I thought about getting my son a cell phone for Christmas. Thought about it, but not doing it. A communication breakdown led me to change my mind.

I know my sons are probably the last two teenagers in America who don’t have cell phones. Part of the reason is that my 17-year-old son has never wanted one. He eschews many of the trappings of teenagerdom including electronic gadgets. Until recently, I didn’t believe my 13-year-old was responsible enough to care for an electronic device, but he has taken pretty good care of his iPod. Well, until it went through the wash, but the Apple store replaced it for free.

Another reason — and probably the biggest one — that my kids don’t have cell phones is that I’m too cheap to pay for them. I live a pretty thrifty lifestyle and I have a hard time doing anything that will add to my monthly bills.

But this year, after much thought and input from others, I decided the time had come to give the 13-year-old a cell phone, partly for practical reasons. He’s not always the easiest kid to track down.

I went to one of those big-box electronic stores that advertised a selection of free phones. I went to the big sign that read “Wireless” and talked to the kid who was working there. I asked lots of questions and ended up believing that I could add this free phone to my cellular service for only $10 a month. What a deal! I picked out a cool phone — did I mention it was free? — and the kid called the service provider to add the line. I was excited about giving this gift to my son for Christmas.

Then, a few days later, the service provider sent me information that explained what I had done. Somehow, my brain had not absorbed all of this information in the store. Rather than adding $10 a month, adding the new line would increase my monthly cellular bill by $35! That would nearly double my bill each month!

I called the service provider and a customer service rep explained that I had switched from an individual plan to a family plan, plus there was an access charge for the additional line each month. But the phone was indeed free.

Last night I took the phone back to the store to return it and cancel the changes to my service agreement. The same kid was working there. “Wow,” he said. “I didn’t know it would add that much to your monthly bill. I really thought it would only be $10 more a month.”

Clearly, this kid either was not well trained or the information he was given was not clear. That’s the fault of the big-box store, the service provider or both. Someone somewhere had failed to communicate with him so that he could communicate clearly with customers.

As a result, not only did the big-box store and service provider lose potential new revenue, but both had to take the time to undo what had been done. Now, I know most customers who found out about the higher price would have shrugged their shoulders and said, “Oh well. It’s Christmas. I’ll pay for it anyway.” But I bet even those customers would be left thinking the companies involved deserved a lump of coal in their stockings.

Between the rework and the reputation damage, the failure to communicate up front with employees — especially those who are on the front lines of customer service — can be high. It’s too bad more companies don’t invest in communication now in order to avoid paying the price later.

For the sake of world peace and all that’s good about the holiday season, let’s focus on the common mistakes that impair our ability to communicate and declare a truce on bickering over the fine points of grammar.

So I’m repeating my three-part series aimed at the biggest, ugliest targets, doing my best to avoid flash backs of catatonic English teachers.

The liveliest comments were on my IABC and Melcrum Linkedin groups, where fellow communicators get quite feisty about language.

9. The war on bad grammar: possessives, contractions and words that sound similar

And here are the links for the companion posts on me, myself and I as well as that, which and who and snd more pronoun insanity.

Yes, you have a job now. Yes, it’s okay: your colleagues, your boss, your pay check. Yes, it is a bit far from home en yes, you loath public transport. But you can’t have it all, right?

So yes, you browse the job ad section of your newspaper regularly and now and then, you might even glance at a job site. But every interesting job seems as can’t-have-it-all as yours. So you stay, you browse a little, glance a little… and eventually: stay. You are what the job market calls a latent job-seeker. You consider changing jobs but end up every Monday on that same seat, in that very same firm.

According to a Dutch national enquiry about the job market, such latent job-seekers make up 65,3% of the employees. They enlarge the job market considerably from what we see in newspapers and on websites. That implies that employers’ strategies to attract new applicants should be adapted.

A business can try to get itself noticed differently in the already used media. Applicant-addressing taglines now only occur in job ads. Why not use them in advertising also? But of course, not every company advertises for the B2C sectors. The most obvious solution is spreading your ads in your suppliers’ and buyers’ firms. But they won’t appreciate that, oh no.

So let’s take a look at other recruiting media to reach potential applicants. A firm may for instance involve current employees by stimulating them to spread the word. It is, after all, to their advantage when a new employee comes to lighten their burden.

In other words: businesses’ social networks can be put into action consistenly to recruit new employees. Personal approaches have shown to work to persuade people. Remember your friend who tipped you on that small car dealer you didn’t think of when you were looking for a car that would fit your life? Remember that friendly shop girl that talked you into that wonderful dress, the one you got all those compliments about? The one you thought wouldn’t fit your complexion, yes.

Add a personal intermediary to your job ads, make sure they are well imformed and positive, work on a corporate culture open to applicants. Be sure to attract those latent job-seekers every other firm overlooks.

Source: “Te weinig aandacht voor latente werkzoekenden”, Metro, November 17 2009,  p. 11.

I’m not really a lawyer hater.

In a recent post about secrets communicators will never tell you, I said that we’ll do anything to avoid getting the Legal department to review our work. This is true probably 99% of the time. When our work gets into the hands of corporate lawyers, it usually returns a mere shell of its previous form.

