Talking Internal Communication...

Communication ROI study paints a mixed picture of our profession

Watson Wyatt's latest Communication ROI study  has just been released in the US - and it contains mixed news for internal communicators. 

As Ragan's Bill Sweetland explains, a comparison against the 2005 survey results (the last ROI study conducted) indicates businesses are cutting back in a number of important areas, including measuring the effectiveness of communications efforts and involving employees - and the internal comm team - in change. 

However, since the survey started back in 2003 the overall trend remains largely positive. Over that four/five year period, the number of companies regularly measuring employee behavioural change has increased by 24% to 53% and the number involving internal communications in organisational change has climbed 16% to 63%. 

I haven't had chance to read through the study report yet (a free PDF is available from Watson Wyatt if you register) but I hope to digest it over the next week or so. Meantime, let me know if you spot any interesting trends.

More perspectives on social media...

Following on from my last post, here are two additional - and timely - perspectives on social media and employee communications from the team at Ragan. 

As usual Steve Crescenzo gets to the nub of the issue in his piece exploring how these technologies could - and are already - changing our roles as communicators. 

Sarah McAdams, meanwhile, showcases how one PR firm is using a wiki to revolutionise its internal comms.

Is internal social networking a bad idea?

Spotted this blog post today - an interesting perspective on the use of social networking tools inside organisations. It comes from Jake Swearingen, a reporter at BNET.com.

In it Jake spells out exactly why he thinks internal social networking is a really bad idea, namely:

1. Because social networking sites are inefficient compared to other communication channels -like phone or email
2. Because people get bored with social networking sites - as MySpace is already experiencing
3. Because social networking is social and selective - it's about choosing people to connect with and "cementing the relationships you do have, not establishing new ones"

Have a read and see what you think. 

As I say, it's an interesting perspective and one that goes against the grain of what many internal communicators I know are currently thinking. I know a lot of people who are very excited about the potential for social neworking internally (though perhaps tellingly I don't know many people who are actually doing anything in this space).

I'm not convinced one way or the other yet - like Jim I think some of the other social media tools (blogs, podcasts, wikis) are hugely powerful internally, but I'm just not sure about 'pure' social networking.

I only have to think about my own experience to become a Doubting Thomas - I have to confess to getting very bored by these sites very quickly.  Perhaps I'm just too old and past it?

If you do fancy experimenting in this area be sure to check out Ning - a great tool for creating your own social network - and keep an eye out for upcoming developments like Cubeless.

If you know of any organisations which are already making a success of social networking then please add a comment or two with more details.....

Lee

Engagement lessons from Bono

I'm a big fan of U2, the Irish rock band, so I was intrigued to see them mentioned recently on a blog all about employee engagement. Author and consultant Michael Lee Stallard published an interesting post this week on the lessons Bono and co can provide to those of us who work in employee engagement.

Michael suggests that there are two key factors that make U2 such a unified and enduring band - the fact that profits are split equally between the band members and manager, and the fact that they have a very clear vision and shared values. Fascinating stuff.

The lessons are pretty clear.  Fairness and equality in the workplace is one of the keys to unlocking employee engagement and reward and compensation is definitely one of the areas where that belief - or its complete absence - is most visible. Likewise, a clear identity, sense of strategic direction and a set of values that are 'lived and breathed' from the top down will help create a more unified, aligned organisation - whether its a band or a business.

For me there are other factors too - like the importance of shared history, shared struggles and national identity and pride. The U2 boys are proud to be Irish and grew up in Dublin's northside in the last late 60s and 70s, a particularly volatile period in Ireland's political history. Like the populations of countries under siege, employees within organisations that are going through tough times often come out the other end a tighter, more unified unit. Like I said, really interesting stuff.

I will keep an eye on Michael's blog to see how his thoughts develop over the coming weeks and months.

New events and training courses

If you take a look at the Talking IC calendar (via the link on the right) you'll see that I've added a stack of new events and training courses over the past week or so. 

Melcrum (website down for maintenance at time of writing) has recently launched a plethora of one and two day training courses designed to help communicators hone their tactical and strategic skills.

These courses,which build on the success of Melcrum's broader Black Belt programme, cover just about every topic imaginable - from communicating the financials to brand engagement.

They have lined up a diverse range of course leaders and, from what I've seen so far, the content looks rock solid (I'd expect nothing less from Melcrum).

It's great to see more of these sorts of 'nuts and bolts' courses available - it's fair to say the choices have been limited and the quality pretty varied until now.

If you do participate in one of these new workshops over the next few months please let me know - I'd love to include your review here on the Talking IC blog. 

CIPR Inside, the organisation I'll be chairing from the summer, has recently announced its first event of 2008. Called "What Makes the Best Stand Out?", it takes place in London on Monday 10 March. This short seminar features Paul Inglefield and Ashley Wilcox from Camden Council's award winning comms team and Pamela Mounter, the CIPR’s own award winning editor of “Effective Internal Communications”.

PR Week's Engaging Internal Communications is coming up in April and don't forget the Ark Group's Elevating the Status of Internal Communications, which takes place in London this Wednesday and Thursday.

As always, you can access full details for all these events via the calendar - just follow the links.

Retro communication

Had an interesting meeting yesterday with Martin Loat, the guy behind Grasswhispers.

At our consultancy Gatehouse we make a habit of keeping tabs on the latest developments in employee communications. We had heard a lot about the Grasswhispers service - which 'broadcasts' voice messages to mobile phones - and, as something that will no doubt be of interest to many of our clients, we wanted to find out more.   

