The Melcrum Blog

Vodafone Twitter account suffers internal breach

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

If internal communicators hadn’t realised the power, speed and significance of social media then all you need to do is look at the following photo a Twitter user posted only minutes ago responding to a rather nasty message on Vodafone’s official UK feed. I won’t repeat it within this blog as it’s offensive.

According to @VodafoneUK, that is now having to field thousands of customer tweets complaining about the offensive message, the telecoms company’s Twitter feed was not hacked but the offending message was instead down to, in its own words, “a severe breach of rules by staff”. The message then went on to say: “We're really sorry. Dealing with that internally. Please keep your faith in us.”

The tweet out to customers was at least swift and will have salvaged some pride. In fact many customers have thanked the company for its rapid response, but sadly the damage has been done, spread worldwide and all at the click of a mouse button within a matter of nanoseconds. The tweet may have been hurriedly deleted but hundreds of users chose to retweet the original message.

It is still unclear what exactly happened but this must serve as a warning to all internal communicators whose responsibility it is to carefully manage these channels whatever business they're in.

If you haven't already, sign up NOW to Melcrum's must-attend Social Media Conference for internal communications.

The internal communicator: The must have for 2010

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

It’s a new decade and a time for a new perspective, so what does 2010 hold for communicators?

The noughties started where the nineties left off. Blair and New Labour continued to drag a kicking and screaming Cool Britannia down the corridors of power with them until everyone realised just how uncool they all were, the age of spin was born but soon came to an embarrassing end when the media discovered politicians were using taxpayers money to buy moats and fund their husband’s adult entertainment habits, and to top it all off, no one managed to predict the swift collapse of global financial markets leading to worldwide recession, riots and mass redundancies. However, all these events have something in common: they’ve served to put communications and in particular internal communications, on the map.

Faddish public relations, misleading messages and messaging, and unethical leaders and the fraudulent and mismanaged companies they helped to run and ultimately ruin, along with Cool Britannia, spin, and corrupt corporate fat cats are over. The public, employees and shareholders are demanding results not just when it comes to a return on their own cash investments, but also when it comes to how they are being invested in themselves; in their votes, their careers and their livelihoods.

If you, as a company, don’t invest in your people and fail to maintain adequate levels of engagement, then you yourself will fail. This is something even the present Government has recognised in the MacLeod report that suggests that business and organizations function best when they make their employees’ “commitment, potential, creativity and capability central to their operation”. Having enough cash, and a sensible strategy, are clearly vital it adds, but “how people behave at work can make the crucial difference between business and operational success or failure”

A report by executive search company Watson Helsby out in the first week of the New Year that polled 250 corporate communications directors from some of the UK’s largest organizations, uncovered a series of key trends for 2010, the most evident of which found that two-thirds of respondents expect budgets to be cut back even further. This is hardly surprising following the downturn of the last 18 months, but as companies decide to shelve projects and/or cut back on agency spend, this will inevitably mean a return to investing internally both in companywide and internal communication talent. In leaner times when we, regardless of status or seniority, are demanding more efficiency for less outlay, turning to those existing internal stars who can drive engagement levels and at the same time show a direct correlation to rising profit levels will be a must have in 2010.

Never has the role of internal communicators been more important. Whose role is it to eliminate the charlatans from the profession; whose role is it to create honest, thought provoking, informative and ultimately engaging messages, branding and campaigns across organizations to ensure the well-being, happiness and longevity of millions of workers; and whose role - one of the most crucial areas in business in the next 10 years – is it to train, coach and advise leaders as firms enter one of the biggest make or break years since the second World War? I think you can guess the answer.

If you haven’t got a star individual or team in place already then go out and get one. But remember you won’t find them in the January sales.

A new breed of communication focused CEOs

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

I often ask myself how seriously high-profile executives take communications. On one side of the mahogany boardroom table there are those business owners whose complete lack of awareness and communication skills has brought their company to the verge of collapse. Take Gerald Ratner, former chief executive of the now renamed British jewellery company Ratners Group who achieved fame after making a speech in which he jokingly referred to his company’s profits as “c***” and remarked that some of the earrings he then sold were “cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long”. Immediately following his gaff Ratner watched as his business’s value plummeted by £500 million.

Read the latest article on the Internal Comms Hub on how to review your communication capabilities - five of the worst communication offenses and how to avoid them.

