BBC internal comms team delivers bad news well

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

5 ways to spot a lousy leader

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

IABC 2010: Meet the Anti Social Media Guy

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Employee engagement Day 2: Y'all feelin' engaged now?

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Melcrum 6th annual employee engagement conference – Day 2

I’m rich I tell you, rich! I’ve discovered the way to convince every internal communicator this earth has living on its soil that putting communication at the forefront of engagement and performance can make a massive difference to the bottom line of every organisation there is: Chocolate, oh and not forgetting everlasting gobstoppers (courtesy of WMW’s sweet emporium).

On a more serious note, today’s second and last day featured a fantastic keynote presentation from Jennifer Shulte, global engagement director at Mars. The small bribe of a miniature sachet of M&Ms on each table aside, Shulte described how the global food giant had calculated that actively disengaged employees, or “associates” as they’re known (all 68,000 of them across 60 countries), were costing Mars $500 million with eight out of 10 of the poorest performing plants in North America.

Shulte said that disengaged employees used to feel like “trapped prisoners” and that Mars had a certain section of staff that felt "stuck". This, however, was before it introduced Gallup’s Q12 survey tool in 2004 – a series of 12 questions aimed at every team of no less than five “associates” that simply asked: “What do we need to do to drive engagement forward?” In 2004 Mars had a scorecard ratio of engaged to disengaged employees of almost 1:1, in 2007 it rose to 1:5, while today this target has been smashed (this wasn't disclosed but I will of course find out) thanks to Shulte’s team’s work on employee engagement. So how did she do it?

Firstly, the executive team had to take notice. Shulte even heard the CEO suggest that his employees were “not engageable” and “unless we pay them more nothing will change." She took this as a personal challenge and soon convinced the leadership team as soon as Shulte presented the cost disengaged employees were having on Mars’s bottom line.

Shulte had to take evasive action and knew she had to investigate one of the worst performing factories in the States in Cleveland, Tennessee. Unfortunately this was where the majority of employees were long serving, had become disenfranchised with their jobs and their working environment and were all southern, gun carrying Americans. The car park, she said, contained nothing but pick-up trucks with gun racks.

Shulte, a colleague and interestingly, a graphic reporter, parked up and proceeded to interview 24 random employees. They then sat and drew the results of each conversation with each disengaged employee. If there was an award for bravest internal communication piece I don’t think she would have much opposition.

“We went there, spent two days off site with the graphic reporter, and just asked simply, ‘tell us, in your own words, what is and isn't working’, and we heard back exactly what they hated about their jobs, and then moved on to the next person,” she said earlier today.

“We spent some time asking them what the ‘good old days’ were like, capturing all of this information on a big blank piece of paper and then we worked with series of photos, asking them to choose two pictures of what their ideal workplace looked like and what they would like to see in the future. And this was big guys with guns!” she added.

But her efforts paid off, in a big way. “One of angriest guys we had met said: “At last I feel better going home to my family because I finally feel something is going to change around here.”

Today, the company’s vision of what good engagement looks like in Mars has completely changed. Everyone now has their say, there are action planning groups where staff can leave their day jobs for 24 hours and discuss various issues as well as mingle with managers who present to employees and employees present to managers, with the critical step being they work together to implement their ideas. As Shulte summarised: “There is now a real commitment to making the actions happen.”

Today engagement is on every business document, while every associate within a local team is expected to take the Q12 and discuss it in-depth with one another.

Look out for a full summary of both days on Melcrum’s website tomorrow.

Thanks to the CIPR

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

Just a quick note to thank the CIPR for inviting me as Melcrum's head of content, to be the external judge for its internal communication category which took place this morning.

Six very strong shortlisted companies presented their case to myself and two senior internal communication judges and we deliberated for a long time before making a very tough call on which one should be the worthy winner.

Watch this space when I'll be blogging live from the London awards ceremony when the CIPR announces the winning entry on June 16.

It's back! Diary of an Internal Communicator: Jenni Wheller - Week 2

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, and prior to that, internal communication officer at Thomson Local. 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 second week.

What a week! While the volcanic ash has left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded outside the UK for days (and many are still there) it has also had a significant impact on our business.