There is, however, that 1%. And I must admit that I have had the great fortune of being in that 1%.

When I edited the monthly employee publication at Capital One, I had a wonderful working relationship with the company’s general counsel. He rarely changed anything, but he raised excellent questions and red-flagged statements that were unclear or might lead to trouble. (This was more than 10 years ago when the company was just starting up; I can’t attest to how these things work at the company now that it has grown.)

I’ve also had a good experience with one of my clients that owns a number of consumer products companies. This corporation operates in an environment where lawyers must be extremely cautious. Yet, our team — which primarily writes content for the company’s intranet and some executive speeches — has developed a good working relationship with legal counsel over the years.

What is the common denominator in these experiences? What’s the secret to working with lawyers?

It’s really very simple and it’s right before our noses: communication.

I’ve especially found this to be the case with my client. At first, our team and the Legal department had a fairly typical communicator-lawyer relationship. Then, we invited our function’s lawyer to our weekly meeting so that we could understand the kinds of things that cause Legal’s hearts to skip beats. We learned a lot about the laws and regulations governing the industry and about corporate separateness for an entity that owns several companies. We also enlightened the lawyer on how communicators work and how important it is for us to tell a compelling, interesting story in order to get messages across to audiences. We agreed on which issues were non-negotiable and which ones could slide, which ones would expose the corporation to risk and which ones were benign.

From that point, our relationship with the Legal department steadily improved. Now we view the lawyers much more as business partners and less as threats to our ability to do our jobs. This is not to say we don’t still have our disagreements (and the lawyers usually win). But things are much better now.

We communicators  love to complain about lawyers and how they surgically remove all creativity from our work. But how many of us, in the words of Stephen Covey, seek first to understand and then to be understood? My advice is to bite the bullet, bite your lip if you have to, and sit down with your company’s lawyers. It might just be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

OK, beautiful might be pushing it. They’re still lawyers, after all.

We all know that laughter reduces stress, increases energy, motivates and makes people feel better about themselves and others. Yet many offices, or cubicle farms, are serious spaces, with people worrying that a joke could offend, inspire ridicule or make them look unworthy of promotion.

Yes, humor can bring risks. But, handled the right way, the risks are outweighed by the rewards of happier people.

After too many years of serious corporate writing, I’ve tried to be funny in some of my blog posts. As some of my readers might agree, often I’m a comedian only in my own mind. In case you didn’t catch on, this is an example of self-deprecating humor. No belly laughs, but maybe you smiled.

From much of the tedious communication that crosses my desk, I know that many others need help to rediscover their inner comedian.

I asked for advice from one of the funniest people I know, Kathleen McAulay, therapeutic clown, stand-up comedian and workplace humor consultant.

That last title is not a joke. She’s worked with many organizations that recognize the benefits of laughter.

Kathleen offered three tips for revving up humour: be yourself, tell stories and interact.

1. Be yourself
Kathleen urges would-be office comics to think about the kind of humor that works for them. “Some people just can not tell a joke, but they’re quick with the one-liners. Other people may want to illustrate their point with a funny story about what their kid did the other day.” Observational humour, satire, exaggeration, fantasy or silliness may also work.

To make my humor work for me, I might leverage the fact that I’m a speed talker. When I get going too fast, I will often pause briefly, telling people I need to breathe and let them catch up.

The point is to cultivate your personal brand of humor. As Jerry Seinfeld said: “The whole object of comedy is to be yourself and the closer you get to that, the funnier you will be.”

2. Tell stories
Pick the physical details that will help your audience visualize your story. Share feelings they can identify with. Although the stories should be based on the truth, feel free to exaggerate wildly.

For example, I’ve written about my frustration with my 82-year-old mother who insists on smoking outside of her nursing home in raging blizzards. I point out that she permits me to wheel in her snow-crusted body before hypothermia strikes.

Or, when talking about saving money during the recession, Kathleen urges people to wear knee pads and a helmet when shopping at Value Village on half-price day.

3. Interact
With live humor, you must interact with the audience. Kathleen advises people want to inject more humor into their presentations or meetings to take courses in improv comedy. “It’s the best way to learn how to read your audience and learn how to communicate through body language, tone and rhythm.”

For written humor, Kathleen recommends writing in a conversational tone, as if you were performing, building in phrases and styles that suggest body language, pauses and other live elements.

Now you’re probably rolling your eyes and making that “tsk” sound between your teeth, while muttering “How can I convey body language and interact?” Hint: I just did.

Kathleen encourages people to test out their comedy, especially if they’re in doubt, with someone who will be brutally honest.

Stay away from the sarcasm and humor that could take a nasty turn. Kathleen promotes humor that builds up, not tears down.

Why do we need more laughter at work?
Laughter reduces stress by making people breathe deeply and shift their focus. As Mark Twain wrote: “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit take their place.”

We spend more time with the people at work than we do with our families so there are plenty of reasons to laugh more. Here are a few.
• The bottom line will be served by decreasing stress and increasing motivation, energy and creativity.
• Customer service will be lifted up to a level of personal expression that warms customers, suppliers and prospects. Bosses, project leaders, customer service reps and sales people will connect with their teams and customers.
• People are far more likely to remember what you’ve said. “It’s like a highlighter,” Kathleen says.
• Humor makes us less likely to want to shoot one another.

