With so many employees working virtually and scattered around the globe, is the water cooler extinct as a place to exchange ideas? Well, maybe in person, but the wired water cooler is emerging as a force in employee engagement.

Companies are creating online communities where employees can pull in the information they need when they want it and engage in conversations with other employees.

How empowering – employees expecting their companies to serve up information that is interesting, entertaining, useful and, most of all, authentic. If it doesn’t smell right, they will know and vent online with each other. Welcome to the new world of the wired water cooler!

Pfizer, American Express and Tiffany Are Doing it Right

At a recent panel discussion, Pfizer communications executive Robert Libbey said his company’s communication funnel is “almost too successful and it’s not always easy to control the fire hose of information” inundating employees. That is the challenge faced by many companies in a wired world.

Sponsored by the New York Chapter, International Association of Business Communicators (NYIABC), the panel also included Audrey Gray, vice president, executive communications for American Express Company, and Bill Carr, director, internal communications, Tiffany & Co., who discussed how their companies are using their intranets to connect and interact with employees.

Pfizer’s Transformation

Robert Libbey

When Mr. Libbey, who is senior director, global colleague communications for Pfizer, took a comprehensive look at the company’s various internal outlets in 2008, he found 400-plus news and information intranet sites that weren’t connected and almost impossible to manage.

Fast forward to 2011. Pfizer scrapped the old system (in 2009) and now manages a corporate news channel, with underlying SharePoint 2007 technology that is easy to manipulate. “We went from bricks to play dough,” he said, explaining the malleability of the new technology.

The corporate news bureau pushes out nine to 10 stories a week. He said there is no “spin” on stories – with the company informing employees about the good and the bad and encouraging comments. The content sometimes is repurposed and posted on Pfizer’s external company website. “We assume that anything we send to employees is likely to be seen by outsiders.”

In 2010, with more than 30 editions tailored for business units, functions, markets and locations, the new Pfizer site had 162,000 unique users, 5.2 million article views and nearly 60 million page views, with savings in the millions in development and maintenance costs.

Community Building

In response to the fire hose of information Pfizer colleagues face each day with all that they can access externally and internally, Mr. Libbey said that part of his company’s  solution is to let employees create their own intranet home page and choose the information they want to receive.

To this end, Pfizer has embraced internal social media – paralleling the company’s active participation in external social media – and created its own Facebook-like community called “MyWorld.” Any employee can join – all have a profile – and use the 250-character micro blog feature to connect with others and follow the micro blogging of others.

Employees can also start conversations on the company message board about almost any topic. The comments are not vetted first. “People are going to have these conversations anyway,” said Mr. Libbey, and rarely does a post have to be removed because it didn’t conform to guidelines.

The World of Tiffany

Bill Carr

With 9,000 employees around the world, Tiffany is using its intranet and other interactive communications to help connect employees and share best practices. Bill Carr, director of internal communications, said Tiffany recently consolidated its corporate headquarters in a new location with the latest high-tech equipment.

The company just launched “BlueTube,” a digital signage tool that will provide a rich, interactive experience for employees to connect with the company and each other.

With stores in far-flung locations, it isn’t possible for employees to gather around the water cooler to exchange ideas. He said that a very popular Tiffany tradition is the annual holiday video. Employees look forward to it every year with great anticipation.

In the most recent video, Tiffany sales professionals share tips that have worked for them in building relationships with customers. One described how she sends personal, hand-written notes to her customers, inviting them to visit and see the new collections. These are greatly appreciated and help to build customer loyalty.

“We still have a long way to go,” said Mr. Carr, “but we’re excited about new opportunities to use interactive tools to inform, educate and inspire our employees, while building engaged communities that can interact and learn from each other.”

It Isn’t Boring at American Express

Audrey Gray

Audrey Gray, vice president, executive communications, began with a quote from Henry James: “The only rule is never be boring.”  You’ve got to keep employees engaged with information that is informative, interesting and authentic. She stressed that authenticity in marketing is actually respect for one’s audience.

Amex’s intranet “The Square” hosts 10 different blogs, company news, tools for accessing company information, and a news story every day, delivered to 63,000 employees globally.  She reiterated what the other speakers said – use “hot headlines,” short quotes, and liberal use of bullet points and subheads. “We’ve changed our writing style so that we don’t use any corporate speak. It needs to be real.”

The most popular feature on “The Square” thus far has been a “live blog” of the company’s annual senior management meeting. Her team was at the meeting and wrote posts all day long for two days, more than 100 in total. “Employees felt they were let in the door,” she said.

