The relationship between Communications and HR is complicated. Sometimes it’s blissful, at other times, combative. Perhaps most common is the passive-aggressive “frenemy” relationship where each function feeds off of the other’s struggles and misfortunes. “Well, if you had just asked us, you wouldn’t be in that position now would you?” the one head chides the other. Even though Comms and HR often sit near one another and care about a lot of the same outcomes, they certainly don’t always get along. That’s a problem—especially in today’s agile enterprises. In CEC’s latest meeting with Gurus of Communications, we learned that—when it comes to leading the agile enterprise—our gurus fell into two camps. The first camp, we’ll call them, “Camp Comms,” believes that Communications has the potential to lead the organizations’ efforts to be more agile. Camp Comms pointed to three reasons for Communications’ leadership.

1. Communications is already seen by executives as the owner of change. For example, the mission of one function starts with, “As agents of change, we shape the beliefs…”
2. HR is ill-equipped to own this emerging responsibility. While HR has proven itself adept at handling succession and benefits challenges, the function hasn’t dealt with large-scale change from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Managing stakeholders is Communications’ bread and butter.
3. “Building an agile organization” is no small task, and it lays out a huge chunk of real estate that no one currently owns, so why shouldn’t Communications be the one to take up this mantle? Communication is the lifeblood of agile enterprises. The function has an unprecendented opportunity to redefine itself and leave a lasting impact on the organization.

These are fighting words, Heads of HR. What’s your rebuttal? Read More »

In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the title character is born old and progressively gets younger.  In his early life as a physically elderly man, people assume that Benjamin has seen a great deal whereas later in life after experiencing much sadness and adventure, those around his adolescent exterior presume he is naïve.  It is from this essential irony that the movie explores how perceptions of age affect our relationships.

The utility industry is experiencing its own “curious case” at the moment.  While the American workforce as a whole gets older – a trend that may accelerate in the U.S. with the raising of the social security retirement age – many of our utility members report that their workforce is rapidly getting younger, perhaps due to a set of private retirement benefits that allows for more turnover.  In the movie, Benjamin ultimately connects with those who appreciate him as an individual more than an age.  For utility members to seamlessly transition their workforces, so too must they embrace individuals over demographics.  Read More »

Organizations operate in an increasingly uncertain environment.  With this often chaotic backdrop, Communications can play a powerful role in helping employees to positively react to changes and to ensure they contribute to company growth amid volatility.

Choosing the right communication style can have significant impact on employees’ ability to understand changes and adapt to them promptly.  The results of our recent survey of 2,000 employees  at large companies show that employees found an interactive (two-way sharing) communication style significantly more valuable in helping them adapt, compared to a directive, top-down (command and control) approach.

So, what’s your typical approach to communciating change?  An announcement from leadership, detailing the context and providing as much directive guidance as possible?

Looking at how employees perceive the value of such major announcements about change (usually coming from Communications), only 12.5% answered that they found a very directive, top-down communication style valuable in helping them adapt to change.  Compare that to the 87.5% of employees who prefer a highly or at least somewhat interactive communication style.  Which percentage would you rather be reaching with your corporate messaging?  (If you picked the second group, GOOD!) Read More »

By Laura Newman

Although I am not generally one to be caught up in celebrity gossip or reading the London tabloids, I must admit that it’s been hard to ignore the Royal Wedding plans. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s April 29 wedding has truly captured the UK psyche (and I suspect, beyond UK borders as well). In addition to the weekend invitation announcement, I’ve recently enjoyed reading articles, such as:

• Potentially broadcasting the Royal Wedding in 3-D, perhaps even in the cinema
• Facebook shutting down profiles for anyone named Kate Middleton until they could prove they were not imposters
• The Royal Wedding boosting the UK fashion industry
• A teenager staging a hunger strike outside the British embassy in Mexico City in the hopes of securing an invitation
• Concern about whether Prince Harry can arrange his brother’s stag night (that’s bachelor party for the American audience) without embarrassing the Royal family
• The increase in traffic to the tourist website for the Isles of Scilly, amid rumors the couple may honeymoon there

I could go on and on.