We have spent some time talking about culture and what it is. You may have even written down about 10 words/phrases to describe it.  You are happy with how your business is described but you may be thinking – now what?

Fair question.  If we do nothing this was an exercise on paper which helped us understand for 15 minutes who and what we are as a company.  That’s nice but not enough.  You may even put it on a piece of paper and show it off your employees.  That’s nice but not enough.

So…how do we really get value out of it? Simple – this is now a tool to recruit new hires, interview candidates, evaluate current employees and determine training.  How does that sound?  Would you say that’s enough?  I would!

Take a look at your words and determine how do you know if the person in front of you, whether candidate or employee, demonstrates these traits and believes them.  For candidates create a list of questions for current employees make it part (a big part) of the performance development process.

If you and your employees demonstrate these values everyday they will be successful and therefore making you successful.  I would say that is more than enough!

(if you missed the previous posts, find them here Can you change Company Culture? and What is Culture?)

One of the signs the economy is recovering is the increase in merger activity. What’s most important to the success of two organizations coming together is a communication plan that encourages good employees to stay and productivity to maintain.

From my experience advising and writing on several mergers, I know that these are scary, emotional times. Employees worry they may lose their job, hate their new boss, be forced to acquire new skills, give up their favorite perks or become lost in a stormy sea.

Because the emotional intensity changes as the merger progresses, I develop plans for three distinct phases:
1. the big bang, when you need to introduce people and provide some clarity and reassurance
2. smoking, when you let people know when to expect decisions and the context in which they will be made, for example whether job security will be determined by the value the individual adds or seniority
3. still hot-when you foster a sense of belonging, while recognizing the ongoing sensitivities

The big bang
When a merger is announced, uncertainty and a lack of trust will create a vacuum that will be filled by rumor and fear. Start filling the vacuum by introducing people and companies.

In the early days, executives are the critical spokespeople because they represent the new or changing organization. Managers are the link from leaders to employees.

During the first week or two, executives should visit as many locations and meet as many people as they can. Although distance may force them to meet some people virtually, they should look to video conferencing and other interactive, personal technologies and stay away from faceless memos and emails.

They should talk about why they bought the company, the values they share and reveal some of their strategy and philosophy. Employees will feel better if they are given a general idea of where the organization is headed.

To ensure leaders are consistent and clear, they should deliver the same key messages and use the same supporting slides and material. They need to take pains to avoid acronyms, corporate jargon or terms new employees might not understand. The language should be concise, simple and calm.

Managers should reinforce these messages with their teams. They should also find out about questions or concerns.

Smoking
As the integration continues, managers will play a larger role, explaining issues and decisions to their employees. Standard communication vehicles from newsletters to intranets will also ramp up.

Also growing in importance will be feedback from managers, surveys, focus groups, Facebook and other social media, dedicated voice mail boxes and a variety of other sources.

Because uncertainty abounds, employees need some reassurance, such as knowing the timing of decisions on issues that affect them. Employees should be informed of these kinds of changes by their manager, individually or in small groups depending on the sensitivity, before the announcement is made to the rest of the company and well ahead of media announcements.

Still hot
Once the new reality starts to take shape, employees need to understand and engage.

Although much of the fear of the unknown will have passed, they will still be adjusting to new brands, technologies, people and ways of doing things.

That’s why it’s important to foster a sense of belonging to the new or larger organization through coffee mugs, jackets and other trinket bearing corporate logos. It’s also time for sports leagues, charity fundraising, parties and other celebrations.

To adapt to new systems and processes, they’ll need communication that explains how the change will affect them personally. Posted interviews with employees who are already using the technology or new ways are a good way to provide information and credibility.

At this stage, many employees will not only be more comfortable with the new status quo but will also see how some of their colleagues have created opportunities from the changes. Profile these employees on the intranet, newsletters and other forums and encourage managers to talk about them in meetings.

How well employees will cope with the changes will vary with the individual and culture of the organization. But companies that are merging should assume that most employees will feel fear and other emotions and plan communication strategies that aim directly at their hearts.

From my upcoming book The Talent Journey, part of the upcoming 55-minute guide to … series .

Definition Of terms

Attraction – Getting the right people to want to come to work for you and not your competitors.

Brand – The sum total of what and how people think and feel about your organization, its people, and its products and services.  Typically a significant intangible financial asset seldom managed like one.  It’s what they say it is, not what you say it is.

Brand engagement – Broadly, how connected people feel to your brand.  In this context, brand engagement is about how well your employees and other stakeholders are connected to, and prepared to go the extra mile, for your products and services.

Employer Brand – Your reputation as an employer amongst potential and existing employees and other stakeholders.  Again, it’s what they say it is, not what you say it is.

