One challenge with CSR, equally important to having a clear strategy, is making sure that strategy is embedded into the business processes and workflow of the organization. As Communications executives, we face two hurdles in achieving this: 1) we don’t have intimate knowledge of the business’ day to day operations, and 2) even if we do, we can’t directly influence the business’ behavior.

With limited resources we can’t (and shouldn’t) be everywhere, so how do we make it easier for business colleagues to see how they need to do their jobs differently to become more sustainable? Communication is a key part of getting the business to implement new approaches, but in many organizations this just means communicating CSR goals without doing the extra work to understand implications on the business (and, thus running the risk of rejection at the business unit-level as they see just another thing added to an already loaded plate).

One company that takes a different approach is Ford, the American automotive manufacturer, who has achieved good results in getting the organization aligned around CSR. John Viera, Director of Sustainability at Ford, takes a bottom up approach to gaining buy-in from the business: he and his team start by reaching out to middle managers –understanding direct from the frontline what implications a CSR initiative will have on work processes and gathering informal support. This helps Ford make a stronger business case in formal conversations with senior leadership. Read More »

By Laura Newman

The London snow has certainly gone a long way to getting me into the holiday spirit, but it was watching The Nutcracker ballet in the London Coliseum on Friday evening that really sent me humming and twirling into the holiday season. The English National Ballet’s 10^th interpretation was full of sparkle and dazzle (thanks, in part I’m sure, to their partnership with Swarovski!).

Although I have seen The Nutcracker a number of times, I continue to discover new magic. On Friday, in addition to the beautiful music and breathtaking décor, I kept an eye out for the storyline itself. I was familiar with the basic premise – the young Clara receives a nutcracker doll for Christmas and, as she sleeps that evening, she dreams that he becomes a prince, her prince, and they dance across the world. What I hadn’t remembered from my childhood were the subtle clues to Clara’s waking life sprinkled across her dream: the rat, hot air balloon, and soldiers all made appearances at the Christmas party before she sleeps.

Those of you who have read my blog post on the movie Inception will recall my interest in the psychology of dreams and memory. The Nutcracker’s subtle references to Clara’s memory got me thinking of how much one’s point of view is dependent on prior experience.

A similar lesson seems to be creeping up in my conversations with Communicators. In the past month or two I have had a number of discussions about providing business partners with efficient and effective communications support. With increasing business demand and resource constraints, Communications Heads are thinking hard about what skills and structures will allow their teams to have the greatest business impact. Read More »

By Kirsten Robinson

As communicators, you play a large role in shaping the culture of your company. In doing so, oftentimes the focus is on what differentiates you as an employer or supplier—the thing(s) that make people want to work for you or purchase from you. But what about the basics? Respect. Professionalism. Commitment. How do you communicate these to employees when core values begin to slip, without coming off as too heavy handed or disrupting the rest of your corporate culture mojo?

An executive recently asked our Employee Communications Forum just that. He was interested in how other members run a cultural program that builds a positive, supportive, responsive workplace with trust, respect and commitment. Read More »

A culture of communication.  Sounds like a communicator’s dream. Yet it is also even more of a necessity when facing the communications environment we’re operating in:

• The number of channels for Communications to “fill” is ever-expanding
• The bar for content relevancy is higher than ever before
• The interactive nature of Communications –and the resulting demand to keep-up with “always-on” channels – is unsustainable, especially for smaller Communications teams

I recently had the opportunity to join a group of “small shop” communicators for a two day workshop on Creating a Culture of Communication. We discussed these challenges and came to the conclusion (backed by CEC research) that to achieve a culture of communication, active dialogue—i.e., outside of dialogue led by Communications—needs to be occurring across the organization.

For many communicators this is a formidable task.  You’re facing managers who think that hitting forward on company message counts as communicating; CEOs who fear what employees might say if you were to put a comment feature at the bottom of their messages; and autonomous business units who don’t have a natural reason to share feedback or ideas.  A culture of communications may sound like an impossible dream gift on a communicators’ holiday wish list. But, every company has stakeholders that like them.  And at every company (yes, even yours), there are a portion of those stakeholders who actually talk about the company. Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

This is the first in a two-part series about corporate translation services.  This post will outline the primary options for translation services.  The second post will offer insight into how communicators are assessing translation vendors to ensure a good fit with company needs.

Hello, ciao, guten tag, hola, 你好, olá, bonjour, こんにちは.

