White Castle Boss Goes Undercover and Learns Employee Engagement Works
March 2, 2010
I was finally persuaded by a friend to watch the new hit show “Undercover Boss.” This reality show confirmed that a CEO can learn a lot about how to make the company better by engaging with employees. For those who haven’t seen the new show on CBS, a CEO goes undercover as an employee in his own company to see for himself how things are working. Dave Rife, owner of the White Castle hamburger chain, was this past Sunday’s undercover snoop.
11 Tips to Improve Employee Motivation, Employee Satisfaction & Employee Retention
February 16, 2010
Praise promotes employee motivation
The idea for this article came from a conversation I just had with a friend who works for one of the largest companies and best-known brands in the world. Yet the company sucks at employee motivation. If they haven’t got it figured out, then heaven’s knows many other companies are still in the dark, too, about what kinds of things motivate employees and that lead to employee satisfaction and retention. He gave me a couple of examples that were almost laughable.
Does Money Ensure Employee Engagement?
January 12, 2010
Money is not the primary motivator of employee engagement, according to a recent study sponsored by the U.K. government. David McLeod, one of the co-authors, states that money may be what attracts someone to a company. But once s/he is there, more important is – Read more
How IBM Promotes Employee Engagement with Social Media
January 9, 2010
I am constantly impressed with IBM and its open attitude towards its employees’ use of social media. The company has on its website, for all to see, its “IBM Social Computing Guidelines” . 
I wrote about this on the Blogger’s Bulletin , a LinkedIn subgroup. With the start of 2010, other companies, who are floundering with their social media policies, would do well to check out IBM’s guidelines. One of many lines in the guidelines that intrigued me: “IBM is increasingly exploring how online discourse through social computing can empower IBMers as global professionals, innovators and citizens. These individual interactions represent a new model: not mass communications, but masses of communicators.” What a profound statement. Gone are the days when a company can tightly control its message through advertising and printed materials. IBM has recognized that thousands of its employees, within certain guidelines, are the touch points for communications with customers, prospects and the general public. Read more
Why Employee Communication Programs Fail and Hurt Bottom Line Results
December 2, 2009
By Mary Lynn Coyle and Jeannette Paladino
Employee communication is often the poor stepchild of companies that ignore their employees’ overwhelming need and desire for information so they can do their jobs better. Yet research shows that organizations excelling in internal communications also excel in financial performance.
A Watson Wyatt study found that companies with highly effective communication practices have a 19 percent higher market premium and a 47% higher shareholder return. A Towers Perrin study found that four out of five workers are not engaged in doing the things that drive results. That’s why we believe that companies need to instill a total Culture of Communication throughout their organizations that is open, consistent, simple, and caring. Read more
Business Communication via the Electronic Grapevine
September 17, 2009
Sitting at my laptop in my neighborhood Starbuck’s, I felt the tension release from my body as Firefox transported me to the Internet. I had been offline for two days. As I attended to some personal business, without my computer, I was truly feeling totally out of the loop. Read more
Employee Communications: Internal Branding = External Success
August 31, 2009
It’s a simple equation. Internal Branding = External Success. Employee communications programs should embody the brand and foster a culture of communication that rallies employees around the mission and business goals of the company. Yet many organizations neglect internal communication. With an economy in the tank, some companies feel that employees should be happy to have a job. But when things are bad, employees need to be hearing frequently about the true state of the company, what management is doing about it, what it means for the individual employee. Read more
7 Steps to Making Your Employees Brand Ambassadors
August 19, 2009
Your employees can be your best brand ambassadors. What does that mean? It means you can mobilize an army of employees dedicated to communicating your company’s key messages and building your brand reputation online. First, it is essential to establish a positive two-way dialogue with employees so they feel involved in the process of promoting the company. They need to know management is listening to them and that they are important to the company’s success. The key is trust – companies can’t control what employees say but if you have good relations with employees you can trust they will represent the company well. Zappos, Intel, Comcast, IBM, Diamond Technologies and a host of other companies have done it. So can you. Read more
Companies Need to Trust Their Employees as Brand Advocates
June 12, 2009
Smart companies are waking up to the idea of their employees being their most important brand advocates. As I’ve written before, employees are still largely underutilized in this role. When there isn’t a positive culture of communication within a company, management doesn’t trust employees with carrying their message to the outside world through new social media tools like blogging and Twittering.
Trust is the operative word. Read more
Are CEOs Good at Rewarding Employees?
June 4, 2009
No doubt, employee morale is low at companies that are downsizing. So I sent a note to several people whose opinions I respect with the question: “Do you feel that CEOs acknowledge the value employees bring to the success of their companies? Can you share a personal experience you’ve had working for a company and how the company recognized and rewarded employees?” Here are several thoughtful answers (edited for space). I start with an executive recruiter who is in a position to know what a lot of CEOs are doing to reward their people. Read more