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/

 

Seven tips to keep your employee magazine fresh and relevant

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Hi everyone,

In the February edition of SCM, we took a look at how to ensure your employee magazine remained an effective channel for sharing strategy throughout your organization – especially when surrounded by newer social technologies.

Integration emerged as a key solution, for example; consider cross-referencing between the magazine and your intranet/internal social network. Communicating your company's strategy and important messages this way can maximize engagement for employees.

Alongside integration, there are other factors to consider when looking at how to keep your magazine fresh and relevant. Here are our top tips:

1. Hold regular focus groups at all stages of magazine production
Use employee focus groups to decide initially that a magazine is right for your organization, to ensure that content is continually hitting the mark and for any other big decision you need input on. They are, after all, the people who will be reading it.

2. Keep the human element alive
Employees want to read about their counterparts across the organization, not solely about executive level activity or new processes.

3. Include employee case studies
People like to read content they can relate to and hear stories about what people are doing across the world.

4. Don't include corporate blah blah
Try and make it feel as far away from corporate as you possibly can. If content doesn't fit this ideology, don't include it.

5. Align content with strategy and business need
Although, in doing so, make sure the content doesn't become stagnant. Be creative in the ways you tie content back to business objectives.

6. Reference the external market
If there are key changes happening in your organization's sector, make sure to mention it in your magazine. Employees want to be kept informed by the company they work for.

7. Develop a good internal network and keep close to leadership
Find out what other people in the company are doing. If possible include leadership comments on future plans.

 

For further information on employee magazines, visit the links below:

How to use staff magazines to connect with your employees

Ten reasons to keep printing your in-house magazine

British Airways gets "Up To Speed" with a new employee magazine

 

Until next time,

Luke

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

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Areas for internal communication to address

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

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

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

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

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

 

Until next time,

Luke

 

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

How to help leaders rebuild credibility and trust

OPINION: Communicating and rebuilding trust in the finance industry

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

 

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

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Millenials and the social (net)workplace

By Elizabeth Burrell, Melcrum intern.

Social Media. It provides the main means of communication for many and in knowing this, one would think that employees would take advantage of this innovative form of contact. Unfortunately, recent research has shown that employers still see social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube as persistent distractions. Fourty-eight percent of UK businesses are enforcing a ban on such websites, according to the joint survey conducted by PR firm Lewis Communications and IT firm HCL Technologies.

I wonder If such deprivation may cause an office to play residence to some unhappy workers. Furrowed brows, cracking knuckles and tapping brogues will be in full supply as the withdrawal symptoms begin to kick in.

Being a member of Generation Y, I can feel the frustration of my fellow millenials in this state. Such a situation mirrors that of a young child who’s pacifier is taken away. Having been accustomed to the calming sensation that comes with sucking on a dummy, a child will express their feelings of displeasure in the only way they can when such a valuable instrument is taken away.

Although 18 to 24 year-old workers cannot scream at their desks and restlessly pound at keyboards, it's important to note that in a study done by IT services firm Telindus, 39 percent of working millenials “would consider leaving” if social networks were banned in the workplace and a further 21 percent would feel “annoyed” by such a ban. If employees do find it “annoying” when social networking sites are banned then their emotions are sure to affect their productivity which can decrease the quality of service in a company. Surely it's better to have happier workers?

Although I understand that the availability of facebook in the workplace could lead to a lack of productivity among employees, by simply banning the sites employers will only limit potential collaborations within the company. Employers should reach an agreement with employees that although social networking sites may be used, employees are still expected to meet deadlines and targets.

A scheme of trust ought to be built within an organisation so that both the employer and employee are comfortable with their social media guidelines and limitations to fully maximise the potential of the business.

Does social media belong in the workplace? I'd love to know your thoughts.

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.

Lost in translation

Katrina Andrews, Director, Melcrum Asia-Pacific

This week's news around David Cameron's "snub of China over poppies" is a great example of how easily even the smallest of symbols can be misinterpreted in different cultures. Of course in Britain,  the poppy is a symbol of remembrance of World War 1, in China it has an entirely different meaning, that of Opium Wars.

As we all know Asia is a region experiencing a rapidly growing economy – quite a unique challenge compared to the rest of the world, where talk of "double dip" is still looming. As a prelude to Melcrum's opening of our new Asian office, I've been fortunate to interview some practitioners across the region to gather a better understanding of their different challenges compared to those faced in the UK, US and Australia. I've come away absolutely fascinated and invigorated at the depth of these and how little understood they often are by communicators operating at the global centre elsewhere.

