Performance-linked communication is a system which relates organizational communication to the performance needs of the organization by answering the question, what needs to be communicated to the person doing the job so that targets can be achieved? And then building the infrastructure to ensure delivery.

Millions of dollars are spent annually by organisations trying to implement communication strategies. While better communication is almost universally recognised as a desirable result, few management teams recognise the importance of this at all levels of the organisation, particularly at the workforce level. And many organisations grapple to determine what to communicate.

Sacher Associates focuses on the role communication can play in enhancing employee performance and therefore organisational productivity. It recognises that team performance can be improved if the appropriate information is communicated to the team.

We have been auditing the essential components of team performance to improve productivity in international and Australian organisations for 25 years. Time and again we have found the weakest component is communication, particularly in the form of performance feedback. This can be one of the most costly errors in organisational management. While resources are invested to ensure the financial director has all the information needed to make decisions and perform in his/her role, little is invested in providing the sort of information workers need to perform their role, and these are the people that are immediately adding value to the products or services delivered by the organisation.

We define performance feedback as official information from the system that tells people how they are performing against targets.

Effective communication is essential to any leader's role. The nature of a leader's position demands that they communicate effectively with their team members and their leader. A leader must direct their team towards team goals, delegate tasks, impart information and provide feedback, all of which requires communication skills. If you can't communicate effectively, you can't lead. But no-one is born a good communicator; communication skills are developed.

Technical people in technical environments are notoriously poor communicators. Sometimes they don't communicate at all. This becomes a real problem for management when change is implemented at the workforce level. It is especially troublesome as unions win the battle for the hearts and minds of the workforce by stronger allegiance to the maxim that he who communicates leads. Listen to the voice of the workforce as presented in research done by the Australian Institute of Management, Western Australia branch:

When change is introduced into an organisation, good communication is essential to ensure that everyone understands and accepts the change. Good communication keeps everyone informed and involved.

A sound communication strategy is essential to the successful implementation of any performance improvement initiative. The communication strategy should address both what to communicate and how to communicate, particularly at the workforce level.

If a sound communication strategy is not present, even the most carefully thought out and well-planned performance improvement project will fail.

We collaborate with our clients to achieve sustainable and measurable performance improvements through your people. We facilitate a work environment or culture that enables continuous improvement and sustained excellence.

We partner with you to achieve productivity improvements through teams, at all levels. Our role is not to run courses or perform other activities that your internal people could do better. Rather, we work with you to achieve the highest levels of organizational effectiveness, resulting in sustained bottom-line improvements.

We are experienced, implementation specialists.