What do the findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer mean for internal comms?

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Arriving at Edelman's head offices on Victoria Street, central London this Tuesday morning at 8am, I was greeted by a waiter offering me a freshly brewed coffee and a bacon roll – not a bad start to the day, I'm sure you'll agree.

I had been invited to the launch of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global study that questioned 30,000 people in 25 different countries, the results of which reveal the state of trust in business and institutions.

Before the launch itself took place, I met up with Nick Howard, director of employee engagement at Edelman and quickly asked him a bit more about the Trust Barometer and the importance of trust in the current business climate:

Following the morning's refreshments and networking, we took our seats ready for the unveiling of the results. These were delivered jointly by Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman and Ed Williams, Edelman's UK chief executive. There was also a stellar panel on hand to discuss the findings including Anne McElvoy, The Economist; Camila Batmanghelidijh, Kids Company; Caroline Daniel, FT Weekend; Amanda Platell, Daily Mail and the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell.

Globally, blame for the financial and political chaos of 2011 landed at the doorstep of government, as trust in that institution fell nine points to 43 percent. In seventeen of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right. In twelve, it trails business, media and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution.

"Business is now better placed than government to lead the way out of the trust crisis," said Edelman. "But the balance must change so that business is seen both as a force for good and an engine for profit."

Although globally business experienced fewer and generally less severe declines in trust, it has its own hurdles to clear. Overall, trust in business fell from 56 percent to 53 percent, with countries like France and Germany, in the heart of the Eurozone economic crisis, experiencing double-digit decreases.

Meanwhile, CEO credibility declined from 50 percent to 38 percent, its biggest drop in nine years. In South Korea and Japan, it dropped by 34 and 43 percent, respectively:

In Japan, the site of last March’s earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster, trust fell severely in three of the four institutions including government (down 26 percent), media (12 percent) and NGOs (21 percent).

Areas for internal communication to address

It was reported during proceedings that the most trusted resource within an organization is the average employee (60 percent). This undoubtedly underlines the importance of peer-to-peer communication as well as employee "champions".

We also heard how the average person needs to hear a story three to five times from different sources before they believe it. An indication that using a variety of channels to deliver a comms message across your company is a smart move!

Trust in social media and the internet has increased. Maybe consider this fact when looking at company transparency – employees can discover news about your organization from external web-based sources, and will believe it.

It was discussed that working in a low-trust environment may be something we need to permanently adjust to. Look at your organization – in a distrustful society, how can you create a comms strategy that recognizes and adjusts to this state?

To view the various tweets from the day, type in #edeltrust2012 on Twitter.

 

Until next time,

Luke

 

PS. For further information on issues of trust in internal communication, click the links below:

How to help leaders rebuild credibility and trust

OPINION: Communicating and rebuilding trust in the finance industry

Promoting trust and change to a hard-to-reach, unionized workforce

 

Focus on measurement at Melcrum's Member Event

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Hi everyone,

Our latest UK Member Event was held at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel & Conference Centre in London on 23rd November and focused on the ever-relevant topic of measurement.

The event, exclusive to members as part of their annual membership, featured delegates from various top companies such as Aviva, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Diageo and Unilever.

Melcrum's head of content, Mike Berry, opened proceedings with an introduction to the day and overview of the agenda. Ann McDonagh, head of employee communications and Robert Fox, HR comms manager, Heineken UK (SCM Awards winner – Business Impact) then took to the stage. The presentation: "How the IC team at Heineken UK used engaging, proactive and measurable communication to radically transform a much valued employee benefit", looked at the stages the beer business took to ensure that a planned change to its pension scheme went smoothly. Before they began a program to communicate the proposed plans to the workforce, McDonagh said that internal communication had to analyze and consider several different points such as audience groupings (segmentation), likely audience impacts, key pension concepts to be communicated, likely understanding issues, likely decision paths and viable delivery channels. The duo then presented a plot graph to the assembled delegates that showed how they performed their channel selection analysis. After detailing how they communicated the new pensions, they presented some strong metrics. They had targeted 60% of employees to join the new pension scheme, in reality they hit 94% - a resounding hit!

Following Heineken UK, Melcrum hosted an interactive session facilitated by Sona Hathi, research analyst. During the slot, each table of delegates had to come up with two questions to be included in their "perfect" employee engagement survey. All these questions were collated and delegates could vote on their favourites during the breaks.