Junking the Old Water Cooler

If you read a blog I wrote a while back about the water cooler you know how important I feel it is to bump shoulders with your colleagues. Connections are critical to learning. But let’s face it, there isn’t time and employees are widely scattered, making the wired water cooler an attractive alternative. Besides, most people are glued to their computers all day – so if they can’t get to the water cooler, why not bring the water cooler to them?

How about it? Is your company turning your intranet into a wired water cooler where employees can hang out in chat rooms and form communities with like interests? Let us know.

[tweetmeme]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.

Praise for a job well done

When he started his adventure, I don’t think he fully understood how stressful the job of a White Castle employee can be, with the fear of losing a job always in the background when you have a disabled child, as one employee did, or another’s fear of simply messing up.

How Do I Do This?

Mr. Big Shot discovered that he couldn’t do simple chores like sliding plastic wrap over a batch of buns in the packaging machine.  He ruined several barrels’ worth, prompting a supervisor to say the hogs (who get to enjoy the mangled buns) would be eating well that night.

What he learned best, though, was how important employees are to the success of the company.  At a White Castle drive-in a young co-worker explained to him about the importance of greeting each customer and going out of your way to help with little things, like sliding the customer’s credit card in a hard-to-reach slot.  In watching this scene, I was almost brought to tears by the young man’s sincerity and dedication.  So was Dan Rife.

Another employee showed him a shortcut, but told him not to tell management, because that’s not how they said it was supposed to be done.

After his eye-opening week on the road, working besides his employees, Rife returned to headquarters wiser and more appreciative of what it means to be on the front lines.

Magically, he brought several employees to headquarters to assist with developing training programs – hey, they should.  Aren’t they the ones who know what the problems are and how to fix them?  He gave a $5,000 scholarship to a budding chef, and another $5,000 to the employee with a disabled child.

The program ended with Rife speaking to a pep rally of employees, beaming with the joy of being acknowledged by the head of the company. Happy with the recognition that they were asked to work as a team to achieve the company’s success.

Praise promotes employee motivation

[tweetmeme]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.The company held an off-site to reward their biggest producers.  Yet, the budget didn’t include money for lunch, which had to come out of the pockets of the attendees. Come on. Not even a sandwich and a soda?  The advertised “atta-boy” program devolved into here are your numbers for next year, with the implied threat that you won’t be at next year’s pep rally or even the company if you don’t come up big.  Not much of a motivator.

I’m not naïve.  A salary increase or bonus are great motivators. Yet, most of the tips I’m about to suggest cost little or no money to implement.  It all comes down to employee communication: saying what you mean and meaning what you say in clear, concise language.   Here goes:

1. Clear job descriptions. This may seem like a surprising first tip.  It sure is motivating to know what your job is.  If people don’t know what they’re expected to do, how can they achieve exceptional performance?

2. Chain of command. One of the Big Four accounting firms did a survey a number of years ago and 75% of the employees didn’t know who they reported to.  Tough to give a pat on the back when you don’t whose backs you have.

3. Ask employees what they need. Duh.  Hey, do you have all the tools you need to do your job?  What do you need?  How can I help?

4. Give immediate feedback. This is one of my favorites.  People are desperate to know how they are doing.  Forget the annual performance review; it’s a dinosaur.  Discuss a specific instance where the employee did well or where he needs to improve.

5. Praise outstanding performance. This couldn’t be simpler and it costs nothing.  If an employee exceeds standards, let her know.  Send an email to everyone in her group.  Make it easy for others to find out without having to navigate the company’s over-stuffed intranet.

6. Enlist employees as brand advocates. If you haven’t already, take the muzzle off your employees and let them represent themselves and their company on social media.  (See my post 7 Steps to Making Your Employees Brand Ambassadors)

7. Make employees part of the solution. Somewhere, someone in the company knows how to fix something that’s wrong.  Remember, that decisions should be delegated to the people who have the facts – and that’s not always those at the top of the company.

8. Encourage collaboration. It’s a real bummer when divisions are pitted against each other to compete for business.  This was almost the downfall of one of the major money center banks. Assemble the best client service team, no matter where the players reside in the company.  They will be highly motivated to get the business as collaborators and not competitors.

9. Sponsor friendly competitions. No, this isn’t a contradiction.  People do love to compete.  So sponsor a competition for new ideas within a profit center and reward the winner with a prize, like dinner for two at a four-star restaurant.  Or, have each employee submit a video to compete for best-in-class product demonstration.

10. Hold town hall meetings. Gather individual communities of employees, give them an update on the company and their group, and encourage conversation about how you can all work together to achieve greatness.

11. Get the CEO talking. The CEO (see my post CEO as Chief Communications Officer) can do more for employee engagement than anyone in the company.  Communicate often with how the company is doing, your role in contributing to our success, and how you will be rewarded.  Golden.

