Productivity tool or a procrastinator’s best friend?

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

In February last year, Thierry Breton, CEO and chairman of Atos Origin, an international IT services company employing staff across 42 countries, announced his mission to ban internal email, with the intention of becoming a "zero email" company by 2014.

Unsurprisingly his declaration caused a media stir and also received some backlash, but Breton defended his decision, saying:

"I didn’t do this for external reasons…I did it to enhance the quality of working conditions for Atos’ 80,000 employees…my first intention was to deal with this data deluge and to work with the tools the young generation are using. We are addressing a real issue of our time…we are no longer using email the way it was intended to be used"

  
His decision was also made in light of the revelation that employees were receiving over 100 emails a day, of which only 15% were useful, and also upon consideration of the fact that for the 10,000 new employees hired every year, internal email tools such as Outlook were completely unfamiliar, with Breton stating, "We have to adapt ourselves to this new generation that will become our business colleagues tomorrow."

As radical as the idea may sound...
...it perhaps isn’t when you fully consider that it’s a positive step towards what we’re all trying to achieve -  i.e. transforming the internal comms model and becoming a social business. And whether you realise it or not, most of us have already taken these steps in our implementation of digital tools.
What we haven’t done however, is fully allowed the potential of these tools to take hold and deliver the collaboration-driven business benefits they’re capable of.

So while we have the tools in place which hold the potential to increase efficiencies, reduce reliance on email and ultimately drive productivity – our failure to educate employees as to how it can be used,  failure to generate the required culture shift that encourages more "fluid" communication and a failure to engage leaders to lead by example and influence – are all pivotal reasons why "business-benefitting collaboration" is simply not happening.

 

IBM – where it all began?
While Breton’s decision was the most highly publicised, IBM’s BlueIQ team* - namely one member of the core team, Luis Suarez, knowledge manager, community builder & social software evangelist - could be considered as leading the charge, having decided back in 2008 to start living in a world without email.

 
"As a remote employee, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could keep working for the company without using email, relying almost exclusively on social software tools to communicate daily with my team members."

And in January 2011, just three years on, Suarez reported an impressive 95% reduction in inbox traffic.

Why live without email?

"Around two and a half years ago in my role of software evangelism, one of the main hurdles we were hearing from people is … they perceive this software as another set of tools on top of what they were already using…they had this feeling that, you’re asking me to spend more time online with Twitter, Facebook and whatever the internal social software applications were."

As well as wanting to demonstrate to coworkers just how dependent they were on email (despite its loss of productivity as a channel), Suarez’ decision was also triggered in 2008 when IBM’s Blue IQ team were faced with the challenge of educating an overwhelmed and reluctant salesforce to use the social tools that were available to them to provide "answers" rather than "problems" (with the potential to benefit them in completing daily tasks and increase efficiencies). The initiative was a success and transformed IBM’s salesforce into fellow social software evangelists. Not only that, the Blue IQ team continues to expand with the ultimate aim of enterprise-wide social collaboration inside and outside of IBM that drives real business results.

Enabling crucial conversations
Suarez will be sharing his story at our first-ever Digital Communication Summit in London on 27-28 March, 2012, where we’ll be addressing the role of technology in enabling crucial conversations to build an engaged and collaborative workforce, and the fundamental role communicators play in leading the transformation across culture and leadership to create a truly social business that reaps the benefits of outcome-driven collaboration.  

Joining him will be thought leaders such as Paul Miller, CEO and founder of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum and Digital Workplace Forum and Laurie Hibbs, HR director at LexisNexis UK as well as business leaders from companies including BT Conferencing, Nokia, Bupa and the adidas Group who will be sharing their powerful case studies. 

Check out the full event programme online: http://bit.ly/yipJEj

*IBM’S BlueIQ Ambassador Programme - A worldwide community of social software evangelists with a mission to energize and enable every IBM employee to use social software, both internally and externally. The BlueIQ ambassadors support the BlueIQ program’s mission to transform IBM into a showcase for the business benefits of social software adoption.

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16055310

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/01/luis-suarez/

http://mashable.com/2010/09/03/world-without-email/

http://www.elsua.net/2012/01/13/blueiq-at-ibm-finally-goes-external/

https://www-304.ibm.com/wikis/home/wiki/BlueIQ?lang=en_US

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/offer/adoptioncouncil/

 

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.

Creating communities through social media innovation

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

The latest Melcrum Social Media Benchmarking Group's (SMBG) meeting was held at Ericsson's impressive offices in sunny Guildford, Surrey, UK on 19 May.

During the proceedings, there were two presentations: the first from Arndis Jonsdottir, an organizational psychologist specializing in communication, quantative and qualitative data analysis relating to employee engagement and change.

Jonsdottir shared her perspective on social networks and media, and the challenges of establishing platforms for internal communication that drive added-value for the business and also align with employee communication and engagement preferences. Some key points made during her presentation include:

1. Work value is defined as the outcomes people desire and feel they should attain through work. This can be measured in two ways: extrinsically – tangible rewards; and intrinsically – the process of work and the inherent interest in it.
2. As we get older, we develop a less idealized view of work. Different generations have different strengths, weaknesses and views.
3. Social media can positively impact the workforce by facilitating innovation and collaboration, connecting employees and teams, improving dialogue, enabling learning and knowledge-sharing, moving the CEO or top level dialogue closer to the employee and supporting an image of being up-to-date and contemporary.