With all this news and gossip, it’s hard to imagine there are still details that remain unrevealed. And yet, as far as I’m aware, there are – Kate’s dress and the couple’s honeymoon, for example, are still a secret.

I can’t help but wonder how long this type of information will remain unknown. Of course it would be a shame to ruin the tradition, but is it really possible to keep a secret in today’s social media world? It seems to me that this would require, at the very least, an extremely solid foundation of integrity on behalf of those who are privy to the details. Read More »

By Kirsten Robinson

What happens when someone zones out of a conversation? Their nods of agreement go on auto-pilot. Their eyes glaze over. Their mind wanders. Why? Because they’re not engaged in the discussion. They’re being talked to, not with. It’s the opposite effect your team wants to have on your audience.

Your messages should not solely inform—they should trigger a response. These rules of engagement don’t just apply to verbal communications. Writing is even more difficult. Messages can be well-written, but if they don’t engage, stakeholders will zone out. It’s not enough to have the mechanics of language down pat, or even just to craft a message on a topic that stakeholders care about. Engaging people so they’ll respond requires taking a genuinely stakeholder-centric stance.

As you’re mapping out a new message, ask yourself, How can I make my communication more…

• Relevant. What role do your stakeholders play in the subject matter? Don’t make your information the meat of the message and then only touch upon audience wants and needs in the intro and closing. Make it clear that connecting with them—and not just regurgitating company info—is your primary concern. See how a zone-out-worthy message was reframed into something engaging.
• Unique. Is your subject matter one-of-a-kind? Or have your stakeholders already read similar content? If they’ve seen it once, twice, or multiple times, people won’t be interested in reading it again. Create a new angle that inspires a different line of thought. Research shows that people are more likely to share content that is surprising.
• Memorable. People read hundreds of messages every day. Generic writing will be forgotten, but memorable messages—whether by humor, surprising facts, or storytelling—will still be talked about down the road. Ford effectively uses storytelling by sourcing stories from the very stakeholders they want to engage. Read More »

What’s so damned funny about water, barley, hops and yeast?  Apparently, just about everything.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love an icy cold one as much as the next guy  — and that guy happens to be my old college roommate, Earl.  But when I analyze how the big beverage companies communicate to the world, it’s increasingly apparent that their (not-quite-said-out-loud) message is:

“If you’re a dude, and you wanna have fun — your go-to move is to drain a few racks of [insert billion-dollar beer brand name here].”

Did you watch the Super Bowl this year?  Seemed like half the commercials were for beer, and most of them were designed to appeal to a juvenile, goofball, male sense of humor. True confession: Commercials like that make me laugh.  LMAO.  And if that’s the goal, then…mission accomplished.  I love humor that’s as bawdy, sophomoric, and jejune as it comes.

Problem is:  so does my 17-year old son, and most kids like him.

And therein lies the question:  Who’s the target audience for these commercials?  The big brewing companies will tell you “they are aiming exclusively at adults aged 21+.”  And they’ll also tell you they spend hundreds of millions on their corporate responsibility campaigns.  Hey, I’m not saying they don’t.

But if you spend billions on messaging that encourages behavior that often ends up causing immeasurable human tragedy, then you justify it by spending (let’s be fair and say) one-tenth that amount on messaging that urges caution when engaging in those same behaviors — what does that make you? Read More »

As a slight diversion from my usual blogging about corporate social responsibility, I thought this week I would combine a topic of personal interest (social media) with an industry I know well from my pre-CEC life (financial services), and write about what has become a hot topic in banking these days. We at the CEC blogged about social media in financial services a few months ago, and the topic is high on the agenda for retail banks – our sister program, the Council on Financial Competition is coming out with a piece, The Current Financial Services Social Media Landscape later this month.

If you are the head of Communications for an FS company, you’re probably trying to figure out how to engage customers through social media outlets, without losing control of your messaging and hurting your brand. Where to begin? How to convince business colleagues to do it? How to appease the fears of your legal team? I wanted to share one simple and fun example from banking that I came across some time ago, from Co-operative bank in the United Kingdom.