In these days of email overload and message bombardment we communicators need to find different ways of getting to - and getting through to - our audiences. The humble telephone remains under used as a channel and, in my mind at least, has a bigger role to play in many organization's communications.   

The Grasswhispers service taps into this need by enabling communicators and business leaders to record voice messages or mini radio-style programmes which are then delivered via mobile phone. The clever bit is that the system actually dials the 'listener's' number, so they have to listen to at least the first few seconds of the message.

Effective employee comms if very much about 'push and pull' and, because this is a relatively intrusive audio-based approach, I think it has a useful role to play as part of a wider channel framework. Like any channel though, the key is to use it in the right way and to resist the temptation to over-use it.

What I really like about the Grasswhispers system is that it is measurable - as a user you receive data on, for instance, how many people have listened to your message and for how long. That's useful information for any communicator.

During our conversation we observed that, in this era of all-singing, all-dancing electronic comms many people are adopting a back-to-basics strategy by utilising 'old school' communication channels - like the good old telephone and face-to-face. Martin, in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way, referred to this as 'retro communication'.

It's a phrase that's grown on me since - and there's definitely something in this. Face-to-face has always been critical but I feel business leaders are now at last beginning to treat it more seriously, more strategically.

Similarly, as social media begins to make its presence felt inside organizations, we're once again seeing the advantages of more traditional approaches and technologies - print publications, telephone messages, physical workspace comms (posters, etc) and the like.

The result, and it's a real result, is that leaders are now seeing the need for a multiple-channel approach - realising that the intranet or an occasional newsletter are no longer sufficient and that most large organizations require a mix of print, face-to-face and electronic channels.

I get really excited about social media, but I'm equally passionate about these 'retro' channels. As a child of the 1970s I think that's rather appropriate.

Are we getting too obsessed with strategy?

Sue Dewhurst has raised an interesting point over at the Black Belt Dojo, which I have just responded to. I won't try to replicate everything here, but you might want to head over there and add a comment or two...

It's about that old chestnut of strategy versus tactics.

Sue is passionate in her view that tactical implementation is every bit as important as strategy.  In her post she questions whether our obsession with the 'sexy' strategic side of internal communications - big, important topics like employee engagement, internal consulting, coaching and so on - is eclipsing the vital but arguably less exciting end of what we do - the drafting and crafting of communication materials, the creation of hard-hitting awareness campaigns, the maintenance of the intranet, etc.

Like Sue I'm also worried that we're getting too focused on strategy and losing sight of the basics. I worry that we'll end up with a wealth of great strategists and too few tacticians. I worry that, as a profession, we'll repeat the mistakes of HR and begin to be seen at worst as a rather aloof, disconnected function.

I raised this in my response to Sue's post.

At the last CIPD conference the HR profession took a real bashing because of its new found obsession with everything 'strategic'.

In his opening address Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton said that "too much time is spent on strategy [which] only accounts for 20%". He went on to say that execution is the most difficult thing and that's what makes winners win.

It seems that in its hunger to reposition itself as a strategic function, HR is losing sight of the basics -the very things that business leaders want it for.

Sound familiar?

I can see this happening in internal comms. As our profession matures we're all so busy fighting to be accepted and taken seriously by the board, that we're letting go of our 'bread & butter' tactical skills.

I agree wholeheartedly with Sue - tactical implementation is just as important as strategy, crafting and drafting just as vital as coaching the CEO.

Let's not lose sight of this in our rush to the top!

Romance or one night stand?

Last Friday Simon Wright and I spoke at the CiB Central event, The Rules of Engagement, in Stratford-on-Avon.

Our topic, rather appropriately for an event based near the birthplace of the man behind Romeo & Juliet, was client/agency relationships – or rather the trouble and strife that sometimes characterises these business ‘marriages’.

After a fun start - which involved the audience splitting into client and agency groups before having a mass snowball fight - we talked about the potential ups and downs of these relationships and provided our own simple recipe for success, whichever side of the fence you happen to be on. The key points are captured in this abridged slide deck:

Download cib_rules_of_engagement_presentation_abridged.pdf

There’s no rocket science here – no magic bullet or words of wisdom we can offer to ‘revolutionise your business relationships’ (though that sounds like a great name for a training course!) No, like so many things in life, it’s down to some basic principles and habits.

For us there are eight basic ‘golden rules’ for effective client/agency relationships:  

1. Find the right partner in the first place
2. Adopt a long term perspective – think about “us” not “me”
3. Talk often and regularly review the relationship
4. Build trust by being open and honest
5. Communicate your needs and expectations clearly
6. Treat your partner with respect
7. Avoid complacency
8. Tackle problems early

Of course, that’s assuming you get the basics right in the first place – that you’re good at what you do, know your stuff and deliver on time and to a high quality.

They look a little quaint when written down like that, but I know from experience that these things really do matter.

Between us Simon and I have spent upwards of thirty years working in house – and during this time we’ve hired and fired a fair few agencies, freelancers and other suppliers.

We’ve experienced many of the frustrations and challenges that come with the territory – the budget pressures, the sceptical board members, the turf wars and so on. And today we operate with that experience very much top of mind. Indeed, we think this is one of the things that makes Gatehouse, our communication agency, special.

The slide deck contains a number of references to David Maister, a guy who is very well known in the professional services sector. If you haven’t already come across him, be sure to check out his excellent website – there are some excellent articles to download – and his classic text The Trusted Advisor.

Special thanks to my good friend Nick Andrews at CG Business Communications for recommending us in the first place, to Jasbinder Bains at Engage Group for the hilarious ‘client affliction’ cartoons (I haven’t included them here as I’m not sure who owns the copyright), and to all of you who emailed me with your stories and anecdotes.