Tag: internal communication

Categories
Engagement Marketing

A Gift to Improve Employee Engagement

This holiday, give the gift of employee engagement … and it’s free!  Employee Engagement Advice Book is a new e-book written by members of the Employee Engagement Network (EEN) and compiled by network host David Zinger.  EEN members (including me) share advice – limited to one sentence each – on how an organization can improve employee engagement.

The book contains over 200 contributions from people who are passionate about employee engagement, including several featured in this blog: Terry Seamon (see his advice on page 6); Kevin Burns (page 9); Paul Hebert (page 28); and Richard Parkes Cordock (page 35). (My contribution is also on page 35.)

Recurrent themes include communication (especially listening), valuing employees, empowering them, recognizing their efforts, and leadership involvement. It’s worth scrolling through to find the quotes that resonate with you. Pass it along and share it among your colleagues … to inspire them and/or reinforce their employee engagement efforts.

Happy Giving!

 

Categories
Engagement

Interview with Sarah Perry on Innovative Approaches to Internal Communications

Sarah Perry is Sales and Marketing Director at SnapComms, a New Zealand based firm that provides innovative technological solutions “with a pragmatic approach” to improve internal communications and strengthen employee engagement. I wanted to interview Sarah because I was impressed with the way SnapComms applies new technology to address real employee communications issues, not just offering tech tools that are cool to use.

Company Overview 

SnapComms offers a fascinating array of tools that facilitate top-down, bottom-up, and lateral communications within organizations. For example:

  • Snap Shots– interactive screensavers that can be used to share corporate initiatives and encourage employee participation
  • Snap Mag – an electronic employee magazine that includes user-generated content to keep employees informed while effectively managing (and helping to reduce) information overload
  • Other “Snap” interactive tools that make social media easy for internal communicators to use and help streamline communications, such as desktop alerts, newsfeeds, and targeted intranet updates.

SnapComms serves a global client base in the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, the Middle East, Australasia, Caribbean, and South America. Its client companies range in size from 50 to 29,000 employees.

QSM: Based on your experience, Sarah, what are the top 2-3 communications challenges organizations are struggling with today?

Sarah: Resource, in terms of hours in the day versus workload, seems to be a huge issue right now. Organizations are downsizing their internal communications teams or expecting existing teams to manage an increased work load. I also think that social media can suck up a lot of time and presents some significant challenges to internal communicators (e.g., monitoring trends on external social media channels; also dealing with the reality that internal communications need to be faster and more authentic or ‘stories’ break on their own and are not always accurate). In other words, the role has become more complex and time critical, whilst unfortunately, the resource is reducing.

QSM: Given the expansion of communications technology going forward, how will organizations best balance the “high tech” and “high touch” elements of internal communications?

Sarah: I’m not sure that “high tech” and “high touch” need to be mutually exclusive. (I’ll assume that “high touch” means the face-to-face types of communication.)

Social media is making it much easier for people to connect regardless of location, and tools like Webinars are almost as good as face-to-face for building relationships. Video will start to replace some of the more traditional town hall meetings (especially if you can use delivery tools that monitor who is viewing and allow interaction).

I think the “high touch” is really the domain of line managers (from an internal communications perspective). The focus will increasingly move to line managers, and we need to raise the profile of communications as a key part of a manager’s role. Some of this can be achieved by providing guidelines and training and measuring and managing communications as a KPI [Key Performance Indicator]. There’s a need to actively reward good managers and coach those who need it.

QSM: What scenario(s) do you project regarding how organizations of the future will use internal communications to engage employees?

Sarah: Internal Communications has become more of a recognized discipline over the last few years; this will continue. (I’m always pleased when a smaller organization approaches us and clearly realizes the benefits of good internal communication. Fortunately, we are seeing this more and more).

Other trends will be:

    • Cloud computing will make remote collaboration easy and affordable, so it will become more commonplace.

[Here’s how Sarah explains cloud computing.] From an employee    communications perspective, this means low cost, scalable software solutions offered as a service which anyone from anywhere can access (typically via a web browser) and collaborate with anyone anywhere (with appropriate security). This is nothing fundamentally new – the key difference is that corporates are now more comfortable with using solutions like this. This is mainly due to the fact that hardware can now be ‘virtualized’ which makes the solution ‘redundant’ [meaning] very reliable and cost effective; i.e., if a server somewhere falls over, other servers elsewhere in the cloud automatically pick up the slack. Current examples include salesforce.com and Google docs.]