The week really started on April 18th as communications went out to our employees who work in units at airports. With the mass closures we had to explain to staff what they were entitled to do in terms of holiday, unpaid leave, and so on. On Monday this was followed by communication to the entire business advising everyone what to do with employees who were stranded outside the UK and unable to attend work.

The cost to our business has been significant and when you’re fighting for budget to make a conference more engaging it couldn’t have come at a worse time – the budget has to stay the same as last year. So, flip cameras at the ready, we’re doing vox pops on the fly. The engaging workshop I had hoped for is still under negotiation and after some great meetings with a few agencies to get ideas, I’m going to do my best to get it on the agenda for the day.

This week also saw my first taste of getting behind the scenes of the operational business. I spent the day with our national retail director who looks after M&S Simply Food and Whistlestop outlets in railway stations, airports and now hospitals. From Farnborough to Birmingham New Street – stopping at Oxford and Reading on the way home I got the chance to see the environment our unit managers are working in and what pressures they face.

So what did they say:

• Some felt isolated from the business.
• Their priority is running the unit, not being on the computer.
• Things are over complicated – three email addresses are not necessary.
• Notice boards are the main communication with team members but not they’re sure how much they’re used.
• There is a split in the business between the divisions.
• They would like to bring the team together, regardless of divisions and meet other unit managers at their station.
• The Employee Forum and recognition in place in the retail division works very well.
• They do use our intranet but only to get HR information or relevant form – they bypass the latest news on the home page.

This was all great feedback and confirmed to me that online communications was not the way forward with our operational employees.

I have also spent some time in our group offices this week, working with the global communication team to understand their audience, communication goals as well as working on a project for a new corporate video for SSP to be used in job fairs, inductions and careers sites.

So what’s next? Doing a shift in a unit. Not just M&S this time, but also Burger King, Upper Crust and Millies Cookies – speaking to the managers has been great but I really want to hear what our team members think about the business.

Having set up a Survey Monkey account I can hopefully get the main survey out to the business next month. This has slipped slightly but in the interim I’m just getting out in the business where I can.

This week has been one of the busiest but it’s been great to see that the communication issues within the units are the same as head office told me they would be – they all know what’s wrong, they just haven’t been able to do anything about it.

One and a half staff needed to look after social media channels

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

“Spend less money on social media tools within an organization and there is less reason to prove ROI”, said Richard Dennison, senior manager, social media at telecoms company BT, during a webinar yesterday afternoon. According to Dennison and many other practitioners there is little evidence of social media initiatives within organizations proving a return on investment. But surely they should, particularly if recent research on the amount of time it takes to maintain social media channels is true.

A study by CloudSpark, a US communications strategy company, has discovered that it takes a minimum of 65 hours a week to maintain four social media channels for one brand. Many social media channels maybe considered “free”, but if this is accurate (and not an April Fool), the time you need to create, develop, and maintain those channels is far from free and would take 1.5 full time staff to complete.

CloudSpark surveyed 40 “social media practitioners” from the external and internal spheres, and questioned them on the hours they invest in social media for their brands or the brands of their clients. In the survey it defined the following: creation – setting up the page with initial content (this doesn’t include creative design team hours); development – attracting followers, initial promotion/launch; and maintenance – listening, responding, posting, messaging, inviting.

I’d love to know just how long it takes internal communicators to maintain their social media channels. Please leave a comment on the blog or drop me an email at james.bennett@melcrum.com.

Here are a few stats from the surveyed practitioners and the time they spend on social media for a single brand:

Planning
Social Media Research: Eight to 25 hours
Social Media Planning: 10 to 20 hours

Blog
Creation: 10-15 hours
Development: 40 hours
Maintenance: Five hours/week

LinkedIn
Creation: One hour
Development: Five to 15 hours
Maintenance: Three to 10 hours/week

Facebook (Fan or Group Page)
Creation: Three to 12 hours
Development: 10 to 50 hours
Maintenance: Seven to 15 hours/week

Twitter
Creation: One hour
Development: 15-40 hours
Maintenance: Three to seven hours/week

YouTube (branded channel)
Creation: Three hours
Development: Five to 20 hours
Maintenance: Two to seven hours/week