Why don’t small business owners communicate with their team?

April 14, 2009 · Filed Under Business Ideas & TIps, Small & Medium Businesses · Comment 

It amazes me to see business owners/managers reviewing the performance of the business and complaining about some area, however if you ask them if the team knows exactly what is expected, they give an uneasy answer.

So let’s think about a couple of things here.  Firstly, let’s assume they are measuring something that is important, matters and needs to be measured. (This is not always the case in business). With this assumption, the next question is: does everybody in the business know and understand what is being measured?  This is the question I want to cover a little today.

If people in a business don’t know expressly what is being measured, what their individual, team or group performance is being measured, they will guess.  They will make up their opinions of what is important. They will interpret the actions of the owners/managers to form an opinion of what is important. We often hear the comment “that is the way it is done around here”.  These become the unwritten measures or rules.

But these rules are often not exactly what the owner or management wants or is measuring.

Behaviours are being changed by the individual’s or team’s opinion of what is important. So why wouldn’t the owner/manager of the business explicitly provide the information to the team? Now, I am not necessarily saying that the small/medium business owner has to reveal every line item of the profit and loss statement (though I am not necessarily opposed to this).

What I am saying is that the owners of a business MUST simply, concisely and consistently share with the team what is being measured, what is important. They must communicate clearly and consistently to everybody in the team.

What do you think about communication in small business? Please leave comments of either great or horror stories involving communicating with the team.

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