Before you put pen to paper (or more likely finger to keyboard) to communicate with a global workforce, here are just some examples of the culture differences I’ve stumbled across in my conversations:

Political sensitivity: one communicator I interviewed described the need to steer away from using maps in her communications e.g. the controversy regarding the political status of Taiwan (as independent or part of China).

Colours: another communicator described a very classic mistake of Corporate sending out a global message in red, which in China is generally regarded as a sign of happiness – this particular global announcement was regarding possible redundancies.

Culture: depending on your regional coverage you could be communicating with up to 15-20 different cultures and corresponding cultural values. Plus, of course, there are language issues to consider as well...

One of the most fascinating challenges I came across in many of the organisations I spoke to, was that of culture change and how to move a very traditional cascade approach to communication, to one that was more interactive and involved two-way dialogue. This is a common challenge in the West too, but when faced with a fairly hierarchical culture – the depth of this challenge is multiplied.

Many spoke of the (mainly) western concept of CEO roadshows and how when delivered in Asia it’s highly unlikely that employees would even consider asking questions as this goes against inherent cultural values. In some Asian organisations this means that a large proportion of senior leaders are still working on a 'need to know' basis when it comes to internal communication. Putting this into context it was only 10-15 years ago that in Japan a large proportion of the nation had the same job for their entire adult life so – as local practitioners pointed out to me – there's still a residual attitude of "they turn up every day and do their job so why do I need to tell them what I'm doing?" in many senior leaders from that era.

Communicators in the region are certainly rising to these cultural challenges. For example, one practitioner I spoke to, after witnessing yet another CEO roadshow where employee “plants” were primed to ask questions – championed to do away with these seemingly pointless events and instead launch smaller, more intimate meetings with the senior leadership team and line mangers to help break down some of the cultural barriers preventing dialogue.

When we talk about “dialogue” this also extends to online discussion and collaboration but in Asia the use of social media is still held back somewhat – by the infrastructure itself rather than a lack of interest. Communicators spoke of their passion for using new tools and technology, but there are some channels that Asia isn't regionally able to support yet – for example, sending text message announcements to remote manufacturing plants in the Philippines. That said there are also some shining examples of how social media has been harnessed to initiate culture change – the folks at BASF (Hong Kong) are a great example on using wikis and other platforms including Facebook to enable collaboration throughout BASF Asia.

Given both the communication challenges – and innovations – emerging from this part of the world Melcrum’s plans to expand its operations to provide more tailored support to internal communication professionals in Asia couldn’t be happening at a more exciting time. If you'd like to get in touch to find out more about our activities in this area please contact me on: katrina.andrews@melcrum.com.

Highlights from Melcrum's SCM Summit Australia

Katrina Andrews, Director, Melcrum Asia-Pacific

This year’s 7th Annual Strategic Communication Management Summit in Sydney, drew together a crowd of over 120 communicators, based throughout Australia and Asia, including Japan and China. Compared to last year, in the midst of the global financial crisis, there was an air of optimism in the room. If I was to sum up in one sentence the general attitude of the audience it would be: "We’re through the worst of it. Let’s reignite, reinvent and most importantly re-engage."

There were case studies of communication triumph against adversity, with Andrew Huckel, group internal communications manager, Bankwest, coaching us through the internal comms challenges faced when a parent company collapses (HBOS) and a subsequent acquisition takes place (by Commonwealth Bank of Australia).

Most interesting was to hear how their senior leadership played an integral part in keeping their employees informed and internal brand consistent. Huckel told the audience that in the midst of the crisis, he was having twice daily meetings with the MD.

Olivia Wirth, head of corporate communications, Qantas, delivered an outstanding presentation on how she and her team harnessed and learned from Qantas' 13 individual unions – a communication prospect that would make most of us shudder.

Communicating within such an iconic Australian brand like Qantas brought up a whole set of challenges, including the mainstream media being named the primary source for organizational information for employees. Quite simply, Qantas “hadn’t invested in internal communication” -  a challenge both Wirth and the executive team set out to change by introducing "we will tell you first" –  a new governing internal communication principle.