Employee Journey[1] – Whether it’s broken down into two stages or 12, there is a well-embedded concept that breaks down the experience into touch points.  In broad terms, thinking through how your engagement effort applies to people at each of the following stages of the employee journey can provide great insight into who needs to be involved, the potential ROI and benefits to the business, the best media and engagement techniques to apply, and what other actions need to be taken:

1. Brand – A person knows something about your organisation, or learns about it, through a variety of touch points.  These may include your consumer/corporate brand, product and service experience, word of mouth, recruitment advertising, or online experience.
2. Employer Brand – At some stage, the person considers your organisation as a place where they might like to work.  They seek information about your organisation – again from a range of sources, most of which your organisation has no control over whatsoever.
3. Attraction & Recruitment – The person decides to find out more about you, and to seek a job offer from your organisation.  They experience your attraction and recruitment process and decide to join you or not join you.
4. On-boarding and induction – The person is inducted into the organisation and experiences “on boarding”.
5. First 90 days – The person experiences their initial time with your organisation, including initial perceptions, setting of initial goals, objectives and expectations, and forms a picture as to whether what you offered is what they receive.
6. Engagement – The person continues to develop in their role (or not), and at various stages, they consider looking for a different role or challenge – with your organisation or with another organisation. Or, the organisation considers finding a different role for the person with itself or another organisation!
7. Departure experience - The person leaves employment with your organisation – and may (or may not) consider rejoining at another stage, continuing to advocate your organisation as an employer, and its products and services.

Employee Value Proposition – What you say and do to show what you offer as an employer and what people can expect of an employment relationship with you. 

Engagement[2] – Employee engagement is broadly how much people care about, and are willing to do something extra for their career, their company, their colleagues, their communities and their customers.  When it’s working well, therefore, employee engagement is a good thing for everyone on your stakeholder list.  Employee engagement delivers:

• Commercial and cultural benefits to the organisation, and
• Personal and professional benefits to the stakeholders involved.

 Insanity[3] – Doing the same thing but expecting different results.  Often prevalent in employee communications. Alternatively, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!”

ROI – Return on Investment (or Return on Involvement) – Getting more out than you would if you put your money in the bank or invested in something else (or if you want to calculate it, let us know your current discount rate). 

1.  Engagement builds shareholder value
Smart companies understand that how they attract, engage and retain their people has as much impact on their business performance as their R&D, products and services, and marketing communications.  Companies that do it well outperform those who don’t. 

2.  Engagement builds brand equity
Your brand and intangible assets represent something between 40 and 70 percent of the total value of your organisation on your Finance Director’s balance sheet.  People make or break your reputation.  And people are your greatest asset (according to your annual report).  So it makes sense to manage your reputation, as a business and as an employer, like the important financial asset it is.  External brand building in the employment space is no longer just about recruitment marketing and advertising, either.  It’s just as much about marketing, advertising, PR, HR and internal communications.

3.  Engagement enhances productivity
There are always going to be employees who go the extra mile, and those who don’t. The trick is to have as many of the good ones as possible.  People don’t join a company with the intention of “not being engaged.”  If you invest in making sure people have the awareness, attitude and tools to contribute, people will be more productive.  They will contribute more, and the good ones will stay longer.  Make sure your employer brand, employer value proposition – whatever you want to call it – is working hard as a business asset.   It’s critical to ensuring that you get the right people, that they get productive quickly, and that you don’t have to go through the process of hiring them all over again.

4.  Engagement improves talent attraction & retention
The simple act of making the effort to engage and give people a voice is often enough to make a difference, even to cynics.  What’s more is that your employees can act as a key channel to market for your reputation as a business and as an employer.  It’s not just about being nice – it’s about cost saving and improved productivity.  You can reduce recruitment advertising costs as well as agency fees if people become employer brand ambassadors.

5.  Engagement affects customer attraction & retention
Organisations invest heavily in their infrastructures, in developing products and services, in sales and marketing, in supply chain and getting their products and services to markets at the price that will yield them the most profit. The problem is, you can get all of that right — and still lose customers and market share.  The truth is that for nearly all products and services, even if your performance and pricing are perfect, poor service and interaction with your people – sales forces, procurement people, customer facing, client facing and service staff – is where your reputation is made or broken.  Customers are willing to forgive a lot if your people treat them well.

 Stakeholders – Depending on your objectives, your stakeholders may not be limited to employees of your organisation.  Often, engagement efforts need to take into account other stakeholders who may be affected by changes in the way people inside your organisation think and behave. 

 These can include:

Your organisation

o     Senior executives and leaders

o     Business and people managers

o     Employees (and their families and friends)

o     Contractors (and their families and friends)

o     Former employees

o     Future (potential) employees

Other organisations

o     Outsourced functions (HR, IT, etc.)

o     Suppliers

o     Partners

o     Regulators and government & related bodies

 The broader community

o     The investment community

o     Shareholders / investors

o     Environmental and Corporate Responsibility interests

Your customers/consumers or clients

o     Potential customers or clients

o     Current customers or clients

o     Past customers or clients

Your competitors

o     Direct ‘traditional’ business competitors

o     Non-traditional and indirect competitors

o     Competitors for talent

[2] Gower Handbook of Employee Communications, Gower Publishing, London, 2009.

[3] Albert Einstein, 1879-1955.

