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 »

One of the most frequent questions that we hear from our members is around demonstrating the value of communications.  The reason behind this is that typically members’ communications focus on long-term perception changes and messaging “about” the business.   Both of which are notoriously hard to link to short term business results.

We’re not saying that longer term outcomes such as employee engagement and reputation are bad (far from it).  It’s just that in defining ourselves by traditional roles, we can restrict our thinking and miss opportunities to add value.  Many of these opportunities are right in front of us.  Look around you – communication breakdowns are likely happening all over your organization.  You can probably think of them within your own team!

An example of such an opportunity: CEB’s operations practice found that culture was the single biggest driver of risk reporting – companies with a culture of integrity outperformed their peers by 16% in shareholder returns!  Now that is a result I’d like to be attached to!

Some leading companies are jumping on these opportunities: one company who has done this to great effect is ITT Corporation.  Courtney Reynolds, Head of Internal Communications at ITT, partnered with Jim Shaffer and one of their regional plants to increase performance, showing a 40% reduce in scrap and 20% increase in on-time delivery, in just a matter of months. Read More »

By Laura Newman

My Food Revolution is about bringing people together who care about the future of their children, about their right to good health and a proper diet.  I know there are millions of people across America who care about these things and I’ve seen how, with a little confidence and basic knowledge, people quickly change the way they eat.”

So says Jaime Oliver, British celebrity chef and host of the Emmy award-winning reality TV show Food Revolution.

Here is how I interpret Jaime’s quote.  Revolution is about:

1) Bringing people together

2) Caring

3) Confidence and knowledge.

These are the ingredients (pun intended!) of change.

Growing up in a family of foodies, I’ve certainly had my share of conversations about foie gras vs. nachos and El Bulli vs. McDonald’s.  But when I watched a few episodes of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” on YouTube for the first time last weekend, I had behavior change on my mind more than I did cooking or obesity. Read More »

By Laura Newman

“What’s the most resilient parasite?”  Moviegoers will recognize this question from Christopher Nolan’s recent psychological thriller, Inception, and respond, “An idea!”

Perhaps it’s indicative of a London summer turned dreary (yes, I know, I shouldn’t be surprised!), but living in Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard’s dream world for two hours in the Chelsea cinema this past Saturday was, I’m not ashamed to say, my weekend highlight.

Despite criticism that the film was either too complex or not deep enough, the fast-paced, action-packed drama was entertaining.  Nolan captivates his audience with a world in which it is possible to share dreams – that is, enter into another person’s dream while you are both sleeping – and steal deep secrets metaphorically locked in a safe or other secure location.   But extracting knowledge isn’t enough for the ambitious cast in Nolan’s film; instead the group is challenged to perform inception – to plant an idea in someone’s mind.

This is a particularly dangerous – some say impossible – task because, as one character explains, “the subject’s mind always knows the genesis of an idea.”  In other words, it is not enough to give someone an idea; for them to truly believe and act on it, they need to consider themselves the originator of that idea.

And here is where I can’t help but notice a link to Communications – we can no longer be successful if we solely focus on cascading our messages through channels to reach our audiences.  If the goal is for  stakeholders to act on our messages, we must find a way for them to feel they discovered these messages (and by consequence, discovered us). Read More »

I am as guilty as anyone of listening to the rumour mill. Information just seems so much more exciting when it’s a little bit illicit.  Whether it’s while you are making a cup of coffee (or tea for us Brits), grabbing lunch, or passing each other in the corridor, these informal exchanges with colleagues are the most powerful flow of information in your company. So, who are the most influential nodes in your employee network? How can we leverage the conversations already going on for our strategic advantage?

CEB has been partnering with Rob Cross, an expert in all things to do with social networks, to better understand the answers to some of these questions. Rob has developed a scientific approach of mapping influence across organizations and highlighting those individuals who hold disproportionate power – those who excite and build energy, and those who kill it – within employee networks. We are excited to host a webinar with Rob on the 20^th July to share some of the themes from his work.  CEC members can register for the webinar today.

Read More »

I hope it’s not obvious from the way I talk or act—but I grew up as a big NASCAR fan. That’s right, stock car racing. The high banks of Daytona, King Richard, The Great American Race—all threads in the fabric of my youth.  Please humor me and tell me it’s not obvious.

I do come by it honestly, though—my Dad spent his youth hanging around the local race tracks of Long Island as a driver/mechanic (one small offshoot of NASCAR’s roots extends from the Carolinas all the way up to suburban New York City…you don’t need to be a Southerner to be a redneck.)

This genetic anomaly may be somewhat embarrassing to admit to, but it does have at least some value, since there are lessons from NASCAR racing that have great applicability for us in corporate comms.

Lesson number one:  Never admit to being a NASCAR fan. (oops…too late)

But a more important lesson is the one they teach to rookie drivers about how to avoid The Big One. That’s the name given to the kind of catastrophic chain reaction wrecks that occur about every other time they race at the superspeedways like Daytona and Talledega.

SITUATION: You’re driving down the straightaway of a 2-and-a-half-mile track going 200 miles an hour, and you see a wreck developing a couple hundred yards ahead of you. What are you supposed to do?

Smacking on the brakes isn’t gonna save you—you’re going way too fast for that. And there’s no way to tell which direction the careening cars will go next.  Some wrecks push up the banking toward the outside wall.  Some collect down low toward the infield.  They’re all different. You’ve got about one second to determine whether you will narrowly avoid certain doom, or, become yet another victim of The Big One.  Soooooooo again, what are you supposed to do?

Here’s what:  Aim for the center of the wreck.

Read More »

By Lisa Schievelbein

Tuesday, April 27, 2010: 11:57 p.m.

The cursor blinks on a blank Word doc. I’m in my pajamas (note: *not* a onesie) on the couch, zonked from 14 high-adrenaline hours in the office, and trying to think of something good to blog about. And just like that, I have what any reasonable person might consider an epiphany.  In this moment, the only words that will do are these:

“Hi, my name is Lisa, and I’m a communicator.”
[Anyone who feels comfortable is welcome to respond with a little “Hi, Lisa.”]

At the risk of being too revelatory (but we’re in a safe space, yes?), I’ll just say it. I love to write. I need to write. In fact, I tend to forget to eat when I’m in a really good writing groove. And as a CEC researcher, I make much of my living by writing about…well…writing. (This is not unlike a diabetic owning a candy shop.)

So, here’s my conflict. Right now, I could make extremely quick work of this blog post. I could share some verbatim comments from a member conversation thread on CEC Discussions.  I could link to a Wide Angle post about a very cool social media webinar that MLC is hosting next week. (By the way, CEC members, you’re invited.) Hell, I could shoot fish in a barrel blindfolded by inviting PowerPoint haters to comment on this interesting NYT piece.

But I don’t want to. I want to write something new, fresh, clever, and ALL BY ME. There, I said it.

I trust this strikes a chord with many of you, my fellow night-owl writers. But there’s a reason why this post has a confessional tone. Writing too much (especially nocturnally) is a bad habit that we both have to break. Read More »

Before the namesake of ObamaCare was in the U.S. Senate, I completed an undergraduate certificate program in Health Policy, primarily to stay on the family payroll for an extra semester.  Last week, those extra credits foolishly prompted me to volunteer this entry on what communicators should know and do about the reform bill.  Fortunately, our sister program serving benefits executives has produced a tidy 6-page summary of key provisions, but it may be more fortunate that they have us, as their recent online survey revealed communications about the bill as their most immediate concern.

Here are the most important things for corporate communicators to know right now about the health care reform bill:

Read More »