After a short coffee break, we all gathered back in the conference for Top Banana's presentation: "Using measurement to focus the attention of business leaders". Nick Terry, managing director - commercial and Richard Bridge, managing director - operations, jointly discussed how to to become your company's trusted advisor, referencing our very own Nishwa Ashraf's article: "The Trusted Advisor: How to become your company's hero". During an interactive session with the delegates, they rated the qualities that were needed to be a trusted advisor. These included being knowledgeable, leading by example and being impartial. Terry and Bridge also provided tips on how to use metrics to focus event design and how to use research as a tool to help improve ROI.

Following lunch, Andrew Hillary, communication consultant, Speakeasy, provided a colourful address referencing his own past as an aspiring rock star (with photographic evidence supplied!) to highlight how beliefs contribute to employee behavior and that it should also be measured alongside opinion and attitude. "Going beyond the standard measure of staff performance" also emphasized the point that we interpret reality through the lens of our beliefs, so understanding employees belief systems is key to getting deeper insight.

Sophie Sheppard, European research and training delivery manager, Melcrum outlined the importance of measurement stating that it was a basis for improvement, a driver of engagement and helped to educate the business. Focusing on change communication, she said that, to measure it, you need to analyze each stage of implementation thoroughly. She added that communicators need to keep their measurement focused on desired outcomes and also to be consistent in their measures. The need to balance hard metrics with soft metrics was also mentioned.

The final presentation of the day was a joint case study provided by Charlotte Kensett, senior channel manager for internal and change communications, Nationwide Building Society and Gareth Dearden, director of customer success EMEA, Kontiki. "Measuring video success at Nationwide Building Society" looked at how they worked with Kontiki to deploy a new video platform. Kensett said that the hurdles to the desktop streaming project included cost, technology reservations, bandwidth and getting the subject on the agenda. However it proved a success, with the internal communication team uploading three to four videos a week with 15,000 unique viewers for each video. In conclusion, she believed that in the future Nationwide needs to look at mobile usage when it comes to its videos.

Melcrum plans to hold more exclusive events in 2012, which are free to attend for practitioners that are members. For more details on the benefits of membership, visit www.melcrum.com/membership_levels/membership-uk.html

Until next time,

Luke

 

 

 

 

The death of a visionary leader - how can communication cope?

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Steve Jobs, founder and former-CEO of Apple, died this week at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer.

When such an influential figurehead and leader dies, what is the correct protocol for the organization to follow? How can we, as communicators, support the needs of a company that has lost its leader?

In the case of Apple, the important first step was to ensure employees were notified in a respectful and straightforward manner.

Tim Cook, who took over from Jobs as CEO in August, sent an email to employees announcing that Jobs had passed away and invited staff to send in their reflections on his influence in the company. Here's what he wrote:

“Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve's extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve's death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Tim”

It is evident from this message that Apple wanted to assure employees that the company culture would not change following Jobs' death and that ensuring the company remained at the top of its game would be a fitting tribute to his memory.

What people are saying

However, analysts and tech industry watchers have said his absence will undoubtedly be felt at the company he co-founded.

Michael Yoshikami, founder of YCMNET Advisors, told US television company CNBC: "I don't think it's a stretch to say that many people did buy Apple products because of the faith in the vision that Steve Jobs has put out…. and when that visionary falls away, then the company is judged more harshly. It's just inevitable."

According to brand specialist Mike Amour, CEO of Project: WorldWide Asia Pacific: "If the Apple culture, vision and product remain consistent, then Jobs' extraordinary legacy will live on and the company will climb to even greater heights of creativity and innovation."

Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray's, who has been covering Apple for years, told CNBC that while Jobs’ death does not change his view of the company, one thing is clear: Jobs was very important to the culture at Apple.

In this kind of situation, it is important for internal communication to ensure that the business is kept moving forward, but to also acknowledge the influence of the past. Apple's plans for an up-coming employee celebration of Jobs' life should lift morale, which will be essential with the company growing and moving forward into different areas – such as television.

On a parting note, we can see that Steve Jobs' premature death has been unique in the effect it's had on the public and the way it's shown leadership can transform a company into a cultural phenomenon.

