Are your employees helping to put a man on the moon?

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

I recently attended a UK Black Belt 1 course where I met a diverse group of communicators from various backgrounds and sectors, and had the opportunity to hear first-hand about the challenges they’re facing.

What was most inspiring for me over the four days, and something I was perhaps unprepared for, was the dramatic difference in the conversations I had with delegates at the beginning of the course compared with the second half of the course. In fact, these conversations, coupled with the written feedback I later read, were proof enough for me that no matter what level of experience these delegates had initially walked into the course with - they most definitely walked out as more confident, competent communicators.

While the course left me with plenty of food for thought, there was one thing in particular that course trainer Sue Dewhurst shared with the group, which I believe encapsulates the true value of a high performing internal comms function to its business.

I’ve no doubt many of you will have heard this story before, but for those who haven’t, here it is. The story goes that back in 1961, when former President John F. Kennedy visited NASA’s headquarters, he came across a cleaner with whom he stopped to have a chat. When the president asked the man what he did at NASA, he is said to have replied: “Sir, I’m helping to put a man on the moon”.

It’s fair to draw the conclusion from this story that the cleaner had a firm and genuine understanding of his role in contributing to the wider strategic aims of NASA and felt a direct connection to them, regardless of how large or visible his contribution was.

And while the establishment of a line of sight that extends to all levels within an organisation is a notable achievement - to what extent can you say the same about your employees? Is there a clear sense of collective person and emotional commitment to the organisation in every individual, regardless of how big or small their role is?

There’s no question that achieving this is most definitely not straightforward, but Black Belt 1 is the first step in this process. It equips you with an understanding of the necessary framework, tools and competencies to get you a seat at the top table, taking you from being a tactical to strategic communicator. The course covers all angles by mastering the basics such as; setting objectives, choosing channels, making your strategy measurable, audiences and segmentation and message development. 

We run our Black Belt courses across the globe and have over 1,500 graduates worldwide – for dates in your region, visit our website. 

Re-ignite your comms passion

By Nishwa Ashraf, Editorial Assistant, Melcrum

Coaching managers and senior leaders, engagement campaigns, delivering top down messages, producing and managing intranet content, the to-do list for communicators just goes on and on…

As internal communicators, we're constantly reacting to organisational change, investing much of our time, energy and effort into other members and areas of the business, that it can be easy to forget what drew you into the function in the first place.

Take engagement campaigns for example. Communicators are forever thinking up and executing ways to keep employees happy and motivated, but who's ensuring communicators themselves are appreciated? After all, we're also employees.

As with any other role that requires keeping in mind others, internal communication can be a thankless job. And if you're finding yourself increasingly losing the love for your chosen career, here are 8 tips to help reignite your passion for comms.

1. Celebrate your successes.
Communicating organisational messages means there's always a challenge lying ahead of you, but constantly reacting to these means we can forget what we achieve. Find a way to reward yourself after you complete any project. Celebrating all those successes can help you recognise what's going right. Also, make sure you note it all down. It'll come in handy next time you're extolling your value to the boss.

2. Don't forget: You're making a difference to peoples lives.
There are so many employees who start their Mondays looking forward to Friday and start their Sundays cursing Monday, but your comms campaigns can change that. Even if it's just the one,  it can turn a bored and demotivated employee into someone that's committed to delivering their best at work.

3. Your skills are invaluable to the company
But informing employees is just as important. Without IC, the flow of information throughout your organization would come to a screeching halt. As a communicator, you're highly skilled in presenting important facts in a clear and concise manner, and you'll find that employees will probably value that much more than a overly-colourful, funky campaign. Or, on the contrary, a dull 18-page document which gets tossed in the trash can.

4. You CAN be creative
Even those who work in the most conservative companies are in a position to tap into their creative sides and use an array of tools and techniques to execute their strategy.

5. Relish the challenges
Let's face it, when it comes to comms there's always a challenge around the corner, you're kept on your feet with little or no time to get bored. Be they good or bad, it's a challenge nonetheless, and it's far better than feeling like every day is another groundhog day. 

6. Insight into the business
Unlike many other functions, you get the opportunity to get to know everyone - from employees to managers to IT to HR. Not only does this mean you have a broad knowledge of the business and how it works, but you also have access to the way everyone thinks. This can mean increasing your value to the CEO by sharing your company insight to leverage as trusted advisor.

