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A key component of my executive role at Rayburn Electric Cooperative is ensuring effective employee communication.
Our internal communication is one of the most important leadership and management tools. Clear communication creates agility, endears trust, and builds ownership.
When employees feel heard and understand the mission, they stop acting like spectators and start acting like stakeholders. That’s when speed, innovation, and sustained performance take hold.
The effects of poor communication in the workplace
Communication is a two-way street. It’s not just top-down, and leadership must listen as much, if not more, than it speaks, to avoid unwanted effects:
Inconsistent or weak messaging can amplify uncertainty and erode credibility at the exact moment stability is needed most.
Poor communication creates voids and vacuums that become filled with misconceptions, rumors, and misinformation.
Employees will fill in the blanks, and leaders miss key opportunities if they do not shape and supply clear messages.
The ultimate cost is a lack of clarity on mission and purpose, creating long-term damage to performance and culture.
Leadership communication is about consistently reinforcing mission, purpose, and values through a variety of methods.
We deliver that through structured onboarding, consistent internal communications, and opportunities for engagement such as public forums and lunch-and-learns. At Rayburn, we also offer a comprehensive overview of our operations through classes held at Rayburn University.
Consistently using feedback loops serves as a check to ensure alignment around mission and purpose. Effective listening helps leaders understand what is on the minds of employees and incorporate that feedback into decision-making. Listening does not mean acting on every piece of feedback, but it does mean showing employees that their viewpoints and ideas are heard. Employees at all levels want to feel heard and know their input matters, even if every idea isn’t acted upon.
Inconsistent or weak messaging can amplify uncertainty and erode credibility at the exact moment stability is needed most
Our HR team is highly trusted and greatly valued. They serve as our eyes and ears, and employees trust them to maintain confidentiality and raise concerns without fear of retribution – so, it is equally important that leadership values input, whether it is positive or negative.
Psychological safety is about creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking openly. We also ensure the HR team feels that same level of trust and safety as they serve as a medium in our communication loop.
Learning from communication missteps
We do not always succeed in our first communication attempts. But we have learned the value of correcting it when we miss the mark. Two examples come to mind:
Prior to my arrival at Rayburn, a new privacy policy was over-reaching and densely written. It was also communicated ineffectively, which eroded trust in both the policy and leadership behind it. One of my first responsibilities was to rewrite it to match the scope with the content to rebuild that trust. Employees value being heard, and they notice when leadership acts to address their concerns.
The second example is more recent. Ahead of a winter storm in Texas, we communicated that we expected everyone on-site, rather than working remotely. As a critical industry, that expectation was grounded in our responsibility to serve our members, especially with the memory of Winter Storm Uri still casting its shadow. However, the message failed to acknowledge the flexibility we typically provide and the reality that employees may need it most during moments like this. Our CEO acknowledged this at a recent all-employee meeting, and that transparency helped rebuild trust. Even when the intent is right, the message can still fall short.
If an employee can’t explain how their work connects to the broader business, then we have failed that employee.
Our expectations for excellence and innovation depend on employees' understanding of their role and its impact. I learned this early in my career at a clerkship with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, when the support staff expressed concern that they did not understand how their day-to-day connected to the mission of the office.
Building alignment through Rayburn University
We help solve this through Rayburn University (REC-U), our internal business education series focused on our mission and values and how we operate.
REC-U is a multi-course overview of the electric industry in Texas and how Rayburn fits into it as a generation and transmission cooperative. It also covers how we fund our infrastructure and how we perform our business objectives for our four member cooperatives, while reinforcing our culture of excellence and innovation through continuous learning and education investment.
Each business unit also hosts an elective course explaining how its day-to-day operations support Rayburn’s overall objectives. REC-U reinforces how and why Rayburn does business, while also allowing employees to build communication skills and better understand how their individual performance impacts the organization.
Key voices need permission to contribute – that permission builds trust, and the feedback is often incredibly valuable. A dissenting voice can help hone your message, address weak points, and may become an important ally in support of an idea
Principles for effective leadership communication
We strive for effective communication, acknowledge when we miss the mark, and always work to improve. Our approach centers on a few core principles:
We teach context, not just tasks: When people understand their part of the whole, their communication becomes sharper and more strategic.
Communication must be active: An open door isn’t enough – trust is built by walking the floors, asking questions in someone else’s workspace, and inviting candor.
Create space for honest feedback: Draw out people for their opinions – we use stay interviews to strengthen communication.
Leadership should speak last: Input dies once the senior person in the room speaks – when leaders listen first, ideas expand, and better solutions emerge.
Watch for who hasn’t spoken: Often, key voices need permission to contribute – that permission builds trust, and the feedback is often incredibly valuable. A dissenting voice can help hone your message, address weak points, and may become an important ally in support of an idea.
Communication is never perfect and can always be improved, but it is essential to effective leadership and its importance as an executive-level skill cannot be overstated.
Chris Anderson is General Counsel of Rayburn Electric Cooperative. He is the company’s Chief Legal Officer, managing internal legal staff as well as outside counsel, and leads Rayburn’s Human Resources team. He oversees the corporate risk management and compliance program and serves on Rayburn's Executive Team, which is responsible for company strategy development and implementation.
