Samenvatting

The Court Service Division's mission is to provide a modern and professional court service that supports accessible, fair, timely and effective justice services. A suitable mission to the fast-paced, diverse world the organizations of today must thrive in. This paper has taken the Kenora Court Services mission and appropriately extended it to the employee through accessible, fair, timely and effective communication services. An internal employee questionnaire concluded that over 50% of staff currently experience miscommunication with management. Corporate headquarters does not believe a formal written communication plan is an effective communication strategy in the legal sector, and leaves the flexibility in the hands of site supervisors and managers. Employees yearn for effective communication tactics, while management doesn't recognize the consequences of under developed communication strategies. The lack of communication planning and training has fostered a workplace culture to embody high levels of gossip, lack of trust and lack of open communication - quite opposite to the organizational mission and objectives.The Kenora Court Services will need to begin with basic communication strategies, starting with communication training and education. A communication professional from Court Services Division in Toronto headquarters will educate management and interested staff, and work with management to develop effective internal communication strategies with the involvement of staff. This training will assist in new leadership approaches, to ultimately reform the workplace culture - a challenging, yet rewarding process. Majority of staff note the high levels of gossip from both co-workers and management affects them and their job performance. A no-gossip policy will be implemented to develop healthy internal relationships amongst co-workers and support an open, honest atmosphere. Message styles and appropriate channels will be developed to reduce over used and convenient one-way styles of communication. Staff and management will be limited to a certain number of emails to be sent per day. This forces the use of other modes to ultimately increase face-to-face communication.