"I might as well be talking to myself," managers might say if they felt no one was
listening. Based on our research in nine stores of a major United Kingdom elec
tronics retail chain, no one is listening to staff briefings.
These managers recognised the powerful motivational and communication
potential of face-to-face oral briefings. But our research showed that the potential
impact was dissipated Managers were not trained to give briefings or appraised
on their briefings skills. Perhaps in consequence, they prepared themselves indiffer
ently for daily sessions and made little use of techniques known to affect attentive
ness and recall.
In consequence, the daily communication session appeared to have little impact
on motivation or behavior. This lack would indicate a major opportunity for com
munication professionals to help managers communicate more effectively.
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