7. Communications means you can communicate.
Often people in this role have a vibrant chatty and personable nature. And best of all you have a job that allows you use these characteristics to their fullest potential.

And finally...

8. A thriving support network
You work in a profession where support comes in abundance. IC is a relatively young function, and internal communicators are passionate about helping each other to become more valued in their own organisations. So when you feel like a moan, or you need some quick comms advice, reach out to your peers by joining a global network such as Melcrum's Communicators' Network on Linked In, and keep your passion for comms alive.

P.S Check out this video on the Internal Comms Hub: Three communicators share what they love about being in comms, why not share your thoughts too?

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!

Lack of jobs for communication graduates

by Harriet Thomlinson, Intern

Since the recession, we’re constantly hearing how internal communication is becoming an increasingly recognized function – with practitioners being called upon for everything from layoffs, pay freezes to restructures. Strange then, that for such a valued profession, 14 percent of last year’s communication graduates are still unemployed.

The research, carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, revealed that the chances of students finding work post-graduation depend on their choice of subject, with zero unemployment rate for medicine and education (5%) to be the lowest, while communication has the second highest unemployment level, trailing not far behind computer science (17%).

There clearly aren’t enough comms jobs out there, but perhaps if businesses took the profession more seriously, communication students wouldn’t be in such a predicament and the future of communications would seem a little more optimistic.

Not only is this research particularly negative for the communication industry, but as a prospective university student it makes one wonder, “If highly skilled communication graduates can only manage to find jobs in places that don’t require their trained skills, eg. bartending, waitressing, working in a factory, then what’s the point of studying communications at university?”

So, what’s the cause for such statistics? Is it a case of supply over demand? Is it due to a decrease in the number of communication teams, or the scrapping of them all together as a result of the recession?

And if communication is a temporary casualty of the credit crunch, will these statistics potentially dissuade students choosing communication as a vocation, resulting in a lack of future communicators?

After all, let’s not forget that even the fields with the lowest unemployment figures require the help of both internal and external communications for many different aspects of their function. Take a look at how the World Café concept helped employees re-engage during the recession.

If you’re struggling to find a job in communications, check out Melcrum’s jobsite.

Do you think there aren't enough communication roles out there? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

BBC internal comms team delivers bad news well

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

UK newspaper, The Guardian, has managed to get hold of an email sent out by the BBC's internal communication team to its staff notifying them of it plans to close its final-salary pension scheme to new joiners, and restrict its benefits, in order to stem a £2 billion ($3bn) deficit.

There's never an easy way to announce to your staff that there's a whopping great hole in your company pension fund and that from April 1st 2011 future salary increases for calculating pension benefits will be limited to 1% per year.

They even go on to explain: "In other words, after this date pensionable salary will grow at a maximum of 1% per year, no matter what actual salary increases an employee receives." Brutal but honest and equally inevitable considering many assets within many other pension schemes around the world have also performed poorly due to the global economic downturn. If any of these grand schemes of old are to be successfully phased out and new "sustainable" versions take their place, as appears the case within most large organizations, then this is potentially the only way to go.

Give the BBC internal comms team some credit though, they deliver the news (that many expected) in a very clear and precise way allowing employees to give their feedback via a hotline, email address, and a series of staff seminars hosted by its pensions team from 5th July who will explain the proposed changes in greater detail and give staff the chance to ask questions face-to-face. All existing scheme members will also receive an email from Jeremy Peat, chairman of the BBC Pension Scheme Trustees, with further details of the 2009 interim valuation of the scheme.

So who's next and are you having to deal with a similar change? Let us know.

5 ways to spot a lousy leader

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Strong, courageous, innovative, visionary, steadfast leaders - there’s been plenty of them over the years in politics, business, the arts, and sport. Just think Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso and Sir Alex Ferguson.

But there have also been plenty of weak, self-serving CEOs. Lately, the global economic crisis seems to have unearthed, incubated and hatched some particularly bad eggs, individuals who seem to have very little regard for others, their staff and the world around them. There’s no need to name names here. I’m sure that simply by mentioning the words environmental disaster, executive pay, financial mismanagement, and scandal you can work out who I might mean.

So what makes someone, elevated to the position of leading an organization, party, movement, ministry or team of professionals, turn into an ignorant, selfish, mistake-maligned, avaricious individual? And how can you spot you’re being led by a bad leader?