A friend and professional colleague e-mailed me this week with what she called a “blog-worthy” idea. While in the dentist’s chair, she asked the hygienist to share her biggest pet peeve. The hygienist said it’s when people text while getting their teeth cleaned.

Now, that bit of information doesn’t exactly fit the parameters of my blog. (It does, however, fit my friend Steve Crescenzo’s outrageous blog, Corporate Hallucinations; he wrote a funny — and R-rated — entry on a very similar subject recently. Reader’s Digest also has a fun recurring feature along these lines. For example, on their website they have “13 Things Your Mall Santa Won’t Tell You.”)

This all got me thinking about communicators. What “secrets” would we never tell our clients about the work we do or about their own communication practices?

Here’s a start. Help me build a longer list in the comments section.

1. We don’t look forward to being asked to write a column, a letter or a speech for you in senior management because we know our words will never be used anyway. It’s amazing that you even ask for communicators’ help with writing since you change most of it. Maybe you ask us just so you can tear our work apart. Maybe it makes you feel virile or something.

2. If you really wanted that column, letter or speech to sound great, you would spend a few minutes letting us interview you. This is probably the number one thing that would improve how your communications come across, but you and your peers rarely take advantage of it.

3. We will do anything we can to avoid getting Legal review of our work. Sometimes it seems the lawyer’s purpose in life is to make communications incomprehensible. If there is a way around Legal review, we will find it. If there is not, we will resign ourselves to the fact that our work will be unrecognizable and then we will find a way to keep our name from being associated with it.

4. You know how all the engineers / accountants / bureaucrats / lawyers / MBAs, etc., in our company look down their noses at us? We do the same to them. You see, we went to school, too — in most cases, to be a communicator. It’s as specialized a field as any of the others in our company and we know that not just anybody can do it well.

5. Sometimes when you make changes to our work, we change it back. If it was a significant change, we only change it back when we know we’re right and we’re willing to get in trouble for it. If it’s a minor change, such as placement of a comma, we do it just for the secret satisfaction.

6. When you buy communication consulting services from one of those gigantic HR consulting firms, you’re usually just throwing away your money. Those of us on staff can do what they do better and more efficiently. And we usually have more experience than the junior account executive they’ll assign to the job. If you must hire a consultant — for an outside perspective or for niche expertise — you’ll get a better value with an independent practitioner that we know.

7. We often laugh at your mission statements and value propositions. It’s not because we don’t think a mission or a value proposition is important. It’s because they are so poorly written that nobody knows what they mean.

8. We resent being called “spin doctors” or “wordsmiths.” These are derogatory terms in our business. Besides, they don’t begin to describe what we do.

9. We wish you executives would stop trying so hard and just be yourselves — unless your real self is the arrogant, stiff, unfeeling blowhard you portray in your written and face-to-face communications. But somehow we suspect that’s not the real you. And if you asked us, we could probably help the real you come through.

OK, readers. This is not an exhaustive list. Now it’s your turn. Add your “Secrets Communicators Will Never Tell You.”

I’m working with a client to develop a communication plan that supports a renewed emphasis on safety as part of the company’s culture. Safety is important to this company, as it is for many, and always has been. However, some events in the company and its industry in recent years highlighted the need to reinforce certain principles around safety and its place in the company’s culture.

As I read some background material for this project, I came across a definition of company culture that I don’t recall ever hearing before:

Culture is for the group what character and personality are for the individual.

I like that metaphor. I, like many communicators, have sometimes struggled to articulate what company culture is and why it’s so important to organizations and the communication that takes place within them.

I know that character and personality are important aspects of who I am. My personality is the essence of who I am and it’s how people see me. My character is the way I live out who I am. Although some people might try, we can’t really fake personality and character. They reflect who I really am. And if my actions and words don’t match up relative to my personality and character, my integrity is called into question and people have a hard time trusting me.

The same is true for organizations. A company’s culture is what that company really is. If the words and actions of people in the company don’t reflect the company’s culture, then the company’s integrity is called into question and people have a hard time trusting it.

So here is a company in which words and actions regarding safety have not always matched up to the company’s safety-conscious culture. That’s a problem. Senior management is ready to lead the company through the steps necessary to bring its words and actions about safety into alignment with its culture. The communication plan we’re developing will help accomplish that.

Some organizations declare that they are setting out to change their culture and they look to the communication function to lead the way. But when people mention “culture change,” I believe they usually mean changing the words and actions to reflect what the company’s culture really is. If a culture truly needs to be changed — and some company cultures do because they are flawed — then that is an entirely different issue.

Do your organization’s words and actions reflect the real culture of your company? How can communication help ensure that they do?

Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day. – Frances Hesselbein

I saw this quote a couple of day ago and was amazed at the simplicity and truth of it.  Every once in a while you hear – I want to change the company culture.  Great! A few things to keep in mind – it won’t happen in a day and if you are the leader, you may need to change yourself as well.

You can change the culture but it is a process. The first person that needs to change is the leader. Believe it or not this is the person who sets the culture through their leadership style.  If the leader doesn’t change – neither will the culture.