Fortunately, however on the opposite side of the table sit those execs that have learned from his and the mistakes of others and that have the foresight and vision to realise that a breakdown in internal communication can lead to disastrous consequences. Stephen Martin, CEO of UK construction company Clugstons and guest speaker at the recent SCM summit in October, for example, knew that he had to take evasive action to stop his business from declining. Employee morale was at rock bottom, management simply weren’t listening and, as a result, contracts were not being won and the money wasn’t coming in. So he put his professional reputation on the line and decided to go undercover and find out what the real issues were, all of which was documented on the recent Channel 4 series the Undercover Boss.

I met another of this new breed of comms savvy execs at the launch of the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 business phone last night. A device exclusively available at Vodafone, my friends tell me. And she, along with Martin assured me that communication is “the most important element there is in business”.

“Always being the last to know and not being guided or communicated to when there are huge changes going on can be one of the worst things to happen if you’re an employee,” says Karen Brady, the recently departed managing director of Birmingham City Football Club and now non-executive director of Sport England and the England 2018 World Cup bid, Mothercare and, ironically Channel 4 television. “On some occasions my staff were the last to know at Birmingham City,” she added.

From her early career at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Brady moved to the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) where she managed an account for publisher and now ex Birmingham City owner David Sullivan, who following encouragement by Brady, spent more than £2m on advertising in just six months. At the age of just 23 Bra then famously spotted an advert for the sale of the football club and persuaded Sullivan to buy it and let her run it. Her business acumen has made her a wealthy woman, however she says it has been her belief in “talking and communicating openly and honestly” that has got her to where she is today.

“It’s very important to always talk with your staff. To manage a team effectively you have to keep an open dialogue, an open means of communication. What you communicate internally should be the same and you communicate externally and I’ve always believed that.”

Her communication mantra as well as her skills will soon be put to the public test in the forthcoming sixth series of the BBC’s Apprentice where she has recently replaced the stern and steadfast Margaret Mountford as one of Sir Alan Sugar’s two chief advisors.

But will the next series of The Apprentice be as “backstabbing” as the last where, in my view, communication often broke down between contestants as they threw barrage upon barrage of insults and personal attacks on one another in order to survive another week on the show and become Sir Alan’s new protégé?

“We’re still filming so I can’t say that much but we are really trying to get across to the contestants that communication between the two sub teams is crucial in learning how to manage and become a good manager,” she says.

I’m sure there are more executives like Brady and Martin out there. Now all I have to do is find them.

SCM summit London 2009: The 10 communication commandments

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Vivienne Huybrecht, general manager group communication at KBC Group gave a fascinating insight into her tumultuous year at one of Belgium’s largest financial institutions at this morning's 8th annual Melcrum Strategic Communication Management Summit at London’s Tower Hotel.

Vivienne wasn’t just in charge of internal communications, when the financial crisis hit KBC faster and harder than anyone could ever have predicted she was also charged with looking after every aspect of external communications and media relations – a huge task for anyone but somehow she managed it and survived. Mainly, she told me, because of her sporty nature and her motto of never giving up. Look out for a quick video interview in the next few days.

At the height of the storm she was receiving more than 100 phone calls from journalists day and night, saw KBC’s share price plummet and to top it all off her chief executive had a heart attack in May and had to stand down. It was sobering stuff and one of the best internal communication stories I have ever heard.

One of the best elements of the presentation was her 10 communication commandments during a crisis. Here they are:

1. Visible leadership – staff should be able to see the whites of their eyes
2. Be honest and open at all times
3. Tell it like it is
4. Be confident!
5. New CEO mantra – overperform and under promise
6. Be clear and keep it simple
7. Move fast and decisively
8. Make no promises about the future unless you can achieve them with absolute certainty
9. Use face-to-face communications as much as possible
10. Never give up

US firms favour internal comms as no.1 retention tool

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Retaining key staff is the Holy Grail of maintaining productivity and profitability during an economic downturn, however retention often involves boosting salaries to keep- employees sweet – something that very much against the culture of almost every business that has suffered at the hands of the worst recession in 60 years.

That said a recent survey out today by workforce productivity improvement group i4cp found that 18% of high-performing organizations have already taken the step of increasing compensation levels to reduce turnover, compared to 7% of lower performers, while the same ratio of high performers (18%) and 24% of lower performers plan to implement pay raises in the next six to 12 months.

The highlight, however is that this doesn’t necessarily have an effect on staff retention, internal communications does, with the majority of US respondents (81%) naming the function as their favored method. Among higher market performers, a massive 91% pointed to communication as their top method of staunching turnover, compared to 71% of lower performers. An increased focus on talent management (77%) was the second-highest choice, with succession planning (59%) third.