  • The reducing cost of bandwidth will make tools like video conferencing and multimedia in general much more prevalent.
  • Social media will no longer be called ‘social media’ – it will just be another channel or tool in the tool kit.
  • Micro blogging will have found its very small niche (from an internal communications perspective) and the hype will have died down.

I did read an interesting blog post about holographic communications being less than 10 years away due to quantum computing – now that will be an interesting town hall meeting!

QSM: Thanks, Sarah!

Categories
Engagement

Help for Communicating with Employees

I found two great resources on internal communications that I want to share.

Melcrum’s Source for Communicators recently featured a great article on how to help prepare managers who have to deliver difficult news. It provides guidance on creating the appropriate communications environment for employees + helping managers build their confidence in communicating in a challenging situation.

I’m also happy to recommend Jane Vanderhorst’s new blog focused on helping HR professionals with employee communications, The Inside Voice: Effective HR Communications That Engage Employees. Check it out and then pass it along to the HR folks in your organization.

Categories
Engagement

Gather Round: A Staff Meeting Template that Works

With e-mail dominating internal communications, staff meetings are becoming a lost art form. Here’s a meeting template that helps engage employees and minimize their passive participation.

A little background: I developed this template for a marketing communications firm that needed to bring together its creatives and administrators (aka “the suits”). With the account execs out on client or media visits and the creative staff at their desks, casual internal communications was no longer effective for this group of 12 employees.

The following hour long agenda was used in staff meetings held twice a month. This template can be adapted by other organizations to suit their needs.

  1. What’s going on – agency principals share strategies, policies, and organizational updates (approx. 10 minutes)
  2. Business development – briefly sharing information (approx. 20 minutes) on:
    1. new clients and prospects (including which account execs were involved so staff knew who to go to if a new client or prospect called)
    2. client opportunities (ideas/suggestions on “what else” can be done or offered to help clients achieve their marketing & sales goals)
    3. analysis of lost business (what happened)
  3. Campaigns in progress – brief sharing of new creative work and, if needed, existing campaign updates (approx. 15 minutes)
  4. Lessons Learned – one or two employees voluntarily share a recent work-related experience (approx. 5 minutes):
    1. Favorite Mistakes (things we did that we don’t want to repeat)
    2. Favorite Catches (good things we did that we hope to do again)
  5. Wrap up/next steps – summarizing any follow up action items (approx. 5 minutes).

The result of the new meetings was a more informed and cohesive staff who better understood the firm’s business.They also expressed a better appreciation for how their individual and collective efforts contributed to client service and satisfaction.

Categories
Engagement

From Fish to Fireside: Making Time for Employee Communications

You’d think that internal communications would be easier with company layoffs since there are fewer people to communicate with. But with the remaining employees expected to do more with less (including time), how do you maintain internal communications?

Here are several small group communications approaches & motifs that companies use:

  • “Sardine seminars” – employees share specialized skills or knowledge with each other in a condensed time frame. Think brown-bag lunches or designate a prescribed time (ranging from 20 minutes to an hour) to conduct such a session that will help bridge organizational silos.
  • Fireside chats – an informal gathering where managers can listen to employee concerns and issues. (Set up a computer screen with a burning yule log for atmosphere … and don’t forget the coffee, tea & sweets!)
  • “Studio Executive Coffee Series” – The Walt Disney Studios hosts these in which small groups of employees get to meet with senior executives to learn about what they’re working on. (You can read more about Disney’s internal communications on Melcrum’s The Source for Communicators.)

I’d love to hear about other ways companies “package” internal communications among employees as well as between management and employees. (Speed meetings, anyone?) Your ideas are welcome!

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Interview with Barry Nelson on Employee Communications & Commitment

Corporate communications expert Barry Nelson, retired founder of The Story Board, is a strong advocate of workplace journalism – a business communications approach that addresses employee concerns along with business concerns. With economic turmoil taking a toll on employee engagement, I wanted to get Barry’s perspective on how we can use employee communications to make a difference.

QSM: What’s the most important message that companies need to send to their employees to minimize disengagement?

Barry: The whole trick of getting through hard and trying change with your people still behind you emotionally is to establish a mutually caring human connection with them. Business reasoning and economic motivation aren’t unimportant, they’re just not the most powerful tools. To establish such a connection, the company can’t simply tell, but must show its staff that the company’s top management cares about them as human beings, not just work assets. That means a company must set up institutional infrastructure — policies, systems, programs — that average workers can recognize as promoting their welfare. This goodwill toward workers can’t be whimsical or dependent on the style of a boss who may be gone tomorrow — it has to emanate from and be embedded in the company itself.

