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

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

By James Bennett, Head of Content, Melcrum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the (nearly) first day of Christmas Melcrum gave to me...

By Mandy Thatcher, Head of Content, Melcrum

We're listening to Christmas songs on the radio, consuming vast quantities of Quality Street chocolate and generally trying to look like we're using the quiet time to "catch up on admin" – but the truth is we're winding for Christmas. Although that doesn't mean we're not thinking ahead to what you might need from us in January 2009 – a new year most of us are approaching with a little trepidation after a somewhat rocky second half of 2008. With both belts and budgets set to tighten after the Christmas break we thought this was an appropriate time to dust off our special report on Doing More With Less – a mantra we'll no doubt hear more of over the coming months. In the meantime...I hope your festive holiday celebrations are the exact opposite of a downturn – jolly, excessive and lots of fun. Happy holidays from everyone at Melcrum and see you in the New Year!

Sanitary check – the antidote to financial gloom?

By Mandy Thatcher, Head of Content, Melcrum

In these worrying times of financial crisis and economic downturn, it’s pleasantly diverting to have a communication conundrum of slightly less epic proportions to worry about. So I think the Melcrum crew were probably secretly pleased (or maybe that was just me?) to receive a posting on our email discussion forum entitled “Sensitive sanitary issues”. Here goes:

“I’ve been approached by our Office Services team to address the state of our gents loo's (after a number of complaints from others have been received). I'm aware this is a sensitive issue and wondered if anyone had any advice they could offer in terms of how to best address this? Apart from the obvious 'polite' notices on the back of each cubicle door and such like, we've not been able to agree on what would be considered an appropriate manner of dealing with this. Has anyone come across this type of communication challenge?”

Earth shattering? Perhaps not. But a dilemma nonetheless. It’s easy to smirk, but I think this definitely qualifies as a “difficult message” driven by a real need for behaviour change. Measurable behaviour change at that.

Fellow networkers were undaunted by the challenge and just in case you’re ever tasked with a similar communication initiative, the general consensus is “use humour” – e.g. humurous posters and messages. One networker suggested linking to culture and values: “Our company core values are an accepted part of life here; respect is one of our values and how you leave the toilet for your colleagues is a matter of respect, so we would have a clear way of making the point.”

At a more practical level, another piece of advice was to make sure employees had access to whatever “basic materials” they needed to keep the toilets in a more pristine condition.

On a more serious note, there was some concern that a communication professional was being asked to deal with this kind of thing in the first place: “Please forgive me for seeing an opportunity to use this as a great example about the need for business (communication) people to establish firm priorities about what they will and won't do based on the value added to the business.”

What’s your view? Do you think it’s inappropriate that communicators have “projects” like this dumped on them? What’s the most embarrassing message you’ve ever had to communicate?

Is your communication cascade leaking meaning?

By Mandy Thatcher, Head of Content, Melcrum

In this week's issue of The Source, I shared some top tips from Bill Quirke, Managing Director of Synopsis Communication Consulting, on how to fix a "leaky" communication cascade.

According to Bill "It's often the cascade from senior management that's most to blame for poor line manager communication," he says. "Cascades are leaky things, with meaning seeping out at every stage. Their message might have made sense in the boardroom, but by the time it gets down to a team briefing, no one understands why they’re being told it any more."

"The end result is that, because no one can frame it for them, staff get annoyed. They don't see why they're being fed this corporate nonsense. The phrase we've used for so many years – 'What's in it for me?' – is suddenly less pertinent for staff in briefing sessions than: 'What the hell is it?'"

Bill goes on to share some tips on how to improve the cascade process.

But according to one reader's response, cascades just don't work, full stop. She says: "Quirke only covers part of the problem with cascades, which is a broken comms model. I try to steer my internal clients away from it, arguing that the minute it leaves your hands, you've lost complete control. You've no control over when the cascade will transpire, if at all, as well as over the context or spin that it might be couched in. Because some constituents will receive it earlier than others, you run the risk of others hearing it through the grapevine rather than from its original intended source."

"In short, the cascade's a mess. Doesn't work. Never will. Full stop."

Is this your experience of trying to manage a communication cascade? Is it worth trying to fix the process or better to try a new approach altogether?

Did you just say strategy is overrated?

By Mandy Thatcher, Head of Content, Melcrum

In an article published in the latest issue of SCM, recently retired senior VP of corporate comms for Royal Bank of Canada David Moorcroft makes a controversial statement: "Strategy is overrated".

Given the huge amounts of emphasis communicators generally place on the need to be more "strategic", this almost sounds like heresy!

But David's comments and rationale behind his observation ring true: I’ve spent many years developing, refining, using and writing about a process for producing a clear and easy-to-use communication strategy that ensures resources are used in a focused and productive fashion. But I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve put too much emphasis on strategy and not enough on implementation."