Following Jonsdottir's presentation, Adam Lloyd, head of internal communication for Western and Central Europe, Christine Cornelius, internal communication manager, and Lena Jansson, director of IT communications, discussed Ericsson's new social platform, MyNet, which launched last month and already boasts several thousand users within the organization's global network.

The trio also provided some essential reminders for communicators, including:

• Always coach and advise managers.
• Teach and advise the organization.
• Leaders have to be seen to "walk the talk".
• Use collaborative spaces to get employees to understand the organization.

A top tip from the day for communicators was to get company leaders to spend time commenting on staff member's blogs in place of writing their own, as this kind of interaction was often seen as more personal and valuable.

Do you feel that getting your leader to comment on staff blogs would improve employee engagement and provide valuable interaction?

Luke

PS. For information on how you could join the Social Media Benchmarking Group, please email stewart.donovan@melcrum.com.

 

 

Quad aims for slice of collaboration software market

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Bringing social networking into the enterprise, as technology suppliers so often like to call it, has long been the Holy Grail of companies such as Microsoft, particularly with its widely used SharePoint collaboration platform.

In the last five years SharePoint has become the de facto software platform of choice. In the case of internal communications, however, this hasn’t always been a question of choice. As many of you will know, and some of you may have experienced first hand, SharePoint has often been foisted upon the function by those pesky geeks in IT . The geeks have either come to some sort of partnership agreement with Microsoft or simply gone behind everyone's backs, signed on the dotted line and gone with the only brand they know. Funnily enough, the general feedback I get from the large majority communicators is how difficult SharePoint is to deploy, use and customise.

Help or rather choice, however, appears to be on the horizon with Google’s collaboration and communications tool, Wave, now being slowly taken up by a small number of companies. But another player has recently joined the game. The latest vendor to attempt to capitalise on the desire of many organizations for secure, internal, corporate social networking, or “enterprise collaboration”, is Cisco with its new platform Quad.

One analyst called Cisco’s approach to bringing social networking into the enterprise “interesting and different” and "more than just having an internal Facebook-like mechanism”.

Cisco’s aim is to integrate enterprise applications into the internal communications mix, effectively melding various tools into one platform to give social networking more business functionality. There are already plenty of platforms that do this but it has some interesting features, while commentators online suggest it is very simple to use.

For example, Quad is designed to let users microblog within the platform, with posts going out to colleagues who follow them, while in-house microblogs can also be posted on Twitter effectively crossing the dreaded internal/external divide – something that may scare some communicators off. But there's no need to panic. For those of you who have recurring nightmares of employees posting updates about certain topics outside the firewall, Quad also enables you to set rules that limit users’ ability to post externally on certain topics or even on certain days.

Quad also includes a calendar application, along with voicemail integration, a “Facebook-like” feed of updates from colleagues that users have "befriended", work group communities, and a place where documents can be stored and made available for collaborative purposes. The platform also includes live video, recorded video storage, instant messaging and e-mail.

The home screen for Quad is the first thing employees see when they start work in the morning, the place they go to find out what’s happening in their company as well as their business tasks for the day, month or year. The top of the screen might show a companywide video message from the CEO, for example, while the side columns might highlight the status of the employee's key contacts and links to their communities within the organization, and a lower part of the screen might be taken up by an interface to the major applications they use.

With many companies being forced to do more with less and, at the same time, increase productivity and profits, implementing an enterprise social networking platform is becoming increasingly popular and has already proven a success in several organisations. Employees now not only demand rich (social media) communication in their own personal lives but equally in their everyday working lives and careers. Harnessing this demand to improve organizational productivity is a logical step.

For some great examples, advice, information, research and best practice case studies, register your interest for Melcrum’s social media report 2010 available soon.

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.

No social media, no job says “generation standby”

By Nishwa Ashraf, Editorial Assistant, Melcrum

You’re young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Fresh out of college you’re about to embark into the world of work. Following a successful interview, you’ve been offered a position with a company you could see yourself part of for some time to come.

Fair wage? Tick. Personable staff? Tick. A challenging work load? Tick. Access to Facebook? Denied.

Is this enough to make you reconsider taking the job?

For 20 percent of Millennials, or Generation Y-ers (those born from 1980 onwards) a ban on social media in the workplace is often a deal breaker.

My initial thought was that this is preposterous. But when you consider that 48 percent of office workers and 71 percent of managers undertake work-related tasks from home, with 57 percent using a home laptop and 37 percent using smart phones to keep them constantly updated on what’s happening in the office, suddenly a little social networking during office hours sounds like a fair compromise.

Hillary Blackwell, global HR director at Clearswift, the security software provider that carried out the research, said: “Call it multi-tasking or life-splicing but increasingly fuelled by advances in technology, employees are blurring the boundaries between home and work.”

