Archive for internal communications
CEO as Chief Communications Officer
Posted by: | CommentsThe 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.
Communicating With Passion
Posted by: | CommentsWhenever 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.
Internal Communications Strategies for Web-Savvy Employees
Posted by: | CommentsCEOs don’t always walk the talk when they claim that employees are the company’s most important asset. If that were the case, employees wouldn’t be using social communities on the web to find what’s going on in the company. So here are several strategies to focus employees on the company’s goals through the company’s own communications network.
1. Build a world-class, global employee communications function aligned with business strategies and goals to oversee the development of a culture of communication. Make the director part of the management team.
2. Create a Champion Program to ensure that the CEO is the visible leader of communications with employees and to ensure that senior management embraces and lives employee communications through appropriate rewards and incentives.
3. Create communications processes that ensure two-way communications and that embed culture changes throughout the company.
4. Provide training, tools and support for managers, who are the key influencers and drivers of success (or failure) of the company’s plan. Nothing is more important than consistent communications between managers and their direct reports.
5. Put in place measurement systems that track employee satisfaction with internal communications. And see what employees are saying about the company on social networks so that you can adjust your communications strategy and messages.
Above all, speed is of the essence. Nothing moves news faster than the internal grapevine. So keep information flowing regularly and get news out quickly, feeding the grapevine with the company’s own version of events.
Employees as Company Change Agents
Posted by: | CommentsNo question, companies are struggling to control their brand essence and key messages during this economic slump. Communicating positive news is more important than ever in the 24/7 news cycle and with an Internet that can circulate good – and, let’s face it, mostly bad – news around the globe in a matter of seconds. But companies are overlooking their most important advocates to the outside world – their own employees — because of a lack of internal communications. And this can torpedo a company’s reputation.
It is employees who are most often the primary interface between the company and its customers. But the media is an increasingly intrusive “partner” as reporters pounce on every bad piece of company news – often coming from the mouths of unhappy employees who are left out of the loop about important new company developments. Online chat rooms and networking sites like Twitter and Facebook provide a public platform for employees to vent their grievances and the media and customers are tuning in.
New technologies are transforming the way companies do business. But employees are underutilized as advocates of change. They are not being motivated to rally around the company’s mission and goals. It’s not an overstatement to say that business transformation will only be accomplished by gaining the commitment of employees at all levels to drive growth and performance. The key to ensuring success is consistency of communications to the right people at the right time with the right messages.
Internal communication efforts often fall short because:
• Behaviors don’t match the message, especially senior executive behaviors
• Communicating is not viewed as an important process
• 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
• Employees are turning to their external message boards for news about their own company
Companies that find their employees turning to the Internet as their primary source of information about the company they work for have lost their most important change agents.
