Value communication

Theodore Carpenter Jr.
CEO, SelectCare of Texas LLC

When it comes to communication, you
are only going to get out of your employees what you give them. If you want to
build a culture that empowers employees
to communicate with you, the first thing
you must give them is a good example.

Theodore Carpenter Jr., president and
CEO of SelectCare of Texas LLC, says it
takes a willingness to look at yourself as
a communicator, your own strengths and
weaknesses, and ways you can improve.

“It starts at the top,” he says. “It starts
with how I act with my management
team and how I embrace both good news
and bad news. My focus is on improvement, and then that sets the standard,
and that’s replicated throughout the
organization.”

From your office, communication will
generally cascade downward, meaning
your senior managers’ ability to fine-tune
their communication skills is every bit as
important as your ability to fine-tune
yours.

Much can get lost in translation if you
and your managers aren’t communicating
the same things, so Carpenter says it’s
important to stay in frequent contact
with the people who head your departments — not just on the business matters of the day but on how those matters
are being relayed to those lower in the
organization.