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.

Join 200 internal communicators on April 21st

By Kelly Dyer, Senior Editor, Melcrum

This must be a Melcrum record – we launched our next member event only yesterday and already 125 people have signed up! It's now Friday morning and there are only 75 places left.

Wow, it must be good then. So, what’s all the fuss about?
“Fresh Ideas for Internal Comms” is a one-day event designed to bring together internal communication leaders from across Europe to hear the latest ideas and developments in the industry. This will take place at the Bloomsbury Hotel in London on April 21st.

Well that’ll save me time having to research all those developments myself.
Exactly, that’s the point. Busy practitioners tell us that it’s often a challenge to find the time to research what’s available in the market. Our speakers will share lessons learned and give you an overview of what they can do for you in a convenient format that minimizes time spent away from the office.

Who’ll be there? Anyone I know?
Ever heard of a small, low-key organization called GE? The keynote speaker will be Richard Bloomfield, Communications Leader at GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Richard will be sharing his tips and advice for getting the most from consultants and suppliers. And by the way, if you’re interested in this topic, take a look at this article on the Internal Comms Hub.

And with around 200 of your fellow communicators expected, the networking opportunities will be second to none!

So what’s the cost?
There’s no cost. It’s a free event as long as you’re a Melcrum member. The last Melcrum member event in September sold out early. This time, we have 200 places up for grabs on a strictly first come, first served basis – so book your place today! Just email membership@melcrum.com now.

What if I’m not a member but still want to come?
You can become a Melcrum member and come along to the event, as well as getting all the benefits that Melcrum membership involves. Contact Rebecca for more information at Rebecca.lacey@melcrum.com

It all sounds pretty good.
It is. What are you waiting for? Sign up now!

Research reveals widespread adoption of social media inside the firewall

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Melcrum has embarked on a global study on large organizations’ use of social media to engage employees, deliver strategy and drive business results.

Preliminary findings from the Use of Social Media in Internal Communications 2010 survey sent to 50,000 global communicators, has revealed widespread adoption, a clear business case and visible return on investment for communicators.

Highlights of the survey findings will be presented at Melcrum’s Social Media for Internal Communication  conference in London on February 9th to 10th, 2010, while the full results of the survey will be published in a comprehensive Melcrum report on sale in March this year.

Internal communicators are increasingly turning to Web 2.0 tools, such as employee and executive blogs, online video, and internal Twitter-style forums, to deliver key strategic messages, stimulate collaboration and knowledge sharing and boost productivity.

A recent Melcrum member survey at the end of last year found that 40% of respondents said the business case for social media within internal communication was clear and that there is visible return on investment, while 53% of the 2,212 senior communicators who responded said they were planning to increase investment in their organization’s intranet in 2010.

When asked about channels used for internal communication, online video and webcasts were cited as of increasing importance, with the intranet ranked as the most effective channel by 73% of senior communicators worldwide.

The business benefits of investment in social media highlighted included improved levels of employee engagement (21%), better communication with remote workers (16%), knowledge management and collaboration (25%), improving employee feedback (20%) and making business leaders more visible and accessible (14%).

Melcrum’s forthcoming report will concentrate on the role communicators perform in getting the most from social media, how they monitor and measure results, how they make the business case for additional investment, how they protect their organizations against misuse by employees, and social media’s impact on other channels such as email.

If you are interested in contributing to or finding out more information about the forthcoming Social Media Report 2010 please contact me, James Bennett, Head of Content at Melcrum at james.bennett@melcrum.com or Alex Manchester, senior consultant, Step Two Designs at alex@steptwo.com.au.

For the full press release click here.

Melcrum is also carrying out a series of interviews ahead of next month's social media in internal communications conference in conjunction with ipadio. Check out Abi Signorelli, social media consultant's great blog post and ipadio intrerviews now!

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.

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

 

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

The headlines today have a gloomier cast.

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

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

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

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

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

“US Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry whatever! The annual Christmas e-card dilemma

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Ah Christmas! A time of giving gifts to loved ones, a time for families to unite and a time for communicators to tear their hair out when they realise it’s that time of year again when they have to debate the appropriate message to deliver to their employees on the annual festive e-card.

We’ve been inundated with responses on the Melcrum Listserv about how communicators should approach this yearly ritual. But surely we should know what to write by now? But no, we’re still umming and ahhing and concerned that if we deliver the wrong two-word greeting to our globally, religiously and culturally diverse workforce we’ll upset employees.

I for one don’t believe in political correctness and nor do millions of you I’m sure. We now live in a world where you literally can’t say anything without someone being offended and filing an official complaint.

Christmas is a great time of year for us all. It’s the end of the year and a time to celebrate. It might not always be for religious reasons and if you do celebrate it by going to church then that’s great, you and I, as communicators must respect that and we do, everyday of the year. A communicator that doesn’t respect diversity and choice needs to rethink their career path.

But we shouldn’t be ashamed to use the word Christmas. There is simply nothing wrong with choosing to deliver a Christmas message. At its core it symbolises and celebrates togetherness, peace and goodwill to all mankind, something that all major religions, faiths and cultures uphold and try to live by. For example, I used to live in the Middle East and during Muslim celebrations would regularly wish my Islamic friends and colleagues a happy Ramadan or Eid. I wasn’t offended when Arab media contacts would send me baskets of dates with which to break the fast when Ramadan ended, and nor where they when I offered them my Christmas wishes. I was honoured they had thought of me in that way and visa versa.

I do agree with many of you, however, that in the corporate world many of us have been backed into a corner with very little choice left but to comply with a series of generic messages that for me, sap the spirit of Christmas from its roots. But choose we must, because if we don’t someone, somewhere in the organisations in which we work will undoubtedly complain and it will feed its way to a higher authority.