Within companies of any size, there are communities that are defined by the organization chart but many more that form organically.  Be sure to communicate the things that will motivate that community like praise for a job well done.   It will pay big dividends in employee motivation, satisfaction and retention of your star players.

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.

Why Employee Communication Programs Fail:

• Behaviors don’t match the message, especially senior executive behaviors
• Communicating is not viewed as an important process or asset
• Communication is blocked at many levels – up, down and across
• Complicated and lengthy approval processes prevent timely distribution of information
• Employees don’t hear things first, thus a loss of faith develops
• Too much is communicated and more important messages are lost in the clutter

If communication with employees is broken, you will never realize your corporate vision. “Broken” can mean something as elementary under-communicating or communicating the wrong messages.  Employee satisfaction suffers, which, in turn, hurts customer satisfaction. And, if that happens, the bottom line is bound to suffer as well.

Change programs can fail when management doesn’t see the link between internal and external communications. It is employees who are most often the primary interface between the company and its targets. Customers are the most obvious and important external audience. Without them there is no business.

The global economy and new technologies are transforming the way organizations communicate. To bring their vision of a new, highly competitive company to life, it is essential for management to build and nurture a total culture of communication that includes internal and external audiences.

The Tenets of a Culture of Communication

We believe there are five components to a Culture of Communication. Trust is at the core – all communications must be reliable, truthful and contain the full story.

The other four components are:

• Openness – there must be an unwavering commitment to and support of a healthy two-way communications environment
• Simplicity – communications must be clear, meaningful and accessible
• Consistency – messages must be strategic and integrated
• Caring – there must be concern for the individual

Establishing a Culture of Communication will result in improved communication effectiveness that will help organizations achieve their change plans, growth plans and performance goals. Companies that create best practices in all areas of communications, both internally and externally, will truly transform themselves.

What is your company doing to create a Culture of Communication?

Mary Lynn Coyle is a corporate communications, branding, public relations and marketing communications professional with experience in management consulting, executive search, information and high technology, manufacturing, consumer products and non-profit arenas.

Mary Lynn Coyle is a corporate communications, branding, public relations and marketing communications professional with experience in management consulting, executive search, information and high technology, manufacturing, consumer products and non-profit arenas.Mary Lynn Coyle is a corporate communications, branding, public relations and marketing communications professional with experience in management consulting, executive search, information and high technology, manufacturing, consumer products and non-profit arenas.

I just returned from a joyous concert by the U.S. Army’s “Pershing” Band, as it is known, that was in town for its annual concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.   As I sat there with friends tapping my feet and applauding every brassy patriotic song, I thought what a great lesson I was learning about communications.  And that’s this:  when you communicate with joy, you turn an audience into your biggest fans.

And there was no doubt the musicians were having as much fun as the audience.  At the end, the Band played the anthem for each of the service branches and one by one young and grizzled veterans stood proudly while the audience cheered wildly.

I thought:  let’s pretend the bandleader is a company CEO.  He’s leading his musicians with infectious joy.  Wow, it’s great to work for this company.  Is there any employee who won’t want to follow?  How about making it a point to write to employees whenever there is some good news to report – big or small.  Don’t let every communiqué be about the next layoff or we’ve all got to tighten our belts again.  Your employees know that things may be rough in the company, unless they’ve got their heads in the sand, which is doubtful.

This is the truth:  bad news spreads via the grapevine faster than good news.  Fire just one person and before you know it the grapevine has translated that to more layoffs.  So, if you’re the CEO, make sure you feed the grapevine and your normal communications channels with all the good news you can.  It will make you feel better and your employees will become your loyal fans.

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.

Even in bad times, smart companies are able to mobilize their employees to support the company and its brand by being twice as productive as before and in their communication with customers.   Employees want their company to succeed, so why not give them an opportunity to be part of the solution?  It works in a company that has nurtured a culture of communication that it can rely on to see it through both the good and bad times.

In communication with employees –

Trust is the core component – all communications must be reliable, truthful and contain the full story. At the heart of trust is:
Openness – there must be an unwavering commitment to and support of a healthy two-way communications environment.
Simplicity – communications must be clear, meaningful and accessible.
Consistency – messages must be strategic and integrated.
Caring – there must be concern for the individual.

The most important element in communicating with employees is speed. They need to hear news from the company — both good and bad — before they read it in online forums and news programs.

I’ve posted a simple 5-question poll on Linked-In: Does Your Company Have a Social Media Director to Manage the Company’s Social Media Strategy? Click on Social Media Poll if you would like to take the poll.