1. Couldn't care less: An easy one to spot this one. One of the key ingredients to good leadership is the natural and unflinching ability to care for those you’re leading. You’d think the majority of top bods who get to lead would care but oh no, not all of them are saintly. If you’ve worked at your company for what seems to be a lifetime without any contact from the top dog, watch morale nosedive, dissent spread through the ranks, profits plummet and management’s reputation reach a new low, as the boss continues to ignore the power of good communication.
2. Head in the clouds: A good leader should have a clear sense of purpose and vision, chart a course and provide direction to those they lead. If you don’t know where you or anyone else in the business is heading you may as well head home, and so should your chief exec.
3. Style over substance: He probably loves the camera and the media attention a little too much to see what’s really happening on the ground. “Er, what oil spill? What do you mean it happened last month while I was holidaying in the Bahamas? Oh. Whoops. Yes, Mr Obama I’ll be right there.” The promise of a glitzy profile in the public eye, a Larry King interview, the chance to meet film stars and celebs and attend more charity dinners and movie premieres than even the global cast of Big Brother could manage, have ruined many managers. Those that ignore their priorities and focus on their own egos often fall from grace and from a great height.
4. Experience is the best teacher: Highly educated, overpaid Oxbridge and Ivy League senior figures don’t always make the best leaders. Those that have learned the ropes and started at the bottom of the food chain and risen to the top can often be some of the best business people. So if your boss has the combined logic, academic ability and political experience of George Bush Junior start looking for another job. Fast.
5. He earns more than the GDP of Sierra Leone (US$1.95 billion at current 2008 prices): How many times in the past two years have we heard and read of senior executives and CEOs receiving mind-blowing payoffs, payouts and bonuses while the rest of their workforces either receive very little or even nothing 24 hours after their resignation or during a time when the business in question is performing poorly? If he’s making or is walking off with a sum larger than the poorest nation on our planet then something’s seriously wrong.

So what we all need from a CEO is someone who listens not just to his board and the sound of his own voice but to those that matter the most - his staff and his customers; someone who has experience; who understands the needs and feelings of his employees; who talks to the media when necessary, who lives and breathes his vision and the company strategy; who is alert and alive to the major and the minor happenings occurring internally and externally of the business; who is ethical and only accepts a bonus when deserved; and above all, someone who is able to communicate openly, accessibly, and who isn’t afraid to accept criticism. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

But am I asking too much, and does this person really exist? If so, I’d love to meet him.

