A New Problem for Companies? Improving Employee Experience When Employees Work From Home

Interview Diane Hamilton

Dr. Diane Hamilton is a professor and a business leadership expert. She gives seminars, leads podcasts and shares blogs helping people to build better business strategies. Here are a few things she would say in an interview:

1.) Why do you believe it’s important for remote employees to communicate their emotions?

      • Emotions are important to convey whether working in a traditional or remote office environment. It can be more challenging to convey emotions in a virtual setting, especially if meetings are held in audio-only format.
      • The skilled leader can recognize audio cues; however, I believe it is important for employees to be trained to share their emotions as well.
      • That is not to say that everything that makes people unhappy needs to be shared. However, especially in a remote situation, some meanings of communication can be misunderstood.
      • Leaders need to know if employees have had negative reactions to communications or are unhappy with their job responsibility. It is important because 2/3 of the workforce is disengaged and that costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
      • If employees do not communicate their emotions, their resentment can build and that leads to poor productivity.  Poor communication can also lead to employee conflict.


2.) How do you help remote workers communicate their emotions?

      • Leaders need to make it clear that communicating their emotions is safe.  If they believe there will be negative ramifications for sharing their emotions, people will shut down and let things build.
      • One way for employers to help their employees is to ask them to paraphrase what they believe regarding communications, their job responsibilities, how what they do ties into the overall goals of the company, etc.
      • If people learn to paraphrase what they have learned from things communicated to them, that can share any misunderstandings that could lead to negative emotions.
      • I recommend that these discussions occur on the phone or through video conferencing.  A follow-up email is appropriate to summarize what was learned, but should not be the main form of communication.


3.) How do you ensure communication remains open and honest between leaders and remote workers?

      • The best way to ensure communication remains open and honest is to put it on the calendar to have feedback sessions.  Cultural changes and expectations must come from the top.
      • If leaders do not embrace the need for good communication, it is unlikely it will occur.
      • Leaders can start by sharing their emotions.  Many leaders fear to look like they don’t know everything.  If they admit that they could use help from employees, it empowers employees to do more and to also share their honest emotions with their leaders.
      • It has to do as I do and not just do as I say.  I have had many leaders on my show who have incorporated their cultural goals into every meeting.
      • They tie every decision into how it helps them reach their goals.  Helping employees see how their jobs and responsibilities tie into the overall goals will improve engagement.
      • By scheduling consistent meetings to go over how well this occurs, leaders can tell if employees have heard employees’ concerns and if communication is clear.

 

Available for Interviews: Dr. Diane Hamilton

Dr. Diane Hamilton is an award-winning speaker, nationally-syndicated radio host, consultant, author, and educator. Through her work as the MBA Program Chair at the Forbes School of Business and at several other universities, she has taught more than 1000 business courses. She has a Ph.D. in Business Management and is a certified Myers-Briggs MBTI and Emotional Intelligence EQ-i instructor. Top companies, including Forbes, have hired her to speak to groups to improve employee relationships, increase engagement, improve productivity, and reduce conflict. She is the author of multiple books, one of which was required reading at a technical university, titled: It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality.  She is the creator of the Curiosity Code Index, a ground-breaking curiosity assessment tool, and the author of the forthcoming book: Cracking the Curiosity Code.

 

Contact:
Jo Allison
Success In Media
jo@SuccessInMedia.com

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