Looking to the future and the eventual recovery that is slowly materializing, 70% of higher-performing companies said they were planning to stem the number of staff departures by increasing their focus on succession planning and talent management with leadership training being planned by 66% of higher-performing firms. Lower performers said they planned to focus first on talent management issues (71%), followed by 62% who plan to increase internal communication.

The study showed that higher performers are more likely to involve employees in the process, however an incredible 21% admitted they had never surveyed their employees about engagement issues, compared to a more credible 36% of lower performers. Both higher and lower-performing companies that conduct surveys are  most likely to survey their workers annually. More reassuringly, and based on the results of their most recent surveys, 49% of higher performers reported an increase in engagement, compared to a quarter (26%) of lower market performing organizations.

Six days away from largest gathering of internal communicators in Europe!

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

We’re now less than a week away from the largest gathering of internal communicators in Europe. A huge turn out of 187 of your peers, colleagues and competitors will be attending the Melcrum SCM Summit in London between 13th and 15th October 2009 listening to and debating with some of the brightest minds in the profession including Best Companies Partnership’s Wayne Clarke, Channel 4’s Undercover Boss Stephen Martin and a host of senior practitioners from some of Britain’s largest and most important companies, organisations and bodies such as HSBC, Vodafone and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

If you're not convinced listen to our exclusive pre-summit interviews with some of the events biggest names.

Despite the workshops on 13th October selling out faster than ever before, we have managed to persuade The Tower Hotel to increase its capacity to more than the 150 cap, so if you or one of the team still want to come along, all you need to call us now. You won’t be sorry.

Discussing how to rebuild trust, re-engage employees and increase performance has never been more important than today – an era where both budgets and resources have been slashed in greater quantity and numbers than ever before. And it is you, the internal communications profession, that has the responsibility to change that downwards spiral and bring the UK and the rest of the business world back ito prosperity once again. Never has your role been greater.

As our keynote speaker Wayne Clarke says: “Fifteen of the top 100 companies doubled their turnover and tripled their profit in five years.” And what seems to be consistent among these high-performing organisations? “They all make effective use of line managers to translate and communicate core company objectives, achieve high levels of employee engagement, and ultimately, impact the bottom line,” adds Clarke.

We look forward to seeing you next week. Don’t miss out, be there!

Melcrum teams up with ipadio

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Melcrum Publishing is pleased to announce that it has partnered with ipadio to use its revolutionary phone blogging technology in order to bring you exclusive content ahead of the SCM Summit in London on 13th to 15th October 2009.

In the next two weeks on www.melcrum.com we will be broadcasting interviews with all the speakers at this years summit, the largest event for internal communicators in Europe, via ipadio’s own simple to use web application. Simply click on the link below the speakers’ name and you will be able to listen to an exclusive interview.

But if this technology doesn’t sound different to an ordinary podcast, think again. ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the internet live, phone blog (also rather strangely known as phlogging), collect audio data, record and update, or simply let your friends know what you're doing – ipadio records it the internet automatically, within around five seconds in fact, and can be integrated into social media and blogging platforms including Twitter and Facebook.

Look out for some revolutionary technology on www.melcrum.com that will allow you to listen to some of the communications industry’s brightest minds weeks before the industry’s biggest event and best of all, completely free!

If you haven't already sign up now the SCM Summit in London, it's a must see event!

10 great reasons to attend this year’s SCM Summit London

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

If you haven't already, make sure you sign up the Melcrum's SCM Summit in London 13th to 15th October 2009! It's only 27 days away!!!

  Here are 10 great reasons why you should!