Happy 40th IABC! 40 things I learned at World Congress 2010

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

1. The breakdown of trust in leaders is at its lowest ever point and will deteriorate further. But now’s the time to swap dancing partners. Research has shown that middle and line managers are the most trusted people within organizations and it up to us to get on their side and work with them as effectively as possible to leverage that trust.
2. Social media was discussed in almost every conversation and session I had and attended. But talking simply isn’t enough. The feeling from the profession is that communicators are using the tools, but they don’t seem to be using them to reach a constructive end goal and with the overall company strategy in mind.
3. Employee volunteering works. Fact. It improves communication, morale and motivation, personal fulfillment and those companies that actively engage in volunteering are more profitable, experience reduced absenteeism and are winning the war for talent. Two-thirds of Gen Y employees at Deloitte, for example, said they would rather work for a company that encourages volunteering.
4. In the post-recession age we live and work in, always plan for the unthinkable.
5. Communication is a company’s most powerful ally in a crisis… just ask BP.
6. Empower your employees by allowing them to become product ambassadors. Let them get their hands dirty.
7. Accept the risks of allowing employees to express themselves freely and instead focus on the end goal and the rewards.
8. Have courage part one – don’t be afraid to get fired.
9. Have courage part two – don’t be afraid to tell the CEO he’s a terrible presenter and he “lip smacks” when on video.
10. Leaders are like tofu: clearly part of the meal, perhaps even the main source of nutrition, but the spice is provided by everyone around them.
11. Make it a habit – make engagement part of employees' everyday routines for it to pay dividends.
12. Follow the example of the Me to We philosophy and movement and create a culture of empathy, community, meaning and legacy.
13. Memorise and use this quote: “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”
    Mother Theresa
14. Content in context is king and data is his queen.
15. Successful leaders should always lead with their ace and play the communication card.
16. Every leader has his blind spot – and it’s up to you to spot them.
17. All communicators are sales people.
18. Information is useless – your audience wants knowledge.
19. Get stuck in traffic – find opportunities to do nothing and when you do, do nothing but think.
20. Read your writing aloud – strive to thrill yourself with what you write.
21. Writing is like a window – it should allow your readers to see what would otherwise be invisible.
22. Make your writing transparent – help your readers see your ideas, not your words.
23. Outsource the gaps in your skill set.
24. Communication can release the best potent asset, the human asset.
25. Communication is the path to survival, recovery and growth and a company’s constant companion.
26. Communication is a leader’s lifeline to results.
27. Communicate the future – write a fake news article showing your employees what the future looks like and how you can all work together to achieve greatness.
28. Only 19% of global employees are looking to leave their current roles, but the engagement gap is widening – Towers Watson 2010 Workforce Study.
29. Employees don’t know where to turn in 2010. In a global study when Towers Watson asked people whether they would like a job for life with one company, follow their opportunities as they come along or only work for two or three employers during their careers, the data was split exactly three ways.
30. Employees are reliant on their managers and leaders but not confident in what they are doing for them.
31. Embrace uncertainty.
32. The recession has ended the “deal” between employer and employee.
33. The “new deal” is about knowing and enabling your workforce, customising their experience and planning for the future.
34. The “new deal” will take courage, innovation and discipline – leaders will play a vital role.
35. The Art of Innovation – Polarize people over issues they care about.
36. Never stop learning and continuously seek knowledge.
37. Act like an agency – make your "clients", a.k.a your employees, the stars.
38. Always seek to add value.
39. As a conference organizer always provide a reliable Wi-Fi connection… although IABC never fear, even Steve Jobs had issues at the launch of the iPhone 4.
40. Canadians say “eh”. Rather a lot.

IABC 2010: Meet the Anti Social Media Guy

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

It’s Sunday afternoon in Toronto and the unseasonal rain has given way to bright sunshine. The brightest spot of my day at the IABC’s World Congress so far, however has been meeting a beaming David Grossman of the Grossman Group, friend of Melcrum, leading consultant, and speaker and author and one of America’s foremost authorities on communication inside organizations. Not only is he celebrating the birth of his first child (David – many congrats from everyone at Melcrum) but he’s also here to deliver one of the main presentations at the annual Congress and sign copies of his book, You Can’t Not Communicate, now, according to his website, in its second printing due to popular demand.

David, and his dozen strong team, consult and coach some of the world’s largest organizations and their leaders including Heinz, Lockheed Martin and McDonald’s so his session is arguably one of the highlights of an action-packed program. He gave me an exclusive insight into tomorrow’s session entitled “The communication leader as a coach”.

“I’ll be sharing with delegates what we need to be thinking about as leaders because many of us forget we’re in fact leaders ourselves. Many of us are not trained in leadership or even as communicators [because of our varied backgrounds and training] so this is crucial. I’ll also be sharing best practice on strategy and influence,” he said.

“There is an increase in the number of cross functional teams so having influence and great influencing skills is possible the most important skill a communicator can have today,” he added.

David will also explore how we as communicators can be more purposeful in how we communicate and therefore be more effective as well as the issue of self-awareness and that to be more influential we need to know ourselves more.

Rather interestingly, however, when I mention the fact we’ve both been tweeting in the last 24 hours using the hashtag #IABC, he tells me he likes to call himself the “Anti social media guy”.

“I believe face-to-face communication is on life support and that so many companies are simply attracted to social media because it’s new and shiny,” he said as I lowered my iPhone, put my Flip camera back into my bag and shut down my MacBook. “Too many companies are using social media as an ‘it’ and not as an ‘and’. It’s not the be-all and end-all shiny solution we all think it is, it’s an added extra that companies can use.”

He believes the majority of the world’s largest businesses are using social media with little thought as to how it can contribute to the organization’s overall strategy and that its use is destroying the integrity of face-to-face conversations and replacing it with “hidden conversations”. This is arguably true to some extent with many companies confused as to the role it should play inside the corporate framework. There are, however some successes. He cites IBM and Cisco Systems as two obvious examples. If you’re struggling with social media why not read Melcrum’s new 150-page report that will be on sale next week. Email me your details and I’ll be sure to send you more information.

