7 Ways to Facilitate Communicating Change to Frontline Teams

Over the last few years, frontline teams have gone through more challenges and disruptions than ever before. 

From the turmoil of the pandemic to high turnover rates, labor shortages, and supply chain issues, effectively engaging the frontline workforce is getting increasingly more difficult. 

Communicating change to frontline teams is one of the most pressing issues executives and frontline leaders are facing today. 

With so much upheaval since the beginning of the global pandemic, frontline employees are feeling burned out and resistant to change, whether it’s in the day-to-day operations or discipline. 

Combined with the fact that 62% of frontline workers don’t feel connected to their management, implementing and scaling new strategies comes with a unique set of obstacles. 

However, one thing remains crystal clear. 

Frontline teams are the backbone of industries from manufacturing to healthcare, and if current communication strategies are not working, then we must come up with a better approach. 

In this article, we’ll break down seven different ways to improve your internal communications with frontline teams for faster change and more engagement. 

1. Use Personal and Direct Communication

Modern technologies give executives ample opportunities to communicate with frontline team members through video and company-wide meetings. 

This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, digital communication channels and platforms started to push out face-to-face meetings in the late 80s and early 90s.

A 1996 article in Harvard Business Review warns against the dangers of skipping one-on-one communication and addressing your frontline teams as a whole, arguing that employees see it as “untrustworthy and incomprehensible.” 

With 97% of employees believing that communication has an impact on their task efficiency and 86% of highly engaged organizations conducting one-on-one meetings between managers and employees, the importance of direct communication continues to stand true today. 

That said, getting each and every one of your frontline employees into a one-on-one meeting can be unrealistic and costly. 

Secchi, a performance management platform for frontline teams, makes it easy to connect to your hourly workforce and improve your frontline employee communication with a personalized text messaging feature. 

2. Rely on Data, Not Emotions

When it comes to communicating change to your frontline team, performance data is key. 

Your frontline supervisors can’t effectively communicate with workers if they don’t have accessible and easy-to-read performance trends at their fingertips. 

To create frontline-wide change, it needs to be crystal clear what has been hindering worker performance. 

Without data, your frontline supervisors are just guessing and making decisions based on their emotions and personal opinions, which is ineffective and raises your organization’s litigation risks. 

Secchi brings visibility to behavior patterns so you can communicate with your workforce using facts, reduce repeated mistakes, and improve workplace performance. 

3. Introduce Healthy Competition

When communicating change to frontline teams, adding an element of competition to the workplace can be a productive way to encourage & engage your employees. 

As a result of a few turbulent years, frontline workers may be resistant to new solutions and systems, preferring to keep things the way they are. 

Introducing change as a part of a challenge or a rewards system is a great way to get your frontline workforce to open up to new ideas or learn new skills. 

For example, you may offer employees who complete your new training program small rewards like gift cards or other financial incentives that make them feel recognized and valued. 

That said, it’s crucial to keep the competition friendly and prevent co-worker resentment. 

There’s a 40% reduction in work output with one bad apple in the workgroup, so it’s important to maintain a positive and supportive company culture. 

Secchi engages all employees to bridge the gap between high-performing and low-performing employees for more communication and collaboration across the workplace. 

4. Remove Communication Barriers

One of the most important ways to facilitate communicating change to frontline teams is to remove the barriers between management and the workforce. 

Wasteful motion hidden in paperwork and ineffective communication tools hinder change and leave frontline leaders unable to efficiently connect with workers and get their message across. 

Statistics show a pressing need for change. 

→ 84% of frontline workers don’t feel properly informed by the management.

→ 50% of frontline employees feel that they don’t understand the overall strategy of their company. 

→ 75% of frontline workers report that they’re not being listened to. 

To communicate more effectively, frontline supervisors need a way to remove barriers, eliminate waste, and gain confidence in their communication platforms. 

Secchi simplifies the hourly performance management process, allowing frontline leaders to stop being pulled in multiple directions and dedicate time to productive communication on an easy-to-use platform.  

5. Start Tracking More Than Just Discipline

Trying to implement change without seeing the full picture is tricky. 

Introducing new solutions and approaches without fully understanding what exactly wasn’t working about the old systems can create worker resentment and more hiccups down the road. 

To achieve success, frontline leaders must go beyond tracking just discipline and compile comprehensive performance data to make smarter decisions & improvements for their teams. 

Secchi makes it easy to hold your team accountable and visualize performance trends so you can reduce mistakes, identify coaching opportunities, and introduce positive change that moves the needle forward.

6. Encourage Open Conversations 

Frontline workers want opportunities to share feedback, especially when there’s a change to their familiar routines & work environment. 

In fact, 79% of frontline employees want to share feedback with their organization monthly or more frequently. 

Despite the myth that they’re only there to collect their paycheck, frontline workers want to feel heard and treated as a valued part of your organization the same way salaried employees are. 

Fostering a genuine and constructive environment where your frontline employees feel comfortable sharing their feedback will make them more receptive to new adjustments and change. 

Dialogue facilitates improvement, and it’s your responsibility to facilitate the dialogue. 

7. Help Your Frontline Supervisors Become Better Leaders

More often than not, frontline managers are entry-level managers who have to work around serious challenges of the post-pandemic economy. 

In fact, up to 40% of frontline managers are in their first year of leadership and are scrambling to live up to the demands of their roles, which makes them less effective at communicating with frontline teams and implementing change. 

To improve company-wide performance and drive revenue growth it’s essential to equip frontline managers with the right tools to be better leaders, such as reducing their paperwork load and simplifying performance management. 

Secchi: Performance Management Software for Frontline Teams

Secchi streamlines performance data, allows frontline supervisors to maximize their time, and helps them to effectively manage and evaluate the performance of their team members. 

Once frontline managers are able to connect with the workforce and gather comprehensive data it becomes significantly easier to remove barriers to change and facilitate improvements. 

Book a demo today to learn how Secchi can help your organization communicate change to frontline teams.