"Going forward, I think we need far less management consultant speak and marketing rhetoric in our strategies and more hands-on, practical ideas on how we can achieve our goals. When we’re hiring and building teams, we need to ensure we have people who can implement our grand scheme because that’s where the money is made."

Is this your experience? Do these words resonate with you?

Read the full article, published in The Source for Communicators, for this and other observations on the profession including:

• Branding has replaced reputation
• The PR profession is undervalued
• Social media needs more thought

Will social media uptake see a hit in hard times?

By Alex Manchester, Editor, The Internal Comms Hub (Australia), Melcrum

There's a powerful contradiction in internal communications at the moment.

On the one hand, we see lots of stories on the topic of employee engagement. We're all very aware about it, it's been written about a lot on this blog, and it's even starting to gain traction in the mainstream press here in Australia and New Zealand. Engagement is everywhere. You may very well be sick of the term by now.

On the other hand, economic turmoil and downturn, job losses... could all signal the end of companies worrying about being employees being engaged, tough recruitment and.... spending time writing blogs, collaborating effectively or building networks on FaceSpace.

Earlier this week it was Melcrum's former head of research, Kieron Shaw, who first mentioned this, and it's kept me thinking.

In tough times it actually make more sense to be 100% focused on having the right people and talent, making sure everyone's "operating on the same page", building networks, and giving their all and more for their company. The added pressure of keeping your job gives everyone a kick in the right direction, but "do what you do even better and you'll emerge from the tunnel at some stage" seems to be the recommendation from experienced people.

Isn't the whole point of improved internal communications, ultimately, to improve the bottom line? Isn't all of the effort and work of improving employee-to-employee communication, collaboration, efficiency and more using social software also, ultimately, about improving the bottom line? In hard times should you not be looking to further improve these things?

There is an element if idealism here. I appreciate that. Belt tightening and "fat trimming" (a hideous phrase) are often necessities for shareholder driven companies facing profit warnings. Maybe the answer to the above is "yes, but the majority of our business can be better achieved if we focus on maintaining other areas."

However, if things were to go as bad as some are predicting, this will indeed be the first downturn/slowdown where the web and the richness of global communications, internally and externally, will be a critical factor in revival. There's even some suggestions that as fast as we end up in slowdown, we'll be able to communicate our way out of it because of the scale and quality of information available.

If your company and its employees disappear into a toughened shell, reducing collaboration and communication – and reducing innovation, engagement and business productivity as by-product – well, is that the right path to choose this time round?

Dead tree or USB?

By Alex Manchester, Editor, The Internal Comms Hub (Australia), Melcrum

We were discussing in the office today a development for the IABC's International Conference in New York this year (as normal, quite a few members from Team Melcrum are going).

It being 2008 and all of us being more concerned than ever about the damage we're doing to the planet, the IABC is not providing conference packs, well not the dead tree kind anyway...

Going Green: Protecting our environment The book of speaker handouts and conference directory will be available on a USB flash drive provided to all attenders, eliminating 365,000 pages of printed material, or approximately 43 trees.

The conference brochure uses paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and sourced from responsibly managed forests. Online conference registration and confirmation is offered, and exhibitor kits will be distributed electronically.

Flash drives only, saving 365,000 pages of printed material (or 43 trees) with paper from managed paper resources.

Mightily impressive, I think you'll agree.

Now, the question is, how will this go down with those attending? Do you love your weighty tome conference packs, or long for everything on USB? Do you love to write notes on the slides or, is a blank, A5 notepad and downloadable presentations (not even USB sticks) plenty enough thank you very much?

Answers on a postcard...

In-flight calls not going too well...

By Alex Manchester, Editor, The Internal Comms Hub (Australia), Melcrum

An article on The Register indicates that Air France's trial of in-flight mobile calls is experiencing a few difficulties. Given my previous thoughts on the issue I can't say I'm too sad about it.

The New York Times reports that Air France passengers were able to make calls, though most had to make a couple of attempts and incoming calls failed to connect at all.

But even when a call was connected the quality was far from ideal, with one passenger being told: "It sounds like I'm talking to a small robot" - which is a concern as bad sound quality may result in passengers raising their voices, and thus generating exactly the kind of nuisance that has prompted Lufthansa to say it won't be deploying the technology.

Teething problems obviously, and no doubt they'll be worked out as the technology improves (Qantas is using a different manufacturer also).

It does make me wonder, though. Do people really want this service, seriously? Will people's ambivalence to the idea become fury once they've been on a couple of flights with 50 one-sided conversations going on at once?

Some people don't seem to think so. Coming at the idea with a positive approach is Ryanair's head of communications:

"We are not concerned about the noise because our cabins have never been quiet places. People are constantly coming up and down the aisles selling scratch cards or food and we believe there is a market for this."

I would honestly like to see some proper, large sample research on this. I don't believe people want in flight calls, not the vast majority anyway, and those that do aren't really thinking about it properly.

And, that business about scratch cards – it has to be a misquote, right?!