Archive for internal communications
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.
Employee Communications: Internal Branding = External Success
Posted by: | CommentsIt’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.
Where Did the Employees Go?
Posted by: | CommentsThe 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.
