Tag: internal communication

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Engagement

Mooses, Puzzlers & Peeves

If you’re looking for a great idea on how to get top management (and staff) to address tough issues, check out the Gap’s “Moose Sessions” described in a recent Melcrum blog post.

It reminded me of a facilitation exercise called “Puzzlers & Peeves” that, with management’s support, you can do with small groups of employees or in staff meetings. Here’s how it works:

  1. Ask the group to quickly identify what they think are the 4-5 biggest challenges facing the company (the “puzzlers”).
  2. Repeat the process with what they think are the 4-5 most irksome or irritating aspects of the company’s operations (the “peeves”).
  3. Combine the two lists and select the top 3-4 items that need to be addressed. (In my experience, at this point it’s best to acknowledge everyone’s limited time & resources and that it’s unrealistic to attempt the entire list. So the group will need to get consensus on which items they most want to tackle.)
  4. Follow up with an action plan for each and go at ‘em.

It’s a great way to focus staff on dealing with the issues and can be effective in turning gripe sessions into positive action.

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Engagement Marketing

The Power of Employee Gatherings

As mentioned in my last post, Chiumento’s research found positive work relationships and effective internal communication are critical to employee satisfaction & happiness at work.

Chiumento cites the following tips to encourage good working relationships:

  • Foster inter-departmental communication and working, giving employees opportunities to share ideas & experiences
  • Encourage face-to-face communication where appropriate, so that colleagues have more worthwhile discussions than e-mail alone allows
  • Ensure no staff member is working in isolation but feels supported and involved in business.

I find these tips (taken from a longer list) most relevant because I’ve seen firsthand their powerful impact. Two of my clients recently hosted special gatherings to bring together their sales reps: one was a statewide meeting, the other a national meeting. (One group was primarily female, the other group male; ages varied in both groups.)

Here’s a representative sample of their comments from the session evaluations:

  • Excellent opportunity to exchange ideas. We’re all in the same boat with common goals.
  • Beneficial in hearing and learning how team members approach new business & make contacts, etc.
  • This is helpful to prioritize my thoughts. It is always helpful to hear it again from different people.
  • It really charged us up & got the idea stream flowing.

Yes, these types of events are labor-intensive and incur travel costs, especially compared with lower-cost alternatives of webinars and teleconferences. But a well planned face-to-face employee gathering is a worthwhile investment in stimulating and sharing ideas, problem-solving approaches and renewed focus through stronger internal networks.

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Engagement Marketing

Happiness at Work

I’ve written before about research supporting the importance of employee satisfaction and happiness. I just came across more recent research conducted in the United Kingdom by Chiumento on Happiness at Work. (You can e-mail Chiumento for a copy of the report.)

Here are the top ten factors (ranked in order) that impact employee happiness. Note: while these findings are similar to previous research here in the U.S., they may not be applicable in other countries.

What Makes Us Happy at Work

  • Friendly, supportive colleagues
  • Enjoyable work
  • Good boss or line manager
  • Good work-life balance
  • Varied work
  • Belief that we’re doing something worthwhile
  • Feeling that what we do makes a difference
  • Being part of a successful team
  • Recognition for our achievements
  • Competitive salary.

What Makes Us Unhappy at Work

  • Lack of communication from the top
  • Uncompetitive salary
  • No recognition for achievements
  • Poor boss/line manager
  • Little personal development
  • Ideas being ignored
  • Lack of opportunity for good performers
  • Lack of benefits
  • Work not enjoyable
  • Not feeling that what I do makes a difference.

These factors also relate to employee engagement – measured in the research by how much employees care about their organization’s success and how much they feel they personally contribute to this success. According to Chiumento, “If you treat your staff fairly and ensure good lines of communication you will help them feel happier which in turn encourages them to give more discretionary effort.”

More on this in my next post …

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Engagement Marketing

Talk About Employee Satisfaction

You’ve heard the cliche,”talk is cheap,” but it’s invaluable when it comes to employee communication and satisfaction.

Check out Melcrum’s recent Hub newsletter about a survey by British HR firm Chiumento that found employee satisfaction is more influenced by good internal communications & work relationships than compensation.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Employees & the Customer Experience: What Companies Can Do

As promised in my last post, here are the findings of Maritz’s 2006 Customer Experience study:

  • Almost half of all customers (43%) who defect do so because of service
  • 77% of these customer blame their leaving on employee attitude
  • 83% of these customers tell someone else.

Maritz’s white paper, “Delight or Defection: The Pivotal Role of People Inside the Customer Experience,” also outlines its approach on how companies can positively impact employee behavior:

  • Better (deeper) measurement of the customer experience:
  • Localized, “grass-roots” intervention (more on this shortly)
  • Meaningful motivation
  • Integrated & aligned action.

