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 »

Customer loyalty is a burning issue for a lot of companies. Marketers know that if you become a “customer for life,” you are worth your weight in gold (and if you’re a lifelong customer at The Cheesecake Factory, just imagine your potential worth!).

So, what makes you loyal to a company?  What makes you want to continue to do business with some companies over and over again, but to “drop others like 3rd period French” and never return?

As it turns out, there’s a single answer to that question when it comes to your service interactions.  Our sister program, CCC (the Customer Contact Council—just like CEC, except for heads of Customer Service) has released the definitive study on the drivers of loyalty in the service environment. The secrets are featured in this month’s Harvard Business Review—you can download the article for free—but I’ll give you a sneak peek a the answer. It’s easy.

No, seriously.  Easy.

Read More »

By Lisa Schievelbein

Working with cross-functional partners is a common source of woe for Communications. Though the circumstances vary quite a bit, I’ve discovered a pattern over time in the villainous caricatures I hear most about:

• The party poopers
  Crime: Vetoing Comms’ best-laid plans to try new things
  Usual suspects: Legal, IT
• The land grabbers
  Crime: Asserting dominance—and taking all credit—in areas of overlapping audiences/interests
  Usual suspects: HR, Marketing

Read More »

A big thank you to the 100+ Heads of Communications and staff who responded to our 2010 quick-poll, sharing their current strategies for external stakeholder engagement.  Were the responses interesting? Yes.  Did they make me feel warm and fuzzy about the state of Communications? Not especially.

Let me explain why. On the one side, it’s great that communicators are focused on proactively engaging stakeholders in the current climate—not just attempting to manage negativity. It’s more of their approach that worries me.  Here are some of the poll highlights:

I’ll add some quick thoughts on a few of the data points that stood out for me:

• Communicators are on the offensive—49% of communicators say that differentiating their company is their primary objective for 2010, and 39% are focused on directly supporting sales and marketing efforts.  This strikes me as Communications taking positive steps to help their companies get ahead in the ever-aggressive battle for stakeholder support and market share.  We’ve heard a lot of our members facing real pressure to get closer to the bottom line as budget and scrutiny tightens, which seems to be playing out here. Read More »