During the IABC International Conference last week in Los Angeles, keynote speaker John Ryan, president-CEO of Farm Credit Canada, started off his comments with a simple yes-
or-no question.
Considering the overwhelming show of hands in response, it was as if Ryan asked who among the crowd wanted to sit courtside next to Jack Nicholson the following night for game
two of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons, which would take place at the Staples Center just a few miles from the conference.
Rather, Ryan's question was more pointed to the corporate communications execs gathered for the three-day meeting. "How many of you have been frustrated by your CEO not taking
your advice?" he asked. With practically everyone answering yes--amid audible harrumph harrumphs--Ryan responded, "Maybe 'frustrated' is too mild a word."
Getting your CEO to listen more carefully was a recurring theme throughout the IABC's annual conference, which drew about 1,300 attendees from 33 countries, including Canada,
Hong Kong, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Compared with most PR-oriented conferences, which tend to focus heavily on media relations, the IABC meeting was geared toward internal communications and management skills.
PR reps from companies ranging from Ace Hardware Corp. to McKinsey & Company to Sun Microsystems attended sessions on how to enhance PR's value to C-level executives, how to
keep employees engaged and the connection between effective research and robust communications plans, among many other sessions.
In keeping with the frustration many attendees apparently brought to the conference (vis-a-vis dealing with their boss), one of the most popular sessions of the conference was
on how to improve communications counsel so your CEO will take you more seriously. Going into a meeting armed with PR jargon "kills you," said Les Potter, an IABC veteran and
president of Vienna, VA-based Les Potter Inc., who has recently consulted with Choice Hotels International, John Deere and The SCORE Association.
"Don't even think about starting a conversation with media because that invites your biggest critics," Potter added. "You have to talk in a way that shows [your CEO] that
you're just as concerned about the company's business issues as (s)he is. If you do your homework and become more business-like you'll get buy-in a lot quicker."
Half the battle for corporate communications execs is boning up on the same kinds of issues that preoccupy CEOs: markets, products and services, competitors, performance
indicators and company function. "If business leaders are studying these things so should we. That way, we can craft better language for shareholders and board members," Potter
said.
To institute strategic communications planning, the following elements have to be in the mix from the time you initiate a project:
- Plan is structured strategically, not tactically
- Plan accounts for cause and not just effects
- Plan supports organizational goals and objectives
- Being able to distinguish between strategic communications and pushing product
- Focus is on outcomes, not outputs
For corporate communication execs to truly add value--and garner respect from their sales, marketing and finance counterparts--they have to think more with the left side of
their brain (analytical) than the right side (creative). "You have to be able to isolate business down to their essence," Potter said. "You can go to conferences, you can read
books." You can also speak up. "Ask the finance rep [in the firm] how the downturn affects the company. You'll make a new ally and, besides, everyone likes being asked their
opinion."
Another big draw was the session titled, "Caught in the Web: Internal Communication Traps and How to Avoid Them." James Greathouse, planning/communications manager for Eddie
Bauer, presented attendees with a multi-pronged plan on how his company was able to reduce its primary messages to employees to six, down from 17 (within a year and a half of
refining the system).
Dumping any and all employee communications online can be costly (see sidebar). Rule one is to determine what employees "need" to know as opposed to what management thinks they
would "like" to know. "When everything is important, nothing is important," said Greathouse. "If you communicate a plan 17 different ways, good luck finding the original
message."
So, before executing an Intranet you have to define strengths and weaknesses of each delivery mechanism. For example, using print is portable but none too timely; the Web
presents messages in a speedy fashion but in a medium in which the message is easy to delete. Audio presents a tone and inflection for the message but is prone to technical
difficulties while video can show tone as well as body language but is very expensive to produce and distribute.
Face-to-face presents the best of both worlds: personal and direct, but that's not always easy for those CEOs who spend most of their time 30,000 feet above the trees. "You
have to develop a communications matrix and figure out what's the best vehicle for each of your messages," Greathouse said. Building a matrix "eliminates a shotgun communications
process and simplifies your search capabilities."
Attendees applauded the conference. The Intranet and Les Potter sessions "sparked a lot of good ideas," says Jason Snyder, a staff writer in public relations for Butler, PA-
based Butler Health System. Some of the other sessions, however, "could have been more valuable if there was a little more hands-on benefits."
Scott Witalis, VP/business development of Quest Fore, a Pittsburgh-based strategic communications firm serving a broad spectrum of Fortune 500 clients, said the real benefits
of the meeting starts after the conference ends, when he can absorb all of the various the materials distributed, "and distill it into presentations I can give my clients."
Contacts: James Greathouse, 425.755.6636, [email protected]; Les Potter, 703.281.2627, [email protected]; Jason Snyder, 724.284.4222; [email protected]; Scott
Witalis, 412.381.6670, X210, [email protected]
Eddie Bauer had to replace the mind-set on its Intranet...
- More vehicles to communicate - 17 total
- If once is good, four times is great
- Spinning a topic many different ways leads to understanding
- Employees just need to know "what" to accomplish, not the objective
- The employees are only working on "your" project
...Because it was getting too expensive, among other reasons
A single poorly written headline on an Intranet home page, is almost $1,000
- 5 seconds to ponder the headline
- 10% clicked on even though useless
- 30 seconds reading to decide
- x 10,000 employees @ $50/hour = $1,000
Intranets require you to think of the best media vehicle for the best audience
- Mail packages, manuals, newspaper, posters
Electronic
- Intranet, e-mail
Audio
- Conference calls, voicemails, grapevine
Video
- Training, company overview
Face-to-Face
- Mgmt, staff and marketing meetings
Why not put it all online?
- People do not read every word online
- Reading light has physiological effects
- Reading the screen is tiring and 25% slower (Nielsen)
- Blink rate is reduced which causes eye strain
- Scrolling produces nausea
- Speed is three times more important than looks (Sun Web Design study)
Source for all charts: James Greathouse/ Eddie Bauer