1. The economic recovery - looking to the future: find out why successful internal communicators are the key to leading us to economic recovery, how they can rebuild trust in leaders, re-engage employees and increase performance, and plan for 2010 by refreshing your ideas and knowledge and finding out what’s working for others.
2. Take the lead - find out how your peers are becoming trusted advisors to the leadership team, and coaching managers to be better communicators.
3. The best networking - rub shoulders with the best and brightest in the industry, the largest gathering of senior communicators in Europe this year.
4. Latest research - hear the latest trends and Melcrum research into internal communication best practice in rebuilding trust, change communication, social media and employee engagement.
5. International perspective - meet delegates from all over Europe, the US, Africa and Middle East and gain an international perspective.
6. Case studies: hear first-hand accounts from senior communicators at HSBC, ING, KBC Group, Network Rail, Westminster City Council, Asda, Volvo and Vodafone amongst others.
7. FIRST UK PRESENTATION!!! A CEO’s unique view of comms - don’t miss this year’s special guest Stephen Martin, star of Channel Four’s ‘Undercover Boss’ series and CEO of construction company Clugston Group as he recounts the lessons he took back to the boardroom after working on the frontline.
8. Ideas you can put into practice - you’ll come away with dozens of proven techniques and ideas you can use back at the office.
9. Get involved - the SCM Summit is more than a conference, it’s a chance for you to gain feedback, discuss your challenges and hear what’s working via roundtable sessions, panel discussions, and interactive workshops.
10. Communicators trust Melcrum to deliver - now in its 8th year, the SCM Summit is the one event you tell us you can’t afford to miss, even when your budgets have been cut.

We have three summits, one in Australia, that is in its first day today, one in the US in Chicago and of course London.

Follow us at all three summits on Twitter via the following hashtags:

Australia: #scmau
United States: #scmus
United Kingdom: #scmuk

Diary of an internal communicator - Week 4

By Rachel Allen, Head of Communication, London Overground Rail Operations (LOROL)

Rachel Allen has just started in her new role as the first head of communications at London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) a company launched in November 2007 and train service that links 20 of London’s 33 boroughs. Rachel is the first communications professional ever to be hired by LOROL. Previous to her joining the company did not have a communication plan.

Read her article on creating an internal communications strategy from scratch on the Internal Comms Hub.

Over the last four weeks Rachel written an exclusive diary for Melcrum revealing first hand what it’s like to create and implement an internal communication plan and strategy from scratch, the people and challenges she’s faced along the way and the highs and lows she’s come across on her exciting new journey. It's made for fascinating reading for any professional communicator out there.

Here is her fourth and final entry:

Tuesday 1 September

How did it get to be September already? I can’t believe I am now into my fourth week at LOROL. Today I wrote a guide on delivering effective team briefings and how to encourage people to take part in discussions. I finalised the content of the team briefing for this period and issued it along with the guide and a revised feedback form.

A few employees have already contacted me to say they think it is a ‘vast improvement’ and they think it should be easier to brief. I’m really pleased with their comments as I created the new format using their feedback from the past few weeks. I’ve been invited to go along to various meetings to see how people deliver it to their teams, so I’m putting dates in the diary to do that. The first one will be at Willesden depot on Monday which should be interesting. I’ve been promised a ‘proper tour’ of the facility there  so I'm looking forward to that.

Wednesday 2 September

My desk is full of logos today! I’ve got the proofs of all the colour variations to look through to decide which ones to use and where they should go and what the rules are. I’m really happy with the work that’s been done so far. I also met with another designer today who’s been doing some work for us, it was good to meet face-to-face and talk through our ideas together. I met up with a friend of mine last night for dinner and we ended up discussing social media and its impact on internal communications. I found myself looking up the dissertation I wrote earlier in the year to refresh my memory on some of the theory I had read. There are so many things I would like to implement here. I need to be patient and take it one step at a time!

Thursday 3 September

We had an HR team meeting yesterday afternoon and discussed our objectives. I'm starting to think about introducing long service awards and a recognition scheme. Many employees have worked on the railways for years and have a real pride in their work. I think it's important the company has a scheme in place that not only celebrates worthwhile contributions but also honours these long-serving employees. I'm researching other organisations at the moment to see what works well to help me decide what will be appropriate for us, based on information I've picked up over the past month and input from people in the organisation. I think it's important to get this initiative up and running as soon as possible so will be tying it into my overall communications strategy through consistent messaging. I'm planning to do this by sharpening up our values and aligning the recognition scheme to them. I think this is important and I hope it will engage employees because I will ask for their input to help me decide how best to recognise them.

Friday 4 September

So here it is - my final diary entry. I've found the past month has flown by and has been fascinating. I've been made to feel so welcome here, I've met some really interesting people and have also received lots of emails from readers of this blog offering me their advice, support and encouragement.

The past four weeks have seen me undertake a huge learning curve, with lots to take in - which is to be expected when you start any new role. While my diary ends here, the hard work certainly doesn't and I now have lots of ideas of how I would like communication to be at LOROL based on what I've discovered. I'll be intrigued to look back at this diary in a few months' time to see where I'm at and how many of my plans I've already managed to implement. More than anything I've come to realise the importance of having a good network of communications professionals. Knowing that there are people I am in touch with in the industry that I can bounce ideas off and brainstorm with is invaluable.

