A Simple Solution to Poor Office Communication
As a company’s payroll grows, it’s time to embrace a new type of meeting
Jessica Powell, the former Google vice president who wrote The Big Disruption and told you how to quit your job, is here to answer your common but tricky work questions. Check back every other week for more management advice with a tech inflection.
I run a start-up of 30 people. As we’ve expanded, employees are complaining that they don’t understand the bigger picture of what we’re doing — especially our non-technical employees, probably because I spend most of my time working with the engineering team. What can I do that will improve communication but won’t take up too much of my time? I can’t afford to give my time equally to people.
How about this: Sit everyone down and tell them to stop complaining — they should be jumping for joy that you’re all still in business! Remind them that if they were working harder they wouldn’t have time to complain. Then end everything in a team cheer (but a fast one, because people need to stop yapping and get back to work).
More seriously, you’re facing a common problem for companies of your size. Back when you ran a smaller company, there was no need for company-wide emails and meetings to keep people aligned. You all worked in the…