And as social media is ubiquitous in society today, for a company to ban these tools does so at the risk of appearing draconian.

But social media doesn’t have to mean teens gossiping about whose Twilight team they’re on – Jake or Edward? When removing the hype, these tools can actually be useful to an organization. From internal microblogging tools such as Yammer and CEO blogs, to work-related discussions and communities on Linked In, social networking doesn’t always have to mean social not-working.

It’s is a great way to look inwardly into your company and find out how employees really feel, what they’re thinking and what they’re saying. As part of a communications mix, it can assist in achieving strategic communication objectives such as creating transparency in the workplace, including employees in future decisions, finding out who’s working on what, linking remote and disparate global employees, creating engagement, spreading corporate news. The list is endless.

Whether you’re wondering how social media can benefit you’re business, convincing senior executives of a buy-in or wondering how other organizations have used the tools, you might want to check out Melcrum’s new Social Media report which will be on sale soon.

How is your organization using social media? We’re always keen to hear so let us know.Email me at nishwa.ashraf@melcrum.com

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.

Catch Melcrum at IABC World Congress June 5th to 9th

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Following two brutal recession-packed years crammed full of pessimistic chatter along the lines of distrust in brands and leaders, slashed budgets and axed headcounts and rock bottom engagement scores, conferences and events are attempting to re-focus on a leaner but potentially more exciting future. And the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is no different.

This year’s World Congress in Toronto, on between June 5th and 9th, returns to normal proceedings and can once again focus on promoting fresh ideas, showcase award winning case studies and best practices in communication.

Recession or not however, the Melcrum team and I will be there in force to cover the sessions, idea jams, unconferences (this always sends a shiver down my spine) and the inevitable news and gossip that will take place in the five days this gigantic gathering of more than 1,400 communicators will generate.

Myself and the team will be staying at the conference venue, the Sheraton Centre Toronto so please feel free to email me and get in touch to arrange a meeting.

I just hope I don’t bump into too many of you at the yoga sessions in the morning. You wouldn’t want to see me in Lycra. I just wonder how many communicators can communicate that early in the morning? I guess I’ll have to get up at the crack of dawn to find out.

Key communicators including Russell Grossman, Les Potter, Guy Kawasaki, Angela Sinickas, Adrian Cropley and Melissa Dark will all (don’t worry I intend to grab five minutes with as many delegates and speakers as I can) be speaking to Melcrum during the event.

So, loyal Melcrum blog readers, continue to follow us as you always have done, while those that haven’t graced these sacred pages please make sure to tune in at the beginning of next month for some exclusive insight into one of the biggest events in the communication calendar.

P.S: Message to fellow delegates: If I forget my Lycra all-in-one bodysuit or my yoga mat please bring a spare.

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.

Diary of an Internal Communicator: The final week

By Jenni Wheller, Internal Communications Manager, SSP UK 

Back by popular demand, over the next four weeks the Melcrum Blog will feature another series of diary entries by an internal communicator. Previously Rachel Allen gave us all a fascinating insight into her new role as head of communication at London Overground Rail Operations. Read it here if you missed it.

This time our guest blogger is Jenni Wheller (pictured, right) who has recently taken on a new in-house role at SSP UK. Jenni was previously business development manager at internal communications agency theblueballroom. We look forward to hearing how she tackles the many challenges she will undoubtedly face in the coming weeks at SSP UK... here's her fourth and final week.

As I write my final blog for this series following a month of entries, things are starting to take shape in my new role. The survey is now written and I’m exploring various options of samples or automated phone surveys (thanks to all those on Twitter and Linked In who answered) and in the second week of June I’m going to work in some stores, or “units”: as they’re known here, in and around London.

Following last week’s blog, the structure and content of the conference is still being debated – I’m hoping to have a clear steer by the end of May. I’ve also just returned from three days in Paris where the international HR forum was hosted. It was great to meet fellow HR professionals within SSP and, as an internal communicator who has previously sat within marketing, it was great to learn more about human resources. There was plenty of discussion about motivating, engaging and recruiting new people born between 1978 and 1996, dubbed “millennials”. As a millennial this was particularly interesting as a lot of what was said rang true, and also highlighted the importance of knowing your audience when communicating with them. The key theme was the work-life balance we expect – we’re happy to give a lot but in return we expect a flexible working environment.

For those internal communicators that have millennials in their midst – here’s some of the research:

What they need:

• Fun environment
• Rewards
• To be listened to
• Space Work/life balance
• Frequent Feedback
• Career development

What they provide:

• Energy
• Fresh perspective
• Technology expertise
• Honest opinions
• High productivity

I’m now looking at changing some of the ways we communicate in head office. Moving away from mass sporadic emails to a weekly communication process using our online platform more and the TV screens in the office.

Spending two months in the business, observing and networking has been the best decision I ever made. While it feels that I’ve sat quietly in a corner since I got here, I now feel that I have grasped how the business operates and an understanding of the culture at SSP.

No doubt I’ll continue updating this diary via Twitter – I may even continue this blog through another platform in order to share the outcome of the survey and what this means for the role of internal comms at SSP.