The Melcrum Blog

Amidst ambiguity one thing is certain: Your workforce is not satisfied

 

Was it just a week ago we were cheering the year-end highs of the Dow Jones and the healthy drop in the unemployment claims?

The headlines today have a gloomier cast.

US growth prospects are bleak for the next decade, says Reuters, reporting from the annual American Economic Association meeting this Sunday.

House sales – which were making a comeback – are likely to fall again, says the National Association of Realtors.

One thing is for sure: there’s no shortage of opinions about when, how and if the economy will make a turnaround.

“If the Great Recession has indeed relaxed its grip on American life, it has been replaced by something that might be called the Great Ambiguity,” where lack of consensus and uncertainty reign supreme, says Peter Goodman of the New York Times.

Reading the tea leaves of the market aside, there is one headline that cannot be ignored and speaks loud and clear:

“US Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”

This came from The Conference Board, which released its annual report on job satisfaction levels today:

• in 1987 job satisfaction was 61% and it has steadily declined since then; today it’s at 45%
• 22% of respondents did not expect to be in their current job in a year
• all age groups and income brackets showed levels of dissatisfaction

Perhaps most surprising is that these falling dissatisfaction scores do not appear to be tied to market cycles – through good times and bad, workers have grown increasingly unhappy, says the Conference Board.

This means companies cannot assume an economic upswing will result in more engaged, more satisfied workers. Re-engaging and reinvigorating your workforce is not optional – and it needs investment today.

We’re here to help. Next month is our annual Employee Engagement Conference, February 23-25, 2010, and we have best-in-class companies detailing how they’ve made engagement a priority and reaped the rewards. Here's a look:

• NetApp, IKEA, Exterran and others show how social media can make an impact on engagement.  
• ConAgra Foods outlines the bottom line impact of the company’s engagement efforts.
• Juniper Networks uncovers the power of storytelling to drive meaningful connections between employees and bring about engagement.

These companies and others like them are not waiting for a new economic outlook to invest in their people – they are taking action. What are you waiting for? Find out more here.

No bystanders allowed

by Claire Leheny, Content Development, North America

If you’re not ready to roll up your sleeves, get involved, and challenge assumptions, then you should skip the upcoming Melcrum Employee Engagement conference, held in Atlanta, February 23-25, 2010.

From a kick-off that demands your total attention to our ever-popular roundtables to interactive sessions, the program doesn’t just talk about engagement, it lives it.

Let’s take a closer look:

Involvement
We’ve custom-built an “Engagement Experience” with Tim McCleary, one of Melcrum’s most highly rated speakers. In Part I, Tim asks you to consider the many – and sometimes competing – definitions of engagement. After a hands-on learning exercise (those of you who were with us in Chicago at the Summit will remember that Tim gets all your senses firing!), you’ll have a framework for what engagement means to for your organization and a plan for getting the most out of the conference. In Parts II and III, Tim sets you for success upon your return to the office.

Social media
If there’s no business reason for social media, then it’s just a collection of really neat tools. Let Francesca Karpel of NetApp show you how the organization built an engine for collaboration and brand engagement. This session is about getting results through the use of social media. No theorizing or wishful thinking – it’s the nuts-and-bolts of setting up a global, online community.

Story-telling
If you’re like me and once considered story-telling to be a “soft” topic, one that didn’t have a place in these hard-edged and turbulent times, then get ready to be proven wrong.

First, Terry McKenzie, formerly of SunMicrosystems and current partner at Fibonacci Design Group, leads a workshop on the power of story-telling and presentation. Attend this workshop and walk away with the tools you need to make connections through stories and ensure your message has impact.

Then, Stacey Clark Ohara of Juniper Networks outlines how the business invested in story-telling as a means to more effectively onboard new employees and articulate its culture.

New CEO – No Problem
Mergers, market turmoil, and constant changes. And your CEO is the “strong and silent” type. Not an ideal scenario. Learn from Susan Nelson of Exterran how she created opportunities for the new leader to connect with their 10,000+ global workforce.

Financial Fallout brings Engagement Opportunities
Remember the Wall Street of hefty paychecks, bigger bonuses and lots of success to go around? Whatever engagement cracks there may have been were easily papered over with dollar bills. Craig Smith of UBS reveals how major investment banks are re-thinking what engagement and loyalty should look like in a post-fallout era.

Finally – we want to recognize YOU. That’s right, we’re running our first-ever engagement awards at this event. This is not about glossy brochures and snappy headlines. We’re looking for submissions of engagement efforts that brought about business improvement. Find out more here.

Time to capitalise on confidence

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

It seems that confidence (or rather the lack of it) has become a global obsession. Scan any of the business pages in the newspapers and you’ll find constant references to consumer confidence, confidence in the housing market or confidence in our political leaders to deliver. Sadly, most it is dipping, plunging or on its last legs, especially in politics. So what part can we play in restoring confidence? And how are we advising our leadership on the best ways to restore confidence in our companies and our brands?