Before setting out on a culture you need to clearly understand what you want the culture to be and determine your role in getting there over the long-term. If you are the leader you need to know how your actions affect others, can you behave in a way that will create the new culture you want and lastly can you sustain it. Sounds simple but it can be harder to do. The process can take over 6 months to complete – it may be quicker if you are smaller and longer if you are much bigger.

Yes you can change the company culture – be patient, consistent, and genuine.

It may be old news, but what a great example of both corporate brand and employer brand converging at the intersection of “internal” and “external” communications, and the new social computing world we inhabit. 

Plus, employee brand engagement and customer engagement.

In short, an American Airlines customer who happened to be a user experience professional wrote about some issues with the AA website and suggested some changes.  An employee saw this and responded, saying it was hard to get right but they were trying.  AA fires the employee for disclosing internal company information.  How stupid can you get?

Read here for more.

Some very interesting commentary and advice from panelists at yesterday’s Silicon Valley IABC luncheon on Turbo-charging Executive Communications.  Even as a seasoned practitioner myself, I learned some things and got some good reminders from three real pro’s who have dealt with all manner of executive styles and needs.  Help an exec prepare by understanding the company’s voice and his/her ability to capture it.  Are they a seasoned speaker?  With what kind of audience – internal? media? investors? customers?  Are they good at only being on script, or do they improv?  Does the improv stay within the approved message realm or get far afield? If too off point, excomms must guide the exec back in to intended messages. Rehearsing is always good – but not all execs will do it, or do it enough to actually be prepared and this can become apparent in a speech pretty quickly.  Memorizing a script isn’t great, but keying off select points on very familiar material will facilitate natural sounding dialog and connection with the audience. Don’t be too technical or dry!!   The best way to demonstrate opportunities and areas for improvement is to video record a rehearsal or a presentation and have the exec watch themselves afterwards.  Coach them, but let them also see it for themselves.  Key point at the luncheon was that ‘execs are people too’ and the continually changing pressures and expectations in today’s work environment require leaders to perform at unprecedented levels.  Good coaching and a little TLC can go an extra long way these days!

The Lattimore chapter is about the kind of communication organizational management engages in with employees. The chapter is segmented into the following pieces:

The Role of employee communication

The  concept of organizational culture (Establishing communication policy; organizational  change)

The media  used to engage employees in communication (Objectives of internal media; starting internal media; controlling internal media; occasional and special media)

The Case Study examines how West Pharmaceutical Services, a global drug delivery technology company, managed employee communication after an explosion occured in one of the firm’s plants in North Carolina. The case is a study in crisis communication, which is itself  a specialty of public relations and operations management.

My notes follow:

Purpose of employee communication: More satisfied, productive employees who, in turn, help achieve organizational goals and improve relations with customers, communities, and investors (all of those are specialties or functions of public relations).

Management keeps up with trends in employee demographics and psychographics.  Projections for labor  force in 2008 included: women accounting for 48% of the labor force; Baby Boomers (44-62 years old; born l946-1964) growing significantly; Asian labor force up sharply; Hispanic labor force outnumbering the African-American labor force; Youth (l6-24 years old) labor force growing more rapidly than the overall labor force.

All of these trends drive planning because organizations must adjust — just as colleges have adjusted to the millennial generation (born after 1979), a generation that grew up with technology (thus classrooms are increasingly “smart” and wired and teaching is increasingly tech-driven or even online).

One way of looking at organizational communication is directionally: Top down (from management to employees); horizontally (management to management); and bottom up (employees to management).

Human Resources (formerly called Personnel) communicates, of course, with employees — when an employee is hired, promoted, fired, choosing medical and other benefits, having job-related conflicts. But it’s the public relations people who do all the other communication planning and execution — the employee newsletter or magazine to inform employees about company news, awards, new products, mergers and so forth; company training videos; blast emails; memos. So-called “occasional and special internal media” includes literature explaining company policies; reference material about benefits, insurance programs and recreation programs; leaflets, inserts, enclosures, printed speeches (by top executives at company functions and external forums); message displays (posters); bulletin boards; posters; exhibits and displays; electronic media.

Currently, organizations are turning to blogging and microblogging (Twitter) to communicate messages (see blog.holtz.com, a blog created buy Shel Holtz of Holtz Communication and Technology: it contains a list of hot blogs for communicators); see also ringblog.typepad.com/corporatepr, another PR blog. A blog called elanceur.weblogger.com foces on wikis, e-talking, e-writing, tribal marketing, e-influence and online communities; www.micropersuasion.com by a VP of Cooper Katz, a PR firm in New York City; nevon.typepad.com/investor relations, which covers PR specialties from the Netherlands.

Organizational Culture: “the character of an organization.” Org (or corporate) culture differs from organization to organization. The “culture” of Salem State differs from the culture of UMass Amherst, and both differ from the culture of Bunker Hill Community, Wellesley, Oberlin and UCLA. Each college or university has its own history, heroes, rules, norms, colors, teams, challenges, victories and defeats, myths and realities. Same with every family, every city, every town.  Anthropologists  — culture scientists — categorize cultures in many ways — for example, as authoritarian (centralized decision making) or partricipative (teamwork drives decision making). There are Work Hard/Play Hard Cultures. And year after year, the University of Indiana at Bloomington gets on magazine lists as a “party school,” while University of Chicago culture is characterized as studious, intellectual. Google culture is considered innovative, playful, creative. MicroSoft culture has been thought of as brutally competitive, driven — in the mold of its  founder, Bill Gates.