Read More »

We all know that Comms and HR folks have a lot in common (e.g., effective HR is often reliant upon strong communication). How far do you sit from your HR counterpart – 10m across the office? 20m? Separated by one or two stops in the elevator / lift?

Although they may sit near us, we probably don’t talk as much as we should.  With that in mind, I thought it would be valuable to take a look at the joint objectives that we share with our partners in HR.  Each quarter, our sister program, CLC Human Resources announces the latest trends from the HR world.  As we just begin to step forth from the recession, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the latest insights (from Q4 2010) made for some pretty depressing reading.  I’ve pulled out some of the key HR challenges facing businesses below:

• Decline in Engagement / Increased Retention Risk: As the job market begins to pick up, disengaged employees who had been ‘sitting tight’ have begun to look for new pastures.  Levels of intent to stay have fallen every quarter since Q4-2009 (from 26% – 22%). Crucially, line managers are identified as key to influencing engagement, and to customizing retention strategies to manage turnover risk…
• Performance Management & Productivity: Managers’ effectiveness at stewarding the performance of their employees continues to decline.  While productivity increased slightly in Q3, the overall downward trend in productivity across the year indicates that managers are struggling to provide effective performance feedback (18% decline in manager effectiveness), and to articulate clear objectives to their direct reports (7% decline in manager effectiveness)… Read More »

As I kept an eye on the nonstop coverage of the tense situation in Egypt, there was a moment where I suddenly felt like things just might be OK.  It was the footage of Egyptian Gen. Hassan Ruwaini—older and balding and looking highly breakable—wading  his way through crowds of protesters.  But his manner was very un-general-like.  He might have been President Obama shaking hands and kissing the occasional baby as he worked his way through the throngs.

Reporters on the scene witnessed the larger story behind the footage.  For a great account, check out LA Times coverage: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/06/world/la-fg-egypt-army-scene-20110205

When Gen. Ruwaini first faced the clamoring crowds of Tahrir Square, he had the presence to wait out the onslaught of verbal attacks for a chance to address the younger protesters who had started the revolution.  He first applauded them for their courage and expressed his affection for them as youth of Egypt, assuring them that he had no intention of turning military force against them.  He then called them out for certain hooligan behaviors, and warned them to be careful not to become pawns of the political parties.  Next came perhaps his most glorious moment—he sat on the roof of his car and simply listened while the crowd passed around his microphone and protesters vented all their anger and frustration.  When they’d finally simmered down a bit, he and his soldiers pressed their way past the protester-constructed barriers around Tahrir Square and entered the crowd to continue his listening campaign and establish the military presence as a peacekeeping force rather than a threat.

Whether Gen. Ruwaini had been reading the CEC web page or not, I can’t verify.  But his actions are a great example of best practice for communicating with stakeholders in a time of uncertainty or crisis. Read More »

Our members have been talking a lot about the challenge of helping their enterprises adapt to change, even building a culture that supports adaptation.  And it’s no wonder: 67% of chief strategy officers report that “becoming more adaptive” is a top priority in their organization.  “Change fatigue” is a common complaint.

This has prompted us at the CEC to study what drives performance in a changing environment and what Communications can do to help.  As part of our principal research initiative for 2011, we surveyed nearly 2000 employees (American and European) of large enterprises regarding their performance, engagement, and a variety of attitudes and behaviors, alongside control variables like experience.  Not surprisingly, 79% indicated that they had recently experienced one or more changes in their job.

Next, we looked at what influenced the performance of these employees.  Consistent with previous research on the subject, we found, for example, that “Effort” – working hard, putting in extra energy when needed – is a significant driver of performance.  More interesting, we found that “Adaptivity” – trying new approaches to one’s work, seeking and sharing best practices – is an even more significant driver of performance.  Nearly FOUR TIMES more significant!  And the importance of Adaptivity relative to Effort increases with the amount of change experienced in the organization. Read More »