Managerial Communication to Turn Words into Impact: Sorin’s Idea

Christine Bénard, a Senior Advisor at Sociabble with over 20 years of experience in managing large industrial sites, shares memorable stories from the field in this series of articles. Through these stories, she explores the key drivers of employee engagement and imagines how, with today’s tools—notably Sociabble—these dynamics could have been amplified. After the stories of Pierrot, Jean-Marc, and Margaret, here is Sorin’s story.

Early 2000s. At the time, I was head of Valeo’s Cabin Thermal Management division in Europe.

One day, during a visit to our site in Romania, I had an experience that would remain etched in my mind.

The site had just opened, and already it was a success! The production of heating devices for Dacia had earned us a prestigious supplier award.

I wanted to thank the teams for their incredible work, share our vision for the future, and explain the strategic role their factory would play. But above all, I wanted to listen to them: to hear about their experiences, their desires, and their ideas.

Sorin’s brilliant idea

I wanted to mark the occasion and find an original way to communicate. I had the idea of asking Sorin, the charismatic head of the production workshop: what would make the employees happy?

He said to me, “It would be nice if you could give them a little message… but in our language.” Since I hadn’t taken Romanian as an elective in school, I wrote a short speech in French, which Sorin kindly translated into Romanian for me. Fortunately, he also transcribed it into phonetic Romanian!

The big day arrived: we stopped production, gathered everyone together… and I went for it. I read my text, trusting in myself, because I had no idea what I was saying! I put my heart into it and the reaction was incredible: everyone was in stitches.

I don’t think they understood a word I said, but the important thing was that the ice was broken, and I was the first to laugh about it. That moment created a real bond. I think they appreciated the intention. Twenty years later, I still remember it fondly.

Communication was vital to me, and it is no coincidence that in 2004 we received the award for best internal communication from the Group’s communications director.

But I didn’t communicate out of obligation: it was natural, a pleasure. I also encouraged all managers to cultivate active communication, both for their teams and for themselves.

Successful managerial communication: the keys to success

Here are what I consider to be the five building blocks of successful managerial communication.

1. Inform, but with clarity and authenticity

Effective managerial communication is based first and foremost on information. Informing employees about the strategy (where we are going) and operational plans (how we are going to get there).

Messages must be clear, transparent, and easy to understand. To achieve this, we should prioritize visuals (graphics, videos) and choose quality over quantity.

It is also essential to provide feedback loops: allow employees to ask questions, gather their feedback, and, above all, respond to it. Creating expectations without follow-up is counterproductive.

If difficulties arise, silence is the worst option. Information must be motivating and accompanied by close, daily communication.

2. Deploy locally tailored communication

Information must be relayed at all hierarchical levels, with each manager translating it into their local context. The closer you are to the field, the more concrete and practical the message must be, and the more it must be conveyed in the language of the employees.

Appropriate support is needed to assist with deployment, but it is equally crucial to train and coach middle managers. They must be comfortable communicating, but also listening and incorporating feedback.

Care must be taken to ensure that the information flow does not reinforce silos: cross-functional sharing sessions must complement the system.

3. Establish genuine bottom-up dialogue

Managerial communication must be two-way: bottom-up communication cannot be neglected. Every employee must be able to give feedback, even if it is negative—and I would say even more so if it is negative. The worst thing would be if discontent could only be expressed through strikes or walkouts.

Before reaching that point, it is necessary to set up listening mechanisms: informal discussions, suggestion boxes (to be actively used), surveys, and satisfaction polls.

Often, minor irritations (“it’s cold in the factory,” “press 4 is leaking a lot of oil,” etc.) can be dealt with very quickly. This prevents them from escalating into deeper frustrations when it’s too late!

4. Align communication and corporate culture

Managerial communication must be aligned with the company’s culture and values, both in substance and form.

I knew a manager who advocated kindness and involvement, but whose teams felt there was a significant disconnect between management and the front lines. “No listening, no consideration, no information,” they said.

We worked together successfully on this issue: changing managerial behavior does not happen overnight, but concrete communication efforts can initiate profound change. Consistency between words and actions (“walk the talk”) is essential.

5. Ensure consistency between internal and external communication

Finally, consistency must be ensured between what is communicated externally and what is communicated internally.

It is desirable that external communication (institutional, HR, on social media) be easily accessible internally.

When this is the case, it is pleasantly surprising to see how employees can become true ambassadors. Indeed, their pride in belonging is often a very strong driver of commitment.

If only I had had Sociabble! What impact would it have had on managerial communication?

As we saw above, effective managerial communication largely takes place in the field, and there is no question of technology replacing these moments that are so rich in human interaction. But if I had had Sociabble at the time, it would have given me a huge boost. Because when you have several factories and thousands of employees spread across the globe, speaking 15 different languages, it’s obvious that not everything can be done in the field.

In concrete terms, Sociabble would have made it possible to:

• Communicate regularly with all employees, tailoring messages to different audiences.
• Distribute information in everyone’s language, thanks to built-in machine translation features.

• Organize live Q&A sessions, with a smart summary of the discussions, to facilitate understanding and keep a memorable record.

• Provide managers with ready-to-use materials to enable them to relay messages in a consistent but locally adapted manner.
• Give every employee easy access—via smartphone or company screens—to all key information needed to understand the company’s strategy and their own contribution.
• Maintain close communication, even on a large scale, by combining human interactions and digital tools.
• Strengthen commitment by giving meaning and valuing individual contributions to the collective project.

With Sociabble, managerial communication becomes simpler and more impactful, while remaining deeply human.

In conclusion: stay close, even on a large scale!

Looking back, Sorin’s story perfectly illustrates what successful managerial communication should be. In a nutshell, he understood what really mattered to his teams: being valued, listened to, and recognized for their identity and uniqueness.

That day, by daring to speak their language—even clumsily—I understood how intention matters as much as the message. Creating connections, giving meaning, showing sincere attention: that is the foundation of all effective communication.

Technology will never replace what is essential: listening, humility, and the desire to build something together. Today, however, with tools like Sociabble, we can amplify this approach, staying close, accessible, and authentic, even on a larger scale!