A friend of
mine, who works for a global manufacturing company, once shared with me his
company’s internal communications “guidelines and protocol.” He thought I’d
find it instructive. (Also, since he had helped put it together, I think he was
fishing for a compliment.)
Bound in a handsome three-ring binder,
this 148-page, four-color guide covered everything imaginable. The company’s
various internal media were included, each with its own tab and detailed
descriptions of their distribution schedules, audience(s), typical content,
requirements for submissions, and contact person.
There were at least a dozen pages
devoted to the company’s logo – the right and wrong ways to use it, where, when
and how. Also included was exhaustive instructions on managing crises, the
correct channels and timing for communicating with union leadership and local
communities, and how to submit a story for the company’s intranet news page,
etc.
It was pretty impressive, and I did
compliment him. It had every angle covered, and seemed to anticipate all
contingencies.
While the finished product deserved
praise, people often confuse these guides with “communications.” A guide, yes.
Communications, no. And because he was so caught up in its creation, my friend
forgot that little truth.
"Notes on paper ain’t music"
It’s like sheet
music. As one studio musician guitarist in the documentary “The Wrecking Crew” says, “Notes on paper
ain’t music.” It takes a talented musician to bring sheet music alive, to give it
passion, meaning and value.
Similarly, with comprehensive
communications policies and guidelines, you know how it’s supposed to work. You
can see it’s complete and handsomely put together. But you haven’t communicated
yet. In effect, you haven’t picked up your guitar and
played the music from the printed sheet.
The ability to play the “guitar” well,
in this case, requires insights into and understanding of your audience,
combined with language skills and business acumen. You may say you want to
communicate to employees, but have you clearly defined them and their
information needs, wants and level of understanding? And do they have a way to
communicate back to you?
Though you know your audience in a
general way, in reality you probably don’t know exactly whom you’re talking to.
How do they prefer to get important information? What do they want to know and
what should they know and understand? And, most important, what do you want
them to do with that information?
It really doesn’t matter what
communications channels you use, whether it’s the latest fad in social media,
print media, telegraph, or smoke signals. It doesn’t matter that you’re communicating
a new corporate strategy, quarterly results, or the company’s new benefits
program. Whether you’re using the company’s logo correctly matters not a whit.
If you don’t have a cohesive message
that connects meaningfully with your employees, relevant to their world,
through media they use, then the words you choose, the formatting of the
document, and the means by which you use to reach out to them won’t matter at
all.
Start at the beginning
To be successful at the craft, employee communications
requires a philosophy of optimism, an attitude that believes in the basic
goodness and value of each employee and that employee's desire to contribute
positively to the larger whole, while providing for himself/herself and his/her
family.
The
employee communications function’s chief role, then, is to maximize that innate
dedication to the job by serving as a liaison between the management and the
collective employee audience, helping them understand one another better while
driving the employees to operate with behaviors and attitudes in synch with the
needs, mission and vision of the organization.
If the internal communications are
not two-way, then they won’t succeed. It makes no sense to establish
communications protocols, systems and media if management doesn’t use them to establish
an ongoing conversation with the broad employee audience.
A communications protocol should facilitate
the engagement of employees and all they have to offer – including their
personal desire to excel and contribute to the success of the larger
organization. Everything else is just window dressing.
The first task, then, is to gain deep
understanding of the audience, the employees. Start with senior management to determine its primary
vision and objectives. At base, that will form the texture, content and timing of
all messaging aimed at employees. How that’s done is dependent on gaining a
comprehensive understanding of and appreciation for the broad employee
audience.
Understanding the employees
Many companies
rely on annual employee surveys, which amount to taking the organization’s
temperature regularly and comparing that year’s data to those from previous
years. That’s fine and there’s nothing wrong with that – unless that’s the only
way a company seeks to understand its internal audience.
Such surveys must be augmented with
parallel qualitative research by conducting real-time, face-to-face employee
and manager/supervisor interviews through not-for-attribution group discussions,
covering topics such as the following:
- What’s on their minds? What’s troubling them? What are they excited about?
- How do they perceive the company’s current state?
- How are they acting on the company’s mission and vision?
- Are they living the company’s values? Do they even understand them?
- How do they learn about company news and developments, and how would they prefer to do that?
Comparing the
qualitative findings from in-person discussions to the quantitative data
gleaned from surveys will provide an accurate portrait of the internal
environment and employee attitudes. Doing so annually will ensure understanding
through internal changes and normal attrition.
In turn, it will give communicators a
roadmap of how best to use their protocols and communications tools and
vehicles to communicate to the internal audience: through which channels, with
what kinds of messages, and at the appropriate cadence. And, in the end, it
will flesh out the base intent of the communications protocol and make it
worthwhile.
