Recently, one head of a regional division of a large company shared his concerns about the atmosphere in the team. In recent years, the company has grown, and newcomers clearly do not care to look closely at the photo of the CEO on the stand. In the corridor, they often do not even say hello to him, because they do not know who he is. Opportunities to personally communicate with employees have been reduced to a minimum, they only manage to see each other regularly at meetings with heads of departments and divisions, but several dozen such people do not make a difference in a team of thousands. And most importantly, traditional events to unite employees are no longer popular. People go out to play football under duress, and competitions are about to have to be cancelled due to the absence of not only fans, but also players.

The CEO, trusting his instincts, tries to influence the situation. The PR department staff has been increased, positions for internal communications specialists have been added, who constantly cover news in the corporate newspaper. The CEO stands in the same queue at the canteen with ordinary employees, even parks in the same parking lot. And still, there is a feeling that there are no common topics for conversation. The manager is afraid that the situation will affect work - for example, it will be more difficult for him to explain his position to the team or he will simply not be heard.

Recently, I was discussing with the HR director at another company the consequences of ignoring emerging problems: turnover has increased, engagement has decreased, and there is a suspicion that several key managers will leave the company in the near future. Moreover, in the latter case, we were talking about a company that uses all possible tools for working with employees - an intranet, a corporate newspaper, groups on social networks, constant events on the occasion of Employee Day, Brand Day, and Client Day. The HR director had the feeling that employees were overfed with communications, and PR people and the HR department no longer know what else to come up with to engage employees.

Oddly enough, the cause of the problems in both cases was the same. A large or small amount of communication does not cancel out the employees' need for personal, face-to-face leadership from the top person. We had to discuss at length with the top manager the role of social networks in the lives of modern youth, and not only them. If the manager is mature, then for him to create an account on Facebook is the same as betraying the homeland. Although, in essence, searching for one's own image on the monitor screen and in the news feed is no different from choosing a photograph after another photo shoot for publication in the corporate annual report.

How much communication should there be to influence the mood of the team at all levels? A lot. But on one condition - if communications do not make the image of the leader exclusively virtual. The leader must be physically present at all levels of the organization. It is necessary to look for an opportunity to regularly communicate personally on production issues with a wide range of employees. Then communications in all sorts of sources will be additional information about the personality of the leader, something "from the life of the stars." Or a way to share impressions of personal meetings with the leader - a hero, a professional, a mentor, i.e. someone who knows how and wants to solve complex production issues.

Consultant Tips: Virtual Manager