Employees want to know management’s policies on work, vacation, computer use, promotion, conflict, health and much more. Employee communication from management must provide clear and comprehensive information on these matters.

Several things in my personal life lately have caused me to arrive at a conclusion about what makes communication work well. Hang on. This is going to get deep.

This is not a revelation in the sense that no one has ever realized it before. It’s more of a revelation in the sense that suddenly something clicked in my own mind. Here it is:

Communication works to its fullest potential only when it happens against the backdrop of trust.

Let me share a couple of personal stories that illustrate why this is so.

I’ve been trying to teach my 13-year-old son the nature of trust lately. He is a good kid, but like many kids his age and younger, he occasionally stretches the truth with me. Or he tells me his version of the truth. Kids have a way of convincing themselves that something really happened a certain way and then it becomes truth to them.

Truthfulness is something he will learn with time and experience. As part of his learning, I’ve tried to help him understand that trust takes a long time to create but only an instant to tear down. One lie — or one instance of bending the truth — is all it takes. Then we have to start over at square one.

When a lack of complete trust exists, it’s difficult for my son to communicate to me about things that are troubling him. Is his throat painfully sore or just a little scratchy? Is that kid really picking on him for no reason, or did he do something to provoke it? He gets frustrated because he’s trying to communicate something to me and I’m not fully receiving it.

I also thought about trust as it relates to grown-up relationships. I’ve just begun a relationship with a wonderful woman I’ve known for many years — most of my life, in fact. We were friends long before we began dating. We have a shared history and we trust one another.

That trust came into play as we had a conversation recently. The subject was difficult, but we communicated quite well. She expressed something that was on her mind and I was able to receive it with empathy and understanding. I could respond and she could understand my perspective because she trusts me too.

I have been in other relationships with women I didn’t know nearly as well. We’d not had the time to build trust in one another. So, when those difficult conversations came up — as they inevitably do in any relationship — communication couldn’t take place to its fullest potential.

This is why communication is so difficult in the workplace. Employees don’t trust management. One co-worker doesn’t trust the other. A customer doesn’t trust the company they’re dealing with. If trust ever was created, things happened to tear it down — lack of transparency, broken promises, office politics.

Communication can’t take place in that kind of environment. Executives and PR professionals can say all they want, but audiences aren’t in a place where they can listen with empathy and understanding.

We communication professionals like to treat communication as a sterile, unemotional process. At its core, though, communication is wrapped up in human issues like trust. There’s just no escaping it.

My friend and business partner, Greg Mann, posted a really interesting blog on Piet Mondrian last week.  The Dutch painter is best known for his Neoplastic work, such as Broadway Boogie Woogie:

Mondrian had a heavy influence on a generation – and not just painters, in fact.  A quick look at Wikipedia tells us this:

Mondrian… was one of the main inspirations to the early pointillist musical aesthetic of serialist composer Pierre Boulez.

The Mondrian OLAP Server processes information in OLAP cubes.

The Mondrian Hotel is located in West Hollywood, California, on Sunset Boulevard. It was built in 1959.

Piet is an esoteric programming language named after Piet Mondrian.

The La Vie Claire cycling team’s bicycles and clothing designs were inspired by Mondrian’s work throughout the 1980s. The French ski and bicycle equipment manufacturer LOOK, which also sponsored the team, used a Mondrian-inspired logo for a while. The style was revived in 2008 for a limited edition frame.

Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall 1965 Mondrian collection featured shift dresses in blocks of primary color with black bordering inspired by Mondrian. The collection proved so popular that it inspired a range of imitations that encompassed garments from coats to boots.

He inspired painters, composers, couture, architects – and at least one writer – me.

I led two webinars last week on presentation skills* last week) and I really pounded on the point that you need to know and be passionate about your topic if you want to rock the house.  But even more important, you need the discipline to focus on two or three messages if you want your talk to be memorable.  As it turns out, Mondrian gives a perfect structure to build that (pardon the pukey jargon) message architecture.

Consider the Yves Saint Laurent’s dress referenced above:

Where does your eye fall? The red square, I would wager… The black lines frame that square, re-emphasizing its importance,  The blue area draws you away briefly, while the yellow hem snaps the picture together.  Just like a tightly told story should work.

So let’s play with this for a minute, using Mondrian’s painting, Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray:

I’ve discovered that people often believe that awareness can move them forward.  It is as though that if they think it, it will happen.  This happens especially with really smart people, and also with some with a “new age” inclination.  There’s a whole “secret” movement out there that believes that if they think it, and really believe it, it will come true.  The “law of attraction” they call it.  I don’t think it is true.  This is not to disparage awareness.  From my own experience, awareness can lead to tremendous amount of growth and movement.  But only when it is paired with action. And oftentimes, these actions are unnoticed, small, subconscious actions or choices that move us toward our goals.

