as I do. Yes, my my great aunt Ramona, me in the back seat and her smoking and driving in the front seat, but saying how bad smoke, don't you ever smoke, you know? And she's smoking like I'm not, but I remember this back in the 70s. It but it was a do as I say, not as I do. We can't do that. Shop owners have told me they've caught themselves in is drama, like laying down the law, no gossiping, I am not dealing with this. Yet somehow you got pulled in and they caught you doing it, or cell phone rules, you know. That was I don't know where people are on it now, but a few years ago, everyone's so annoyed because especially your younger part-timers were like constantly scrolling, and so you they would lay down the law, and then it comes back and backfires. So, whatever law you lay down or rule, you gotta model it too. You can't do the do as I say, not as I do, because you know what, great Aunt Ramona, she died of lung cancer. I am not kidding. She was a great lady, but I'm telling you, you gotta think through this. Is this a rule that I'm willing to follow too?

unknown 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

If you're gonna set the rule, you have to live by that rule as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yes. Yes. If I set the rule, we have to wear pink shirts. Am I willing to do that? So whatever it is, you gotta follow it too because you're watching you.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

You're willing to wear a pink shirt every day. Oh, I would.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I would implement that rule five days a week. And one day you could maybe wear purple. But I would follow that rule because it is my favorite color. But when you're implementing guidelines for the structure of your shop, you think about that. Is this something that I can follow too? Right. And then communicate it through the channels so that everybody knows.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Right. Exactly. Exactly. It's better to tell everyone something multiple times or something that they already know, than for them to say, Well, you didn't tell me that. So overcommunication is key. And it's like we've talked about that with children, right? It's like you already told me that.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Yeah, but you still haven't unloaded the dishwasher. I know I've told you five times, sweetheart, but I have yet to see you do it.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

And um, I'm sure I have told you things many times. I say, Lori, this and this and this, and then I probably come back and go, Maybe I told you this, but Lori, this and this and this.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yes, and you're all understanding getting Alzheimer's, but when you do tell me something by the third time, me knowing, okay, this is my boss, I'm doing quotations here as always say that it tells me this is really important to her. Okay, how can we maybe make this work? So I think subordinates that are truly intuitive and listening in a business, they're gonna understand. Okay, she told me this three times that she really doesn't feel like we should do weddings anymore. We need to probably have a conversation here. Like that's it's okay. It's okay to overstate. And I think it also means overcommunicate. If it is a guideline, yes, keep repeating that, but put it in writing. If right now you're still not comfortable having people in your store, which I know a lot of people say, here's our guidelines. Let's make sure everyone's on the same page. This is what we are doing right now.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

That's so important. I'm glad you brought that up. It's like, are we wearing masks or are we not wearing masks? Are we cleaning our hands before we come in the door? Everybody on the same page. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Okay, I hope this was helpful, Vonda. I think hopefully going into the holidays, this might be a good one for people always.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I think for sure, Lori, because what happens is designers are working, whether it's 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours right now. And as it gets closer to the holiday as an employer, I'm like, I know Lori can work more. So I'm just gonna count on Lori working more. Instead of going to her and saying, Lori, we're coming up to Thanksgiving. I probably will need you a few more hours the few days before Thanksgiving. Then we're rolling into Christmas, and I know you don't always work on Saturdays, but every other Saturday, I'd really like for you to count on working for us and communicate that now, Lori, before my gosh, you can't work. What do you mean? I just I thought you would you work every year, every other Saturday. Why would you not be doing it this year?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah, yeah. Just confirm because again, it's always nice to be asked when you go and ask your employee, your designer, hey, you know, here's what we did last year. Are you okay with this? That makes them feel like they have a say in it. Right, right, you know, and and they do, but I'm just saying it, oh, that's uh that's a respect thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

I need you these weeks, because then they feel like they really are an important part of the team as well, which we know they are, but right being asked is good, but also always that communication, especially when we're getting close to the holidays. So there's no surprises, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

And I would imagine there are some employees that are like, oh, I really want to be able to take off this time, but I'm kind of scared to ask. So bring it up. Bring it, bring up the hard conversations, right? We talk about that in conflict when we did conversations. Hard conversations, and sometimes from an employee standpoint, this is it is scary to ask for time off.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.