So, with that in mind we polled you, the decision makers, and asked how should organisations offer best wishes for the holiday season (see what we’ve done there) to a culturally diverse workforce and what non-specific and non-denominational message you have been obliged to type, design and deliver to the masses. I’d be interested to hear your feedback as to whether this has worked or not.

In descending order 3.6% of you said that you had tailored your messages to your audience in order not to upset anyone; 12% said you would focus on the New Year and not the religious occasion, a fifth of you (20.4%) chose the “Merry Christmas” suggesting that this was what most people were celebrating; 25% chose to deliver the rather bland and US-inspired “Happy Holidays”; while the winning gesture was “Seasons Greetings” with almost 40% of the vote.

I agree it’s a tricky one to decide what to deliver across a large organisation and it's worth the discussion but if it means destroying the essence of what the majority of people are celebrating is it worth it? I don’t think so.

One of the benefits of being a Melcrum member is the access to the Communicators’ Network Email Listserv. This is an email-based discussion forum for communication professionals worldwide. It’s a lively community that helps you find answers to your communication questions fast. The discussion is monitored so you won’t receive any unsolicited email and you can opt for a weekly round-up email if you’d prefer. To learn more about becoming a Melcrum member, or to join the Listserv, contact Laura Hassan at laura.hassan@melcrum.com

Could salary disclosure lead to higher levels of engagement?

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

In my previous position working for a newspaper in the Middle East I remember walking into the newsroom, sitting down at my desk, switching my computer on and checking my emails. It was a day like any other. What I didn’t expect was complete silence. The usual buzz of mobiles, sound of scurrying feet and crashing of keyboards had been replaced with the low hum of staff whispering to one another. Something was wrong. I’d heard it all before. It was the sound of sackings, budgets being slashed, staff being asked to take voluntary redundancy and the imminent arrival of the editor in chief employee list in hand ready to wield the axe of doom. But it wasn’t. I was wrong. It was worse.

A disgruntled employee had managed to not only abscond the country (the UAE) with hundreds of thousands of dirhams worth of debts and leave his car running at the airport, he had also managed to hack into the company’s system, copy and paste everyone’s salaries and post them on a site called Wikileaks, famous for its ability to destroy reputations in one email. His plan to get back at his superiors had worked perfectly.

Two things happened, one that affected all the employees and caused huge unrest for months afterwards, and another that affected the relationship between employees and senior leaders. Firstly, several members of staff were found to be earning far larger sums than their so-called equals and rumours rapidly circulated this was because of either their gender or their nationality, not because of their superior work experience or qualifications. Then, we all discovered how much our line managers and some of the senior staff earned, a small number of which were being fed more annual income into their bank accounts than Barack Obama or Gordon Brown. One even earned more than the GDP of small third world nation - not the best morale boosting news for a company that had only been running for less than a year.

Today’s news, however, that UK banks will be forced to disclose the number of employees who earn more than £1 million a year will bring a smile to many consumers who have watched from the sidelines as government and essentially taxpayers money has been used to prop up several large failing financial institutions. Oh, and don’t forget the bonuses, billions of pounds of which has been given to those who landed us in this mess in the first place.

As Sir David Walker, who led the report, says: “We're going to have to fund the problems generated by the banks not only this year but it's our children and grandchildren who are going to have to pay these costs."

But what about those poor old bankers who will, like me, wander onto the trading floor one day soon to discover that everyone knows exactly how much they earn? In their case it’s arguably needed. The financial services industry should be more transparent and risk averse in order to avoid another collapse. We need to know how much is being spent on salaries, especially when the money being spent is effectively ours.

I have nothing against the banking and finance industry but change here is clearly needed. The question is, should this apply to other industries and what effect would it have on the overall communication policies of thousands of organisations? The experience I went through was wrong, out of control and hit the employees hard and without warning. Done within a controlled manner and for good reason - transparency and a “nothing to hide here” culture being just two - disclosing everyone's salary from CEO to the cleaning staff, could well have a positive effect on morale, engagement and employee confidence during the toughest of times.

Let me know what you think either by emailing me at james.bennett@melcrum.com or on Twitter either at Melcrum's Twitter feed or my own.

No bystanders allowed

by Claire Leheny, Content Development, North America

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

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

Let’s take a closer look:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Leadership 2.0: 10 ways a CEO should communicate to employees

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Stephen Martin, CEO of Clugston Group and star of hit Channel four television program 'Undercover Boss', delivered an inspirational speech at last week's Melcrum Strategic Communication Management Summit in London, Europe’s largest annual gathering of senior communication professionals.

"The tough times are far from over and we must react now by communicating far more effectively with our employees,” said Martin. Now is the time for leadership 2.0!

Here are his 10 tips on how CEO’s should communicate to employees during and after a recession:

1. Communicate, communicate, communicate: Communicate more regularly then ever before.
2. Always be seen by employees – leave your ivory tower and listen to what frontline employees have to say.
3. Inform widely and get large-scale opinion form employees.
4. Eliminate the culture of executives in suits and workers in overalls/uniform – this puts employees off and communication is immediately lost.
5. Brown bag lunches – my door is always open and I regularly have lunch with my employees but only when it suits them.
6. Refresh your communications as often as possible.
7. Ask and consult your employees at all times – go around the office/construction site/shop floor and ask all of them what they think.
8. Demonstrate you have listened and stick to your promises.
9. Talk to them at a time that suits them.
10. Invest in training of frontline supervisors and managers – if you don’t nothing will change.