FEATURE TOPIC
DM: The simplest, often overlooked technique is to ask questions – more
can wait or won’t be delivered, whereas other items must happen. An eye on the future is always important. There is an art in balancing all things together and drawing on the team for success. And tomorrow is another day.
more memorable and easier to understand than many words. DM: As a rule of thumb, over communicate. Say it, follow up, remind, and broadcast. Attend ops meetings so you hear first-hand what’s on the horizon for different areas of the business. You can also share information such as P60s being available, the impact of late changes on the wider employee population, and so on. MM: When communicating with stakeholders about priorities, it’s crucial to speak in terms that resonate across the various departments with which we collaborate. I approach these conversations by clearly explaining the rationale behind prioritising certain tasks and outlining the potential impact if they’re not addressed promptly. To effectively convey the importance of payroll tasks, I frame them in the context of risk management. By doing so, it becomes clear that prioritising payroll is not about creating obstacles but about safeguarding the business and reducing risk. This perspective usually secures the necessary buy in, as it aligns with the overall goal of protecting the business’s interests. SO: Honesty is key. Set expectations with stakeholders early, especially if you don’t have capacity to meet a deadline. Keep communications up to ensure everyone is kept in the loop. I try to put myself in my stakeholder’s shoes and think about how they would like to be informed. If it’s a colleague two banks of desks away, a chat would probably do. However, for your chief executive, who asked for a four-page report on why you feel you need to change software providers, you may want to have a more formal discussion about expectations and timelines. Know your audience and build a relationship with them. SP: In a busy world, the issues of today sometimes distract us from the challenges of tomorrow. With an industry that’s governed so much by compliance and government change, it’s important not only to keep your eye on the ball; you must equally expect the occasional curve ball or googly. So regularly review communication with focus, outlining the plan and change, the purpose and the critical deadlines. Management is key to ensuring stakeholders are aware of the priorities, plans and why, especially as stakeholders themselves will have different priorities and targets. n
precisely, the right questions. Which of these priorities are being measured? What are they measured against? To-do lists help but brainstorm your priorities. Put tasks in priority order; what can you delegate and what do you need additional support with? Try to work on the top priorities in the morning – switch off your email notifications, and if you keep getting interrupted, consider booking out a meeting room or putting on headphones so to the casual interrupter it looks like you are on a call. MM: I find a combination of centralised technology platforms and personal organisation tools to be highly effective. First, make sure to use a centralised system where all tasks can be tracked. This ensures nothing gets missed, particularly when team members are absent. In addition to this, maintain a personal electronic ‘to-do’ list each day. SO: I find working back from deadlines the easiest way to prioritise my spinning plates. The closest deadline gets my attention first. I also break down my tasks into bite-size chunks. As an example, the policy team may have consultations to respond to, so several tasks could come out of that, including: l digesting the consultation to thoroughly understand how we can respond l sending a survey to members to gather feedback l facilitating a think tank with members l writing findings of feedback l finalising consultation response to the relevant government department. If the whole task of ‘respond to this consultation’ was hovering over me, it could feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into manageable chunks, knowing some tasks must be completed before others, helps to make it manageable. Simon Parsons: Personally, I use tables outlining a priority and deadline for tasks, and then map out the points when attention is needed – mapping out the future roadmap. Having overall sight of items remains important, as many pay and reward activities overlap across a group of stakeholders. A change can equally have a ripple effect across different areas. Although it may be a little dated these days, the MoSCoW principles of Musts, Shoulds, Coulds and Woulds still have their place in mapping out a prioritisation of activities based on a reality that some things
How do you approach communicating with
stakeholders on priorities? KB: Honesty. If you’re struggling to get work done, it’s always best to be open and honest with your stakeholder. This allows you to manage expectations and start to feel in control of your own workload. I also double check their deadlines. Invariably, if you explain your situation you can usually get an extension of a day or two to get a piece of work done. Also, by talking through the required work, it may be that what they have asked for isn’t the actual work they need done and that will save time in the long term. If you build up a good working relationship with your stakeholders, you’ll learn about their requirements and what they need, as well as being able to share what your workload is like. IH: I believe establishing a communication grid is imperative as part of the planning of any piece of work. Who do we need to communicate with? What needs to be communicated? How often? Once this is established, it takes the ad hoc aspect out of communications and you can be clear to stakeholders on what to expect and when. Alongside this, you can establish a communication channel, be it a written report, an employee news item or a face- to-face meeting. This is where you can then work smart and establish if one solution could be packaged up to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders. Also important is the choice of language. As professionals we use a lot of jargon, but place yourself in the position of the audience and ask yourself if it would be understood. Keep language appropriate to the audience and avoid the need to over explain or resort to technical knowledge – keep reminding yourself of the purpose of the communication. In modern ways of working, it’s also quite probable that not everyone can join a webinar or will read an update, so find a place to host the information on your intranet. Also use visual diagrams to get your points across, as a picture is often
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2024 | Issue 103 34
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