I used to work with an audio engineer/entrepreneur – long before I was a consultant and coach.  This guy, Chuck, was a good engineer, but he was a great philosopher.  We were talking about people who behaved like “a***oles”.  He said “People don’t realize that they’re a***oles, because if they did, they wouldn’t BE a***oles!”.  Now we all know the select few that are very aware of how they act, and are perfectly content acting that way.  But for the most part, he’s right.  Once the awareness sets in, they change.  Most people don’t want to be perceived negatively.  Most people do want to have a positive impact on their world.

So what happens?  How do they change?  They ACT .  They do something different.  When we become aware of an unknown truth – about ourselves, our business, and our relationships – we have the choice to take action.  It is the ACTION that makes the difference.

I recently decided that I would like to have more individual coaching clients.  My consulting business is going well, and I really enjoy coaching.  The only way I know to get more clients is to talk to more potential prospects.  Awareness:  I’d like more coaching clients.  Action:  Set up a free Business Success group in my area.

I did that, and opened it to “conscious” business owners and managers who had the responsibility of operating successful organizations.  “Conscious” meaning operating with some level of consciousness, social and personal responsibility.  These are the clients that I would like to attract.  I attracted many members right away.  In the process, I learned that there was a need for a networking group of a similar nature for people in all kinds of businesses – solopreneurs, freelancers, etc. (awareness).  So I formed another group to do just that. (action).

There becomes a cascade of activity, all stemming from a single awareness, as I continue to act on the new awarenesses that come forward.  Does it work?  These groups, in the first couple of meetings, have delivered a couple of clients and many more prospects.  If I had not acted, I’d still be sitting around wishing I had more coaching clients.

Another important component of this process is acceptance.  Particularly if you have an awareness that isn’t particularly flattering.  Take the a***ole.  If someone he trusts tells him that he is acting like a real a***hole, then he must first accept that he is, indeed behaving that way.  At first, it is just awareness.  Somewhere inside, he probably knows that he’s doing it, but he doesn’t have the skills to face it without someone calling him on it.  If he is in judgment and upset, or even denial about the awareness, then he can’t take a clear action.  He must first come into acceptance of the facts.  “Yep, I’ve been acting like a real jerk.”  Then he can take clear action.  That will lead him to success.

Of course, not all actions lead to success.  But I can guarantee you that inaction leads nowhere.

What awareness have you had today that you have yet to take action on?  Pick one, and go for it!  Experience that success.  Let me know what happens.

Jeff Youngs helps companies and individuals take action as a consultant, coach, speaker and author.  Check out his website at www.youngscom.com and blog at www.youngscom.wordpress.com .  He welcomes your thoughts, comments and suggestions.  Email him at jeff@youngscom.com.

By Lee Nicholls, Account Director, Caburn Hope

It’s not just the advertisers who are willing Christmas to come earlier year after year – your employees become distracted weeks before the big day, and it is imperative that you start to plan now for that final push to achieve end of year results for your business and smooth the way to an efficient New Year.

A 2007 survey* estimated that around one third of employees – that’s approximately 9 million people – start winding down for the holidays from the 14 December, a full week and a half before the festive season officially begins. Productivity plummets, and one in three people state that they will come in late at least once during this period while one in five say they plan to throw at least one sickie.

Ironically, now is the time you should be upping communications with employees to deliver that last burst of energy before welcoming in the New Year to ensure that everything is properly in place for the next financial term. If you’re not careful, you could lose up to four weeks of productivity over the Christmas period, meaning that nearly one twelfth of the year is frittered away on festive cheer rather than bolstering your bottom line.

The important thing to remember during this period is that you cannot afford to lose sight of what needs to be achieved in 2010. Starting to position the business a full six weeks before Christmas through messages which provide clarity and direction will drive staff motivation and accelerate the work flow into the New Year. Reviewing what has gone well for the company as well as lessons learned can illustrate how the employees’ input directly corresponds with the organisation’s overall achievement.

By now you should know how well you anticipate the company to have performed this year, and can be passing onto staff exactly how this will affect any expected bonuses and pay increases. Telling people as soon as possible – whether it’s good news or bad – will drive motivation, build trust and foster respect. People don’t like surprises (well, definitely not the bad ones), so the sooner you can inform staff of any information that impacts on them the better.

Don’t leave it until 2010 to start talking about 2010 – put some well placed communications plans in play now for a successful year ahead.

*     Teletext holidays 2007

www.caburnhope.co.uk

Growing up I remember my parents constantly telling me to say “please” or “thank you”. This is a lesson that has stuck with me through the years and I’m very insistent about it with my children. However, it seems to be a dying art form.
For example – after going out of my way to assist an employee, nothing. The help required several hours of work and the response…silence. Have we become either so ungrateful that we can’t say “thank you” or do we feel that others going out-of-the-way for us is expected? Not sure I like either option.
Do you see this in your workplace?

Do people say “thank you” or “please” to each other? Or is it all a demand?

Should this be accepted?

Is this why teamwork may be fading?

Is this why some have developed a “every person for themselves” attitude?

Is it affecting your team/company?
Looking forward to your thoughts, please!
Thank you