The best way to reach and engage employees with communication is to make them part of the conversation. You can do this by empowering employees to speak up and creating opportunities to share what’s going on in their world. Here are six simple ways to get employees involved:

	Provide managers with Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) on key issues. Managers spend most of their communication time interacting with their team members, not presenting. So skip the PowerPoint® and create a candid, detailed set of FAQs instead.
	Change town hall meeting agendas to allow 20, 30 or even 40 minutes for Q&A and discussion. Think employees won't say anything? Start by providing more time, which allows employees to loosen up. And, instead of saying, "Any questions?" pose a thought-starter like this one: "What challenges do we face in meeting our objectives?"
	Help leaders be more effective at responding. Answering questions and dealing with comments are two of the most difficult things for Type-A, impatient leaders to do well. So look for opportunities to coach, train, provide tips and otherwise give guidance on how leaders can get really good at responding.
	Create a "rate and comment" feature on your intranet. The simplest online participation tool is the one Amazon made famous: "Rate this product (or article, or anything) and tell us what you think." It's a great way to get started with encouraging participation.
	Share photos. Nearly every phone has a camera these days, and we've all become comfortable snapping a photo and sharing it with friends. Channel employees' inner paparazzi by inviting them to submit photos on a certain topic. Like this: "Customer service in action." Or: "How we achieve our value of 'collaboration.' "
	Share videos. Once you've gotten your feet wet with photos, you can advance to encouraging video on your web site. Best way to begin: Be very specific about what type of submissions you seek. For example: Run a contest for "Best 90-second video showing how I used the wellness program to get fit."