Recent articles on the Internal Comms Hub that focus on leadership include:

Driving communication his way at Volvo, a look at the career of Charlie Nordblom, vice president, strategic internal communications at Volvo Group, Sweden;

What do we look for in a leader?, an article on how to adapt to a leader's communication style and turning it to your advantage;

How to help leaders avoid communication sins, looking at how to help our leaders avoid common pitfalls when it comes to communicating to employees.

Until next time,

Luke

Ten reasons why you can’t afford to miss our 10th anniversary!

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

The 10th Annual Strategic Communication Management Summit takes place in just two weeks! And for those of you who haven’t booked your place yet - here’s ten reasons why you really can’t afford to miss out...

1. Future foresight - be in the know
We all want to know what’s around the corner. And while predicting the future is a challenging and unenviable task, having that foresight means we can plan ahead and make provisions to not just meet future challenges, but to successfully overcome them. This year our focus is on the future for internal comms, and the Summit is set around four key trends set to shape the business world over the next 3-5 years.
 
2. SCM Summit legends pack
As well as lots of new inspiring ideas, you’ll also receive an SCM Summit Legends Pack, containing a handpicked selection of case studies and opinion pieces from past Summit speakers - available exclusively for delegates.
 
3. SCM Awards
The SCM awards dinner takes place on 12 October, the evening of the first day of the Summit, so after a day of inspiring case studies, relax and enjoy a drink with fellow delegates at the champagne reception before sitting down to a three-course meal and an evening of surprises and entertainment, as we announce the winning entries. 

4. All bases covered
Our programme leaves no stone unturned. It covers up-to-the-minute issues facing communicators across industry, as well as fresh, cutting-edge approaches to recurring challenges: line manager comms, the digital workplace, measurement, employee value proposition (EVP), agile working, communicating with a global workforce, CEO comms, ROI and cost efficiency, culture and behaviour, employee engagement and intranets.

5. Trusted by many
Benefit from over 15 years of Melcrum’s research with Fortune 500 companies to share examples of best practice and emerging trends set to shape our industry. We’re the trusted source of advice for senior level communicators at Global Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 largest organisations, so you can be sure you’ll be in expert hands.  

6. Unrivalled benchmarking and networking opportunities
with fellow IC professionals from across industry facing the same challenges as you, in a practitioner-focused environment. Delegates already registered include those from RBS, Rolls Royce, Nationwide Building Society, Essex County Council, HSBC, GE Capital, Centrica, Adidas, BP, Orange and Shell, and many more. 

7. Expert-led panel discussion on “The Digital Workplace”
with senior reps from Yammer Inc., Microsoft UK and the Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF) who will address your questions and key challenges around the digital workplace, it’s evolution and role in IC strategy. 

8. Macleod and Clarke
As IC rises to the top of the national agenda, we’re keeping you at the forefront. David MacLeod and Nita Clarke, two names truly synonymous with the words employee engagement after their hugely influential report to government in 2009, will present a keynote session on day one, providing exclusive first-hand insight to their next steps, the launch of a new government sponsored employee engagement taskforce.

9. Diverse, refreshing and inspiring 30+ speaker line-up
With over 30 speakers, this year features our largest speaker line-up to date. Over just two days, you’ll hear from top-level communicators from a broad range of organisations who’ll provide in-depth insight into the work they’re doing. You’ll hear case studies from senior leaders at Nationwide Building Society, Ericsson, NHS Blood and Transplant, eBay Europe, first direct, Harrods, TUI UK & Ireland, Tata Global Beverages, Chartered Management Institute and many more.

10. And our final reason?
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the UK Strategic Communication Management Summit, and to celebrate, we’ve gone all out to make this event as exciting, inspiring and valuable as possible. It’s more than just a conference, it’s an annual meeting of the best minds and leaders in IC - make sure you don’t miss out. 
 
Full programme and booking information available at:
http://melcrum.com/scmsummit_2011/index.html

When you're asked what you're worth, what do you say?