If you’re a communicator working at a company with stakeholders who don’t all speak the same language  (read: almost all companies), translation can be a real headache.  An expensive, time-consuming headache.  On one hand, you want your messages to be accessible to employees in other countries, to customers in other markets, and to various stakeholders who come across your content when they’re surfing the web.  That said, you likely also face the following challenges:

• You worry about the quality of translated material. You need translators who possess both professional linguistic skills and an  understanding of your company’s terminology and tone.
• Translation services get really expensive. It’s hard to determine what’s most cost-effective for your translation needs.  In-house translators? External agencies? Technology? Free-lancers???
• The turnaround time for translated messages takes too long. The timing of messages is important, especially with financial announcements or during times of crisis.  Many communicators, especially those that rely on volunteer employees for translated messages, report slow/unreliable turnaround time.
• You’re not sure what material needs to be translated. You can’t possibly translate everything, but you want to be sensitive to those who don’t speak your company’s native language.  What about the newest training material?  The CEO’s recent blog post? Read More »

Thanks for the comments and notes about our utility industry blog within a blog.  I appreciate the individual e-mails and encourage folks to use the comments as a source of ongoing conversation as well.  One of the common threads to your feedback was the complexity of messages involved in your space.  Indeed, when I review the questions that come to the Council from our utility members, we are confronted with difficult issues such as rate increases, renewable energy vs. clean coal generation, a massively complex energy bill (at least temporarily stalled in Congress), and regional economic development packages.   To make life even harder, utility communicators must simultaneously address both low-information residents and high-information advocacy groups or legislative committee staff members.  In other words: It’s Complicated!  Read More »

“Isn’t this just the return of the ‘grapevine?’  The thing we’ve been fighting for decades?”  One of our members shared this reaction as we were discussing the networked model of influence at a recent cohort event held just south of Lake Grapevine in Texas.  We’ve described this model at numerous events and Insider posts over the last seven months and I understand where this reaction comes from: communication within the “grapevine” – i.e., social networks – can be filled with rumors and misinformation.  Wouldn’t it be better if we could provide stakeholders instead with up-to-date, reliable, accurate information?

We haven’t really had to address this question before, mainly because most communicators have come to the conclusion (confirmed by CEC research) that fighting the grapevine is a losing battle.  Stakeholders (employees, customers, activists, etc.) prefer to hear from each other rather than from large organizations, and technology has helped them both connect with peers and filter our messages out. Read More »

The most creative (and creatively inspiring) show on TV doesn’t fit into the category of comedy or musical programming.

It actually falls into an I-can’t-believe-this-is-a-legit-hybrid, the cooking-reality-game shows.  But it’s not Top Chef, Iron Chef or any of the various Cake Wars smackdowns.  I’m referring to the Food Network’s $10,000 weekly culinary contest, “Chopped.”

If you’ve never seen it, you oughta add it to your family holiday TiVo list to watch during the long, lazy days between Christmas and New Year’s.

As a “creative” person, this show will definitely inspire you.  In fact, if you’re willing to open your mind and see it as such, it could be the biggest jolt to the creativity of your corporate writing/content creation you’ll ever experience while lounging on your sofa in tattered sweatpants.

Here’s the premise:  “Chopped” is a cooking contest between four chefs, each of whom is forced to spontaneously create some kind of gourmet dish in just 20 minutes, using a mystery basket of four random ingredients (which purposely do NOT go together in any way). Read More »

Ever feel like you are only just starting to get used to a new way of doing things when everything is turned on its head and changed again?  A new leadership team, a new acquisition, a new intranet – it seems everywhere we look, companies are making pretty significant changes to the way they operate.  In fact, CLC Human Resources found that 81% of organizations have undergone major change in the last 12 months.  It’s no wonder that in our recent member survey, employee “change fatigue” was cited as one of the biggest challenges Communicators faced.  Rather than joining our employees in wistfully remembering a time when stability was an option and strategies really did actually last 5 years, we have to accept our fate.  Uncertainty and change are the new normal.

Senior leaders are recognizing this new state of play.  In a recent survey from our sister program the Corporate Strategy Board (CSB) leaders rated “being adaptive” as their number one priority for 2011.  So, what makes companies, and the people within them, good at adapting?  As our CEC 2011 focus, we’re going to be looking into exactly that.  Read More »

By Mike Wellman

Between peppermint mochas from Starbucks, apple cider donuts at every corner, and Christmas jingles 24/7, this is one of my favorite times of year, and I couldn’t be happier.  As it’s the season of giving, our team has recently been looking into the topic, corporate social responsibility and, in the spirit of giving, we’ve even developed a new diagnostic for clients to improve their programs.  If you haven’t already, I’d strongly recommend checking it out.  Beyond giving, though, I think this is also a great time of year to consider another aspect of the holiday season – the sense of community that this time of year seems to encourage.  In my recent reading, I came across a remarkable story that I wanted to share, and while I think it’s worth sharing on merits alone, it also reinforces the value of an oft-forgotten aspect of corporate life: community.

Read this quote below and take a guess…where do you think it came from?

“What strikes me is how these individuals who were once so isolated are now part of a very tight community.  They have found each other; they are plugged into each other; and they have each other’s backs.” Read More »