A well validated body of research shows that companies where employees believe their organization (not just their direct supervisor) supports their best interests, are overwhelmingly more likely to enjoy high, across-the-board levels of employee loyalty and commitment than those where that perception is lacking. But for employees to get and maintain such a perception, they need a continuing stream of evidence that it’s so. This presents an opportunity for internal communication programs to systematically provide the needed evidence. That’s why I’ve always urged that at least a portion of the content in ongoing internal communications should be about issues employees experience in the work environment, and what the employer is doing to help. It can’t be all about management’s view of the world.

QSM: What internal communication trends do you see emerging in the coming year (or two)?

Barry: Really hard to say, but I would hope that the immensely more difficult job of maintaining employee commitment in these hard times, when work-force and perhaps pay reductions may be unavoidable, might drive our more resourceful colleagues toward more empathetic, less management-centric forms of communication. The rise of social media clearly offers that potential, as overall communication becomes more multi-directional and democratic. But without an underlying philosophy that management doesn’t have all the answers, that employee views matter greatly, even on issues not perceived from the top as central to the strategic agenda (but which could be disrupting efficiency and sapping worker vitality) — without this more humble institutional mindset, the mere implementation of new communication toys won’t do much good.

QSM: What advice do you have for smaller organizations who don’t have anyone formally responsible for employee communications?

Barry: Such an organization these days is almost surely one with a small enough work force that a high level of personal contact by the top leaders is either happening or at least possible. I’d advise those leaders, and the HR or administrative staff who support them, to remember that you lead people mainly by their feelings. And those feelings won’t run in your favor unless you show your people, often and sometimes very deliberately — going out of your way if necessary — that you genuinely care about them. There’s no more powerful communication, or one more likely to be repaid, than an act or expression of love. You don’t need a communication degree to send that message. But you do need to really feel it.

QSM: This is great advice for every manager and business communicator. Thank you, Barry!

 

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

Reflections in The Employee Customer Mirror

To describe the impact that employees have on customers, I often use a mirror metaphor. This “employee-customer mirror” reflects the reality that customers are affected by what employees experience on the job. If employees are frustrated by company policy or internal politics, their attitudes can be projected onto dealings with customers. And who wants to be served by disgruntled employees? It takes only one or two such encounters (depending on the customer’s tolerance threshold) before a customer takes his/her business elsewhere. And who knows how many other customers will hear of the experience?

It’s an easy principle to remember: the way employees feel is the way customers will feel – and if our employees don’t feel valued, neither will our customers. Unfortunately, too many organizations take this relationship for granted. (Don’t even think about using current economic conditions as an excuse.)

How do you manage employee-customer care? I’m talking the basics here:

  • open the lines of organizational communications (top-down, bottom-up, and laterally)
  • involve employees in improving the business operations – whatever is needed to survive and thrive
  • provide opportunities for continued learning and professional development
  • recognize employees who continue to rally the energy and enthusiasm to serve customers and co-workers despite limited resources.

What do you see when looking into your organization’s Employee-Customer Mirror?

  • a shiny reflection of employee- and customer-satisfaction?
  • a blurred image that needs polishing to be more employee- and customer-focused? or
  • a cracked image opening up opportunities for your competitors?
Categories
Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Zappos (Part 2)

I’ve learned a lot about Zappos.com since my tour there, and I continue to be impressed with the organization and its brand. Here’s why.

Zappos works to ensure its employees feel a strong bond with and within the company.

  • With more than 1700 employees operating from the corporate office in Las Vegas and its fulfillment center in Kentucky, Zappos considers itself “One company – two locations.” To “build a positive team and family spirit” (one of Zappos’ core values), employees travel in teams to visit the other location and experience the work done there.
  • Team-related activities reinforce cohesiveness, such as periodic department parades through the office. One of my favorite examples is the Finance Department and its weekly “Random Acts of Kindness” award  given to fellow employees.
  • Zappos encourages employee celebration with major employee gatherings that include an annual summer picnic for employees and their families. It also hosts a special Vendor Appreciation event and even closes the office for a few hours so that ALL employees have the chance to attend.

Zappos invests in developing its people.

