From all the information I read on the various HR issues, in the wide variety of communities, it seems to me that the whole thing boils down to communication: Loop people in on what's going on in a company, and they'll feel like they are a part of it.

It wasn't so long ago that the communication piece was so hard: the employee couldn't possibly grasp the 'scope of business'. Massive reorganizations, designed to maximize the potential of the enterprise were the order of the day. Staff would come into a meeting, only to find that half the room-full of people was to receive pink slips by day's end. Classy.

Now communication is everywhere. You can get pretty much anything you need from an Internet connected computer: communication between companies, industries, people, and nations is the order of the day. Feeling under-appreciated? Go online and find another job. Not sure you make what you are worth? Get a salary comparison online. Thinking of taking your skills to the next level? Study online.

So my question is, why is it still the main topic of the articles I post? Communication can't be that hard, can it? 

Well, if a company doesn't know what it's really doing, which direction it needs to go in to stay competitive, it can't communicate that to it's employees. That might trigger a mass exodus of staff, of talent, if the confidence in it's very existence is questioned. But if a company admitted that, and solicited advice from it's staff, would that not be inclusive? 

But, really, that’s not the problem. From what I read, it’s the little things that count. It’s telling someone that they did a good job. Better, it’s telling someone they did a good job in front of an office full of people. It’s letting people know when there is a need for change, and why. Then, it’s going through the points and soliciting comment before it happens, in case there are solutions that can come ‘from the floor.’ Keeping people in the loop, and caring what they think is the most important thing to retain their interest, and their loyalty.

It doesn’t really matter how big, or small, a company is. There is someone supervising someone else, who needs to connect in a meaningful way with that person on a regular basis (and I’m not talking about an annual performance review, either.) Without that connection, isolation from the process, from the organization, will result. If ‘your people’ can’t think of you in any way other than ‘the boss’ or ‘the manager’ then they can’t make the commitment to the work their own. And then they leave, to find that connection elsewhere.