The employee grapevine is probably one of the most powerful
communications vehicles in your company - whether it's spreading
fact or fiction. But there are a variety of other, better tools
available to communicate with your most important constituency.
Companies that are most successful in reaching employees with
key messages and - more importantly - getting those employees to
buy into key messages are the ones that take a very deliberate
approach to linking communications vehicles to their business
strategies and goals.
Find Out What They Know
Whether you're communicating around a crisis or launching a new
brand, the first step to bringing your employees on board is to
find out what they already know, what they want to know and how
they want to hear about it, says Barbara Edler, director of the
change communications practice for Burson-Marsteller on the West
Coast. "Are there preferred delivery vehicles? What do they want to
hear about? The best vehicle for any situation depends on where the
employees are and what vehicles they feel comfortable with."
Edler and Kerry Atlas, manager of the change communications
practice in B-M's New York office, advise clients to select their
communications tools based on feedback from employees on these
topics. Conduct a pulse survey, make phone calls, or hold small
focus groups with employees to find out if an email from the CEO
will serve your purpose, or if you'll need to hold a town hall
meeting or even a series of smaller meetings that allow more
interaction between senior leadership and employees.
That interaction is key regardless of what mechanism you choose
to deliver your news. Siemens, for example, has implemented a new
high-tech tool designed to allow busy executives to get their
company communications online, at their convenience. But the larger
goal for the tool is to create an ongoing dialog between those
executives and other Siemens employees so that communications
continually cascade throughout the company.
TLF, the Top+ Leaders Forum, is accessible to a relatively small
percentage of Siemens USA's 70,000 employees. Only about 500
currently have access to the intranet site, where they can pense,
among other things, best practices for profitability improvement,
competitive intelligence and information on job opportunities
throughout the company's 14 U.S. operating subsidiaries. Esra Ozer,
director of internal and executive communications at Siemens, says
the intranet was designed to meet the company's two key business
objectives: to increase profitability and act as "one Siemens,"
integrating services from its many operating units. "We focus on
communicating directly and regularly with Siemens leadership. We
feel these people are change agents, and if we supply them with the
right information and the right tools, they can cascade that
information and get other employees on board."
The Softer Side
Despite the availability of email, videoconferences, intranets
and other high-tech tools for employee communications, getting
those senior "change agents" to meet face-to-face with employees is
still a key. Ozer took a cue from Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign
and launched a series of "listening tours." The CEO meets with
small groups in informal settings and emphasizes the company
vision.
The communications team at Wellpoint also takes advantage of
some very high-tech tools for internal communications. Its WorkSite
intranet allows employees to keep up on company news across its 80
offices. Plus, it gives them medical industry news, as well as
individual sites for various corporate departments and local teams.
But the communications team has recently taken the site beyond just
need-to-know information, adding a "Living the Values" feature
which demonstrates how employees are carrying out Wellpoint's
corporate values.
The company also has held on to The Source, its corporate print
publication. "Two and a half years ago, when the concept of the
intranet was hot and new and exciting, we thought, this is going to
replace all our publications and company newsletters," says Heather
Rim, manager of investor and corporate communications. "We found
each communications vehicle has a unique strength." The Web site
has a newsier feel than the quarterly Source newsletter, which
profiles employees, executives and generally is designed to make
employees feel a part of the Wellpoint family. "You see pages of
The Source clipped up in cubicles," Rim says. You won't find pages
from WorkSite printed and tacked up.
Likewise, Siemens USA has resurrected its own print pub to
supplement its high-tech employee communications tools. "For a
couple of years we had abandoned an employee print publication,"
Ozer says. Now, the company puts an eight-page insert in the
international employee publication, focusing specifically on how
Siemens USA fits into the overall organization, and the
contributions U.S. employees are making. Not only is this method
more cost-effective than creating a standalone pub, it gives
employees a better understanding of their role in the context of
the company at large, Ozer says.
Ending Overload
Drive your corporate messages in different ways through
different media, as Wellpoint and Siemens drive their value systems
through a variety of methods. Advises B-M's Atlas: "Make sure
you're providing consistent reinforcement." But she warns against
overloading employees with too many communications vehicles.
"People get so many emails throughout the day," for example, that
too many email communications may end up being skipped over.
She and Edler recommend "branding"communications. A logo or
theme that visually signals to employees that an email or an
article posted on the intranet pertains to business strategy, for
instance, can sometimes help to overcome the communications
glut.
Also, provide a feedback mechanism in every tool you use: Offer
links in emails to a "Talk Back" mailbox; hold open Q&As in
meetings with senior management; build a feedback link into the
intranet.
Most importantly, take into account what you know about your
organization. No tool is the perfect choice for communicating in
every company. "If you can do it in a 30-word email," says John
Baldoni, a management communications consultant, "do it in 30
words. If you need to do an all-day meeting, do an all-day meeting.
We're never communicating in a vacuum. Take into account the
audience and your goals and strategies."
Management Buy-In
You not only have to be aware of what vehicles employees find
most effective, but what vehicles management finds most effective.
If your warm, funny CEO comes across lifeless in an email or print
piece, find creative solutions like the CEO voicemail system
American Airlines uses to get Don Carty's messages to his far-flung
employees.
If you know a senior exec has trouble with large groups,
implement the kind of "Listening Tours" Siemens uses, gathering
small groups of employees who can get the most out of their
interaction with that exec and then bring it back to other
employees.
The key is to get management buy-in, says Barbara Edler of
Burson-Marsteller's change communications practice. "Leaders need
to be involved, they need to be visible." If the communications
vehicle you're using doesn't allow employees to feel that leaders
are accessible, it's not doing its job.
Also, make sure you have communications tools designed
specifically to reach and meet the needs of managers and
supervisors, who are, Edler says, "a linchpin" in reaching other
employees. If your vehicle grabs their attention and brings them on
board with a concept, odds are their teams will be on board,
too.
Contacts: Edler, 415/591-4024; Atlas, 212/614-4115; Ozer,
[email protected];
Rim, [email protected];
Baldoni, [email protected]