How often and how should a manager and an employee communicate?

First of all, talking about the types of communication - two main ones can be identified - spontaneous communication and regular scheduled communication. Spontaneous communication as well as regular can be informal (most of the times) and formal.

Informal spontaneous communication is the communication that takes place every day withing the office. You say hello, you ask for a piece of paper, you ask for a signature, you talk a bit about your family, about your dog, you go for a coffee, nothing special, just regular day to day talk which occurs with no planning and no predetermined purpose. This type of communication is useful to get to know people better, to understand their likes and dislikes, their family matters. Since you spend at least 8 hours at work you need to know your manager and you as a manager need to know the employee beyond a job description. People are not machines and need to socialize and communicate in order to be able to spend productive time together.

Formal spontaneous communication occurs normally when something related to the business or to the employee's job needs to be transmitted and wasn't planned. This means that the manager communicates some new results, new tasks, something has happened and the employee needs to find out - either good or bad. This type of communication builds authority. As I mentioned it is not planned so it can also occur any time.

Informal regular communication is the type that appears during planned team buildings or evenings out. They are planned events taking place normally outside the office allowing people to learn more about each other and building a strong team. It's important to organize such type of communication for people to become a team. They are not just friends (relationship improved by spontaneous informal communication), but they are a team. It's useful during these activities to organize group tasks like games and sports matches in order for people to work together but without the constraints of the office. How often should this happen? As often as possible - once a month, once in 3 months, but not less often than once a year because new members of the team join in the meantime and need to be introduced to the team.

Formal regular communication is the most important for the business. This should occur in two ways: individual and in a team. The manager should take the time to organize regular meetings in a formal environment where employees can share ideas, can participate in decision making, can share feedback, can ask for advice or bring up negative issues concerning their own individual work or the team. Individual meetings should occur not less often than once in 2 weeks (preferably once a week) because the employee has a lot of tasks and he may need support with some and he can't wait for more than 2 weeks. Group meetings can occur a little less often, but not less than once a month. Normally team results are prepared at the end of the month so the beginning of each month is a good time to organize a team meeting.

Engagement Strategies: Employee Motivation Idea - Employee of the Year Selection

Here's a proposal for you to think about - how can you select the employee of the year for a team as fair as possible. Prepare an Excel file, include the names of the people in the teams, insert the criteria and give weights to each of them.

Here's a file you can use:
http://www.comialarm-resurseumane.go.ro/HR/Employee_of_the_Year_Criteria_Excel97-2003.xls

Take into consideration the following criteria:
- mid-year rating grade - rates from 1 to 5 were considered, 1 being the best, 5 the worst;
- annual rating grade - given in October so you can have the final Employee of the year selected by December.

Additional criteria:

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Team Work

Employee consistently demonstrates the spirit of teamwork by offering support to fellow employees whenever a need arises for a collective effort in accomplishing a task or goal.  Employee takes a positive approach in interacting with fellow employees.

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Reliability

Employee is always on time for work, doesn't waste time on too long breaks, his colleagues and his manager can always trust that he/she will perform the activity he/she was entrusted with, will respect deadlines and will promote quality of work

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Innovation

Employee has developed an original idea or suggestion that has a positive effect on the operations, policy and/or procedure.  The end result of the idea or suggestion is a reduction in cost(s) to the operation or increased efficiency or accountability.

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Personal development interest - Learning & Development

This criteria defines the person's interest in developing themselves, his/her interest in being part of trainings and in improving the knowledge

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Professionalism

Employee conducts himself or herself in a manner consistent with the values and goals of the company.  Employee demonstrates an above average knowledge of their job responsibilities and delivers a high quality job performance and services.

Customer focus

Employee consistently recognizes and meets the needs and requirements of internal/external (where applicable) customers.  Employee demonstrates compassion in dealing with the customer, being mindful of how his or her attitude and actions are perceived.  Employees use problem-solving techniques, when necessary, to satisfy the customer’s needs and reflects a positive image of the institution.

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Quality

Employee consistently uses a systematic approach to accomplishing his/her responsibilities, taking care to minimize errors.  Employee acknowledges and takes pride in ownership of the day-to-day processes for which he/she is responsible and utilizes initiative where necessary to meet overall goals.