By Mark Nelson
Welcome to the final installment of our four-part series, exploring the power of video-based microlearning apps in building successful leaders. Previously, we reviewed the shortcomings of traditional in-person leadership training, why microlearning is so effective in employee and leadership training, and how to build leaders with a learning culture. Today we’ll see how simple and authentic communication can prepare an organization’s next generation of leadership.
The Cost of Poor Communication
The heartbeat of any organization is its people. But communicating with employees is one of the biggest challenges any organization faces. In fact, businesses lose $1.2 trillion annually due to poor communication. And nearly 3 out of 4 company leaders report their teams struggle with communicating effectively. Poor communication comes with significant costs, both direct and indirect.
When messages are unclear or fail to reach their intended recipients, misunderstandings arise, leading to errors, delays and rework. Ineffective communication not only erodes trust and morale, it also leads to decreased productivity and missed deadlines, impacting the organization’s bottom line. In the U.S. alone, poor communication wastes 388.4 work hours per employee annually. With a 40-hour workweek, that is nearly 10 weeks per year!
The costs of poor communication also extend beyond immediate financial implications, affecting employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, the company’s reputation and long-term success. Clear, concise and transparent communication is vital in creating a positive and productive workplace culture.
Email Isn’t the Answer
It may be tempting to solve poor communication with email. After all, email messages can be sent immediately and reach a large geographical area. With mobile devices, email is more accessible than ever before. For all of its virtues, however, email is not the answer.
The average employee spends 10.75 hours each week drafting emails that few recipients open, let alone read. Over half of employees (57%) admit that if an email is “too long” (8+ sentences) they stop reading. Unsurprisingly, email has only an 18% open rate and is read on average 90 minutes after receipt.
For example, Wheeler Machinery conducted an internal study and found that more than 50% of its workforce wasn’t reading company emails – even from the company president. Leadership spent hours collecting information and crafting important messages that not even half of the company was seeing. Luckily, they were able to identify the issue early and address it strategically. They now have instant visibility into who has read messages and help workers to be more accountable.
Personalization and Authenticity Are the Key
Personalization delivers communication with the right content that employees need for their role. This type of communication significantly boosts engagement, motivation and knowledge retention. Personalization also ensures communication is relevant and to the point. Simplifying messages respects employees’ time, helping them feel valued.
But personalizing messages alone is not enough. Effective leaders communicate authentically from the heart, fostering trust, inspiring others, and creating genuine connections. Authenticity is a powerful force that drives individual improvement and fuels organizational growth.
Authentic communication involves active listening and creating moments of true engagement with colleagues. It means being open about successes and failures, sharing feedback constructively, and valuing different perspectives.
How to Personalize and Communicate Authentically
Tyfoom makes it easy for leaders to personalize messages and communicate authentically. With the microlearning app, managers can connect with employees regardless of location. Unlike email, mobile alerts boast a 98% open rate and 90% are read within 3 minutes of receipt. Tyfoom harnesses the power of mobile alerts to significantly boost the success rate of company communication.
Because readers typically lose focus after 8 seconds, in-app mobile alerts keep messages brief and within the optimal target range of 50 to 150 words. If a message is too long to put in text, leadership can record and instantly distribute short video messages outlining important or time-sensitive information. Since people retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text, videos may be the better option anyway!
Tyfoom helps organizations build successful leaders in minutes per day through personalization and authentic communication in a video-based microlearning app. To learn more on how you can optimize your leadership training, schedule a meeting to speak with a Tyfoom training consultant.