I’ll be posting the responses.  Also, please use the Comment section in this post if you would like to add your thoughts on the topic.  I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

The 2008 corporate annual reports have rolled off the presses and are on view on company websites.   I flipped through some of them online and, as usual, they are the same old dullards.  A letter from the president, a few words about the past year and what the future holds, followed by the financial results.

But you know what?  Several of the very largest Fortune 500 companies had not a single photo or story about an employee.  None. Aren’t employees the ones who make the company successful?  Where did they go?  It is a little shocking to think that they merit so little recognition.  Granted many companies have had layoffs.  Maybe they think that if they don’t highlight the employees who are left people will forget about the ones who are gone.  Or maybe it’s something else.

In a recent column, David Brooks, an op-ed writer for The New York Times cited a study “Which C.E.O. Characteristics and Abilities Matter,” by Steven Kaplan, Mark Klebanov and Morten Sorensen.  What they learned, says Brooks, is that “strong people skills…and being a great communicator…correlate loosely or not at all with being a good C.E.O….what mattered were execution and organizational skills.”  Their findings apparently were consistent with other research on the subject of successful C.E.O.’s.

Maybe that’s why employees are so little recognized in the most successful companies.  The C.E.O.’s need to be a good communicator isn’t as important as sweating the small stuff, like being attentive to detail.  OK, not all C.E.O.s think team building and communications with employees are unimportant.

But it does make one pause and wonder if companies just don’t value their employees as much as in the old cradle-to-grave days when an employee lived out his entire work life with one company.  Maybe employees are fungible.  That’s it.  Employees come.  Employees go.  Welcome to the new world.

The CEO has a great opportunity to become the company’s Chief Communications Officer.  This isn’t in addition to his or her regular duties.  This is the essence of the CEO’s job.

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have the power to profoundly advance or ruin a company’s reputation.  It’s the Wild West out there with lots of misinformation flying across the web.  That’s why the CEO must be communicating regularly to employees, customers, regulators and other stakeholders with the real story.
First, there is the company’s own internal communication programs.  And, as I’ve stated before, speed is of the essence in communicating important news to employees.  If you don’t tell them they will turn to the web for the latest dirt on the company and share it with each other.

Instead, turn them into ambassadors to spread word about the good things happening in their company. That’s why the CEO has to be talking directly to the company’s stakeholders regularly with quick takes on new developments.  Many CEOs are turning to Twitter and posting their own tweets – such as George F. Colony, CEO of Forrester Research, who is giving advice to his peers about social communities and wrote a blog “How can CEOs understand social technologies?”

If the tweets are authentic and genuinely represent the CEOs own voice, the followers will come, especially the company’s own employees.  Who would have thought just a few short years ago that the company’s chief communications channel could be Twitter!  But if that’s what it takes to get the message out, then that’s what CEOs should be doing.

A few tips for the CEO as Chief Communications Officer:

•    Write the updates in your own voice.  A 140-word Tweet that links back to the company’s own website with more information is golden.  You should be writing them yourself and not someone from the PR Department.
•    Speed is of the essence.  If something dramatic happens (think of Domino’s employees contaminating a pizza) get out there right away with a Tweet or write a blog for the company’s website.  Now, this minute.  Getting the PR department to write a press release that needs to be vetted by 10 lawyers is too late.
•   Write often.  Be out there every day, if possible.  When you’re checking your Blackberry one last time before going to bed, think about something good that happened for the company and put out a 140-word tweet.  It will take less time than brushing your teeth.
•    Encourage feedback.   That’s what so great about the social communities.  There’s two-way communication.  You can get instant feedback from customers and employees.  They will tell you if they don’t think they are getting the straight story.  So be authentic.

This is the time for CEOs to be bold and brave.  Trust your employees, customers and other stakeholders to believe you.  Be a good leader and they will follow.

Whenever change permeates a big company, resistance is inevitable.  The announcement of change itself raises anxiety levels, creates doubts in employees’ minds, and makes them feel vulnerable and uncertain.  And it raises serious questions:

•    What will this mean for me?
•    If I must operate differently, am I up to it?
•    Do I really believe what I’m hearing about the future of the company?

Sound leadership and a clear vision are required to answer these questions.  Straightforward communication is essential to calm fears and build support for change.   But most important, the CEO’s honest passion and belief in the vision will inspire people to follow.

Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. had stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and said, “I have a business strategy.”  King didn’t do that.  He said, “I have a dream,” and showed us what his dream was, his picture of the future.

You get more people to change by showing them something that affects their feelings than with a detailed factual analysis.

It takes passion to break out of habits.  Ask dieters.