  • All new employees working in the corporate office, regardless of their assigned jobs, go through extensive training in the Customer Loyalty Center (i.e., the call center) to learn about the heart of the operation. It not only gives employees an appreciation for core customer service and interaction, but enables them to pitch in during peak times.
  • Zappos hires for both proficiency and culture fit. You may already be familiar with their unique practice of offering to pay prospective employees to quit.
  • As part of its training & development, Zappos maintains a library of management and motivational books for its employees. Book cases line the lobby of the Las Vegas office with these books that are free to Zappos employees, vendors, and visitors.

Zappos engages its employees and customers with open communications.

  • Is there anyone familiar with social media who doesn’t know about Zappos’ use of blogs and Twitter? All levels of employees, from the front lines to senior management, communicate this way – think of it as “employee-generated media.” These conversations can be followed by customers and anyone with access to social media, including competitors!
  • The company also communicates in more traditional ways, such as an “All Hands” meeting, a annual company-wide forum (held in the Las Vegas and Kentucky locations) in which management shares how the company is doing.
  • Combining traditional and social media enables communication to flow openly at Zappos: top-down, bottom-up, and laterally.

Coming up next

Effectively engaging employees, investing in them, and communicating with them openly & honestly – these are just a few of the many things that contribute to Zappos.com’s success. In my next post I’ll share what the Zappos brand means from the employees’ perspective.

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

Employee Engagement and Customer Focus

I found another study that demonstrates the strong link between employee engagement and the bottom line: this one from Watson Wyatt, a global consulting firm. (Note: earlier this year I wrote about similar results from research conducted by Wharton and Towers Perrin.)

Watson Wyatt’s 2007-2008 Global WorkAttitudes Report also examined the drivers of employee engagement across global regions and employee segments. Among its key findings:

“The drivers of employee engagement are similar around the world: effective communication, competitive compensation & benefits, a clear customer focus and confidence in the strategic direction & leadership of the organization.”

Among the “usual suspects” listed as key drivers of engagement – communication, compensation, and leadership – I was surprised to find customer focus. I have always believed that being customer-focused starts with being employee-focused (take care of employees and they’ll take care of customers) so finding customer focus as a driver of employee engagement is an interesting twist.

Here’s how it was explained in one of the report’s key findings:

“Customer-focus is a key driver of employee engagement across all regions. Organizations whose HR programs emphasize delivering superior customer service – including performance management related to excellent customer service and satisfaction – can expect to increase employee engagement and connect with key performance objectives.”

Categories
Engagement

Workplace Gathering a Meaningful Ritual

One of my former clients, a small department of a large organization, engages in a morning coffee klatch – staff arrive on or before 8 AM, turn on their computers, and then gather around the table in a small lunch room for coffee, tea, cereal, and/or a variety of goodies available on the table. (There’s always a generous assortment of baked goods for nibbling and emotional nourishment.)

So what did you do last night?

Conversation varies: about family & pets, current events, movies and reality TV, as well as updates on meetings, customer successes and concerns, and current work issues. (A phone sits on the table so any incoming calls can be taken during this time.) The morning session continues until around 8:30-8:40 AM, and then staff return to their desks.

As a consultant/extended team member, I was welcome to take a place at the table whenever I visited. While this informal socialization seemed to give staff a late work start, the work always got done on time and no customers (external and internal) were ignored. Even in stressful times (and trust me, there were several based on the nature of the work), the team pulled together … . primarily due to the departmental culture created by Peg, the group manager, who’s a regular participant in the morning coffee klatch.

NOT a waste of time!

There is real value to this type of ritual beyond just a social gathering. According to Arizona State’s W.P. Carey business school management Professor Blake Ashforth, such activities should be encouraged because they can strengthen connections among employees who work together and create organizational goodwill. In his article, Water Cooler Talk Keeps Organizational Culture Real, Ashforth writes: “People are social animals and want to feel a sense of belonging with other people. How they feel about their employer is largely dependent on how they feel about their tribe – their boss and immediate co-workers – rather than the organization’s larger culture and objectives as dictated by upper management.”

Especially today, when “work and home increasingly blend together in an always-on business climate … there is still organizational pressure to keep one’s home life from interfering with one’s work life. Yet, knowing coworkers’ hobbies and passions, what sports their kids play and if they’re caring for a sick parent is precisely what Ashforth says builds bonds that strengthen corporate groups.”

Ashforth advocates that organizations recognize the importance of their smallest local groups (“tribes”) and find ways to: 1) make those groups meaningful to their members and 2) connect those groups to the larger organization.

Peg intuitively practices what Ashforth talks about. She knows it takes more than just a singular coffee klatch activity. She’s successful because she truly cares about her staff the whole day, every day.