In the meantime I think I’ll tweet this blog.

Everybody in this company can read and write, right?

By Belinda Evans, Communications Content Manager, Melcrum

In my former role as a communications practitioner I spent many a happy (and often not-so-happy) hour crafting the perfect message, hoping to both engage and inform with my paragraph-perfect constructions. I may not have always achieved the desired effect, but I always took my ability to construct a sentence and the ability of my audience to read and comprehend that sentence for granted.

With around 40 percent of the Australian workforce not reaching the minimum literacy level needed to meet the demands of everyday life*, it appears that I should have worried less that people wouldn’t bother to read my carefully-crafted messages, and more that they actually couldn’t.

In a report published by the Australian Industry Group yesterday, more than 75 per cent of Australian companies reported that their business was affected by low levels of literacy and numeracy among their employees. The report is based on the results of a survey completed by 338 Australian organizations representing 56,000 employees in total.

Employers reported that the impact of low levels of literacy was broad, affecting productivity; workplace communications and relationships; workforce planning and training; and safety and compliance. Although labourers and process workers were the occupational groups most affected, the report indicated that poor literacy affected relationships at all levels in the workplace, from management to the shop floor. Unsurprisingly, employers also identified communication difficulties between different occupational groups, such as between engineers and customer service departments.

Of the employers surveyed, 38 percent believe they have a role to play in improving workplace literacy and numeracy skills among their workers, however, only eight percent of employers reported they had the capacity to assist their employees to improve these skills.

So, how best to connect with and support a workforce lacking in literacy? Should organizations invest in programs to improve their employees' literacy and numeracy skills, or concentrate on creating an internal communications strategy and channels that meet the challenges of communicating with employees struggling with literacy?

Have you created internal communication channels designed specifically to commuicate with employees with limited literacy skills, or has your organization run any programs to assist employees to improve their skills? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Email me at Belinda.evans@melcrum.com

* In a 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey 40 percent of employed Australians achieved prose literacy scores at level one or level two of a five-point level scale, with level three regarded as the minimum level required to meet the demands of everyday life.

Gordon Brown: "I want to book onto Black Belt"

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Finally it’s happened! A politician, or rather one who’s soon going to be looking for another profession all together (anyone brave enough to hire him as their director of comms?) has at last admitted that he should have taken a course in communication skills.

Former Prime Minister and now free man Gordon Brown, yesterday visited Adam Smith College in his home constituency Kirkcaldy, Fife in Scotland, and told an audience of students that he had contemplated applying for a course in communication skills on his journey to the institution.

His excellent statesman-like leaving speech this Wednesday aside – which I personally thought was wonderfully and very candidly delivered – Brown, in the public’s blue and yellow coalition-coloured eyes, arguably suffered from a lack of personality in the last few weeks of the Prime ministerial campaign. Calling a lifelong female Labour supporter a “bigoted woman”, grinning to the audience during the televised debate as if he had just witnessed David Cameron inadvertently putting his foot in a bear trap and rather unfortunately misspelling a deceased soldier’s name in his note of sympathy due to his poor eyesight, all contributed in some way to his sad and eventual downfall.

But hey ho, now he’s left number 10 he can concentrate on other things and what better way to make up for lost time and potentially encourage a new and rather inexperienced coalition cabinet to brush up on their communication skills. After all even our new old Etonian PM isn’t immune from the odd verbal gaffe or two.

Remember when he compared Northern Ireland to a former communist state, or when Jewish groups and MPs rounded on the Conservative leader after he dismissed funding to send schoolchildren to visit Auschwitz as “a gimmick”, or his latest communication cock-up when, being interviewed by gay publication The Pink Paper, he was accused of slipping up over his party’s votes on gay equality issues.

After suggesting he might take a communication skills course, Brown then even went so far as to say he “might do public relations, then maybe media management – or drama and performance”. Come on Gord, PR isn’t the way to go now really is it? Internal communications could well be the ideal career for you now you’ve left that rather pressurised public facing role behind you. Oh, and by the way, if you do decide to head in-house, rather than heading to the House of Commons or even the Lords, why not give Melcrum a buzz and we’ll give you a great discount on all three excellent Black Belt training course modules that cover everything someone aspiring to become a world-class internal communicator could ever hope to learn.

Surely anything's better than hanging around with Nick Clegg? Who you say? Exactly.