Communication for Engagement
In the book, First Break All the Rules (Buckingham & Coffman, 2000), one of the key take-aways reported by the authors is that the engagement of human capital occurs at the highest level when there is an organizational culture of well communicated, clearly understood individual roles.
However, in my experience, the real-world situation is that it is often the case that the elements of clear communication are not well understood and therefore not well implemented by those who are the supervisors or managers. So, the culture must first be primed with good information and then imbued with good communication form starting with the basics of clear complete communication as a way to ignite, create clarity and foster continuity in the leadership of engagement.
I think the one of the best and yet simple models for insuring the basic elements for clear communication is the “Saint Francis” model or “STF” (origin unknown to me). This model proposes that in the process of providing clear communication one must complete three elements (hence it is designated by the three letter acronym “STF”). These three elements are then a recognition of the mutual need (between speaker and listener) for understanding of what the listener heard the communicator actually say (S), what the listener thinks (T) about what was said, and how the listener feels (F) about what was said. Establishing these three elements when dealing with organizational communication provides a more clear complete and therefore more productive level of communication.
from Mike Sacco of Stratalyne Business Solutions LLC
STRATALYNE 