Searching for strategies to cope with information overload turns up countless articles, blog posts and how-to guides. The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be that the more we understand how our brains function under the constant bombardment, the better we can be at filtering through it — or the better Google and Amazon will be at doing it for us.

But there are some instances where we just have to say “enough,” and one of them is company-wide communications. The cumulative impact of multiple functions across a firm sending company-wide messages can quickly swamp employees and managers. Rather than take time away from their primary responsibilities individuals turn to the simplest solution, the delete button. This presents a serious threat when truly important messages are lost in the noise.

So how can Communications help curb the runaway messaging problem? It can be hard to tame functional groups across the organization because they have little incentive to curb their output, which only makes up one slice of the prolifically messaging pie. Policing company messaging systems is often too resource-intensive for Communications to take on single handedly and wouldn’t solve the root cause of the issue. Read More »

We have just released our annual 2011 Aggregate Benchmarking Report highlighting the key communications budget trends for 2011/2012. In my previous blog, I highlighted the growing importance of staff in communications budgets; but there is another interesting trend that we found from our data: Companies are decoupling their communications and marketing departments’ budgets.

While in 2007, 33 percent of communicators reported that their communications department’s budget was part of the marketing budget, this percentage fell to 21 in 2011. In addition, the share of marketing related expenses in communicators’ non-staff budgets also fell by 10 percent between 2007 and 2011. Read More »

If someone asked you today how you feel about your job you might say all positive things—you’re on a roll on your current project, you’ve gotten some good feedback recently from your manager, and right now you’re contributing to the organization in a way that you might not get to do elsewhere. But how did you feel about your job six months ago? And do you think you’ll still be at your company in a year?

The various changes and related stress that employees have faced over the past few years may not impact engagement today but it does have a great impact on their engagement capital—a look into engagement that includes employee perceptions of the past, present, and future.  Creating an organization with high engagement capital is a top priority of both Communications and Human Resources team.  How aligned are your current efforts? Read More »

A few months ago, I asked why collaboration with other functions is so hard. I heard at least one person’s take on the subject.

Meanwhile, as many of you know, the CEC research team has been hard at work studying what it takes to build a change ready organization, and specifically what Communications can do to enable agility across the enterprise.  It is impossible to consider a subject like building change readiness without revisiting the subject of cross-functional collaboration; this endeavor is, without question, a team sport.

So, let me suppose that you are a communicator, totally bought into the idea that it would be great for employees to be agile, ready for change. And you see how communication within the organization can help employees be more agile. But now, you confront the ugly truth: you can’t make this communication happen on your own. Read More »

By Laura Newman

As I get ready to leave London and head State-side (Duke School of Business here I come!), my to-do list gets longer by the day. That said, as a foodie, I did have one thing sorted a while ago – dinner reservations at my favorite restaurants. As I reviewed the list, it struck me how difficult many were to categorize. If a restaurant blends Indian flavors, French cooking techniques, and tapas-sized portions in a British colonial environment, what style is it? (Londoners, check-out Colony in Marylebone if you’re curious to experience the result.)

At a restaurant, we may refer to this kind of blending as fusion. What if we consider the equivalent in the workplace?  In today’s global, complex businesses our environments are just as diverse. But are we collaborating effectively? Are employees blending approaches and processes to develop new ideas? In other words, are we using collaboration and knowledge exchange as inspiration for innovation; to achieve outcomes? Read More »

As members of a staff support function, communicators are no strangers to cross-functional collaboration.  Nearly everything we do is in partnership with some senior executive with a need to communicate: an announcement or press release, a speech, an event, etc.

But there are two kinds of collaboration: (1) using our expertise to help someone else achieve that person’s goals, and (2) working with someone else to achieve our goals (or a mutual goal).  For most of the communicators I talk to, it’s that latter form of collaboration that often proves challenging.  For example, many of our members, especially those reporting directly to the CEO, are working to build a more agile organization – one that “leans into” and embraces change.  This goal cannot be achieved without HR, and perhaps IT as well.

I’d love your help understanding why this collaboration can be so difficult.  Here are some of the specific challenges I’ve heard most frequently: Read More »

Following years of layoffs or hiring freezes, many organizations are looking to grow their workforce again. Recruiters and team leaders  are doing this with a conscious eye—closely evaluating the skill sets and alignment of potential new employees with the strategic direction of the company (hopefully one of the attributes you are hiring for is an adaptability to change.)

Successful recruiters are being more than just thorough as they weed through an increasing pile of applicants. They are re-strategizing how to capture the attention of the highest performers in the marketplace (between jobs or not) to lure them into their organization. This often starts with a look at the organization’s unique employee value proposition (EVP.)

What makes the job worth it in the eyes of your employees? What motivates them to not only show up  but to put in the extra effort to succeed at their jobs? And how would they describe their experience to a potential employee?

HR may use employee engagement data and say the EVP is centered in good benefits and attentive managers, but the true value proposition of your company for potential employees lies is in the eyes of your current employees. The key to a winning employee value proposition comes down to understanding employees values and then translating their story to potential hires. To define and translate this winning EVP, the HR Recruiting team needs Communication’s help. Read More »

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 »

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 »

I live at the epicenter of American politics just blocks east of the U.S. Capitol.  The Statue of Freedom that adorns the Capitol dome scrutinizes my morning commute.  As I scurry toward the Metro that will take me the enclave of the private sector for the day, she reminds me of the role and influence of government in our lives.

That influence is growing.  Don’t take my word for it or the collective voices of the masses that have coalesced in DC for various rallies and protests this past year.  Take instead the cold hard facts of the corporate communications budget.

In 2010 Communications’ government relations budgets increased by 7%, the largest shift in Communications budgets according to CEC’s annual Resource Allocation Benchmarking Survey.  CEC members can view the full survey on the website: 2010 Resource Allocation Benchmarks. Read More »