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

You may have seen the LinkedIn debate between measurement experts, Angela Sinickas, ABC and president of Sinickas Communications and Kevin Ruck, co-founder of PR Academy, about the value of measuring the return on investment (ROI) of internal comms initiatives. For those that didn’t, it went something like this:

Ruck -

"Drop the mythical maths and focus on educating senior managers along the way instead of using defective measurement practices to keep the bean counters happy. It’s enough to know ourselves that our approach of focusing our energies on raising levels of employees feeling well-informed and having a say in what goes on, leads to higher levels of engagement that correlate with higher performance and customer service…IC is an extremely complex activity and ROI is a flawed approach for measuring it."

Sinickas - 

"The math is not all mythical - one client for whom we calculated ROI saw their budget tripled. Feel free to “do what you think is right” without proving to management that it matters or makes any difference…but we must be able to take the right amount of credit for a successful company initiative, and we need techniques for talking with leaders at their level. I hear story after story of communicators who have used this measurement mindset and how their jobs were not cut during an economic downturn, while other staff positions were, because their leadership teams had seen the financial results the communicators had been contributing".

You can download the full article using the link at the end of this post.

What’s your take on it?

In last week’s poll, we put the same question to you:

"What’s your take on measuring the ROI of internal communication initiatives?"

Results revealed that the majority of you share the same view as Sinickas, however a surprisingly high number - just under 40 percent - believe that ROI is fundamentally flawed for measuring the effectiveness of IC.

While both arguments make valid points, in the current business environment and in light of recent announcements, for the sake of survival and to be viewed as a function that’s equally deserving of a seat at the strategic table, metrics are a must, and as put well by Sinickas, "ROI is very real money".

Mere mention of the word "measurement" can be enough to raise the alarm levels in even the most fearless communicator - and with good reason too - the all-encompassing and multi-faceted nature of the function combined with the fact that many IC initiatives do not instigate immediate financial results means the correlation can be extremely complicated to quantify, and having limited resources only adds to the struggle.

But if IC wants a seat at the top table, then as with every other business function, metrics must be used to communicate to senior leaders that the contribution made by IC impacts the bottom line, resulting in higher profitability and better commercial outcomes.

Never a more vital time to put a figure on your function 

Recent announcements from leading global organisations and figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONO) which revealed that the unemployment level in the UK rose by 80,000 to 2.51 million in the three months to July 2011, the largest increase in nearly two years with the jobless rate now standing at 7.9%, worryingly indicate that "the global economy appears to be losing momentum in its recovery", (Stuart Gulliver, HSBC group chief exec, August 2011).

Commenting on these figures, Nigel Meager, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, said:

"Rather than entering a recovery stage…all the figures are moving in the wrong direction. It’s now three and a half years since the onset of recession At the same point following each of the two last recessions in the 1980s and 1990s, GDP was back above its pre-recession level, while at this time national output is still languishing about four points below that level".

- June, 2011: Lloyds Banking Group unveil a new cost- saving programme scheme that involves eliminating 15,000 jobs over a two and a half year period.

- August, 2011: HSBC announce plans to axe 25,000 jobs by 2013 and exit operations in 20 countries in addition to an earlier announcement to slash 5000 jobs, taking the total to 30,000.

- Barclays follow suit and announce a plan to make further job cuts this year taking the total to 3,000 when combined with 1,400 having been cut earlier this year.

- September 2011: Bank of America announce their plans to slash 30,000 jobs over the next few years, a mass chop which hits an already shrinking force given that the corporation announced only last month that it was shedding 3,500 jobs in the third quarter on top of 2,500 reductions earlier in the year.

And just today, it was reported that the International Monetary Fund have claimed  Britain's recovery appears to be struggling, slashing their predictions for growth this year by a third, from the 1.7 percent forecast in April down to just 1.1 percent. They warned that the global economy has entered "a dangerous new phase", words echoed also by business secretary, Vince Cable, who said there were "grey skies" hanging over Britain.

In light of all the above, surely placing a value on your function now, regardless of what side of the fence you’re on in the great ROI debate, seems vital?

If you want to hear a winning real-life example of IC measurement at its best - the internal comms team at Nationwide Building Society serve as powerful proof that this is possible. At this year's Strategic Communication Management Summit in London, Fiona MacAllan, head of internal & change communication will share how her team have successfully brought Nationwide’s business strategy to life by hard wiring the measurement of value adding internal communication. She will explain how they’ve built a measurement framework that includes KPIs and are showcasing results via a monthy reporting pack for key stakeholders.