I'm looking forward to going to Melcrum's Strategic Communication Management summit in London next month to hear from the experts there, increase my knowledge further and add some new people to my network. Hopefully I'll get to meet many of you there!

Rachel

Diary of an internal communicator – Week 3

By Rachel Allen, Head of Communication, London Overground Rail Operations (LOROL)

Rachel Allen has just started in her new role as the first head of communications at London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) a company launched in November 2007 and train service that links 20 of London’s 33 boroughs. Rachel is the first communications professional ever to be hired by LOROL. Previous to her joining the company did not have a communication plan.

Read her article on creating an internal communications strategy from scratch on the Internal Comms Hub.

Rachel will be writing an exclusive diary for Melcrum for the next three weeks revealing first hand what it’s like to create and implement an internal communication plan and strategy from scratch, the people and challenges she’ll face along the way and the highs and lows she’ll come across on her exciting new journey. It will make fascinating reading for any communicator out there.

Here is her third entry:

Monday 24 August

The family fun day on Saturday was a great success, the weather was beautiful and hundreds of employees turned up and brought their partners and children along. In the next few weeks around 80 employees will be transferring from Southern Railway to LOROL as they will be part of the new East London Line. They were invited to come along with their families too and I took the opportunity to talk with our new employees as well as the current ones. It was interesting to get a glimpse into their culture and thoughts around communication. Today I cracked on with the branding guidelines and communications toolkit. I've asked the agency who produced the refreshed logo to come in and see me this week and I'm happy with how it is shaping up.

Tuesday 25 August

Had lots of requests today from various people including being asked permission from camera crews to access stations and music acts wanting to film themselves busking. I've just signed up for Melcrum's Strategic Communication Management Summit taking place in London in October. It looks like a great line-up of speakers and I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Mark Shaoul from Network Rail talk about embedding a safety culture. Safety communication is so important in the railway industry and I'm sure Mark will offer some interesting insight into what he has found works well.

Wednesday 26 August

This morning we had a coffee and cakes session at our head office where the executive team spoke with employees, answered questions and gave business updates from each directorate. I think sessions like these are invaluable and it's great that the company decided a while ago that this was a good way to update large groups of employees. I find it interesting to discover what channels have grown organically in the company since it was formed in 2007 without a comms head setting the agenda. During the session our MD Steve asked for any new starters since the last gathering a month ago to step forward and introduce themselves. I took the opportunity to ask for everyone's help to improve the flow of communication to frontline employees and provide feedback. I outlined my key focus areas for the next few weeks and appealed for help to implement the refreshed branding consistently across the organisation when I launch it.

This is the first role I've been in HR rather than reporting directly to the CEO/President and today we had a team meeting. I presented the current team briefing that was written before I joined to them. It was a useful exercise to see what type of information works well and I quizzed the team to establish what they think should be included (and excluded).

Thursday 27 August

The design agency involved in refreshing our branding came in today and we had a productive few hours together defining templates, fonts etc. I've been gathering all the printed material I can over the past three weeks and noting the variety of ways the company has been presenting itself. I've now got a clearer picture of what I think works well (and what I what to remove) and the changes I want to make to ensure everything is consistent.

Today the executive team outlined their priorities for the coming period so I could start writing the next team brief. The old one was four pages long (so not really brief), so I've drawn a line under that. I'm setting to work writing it in a way that is much clearer, concise and most importantly, easier to brief, based on my experiences in other companies.

Friday 28 August

I'm mainly concentrating on the team brief today and getting all the information I need from across the business in order to put it together. I'm due to call Sarah, the comms exective I'm mentoring, this afternoon to talk through the portfolio of evidence she needs to collate for her Communicators in Business (CiB) Diploma of Proficiency in Internal Communication. I find it intriguing to look at the criteria that is laid out for new starters in the industry and the type of experience that is recommended. I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point this week and found myself thinking about the people I've met at LOROL and identifying who is a connector, who is a maven and who is a salesman. I'd recommend this book to other comms professionals. It led to me thinking about the people who seem to know everyone else in the organisation and who are connecting me to the people I need to get information from. I will be managing our employee survey in February so am already identifying key employees in my mind that I hope to bring on board to encourage participation.

I can't believe this is the end of my third week already!

Until next week

Rachel