Let me tell you a secret: I love drive-through restaurants. And why not? They fit my lifestyle of running to meetings, rushing between appointments and playing taxi to my children. And I’m not alone — drive-through restaurants have become an integral part of our culture, letting us quickly and easily get food to fit our busy and (dare I say) at times, lazy, lives. No longer do we have to leave our car, as we can get our food on demand in a way that works for us.
So why am I telling you this? Because I believe we need to take a similar approach to how we communicate with our workforce. We need to accept that not all our employees can or want to always be "in the restaurant" when it comes to communication, but want to be able to "drive through" when and how it best fits their lives and their schedules, happening in real time.
The reason this is important is because communications is one of the foundational elements of employee engagement. You’re not going to make an impact on your engagement strategy without a strong focus on how you communicate with your people; it can make or break your efforts. For this reason, I believe that if we also offer up drive-through-style communication alongside the restaurant, i.e., more static communication approach, we better set our employees and our businesses up for success.
Let me share with you four ways I’ve used this drive-through approach to employee communications to advance engagement:
1. Create a drive-through "window."
The key to a drive-through restaurant is the drive-through window, which is the entryway to the consumer experience. The same needs to be true in how businesses communicate with employees, creating a window they can enter that allows them to easily and quickly get to the information we want to communicate and create a positive employee experience.
For example, we created a window for our employees with our communications portal, which pulls together everything and anything that our employees need so they can understand what’s going on in the business and what the business is doing to support them. It’s arranged in a simple format so employees can drive through to get what they need, and then get out and get back to their work and their lives. It’s even accessible through an app — how much more drive-through can you get?
2. Create a "menu."
Another element that adds to the drive-through experience is the menu or menu board that appears as you enter the queue. It clearly lists out what food is available, helping customers quickly and easily make their selections.
The same needs to be true when we communicate to our employees. By creating a menu, businesses can make it easier for employees to engage with the communication, as well as shape and influence their overall experience.
We use this menu approach on our employee communications portal by creating tiles for each of the key areas of communication. For example, there is one tile where employees can click on to find information on their benefit programs, another where they can find key messages from the leadership team, another to visit the virtual wellbeing hub and another where they can provide feedback at any point in time. A design like this allows employees to "order" what works for them, and do so in a straightforward and engaging way.
3. Create multiple "lanes."
Have you noticed that many restaurants have moved to more than one drive-through order lane? This speeds up the ordering process, and for people like me who hate waiting, makes us feel more in control of the whole process.
When it comes to communicating with employees, leaders should adopt the multiple lane approach, specifically doing so by using a variety of communication media. With such diverse workforces, we need to recognize and address that our employees will want to be communicated to in a variety of ways.
For example, some employees like to read a two-sentence summary, others like to read the detail while others may want to watch a quick video. By creating a variety of lanes of communication, employees will be encouraged to drive up to them and engage with them instead of just passing by.
4. Collect feedback.
Last, but certainly not least, is collecting feedback, which drive-throughs aim to do each and every time a customer visits them through a web address provided on their receipt. By doing this, they can better understand how they’ve met the needs of their customers and how they can improve in the future.
When it comes to our employees, collecting feedback on how our communication is working (and not working) is something that businesses should likewise be collecting as often as possible. According to a study by Salesforce, employees are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work if they feel their voice is heard.
By creating what I like to call feedback moments throughout our communications drive-through experience, we make it not only easy to provide feedback, but also easy to keep feedback front-of-mind as employees are aware of their company’s interest in their feedback.
Next time you find yourself in a situation where you need to send out a communication message or build a communication vehicle, let me encourage you to try out the drive-through approach. Not only will you have more employees visit your messages and create a full "meal" for themselves, your communication will have more impact and engagement will improve.