The SCM Summit takes place on 12 – 13 October in London and you can view the full programme online. You can also download an abridged version of the debate between Ruck and Sinickas as published in our SCM Journal earlier this year.

 

The Times They Are A-Changin’

by Roz Topolski

“The only constant is change” has never been truer for Communicators, at least according to Melcrum’s recent survey.

In fact, 32% of Communicators said they spend most of their time on change communication, according to our Key Benchmarking Data for Communicators 2011 survey for organizations with 1,000 or more employees.

Rather than focusing on proactive strategies that will help their organizations thrive, these communicators are spending more time just keeping up with all the change in their organizations.

I’d like to invite those Communicators – and others who find themselves dedicating most of their resources to change communication – to attend the SCM Summit in Washington D.C They’ll discover tactics to help them navigate the complex change communication channels, such as how to:

• Become a trust communication advisor and ask powerful questions from Melcrum’s Black Belt Trainers.
• Turn front-line managers into authentic communicators, while building trust and driving adoption, from Susan Dorflinger of GE Real Estate.
• Align and engage a globally dispersed and demographically diverse workforce with corporate change from Sona Hathi of Melcrum.
• Lay the groundwork for a positive future from Leslie Cifelli of National Grid.

Join us for a unique opportunity to join communication leaders from across the US for fresh insight, thought leadership, guidance, and best practices in internal communication.

To view the full program for this year’s SCM Summit, taking place on October 4-6, visit the website and download the brochure.

Has social media signalled the end for email?

by Kate Pledger

The recent decision to begin fazing out email in favour of social media by international software company Atos Origin has initiated strong debate. So much so, that it's prompted senior managers to question the relevance of email-based communications in their companies and contemplate the practicalities of a "zero email" initiative, according to Luke Dodd, Melcrum's features editor in his article “Is email dead?”

Boosting employee engagement and collaboration is increasingly on the agenda for many organizations, according to Melcrum's How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues report. And with social media delivering on this, it could be said that the demise of email is imminent.

An increased involvement with social networks can improve a senior manager’s interaction with the rest of the workforce and establish a shared sense of identity among workers. In using social networking tools such as Yammer or Microsoft Office Communicator, employees can formulate new initiatives in a quick fire, rapid response environment.

Managers can also gauge the wider attitude and outlook of the staff as well as thoughts regarding new policies or changes in the workplace.The survey reveals a rise in employee feedback and an increase in the accessibility and visibility of business leaders as a result of using social media. A new report from digital research firm Comscore has also noted a significant drop in email usage, most notably in the millennial generation, or young people under thirty.

Significantly, the adaptation of the Atos Origin's communication system was fuelled by a team of under 30s, who determined that the old system of email would hinder the future growth of the company.

But don’t expect email communication to start waving the white flag of surrender just yet. Business consulting and technology services firm Concentra reported that 85 percent of senior managers said email was their communication method of choice. Additionally, some may claim that email usage dates back to the nineties and has remained a significant force in the work place, proving that email is a successful means of communication which most employees feel comfortable using.

These two communication channels also have a notable affect on the message content. What instant messaging is to informality and community, email is to professionalism and authority. 

Eighty percent of people questioned in the Melcrum report endorse social media as more than just a "fad", proving that it shouldn't be ignored by employees intent on using solely email. The face of internal communication is eternally adapting to suit changing generations and demographics. Companies must consider their needs and workplace culture and adjust their internal communications system accordingly.

So it seems email will remain rooted firmly in company infrastructure, standing in the way of total social media invasion...for now at least.

Has social media signalled the end of email? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Intranets remain top of the agenda for IC practitioners

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

We recently asked our audience of internal comms practitioners what their biggest investment or achievement has been over the last 12 months, and while results varied, a clear front-runner was corporate intranet development, with one in four communicators having invested substantially in building and redesigning their corporate intranet.  

For me this comes as no surprise - working at Melcrum means I often hear inspiring stories from a wide cross-section of IC practitioners on a range of topics. This includes the way intranets are being used to transform IC; from the way leaders are communicating with their staff, and how employees across the globe are connecting with one another, to the way teams are tapping into internal intelligence where they would previously have turned to external suppliers.

It’s important that such great work continues to be recognised, and for this reason we’re hosting the Strategic Communication Management Awards 2011.