Spurred on by the belief that if you haven’t got your top 100 engaged, you're not going to get the rest of the business engaged, the team set out to develop a new senior leadership communication project. Plus, executed a brand review process targeting individual staff across the organization with a set of questions focused on:

• What do you think our values are?
• How do you think that relates to your behavior?
• And reflecting the nature of the Qantas brand: What is the "Australian way"?

At the completion of Olivia’s presentation, I really was left convinced that this was a company  on its way to delivering world-class communications.

Some of the other key takeaways from the Summit included

• Melcrum’s Rebecca Richmond’s presentation on moving from a cascade to a dialogue approach to communication. When thinking about manager communication, help them to set the scene i.e. create the infrastructure. Bill Quirke’s model for structuring a meeting is a great tool to help manager’s foster dialogue within your organization
  
  
• Athena Wiliams-Atwood, AMP New Zealand, encouraged all communicators to adapt a sales approach to convince senior leaders of the importance of engagement, perhaps by reading Spin Selling – a book on how to pitch your ideas, or – even more radical – attending a sales training course!
  
  
• Insights and learnings from one of the year's biggest stories: the multiple outages that hit Telecom's XT mobile network. Also, a great example of how to harness a charismatic CEO can be seen through their use of video.
  

Plus, great further presentations from Ericsson, IBM & ABT, Luxottica, Raytheon, AMP Australia and Integral Energy. All up, great speakers with great networking – I’m already looking forward to 2011!

Are your employees suffering in silence?

By Sona Hathi, Online Editor, Melcrum

Some people would rather die than confide in their bosses. Literally.

Recent research from Aviva UK Health found that only 4% of employees would speak to their managers about health concerns. It's hard to believe at first, but if you imagine yourself in a similar situation, can you honestly say that you wouldn't hesitate before opening up?  

In today's business climate, competition within the workplace is tough. There's a worry that even the slightest suggestion you might be anything less than superhero-like at work can put your job in jeopardy. According to Aviva's study, 21 percent of employees think that admitting to health concerns could affect their work prospects and 11% simply don't trust their bosses with personal information.

To overcome this, communicators are doing more than ever before to equip managers with the skills to effectively communicate business messages to their teams. But do they need to shift the focus towards helping managers be more approachable?

The employee-manager relationship is a delicate one, and two-way communication is central to strengthening it. If health is a concern for employees, they need to be confident that their manager will offer them support and respect their privacy, not strike them off as being incapable of doing their jobs.

So what's stopping managers from communicating well? Here are some common barriers to effective dialogue between line managers and their staff:

• Leader has "no time".
• Communication is a "check-the-box"activity.
• Leader's not engaged and doesn't value communication.
• The leader has a "closed" personality.

Have you come across any of these barriers at your organization? How did you combat them? Are there any others?  

Confronting negativity in the workplace

By Nishwa Ashraf, Editorial Assistant, Melcrum

Moaners, groaners and whiners.

We’ve all had the misfortune of working with them. The cynic who shoots down an idea before it’s even thought, the complainer who scoffs at the mention of the word “team” – team meetings, team lunches, team efforts - the critic who, despite the best intentions of the company remains permanently unsatisfied.

Moaning employees might seem like a minor inconvenience, but nothing affects employee morale more insidiously than persistent workplace negativity. Not only does it sap energy out of your organization, but it also diverts critical attention from work, performance and productivity.

We all face problems and frustrations at work from time to time, but complaining endlessly doesn't lead to solutions, but rather perpetuates and magnifies the problem, creating a contagion of bad feeling, and ultimately a disengaged workforce.

As an internal communications professional, keeping your finger on the pulse of the organization enables you to establish and heed early warning signals that all is not well in the workplace.

In some cases it could simply be that the person doesn’t enjoy their job, and doesn’t want to be there.

But perhaps it’s more than that.

Perhaps the organization made a decision that adversely affected staff. It could be that rumors are circulating of an impending layoff. Perhaps an influential leader held a meeting and was perceived to ignore staff asking legitimate questions. Maybe some feel that they give more than they receive in the organization.

Whatever the cause of workplace negativity, the issue must be dealt with head on.

Start by identifying the exact employee groups experiencing this negativity and the nature of the issues that sparked the gloominess. Monitor discussions on employee intranets, coach managers in appropriate employee treatment and manage the appraisal and 360 feedback process. This knowledge will aid you in identifying symptoms of negativity before its morale busting consequences further damage your workplace environment.

How does your organization battle negativity within the workplace? I’d love to hear your thoughts.