How the Hell Can You Communicate if You Refuse to Talk? (Lee Iacocca)

“How the hell can you communicate if you refuse to talk to people?” Consultant Andrew Botwin quoted auto industry icon Lee Iacocca and illustrated with a picture of Lee and Snoop Dog hanging out.

Botwin, founder of SPC Consulting, offered the following tips for “communicating up” at BLR’s 2013 Strategic HR Summit held recently in Scottsdale, Arizona.

• Lean toward over-communication, but don’t communicate so much that you become annoying.
• Report consistently what you are doing.
• Remember that “self-promotion” is not a dirty word.
• Don’t make the excuse that it is easier for everyone else.
• Communicate politely, not obnoxiously.
• Build your self-promotion into your routine reports.

How should you communicate? You have e-mail, instant messaging, and text messaging, but don’t forget about picking up the phone and walking around. You are expected to have a finger on the pulse of the organization, and that’s not going to happen sitting at your desk, says Botwin.

Get ADA compliant job descriptions for your jobs with a Free Market Analysis Report. Also receive guidance on how to use our Compensation Analyzer tool to do market analysis, identify internal and external inequities, and track compensation.

Attitude Is Important

Attitude is everything (almost), Botwin says. Consider the following:

• Check your ego at the door. We all have an ego, says Botwin, but those who let it be seen are often less well regarded, regardless of their position.
• Can do. You want a “can do” attitude, says Botwin, but make sure that you also “do do.” “Can do” backfires big-time if there’s no follow-through.
• Smile! Positive outlook helps, says Botwin.
• Work. When you work, work hard!

Also, says Botwin, consider the following:

• Don’t be a victim; workplace bullying happens every day to HR.
• Have a viewpoint, but know what hat you are wearing.
• Be well thought-out. Be your own devil’s advocate when time permits.
• Be a leader, not a follower.

Executives want a trusted advisor, Botwin says, and they also respect leaders. To be strategic, you must meet both expectations.

Finally, says Botwin, HR leaders follow the advice of Mark Twain:

Always do the right thing; this will gratify some and astonish the rest.

Getting the C-Suite to pay attention—a perennial challenge for compensation and benefits managers, but certainly not the only one. “Maintain internal equity and external competitiveness and control turnover, but still meet management’s demands for lowered costs.” Heard that one before? 

Many of the professionals we serve find helpful answers to all their compensation questions at Compensation.BLR.com, BLR’s comprehensive compensation website.

And there’s great news! The site has just been revamped in two important ways. First, compliance focus information has been updated to include the latest on COBRA, Lilly Ledbetter, and the FMLA. Second, user features are enhanced to make the site even quicker to respond to your particular needs:

• Topics Navigator—Lets you drill down by topical areas to get to the right data fast.
• Customizable Home Page—Can be configured to display whatever content you want to see most often.
• Menu Navigation—Displays all the main content areas and tools that you need in a simple, easy format.
• Quick Links—Enables you to quickly navigate to all the new and updated content areas.

The services provided by this unique tool include:

• Localized Salary Finder. Based on reliable research among thousands of employers, here are pay scales (including 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles) for hundreds of commonly held jobs, from line worker to president of the company. The data are customized for your state and metro area, your industry, and your company size, so you can base your salaries on what’s offered in your specific market, not nationally.

Get an ADA compliant job description, grade assignment, rate range for that job, and salary data, all customized for your industry and geography. Better news? It’s FREE. Download Your Free Market Analysis Report.

• State and Federal Wage-Hour and Other Legal Advice. Plain-English explanations of wage-hour and other compensation- and benefits-related law at both federal and state levels. “State” means the laws of your state, because the site is customized to your use. (Other states can be added at a modest extra charge.)
• Job Descriptions. The website provides them by the hundreds, already written, legally reviewed, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate that essential job functions be separated from those less critical. All descriptions carry employment grade levels to current norms—another huge time-saver.
• Merit Increase, Salary, and Benefits Surveys. The service includes the results of three surveys a year. Results for exempt and nonexempt employees are reported separately.
• Daily Updates. Comp and benefits news updated daily (as is the whole site).
• “Ask the Experts” Service. E-mail a question to our editors and get a personalized response within 3 business days.

If we sound as if we’re excited about the program, it’s because we are. For about $3 a working day, the help it offers to those with compensation responsibilities is enormous.

This one’s definitely worth a look, which you can get by clicking the links below.

Click here to get more information or start a no-cost trial and get a complimentary special report!