If you’ve been busy building an intranet that’s bringing about real organisational benefits, launched new employee collaboration tools, implemented a new social media strategy or have any other examples of delivering tangible results through use of technology - enter our excellence in technology award category and find out how you stack up against the best in the industry.

And in an effort to inspire you and get you thinking about where you’ve made the biggest impact, we’d like to share a powerful case study with you from Mark Morrell, intranet manager at BT Group, who heads up a team in Group Communications, on how they’ve successfully transformed their intranet into an “online environment” for staff instead of just a website surrounded by other applications.

There are seven categories to choose from so if you think you’re more of a rising star or leader of the year – there’s a category to suit everyone. But with a fast approaching deadline of 24 May, we’d suggest you get started soon.

And to set you off in the right direction, we’ve compiled a list of ten top tips to writing a winning entry!

Best of luck! Also, look out for next week’s give away on revisiting strategies and making an impact.

SharePoint: Creating the connection

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

Investing time and money in intranet tools and features without creating a connection as to how this investment can help employees do their job better, rarely amounts to little more than an expensive bill for a poorly used portal.

And for communicators, the frustration often stems from a poor connection with the IT function. Communicators often complain that much of the intranet functionality created by IT is done so with little understanding of what the day-to-day internal communication requirements may be.

Across our portfolio of case studies, we’ve repeatedly seen that the most successful intranets are those that:

1. evolve in response to a comprehensive understanding of end-user requirements and experiences;
2. are managed effectively and;
3. are the result of a partnership between the IT and internal comms function.

At our upcoming User Forum: SharePoint for internal communicators, Didier Thomas, change & communication manager at Siemens will be sharing his SharePoint challenge.

Having previously worked in internal communication before moving to IT, and now acting as an interface between the two, Thomas is particularly well placed as a presenter. He’ll discuss how his team managed the imposition of a decrease in corporate travel by successfully positioning SharePoint as a solution to 28,000 employees, and encouraging them to use “virtual workspaces” as an alternative.  

Also on hand will be Greg Kerchhoff, SharePoint project manager, who will cover the practical steps taken by the BBC towards generating better SharePoint launch and adoption strategies. He will explain how this led to the creation of SharePoint collaboration tools that were right for the organization, and team sites that were successfully adopted by business units. 

Our keynote speaker, Richard Dennison, principal business partner at BT plc, will be discussing how the social media features of SharePoint are driving a transformation program in this global firm. Other case studies on the day will come from organizations including Standard Chartered Bank, Aviva plc and Maersk Line.
 
In the meantime, take a look back at how BT first implemented a range of social media functionality, such as BTpedia wiki, resulting in real organizational benefits. This feature-length case study, “How social media fits into BT's business”, by Mark Morrell, intranet manager, BT, is available for download, for the next five days. To download your free article and view the full event program, visit the website. 

   
We hope to see you in London on 8th February!

Guess who's back...

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum
  
In 2008, Bill Quirke received the highest-ever speaker score to date
(4.7 out of 5) and unanimously positive feedback from delegates.

For this reason, we’re pleased that Bill is back for our 9th Annual SCM Summit!

No matter how big or small your organisation, leaders must be able to effectively communicate with employees in order to retain talented and engaged staff. But before leaders can achieve that, they themselves must first be engaged.

This year, Bill will lead an interactive workshop around the key topic of leadership communication, with a specific focus on four key areas where leaders need to raise their game, and the practical tools and resources which communicators can use to help them do so.

Continuing the leadership communication theme into day one is Brian Bannister, Director of Communications and James Chalmers, Head of Strategy & Talent, both from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who will co-present What leaders want and value from internal communication: an insight into a successful collaboration. They’ll discuss exactly what senior leaders want from the internal communication function, and how both teams can collaborate to share vision and strategy more effectively with employees to build a robust culture of engagement.

Rosie Mowatt, Head of Internal Communication at RWE npower, will also discuss how, through working with senior leaders, a new level of communication leadership has been introduced into the organisation.

With the arrival of a new CEO in January 2010, Rosie led her team on a mission that seized this as an opportunity to increase leadership visibility for employees, achieve CEO buy-in for their internal comms efforts and raise the profile of the communication function.

It's going to be a great few days. See you next week!