The Company Agency, a group of management consultants that specialize in communication, has attempted to unlock the “confidence” genome in its latest study, 'Seven types of confidence'. This morning, the group, led by Martin Newman, a partner at the firm, presented its findings in the form of a short but rather luxurious 22-page handbook, printed on some extraordinarily plush paper previously only reserved for scrolls, doctorates of nuclear physics or landmark documents such as the Magna Carta.

Littered with fabulous quotes on confidence by essayists, biblical figures, company executives and even JK Rowling’s fictional wizard character Harry Potter, the Company Agency interviewed some well-known senior business names to drill down to its seven types of confidence. These included a “legendary” fashion entrepreneur, one of Ronald Regan’s key advisors and two people who had lead their countries’ Olympic efforts in London 2012 and Sochi in Russia. Future home of the 2014 winter Games. There was no expense spared.

But rather than agree with many management theorists who claim that confidence is either recipe, the sweet spot between arrogance and despair or distinguished by three cornerstones, accountability, collaboration and initiative, the Company Agency’s top talent identified seven types of confidence: respect, vision, track record, openness, authenticity, consistency and simplicity and said that it can be any one, or any combination of these seven distinctive yet frequently overlapping qualities. “Confidence is not a potion ready mixed and following a recipe, it is a palette,” said Newman’s introduction.

The report makes some great cases and dishes out some great advice through its expert panel of confident business characters, but my only issue is that it’s all very well explaining the meaning of confidence, but as far as I can tell, the large majority of us are the opposite. The seven types might be nice to pin to the wall but until the climate improves, not many of us are going to adhere to these principles.

But as internal communicators, perhaps now is the right time to write each seven guiding words down on a bunch of Post Its and stick them to your desktop? When we’re feeling at our lowest - whether it be through reduced budgets, mass redundancies or the fact that even if you do have a deposit to put down on a property the interest rates are so bad you’re discouraged - learning, appreciating and disseminating those confidence values to your team, your leaders, and the company’s employees could be the solution to many business’s worries. Think banks, think financial services, think property sector, all of these previously flourishing businesses now sit at the bottom of the trust pile. The opportunities are beginning to become apparent so now might just be the right time for them to pick themselves up.

As we saw in Melcrum’s Key Benchmark Data for Communicators survey last week, internal comms is having to re-evaluate everything it stands for and its value to businesses worldwide. Transmitting these principles across your organizations could be the key to re-energising the workforce and liberating the leadership. If nothing else it will make your superiors and the key decision makers within your organisations think about where it has all gone wrong and how it can all be put right.

Then again, Morgan Stanley’s European media analysts today printed the thoughts of a 15 year-old intern who was asked to write a report of micro blogging phenomenon Twitter. The report generated six times more feedback than the investment banks’ usual emails. Meanwhile elderly media moguls gathered at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley in the US to discuss social media and their ageing business models. So much for inspiring confidence. Perhaps we should all be quoting Harry Potter after all?

The Job Search Juice - communicators in Washington DC ask the hard questions

"In today’s job market, is it OK to accept a role with a lower salary and less prestigious title? Are you hurting your career by doing so?"

That was the question posed to a panel of recruiters and employers at a recent Washington DC gathering of corporate communicators, organized by the Capital Communicators Group. Here’s a summary of what the experts had to say:

It’s fine as long as there are compensatory benefits – you’re learning a new skill, traveling less/more, greater opportunities for advancement.

That said, if there is a significant discrepancy between your previous pay and the new job, you should make a point to explain to the employer why you are willing to accept it. Otherwise, the hiring manager may be suspicious that you’re considering the role as a brief stepping stone on the path to something else.

Finally, be realistic about what it takes to maintain your financial well-being and your dignity. If you stray too far, you will likely regret it.

Resumes were another hot topic. Remember that writing class you took ages ago – the one that said good writing is about showing, not telling. Well, the same principle applies to your resume. Just because employers are looking for creativity, flexibility and strategic thinking doesn’t mean you can say “creative, flexible, strategic communicator” and call it a day.  Instead, articulate the outcomes of your work so that those qualities are reflected. Likewise, quantify wherever possible. Give hard numbers to back up statements like “improved” or “transformed.”

And just to make things more complicated, a word about the word strategy. One of the panelists made a great point about the competing and slightly contradictory attitude held by employers regarding strategic planning. On one hand, organizations are hungry for a candidate who “gets” strategy. On the other hand, employers can mistakenly think that if you’ve been heavily involved in strategic planning then you must have been removed from the day-to-day reality. Your head has been in the clouds.