I especially like Maritz’s combination top-down & bottom-up strategy to enabling and driving change at the local level: share research results with employees … obtain their input on improving the customer experience … and facilitate action plans based on the research & particulars of the organization at that locale. According to Maritz, “Co-development of learning and action plans with front-line staff generates relevancy, greater participation, and employee buy-in.”

More on Maritz’s approach in my next post …

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Engagement

Internal Communicators’ Survey Says …

I’ve been posting a lot lately about internal communications, talking about the need for “air traffic controllers” and dealing with “beavers” who dam up the communications flow. And I’m not alone in my concerns.

Over 200 attendees at Melcrum’s recent Strategic Communication Management Conference in London were surveyed about their issues. When asked What is the biggest challenge you face?, the top two responses were “line manager communication” (32%) and “overcoming information overload” (25%). Two thirds of the attendees also cited middle management as the primary bottleneck in the flow of internal communications.

You can find more survey highlights in The Source, Melcrum’s free e-zine for internal communicators.

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Engagement

Don’t Dam the Communications Flow

My last post addressed the internal communicator’s role as “air traffic controller” in managing the flow of information in an organization. Here’s another symbolic image – drawn from nature this time – for a particular communications situation. And I invite you to share your ideas on this one.

A common problem in organizations is the assumption when senior managers initiate top-down communication that the message reaches all who need to hear it. The reality is just because a message was sent doesn’t mean it was received, read/heard, and (ultimately) understood.

Scary stuff

I was talking with a senior management team about top-down communication and was astounded when one of the managers told me he doesn’t always share information with company staff unless they ask for it. He admitted it was just his nature, although he said it with a great deal of pride. (I understand this may be a control issue: knowledge is power and all that. But I don’t want to get into it here.)

His admission got me thinking about senior and middle-management’s role in enabling OR hampering the flow of top-down communication. I came away from that meeting thinking of him as a beaver whose job it is to build a dam.

Your turn …

How do you deal with the “beavers” on staff who dam up the information flow so that it only trickles downstream?  I’d love to hear your strategies and suggestions for coping with this.

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Engagement

Navigating the Overcrowded Communications Skies

One of the gems I took away from Melcrum’s recent internal communications webinar was the picture of internal communications professionals as “air traffic controllers” – overseeing the flow of internal communications so middle managers are not overwhelmed with information. There’s simply a glut of information being carried by a fleet of media in an already overcrowded work-space. And we need to be sensitive to employee workloads and time constraints in being able to absorb it all.

If you’re in a position to better manage the flow of internal communications, where do you start? An employee survey will help (yikes! not another survey?!) …

In the meantime, consider this idea: sort your communications into “need to know” vs. “nice to know” categories and prioritize accordingly. What critical info do employees really need to know to do their jobs compared with info that is perhaps interesting or helpful but doesn’t have strategic impact.

Simplistic? Absolutely … but a useful first step in navigating the crowded skies of internal communications.

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Engagement

Internal Communicators’ Expansive Role

I recently joined the 21st century by attending my first webinar. I’m a bit technophobic, so this was a big step for me.

My experience was positive due to the seamless technology (provided by iLinc Communications) and the informative content by presenter Victoria Mellor, CEO of Melcrum.

In “How to Build the Ultimate Business Case for Internal Communication,” Mellor shared key findings from Melcrum’s 10 years of research. There was the usual reinforcement of what most of us know about the critical role of senior managers and their influence on trust and employee engagement.

Check out this pie chart

But what really surprised me were the numbers (based on research by Towers Perrin) that sorted out primary communication sources and their impact on employee behavior:

  • 61% comes from an organization’s leadership (their messages, actions, etc.)
  • 32% from infrastructure (corporate culture, systems, policies, etc.)
  • 7% from formal media (memos, newsletters, meetings, etc.)

What is it that most communicators focus on? The tools that collectively only have 7% impact! That’s not to say their internal communications efforts are unimportant. On the contrary, we need these folks to help craft & deliver effective and consistent internal messages.

The “gotcha!” for me is that communications professionals have a much greater strategic role to play – beyond managing internal media -by working with their companies’ leaders.

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing – Not for Stepford Wives

Every once in a while I find myself getting defensive about internal marketing.

Some business folks, who begrudgingly acknowledge internal marketing’s premise (“take care of employees so they’ll take care of customers'”) chide me as they envision creating a cadre of plastic, smiling automatons going about their business happily serving customers.

But I am not advocating internal marketing as a “Stepford wives” approach.

I am advocating that employees be considered upfront, not an after-thought in business strategy and operations.  The best organizations proactively consider employee needs and concerns when developing new programs or improving existing ones.  Those who get it:

  • communicate the rationale behind management initiatives
  • get employee input on anticipated customer response to operational changes
  • provide whatever new or remedial staff training might be needed, etc.

What I’m talking about is effectively communicating with your employees: involve them, listen to them, and gain their buy-in in the process.  In other words, respect your employees by considering how they’ll be impacted by your business decisions.

This will get you genuine smiles, not plastic ones.