Managers are your most effective communications tools. In fact, Comms teams that focus on improving their line managers’ ability to lead dialogue with employees can benefit from a 12% increase in employee mobilization. (For those unfamiliar with CEC’s term, “mobilization,” it’s a combination of discretionary effort and active alignment…essentially, mobilization = employees working hard on the right things. CEC members: you can learn more about mobilization here.)
So, if effective managers are Communications’ best tools, what is the best tool for communicators to use to equip managers with the information and skills they need?
One of the best tools is manager dialogue training. CEC members: you can access our full-blown Dialogue Training and Workshops AND learn more about how training managers to “dialogue” is very different than training them to “cascade.”
Of course, with thin training budgets and dispersed workforces, dialogue training may not be a feasible option for your communications team. In that case, your intranet may be the best way to help boost your managers’ communications confidence. I took a look at a recent discussion thread in the CEC Employee Communications Forum to pull out some smart ways your peers are taking advantage of their intranets to boost the impact of line manager communications:
- Toolboxes
Quick-tips, key talking points, worksheets to plan for a dialogue — intranet toolboxes that are easily accessible by managers help them confidently share information with their employees.
“I set up a Manager’s Toolkit site where there is a discussion board and a document library where they can pick up talking points as developed for key messaging. I want to ‘teach them to fish’ so that they become better at communication and can deliver messages as leadership would hope for them to be delivered.”
Communications Consultant, Financial Services
- Personalized content experience
Newer intranets allow you to personalize each employee’s intranet experience. This means that managers can only see content for their level and location so that all messages are highly relevant and actionable.
“We are launching a dedicated global portal channel for leaders/line managers…The channel will differ from all employee channels by focusing on action-oriented content to support leader/line managers in engaging teams. The channel includes additional portlets providing access to leader/line systems and processes, calendar of events and training resources.”
Head of UK Internal Communication, Pharmaceutical
- Dialogue on the intranet
Sometimes managers just need to talk to one another and vent a little. Online discussion forums or chat features that put managers in contact with one another to problem solve and share communications best practice build a sense of community among this crucial employee subset.
“We have an online discussion community just for managers where they share which communications’ tactics have worked best for them. This has been especially helpful for our newer/younger managers who have to communicate difficult news.”
Intranet Manager, Consumer Electronics
- Email
Email – whether as an alert to content on the intranet or a weekly round-up of news – is still an effective way to communicate with managers.
“To prompt managers to access the information, we distribute an email every other week to all managers that contains a link to the site and headline summaries of information posted since the last email.”
Leadership Communications Director, Insurance
A well-crafted intranet can help extend the reach of communications through manager support. But note a word of caution from one of your peers in the forum: “Be careful that you don’t overburden the manager to deliver everything! Through audits and surveys we’ve done, we’ve learned that employees go to managers for things like job expectations, compensation, career advancement, etc.” Director of Employee Feedback, Financial Services.
What tools have you used to support managers’ communication skills? Comment below or join the discussion on our forum and share your experiences.
on 1 September 2010
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4 Intranet Communications Channels JUST for Managers…
This article has been submitted to IntranetLounge, a website with a collection of links to the best articles about intranets…
on 2 September 2010
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From a personal professional perspective I think what you are putting in place is very good. In fact, just yesterday my work colleagues and I were discussing the very notion that we needed to do more to build the communication capabilities of managers and, indeed, staff.
A few suggestions. You do focus on dialogue which, of course, points directly to social media. Given that, I recommend that you stop using the term Channels. It is far to limiting a term to describe either dialogue or social media. Communications practitioners tend to think they own channels and it is about time we broke that nexus.
The big challenge, however, is to get managers engaging with one another online.
I also suggest that HR terms like mobilization and discretionary effort are a big turn off. So my personal challenge to everyone who posts comments here is ‘Let’s be good communicators and drop the jargon’. And realise that not everything has an HR focus. It is much richer than that.
on 3 September 2010
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Hi Steve,
Thank you for your thought-provoking comments; I really appreciate them! A couple of reactions:
Great point about Communications practitioners tendency to think in channel silos. We at CEC agree, and that’s why we work with communicators to help them narrow their strategy (especially audience and business goal) before selecting the right channel. Moreover, I’m heartened by a shift in the organization of Communications teams: we are seeing more teams stop dubbing someone the “video channel owner” or “the newsletter owner” (which signals a prioritization of filling a channel versus achieving a company objective) and start hiring strategists who are organizing around audiences or business goals.
I would challenge the idea that dialogue points directly to social media. Or maybe, I’d just emphasize that it is the in-person dialogue that strengthens lines of communication between manager and employee. We’ve found that most managers aren’t all that great at leading dialogue with employees–especially when the message is a difficult one.
I’d imagine that it is hard to get time-crunched managers to engage with one another online through social media. Maybe a company could start experimenting with an online discussion forum for new managers to ask their peers questions about all of the unpredictable situations they face. Or maybe one where a new manager is paired with a seasoned one?
Thanks for reminding me that jargon can be supercilious and confusing! Our stakeholders should not have to endure it. Let’s keep jargon-y words like mobilization just between us communicators
After all, “incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.”–Kingman Brewster.