There was a lot of nodding agreement in the room. But I would caution us as communicators to not lose ourselves in “doing.” Yes, organizations are leaner than ever. Yes, the demand for immediate results is high. But we must continue to show our leaders, colleagues and teams that communication effort without rigorous thought is a road that leads nowhere.

Melcrum is continuing its commitment to help you navigate both the tactical and strategic terrain as smoothly possible. So we're thrilled to announce we have new Black Belt dates for North America. In October 20-22, we'll be in Toronto and on November 2-4, we're in Washington DC. Find out more by visiting http://www.melcrum.com/products/training_courses/bb-international/index.html

To party or not to party

by Claire Leheny, Content Development, North America

At an executive benchmarking meeting in London last Thursday, I took part in an interesting conversation during our after-meeting drinks.

The topic: whether or not to attend the company holiday party.

Shaking their heads and looking guiltily into their modest glasses of wine, a few of the executives mentioned they couldn’t bear the thought of attending a presumably “jolly” event while knowing that many of those in attendance could be made redundant or laid off in the months to come.

Hmmmm. To be jolly or not to be jolly, knowing that the months to come may be lacking joviality.

As I traveled from London to Chicago, I thought of those execs a few times and concluded they were being a little overly sensitive. I thought, go for it, don your best red frocks and have a glass of champagne. Damn the consequences of being happy for an evening.

Then last night I was in an elevator in Chicago. As I ascended to the 42nd floor of the building, I eavesdropped on two gentlemen who were talking about what else? Yes, the company holiday party.

“I just can’t go. No way”
“Yeah, me either.”
“Too many people are going to be laid off; I can’t face it.”
“Yeah. It’s a shame.”

When these men exited on a 30-something floor, the only other occupant in the elevator, a young woman, turned to me and said: “I would go just for the free food.” Also a good point.

This overheard exchange made me realize the challenge of the holiday party is being felt the world over and not just with communicators. I quickly revised my opinion that my communication colleagues were too sensitive. From the street to the penthouse suite, employees are dreading the organizational festivities of the season.

But is it true that with every challenge comes an opportunity? Are your organizations tackling head on the widespread dread of the holiday party? Are you using it to communicate something over than “thank you” and “be merry.”

There are plenty of examples of companies scaling back their parties to fit with the current economic climate. That’s great, but the majority are still investing in gathering employees together to eat, drink and be merry.

I want to know – are you going to your party? If not, why not? Is your company doing something “different” this year to use the gathering to communicate something more substantive than, “happy holidays”?

Real engagement, in real time

by Claire Leheny, Content Development, North America

Can you remember the last time you attended an engagement conference where you actively engaged with the speakers and your fellow delegates throughout the course of the event?

If you’re like me, then you’ve attended conferences where many worthy communication and HR professionals present their organization’s engagement initiatives. But you’ve had little opportunity to enter into an active dialogue with the speakers and your peers about the subject.

As communicators, we're passionate about communicating, so it’s a strange irony that so often our conferences only afford us time for dialogue during coffee breaks.

I’m happy to report that there’s a growing trend to stimulate true engagement amongst conference participants. I was lucky enough to spend a morning at a London-based conference on engagement last month. As soon as I stepped into the ballroom, I could feel the difference. The place was buzzing with conversation and the 100+ delegates were in grouped around tables of 10, all talking animatedly and submitting the main points of their conversations into small, tablet computers.

What I had stumbled upon was a “challenge session”– a 20-minute period between plenary session speakers where delegates were asked by the conference chair to discuss an open-ended question and share their results. The results were entered into the tablets and sent wirelessly to a computer that would project the submissions with the entire audience.

After 15 or so minutes, the chair asked for everyone’s attention and walked through each table’s key conclusions, highlighting the written submissions. Thankfully he didn’t just read the material, rather, he summarized the key points and asked table participants to elaborate further if need be via a hand-held microphone.

Personally, this process of sharing ideas held my attention (which is hard to hold at the best of times) a lot better than if a microphone were passed from table to table. Having the visual cues and seeing the other written comments helped me absorb and engage with the information. My attention span (or lack thereof) aside, the discussion period was one of the best I’ve ever witnessed.

I don’t give all the credit to the interactive technology – the chairperson kept the proceedings moving with his firm, authoritative presence. But the technology accelerated the process of getting delegates talking to each other and to the speakers. Knowing that your table’s submissions would be projected to the entire group meant there was a heightened level of accountability. There’s nothing like a little pressure to get the juices flowing, don't you think?

(Those of you signed up for the 7th Annual SCM Summit, held October 15 & 16 at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London, will be able to profit from this interactive technology. We’re planning, in partnership with Live Interactive, to create our most interactive conference ever. We look forward to seeing you there! Check out the entire program of events.)