Back over at FIR (#166), Shel Holtz weighed in with a comment about the recurring theme ‘around these here parts’ of the death of employee communication as a strategy now that intranets are commonplace. I’m not sure the blame can be laid at the foot of the intranet front door.

My own experience as a communicator AND as a sometime-employee leads me to believe that employees are so disengaged that traditional non-face-to-face communication vehicles such as newsletters, videos, etc., are just more ‘junk’ to attend to during an employee’s day.

No one seriously trusts an employer to care more about the employee than the P&L line these days; the old mantra of ‘our people are our most important resource’ is hackneyed and thankfully has gone the way of the dinosaur. Whilst the mantra is true, it is unfortunate that redundancy-led cynicism leads one to smell ‘fish’ when some HR or senior management person tries to push that line.

I think employee comms is in crisis not because of social media or a lack of strategic intelligence, but simply because no one ‘cares’ anymore. The vast majority of employees turn up, do their job, collect their pay and return home to their families, their hobbies, their tvs and their extra-curricular studies. Why develop a psychological bond with an employer who may dump you next week, or whom you may leave for a better offer?

But… but…

There will always be a need for employee comms in any change management program — and that means more than just dumping a whole lot of html and pdfs on the company intranet.

I’ve just finished a project for a major company where the regular, consistent communication, via an emailed pdf newsletter they could print off and read on the bus journey home, was integral to the project’s success.

Feedback from random employees rated the newsletter comms exceedingly highly in helping them feel ‘engaged’ in the change process.

It would be a shame to lose the power of employee comms vehicles, especially when personalised, to a management world-view that says, “we paid a gazillion clams for this feffing intranet, now get some content up there and make everyone use it”.

Technorati : fir, for immediate release, shel holtz

A client of mine is in the process of relocating to a brand new building and as part of my work with them I have created a series of staff newsletters about the move — all the way from the initial announcement of the start of the final phase of the project (getting the staff ready to actually move) to the first week of being in the building.

The client has, at the entrance to their floor in their current building, a large feature wall where they have a home-made ‘journey and milestone’ display, showing their progress from initial formation just two years ago to where they are today, what major projects they have undertaken, and so on.

As part of the ‘packing up’ and getting ready to go, the ‘journey wall’ has been taken down, leaving a large space. So I took the opportunity to reprint all of the newsletters, laminate each page separately, and hang them on the wall. It is still a ‘journey’ — but this time a journey and countdown of the move to the glorious new offices.

It is also a celebration — every member of the client’s project team (and me too) is very proud of the results of this mammoth undertaking. Feedback from the 120 staff has been overwhelmingly positive about how informed they have been throughout the project, how much they love the newsletters, how helpful the project team has been in answering their questions.

So the question I ask each of us is this: do we take enough time out to celebrate the projects we handle? Do we take time out to reflect and bask in the sunlight and recharge our self-esteem batteries? Or do we plough on from one project to the next? I know that I am guilty of the latter; it is refreshing to be given the opportunity to take a breath of fresh air and receive a few pats on the back for a job well done (even if it is just from myself).

Technorati : celebrate, success

As part of my ‘giving back to the community’ activities, I am helping out the PR students at Deakin University in Australia by recording interviews with experienced internal communicators.

Why? Because I believe that the new PR young guns will potentially miss out on exposure to wisdom about a HUGE part of their publics and it behoves we business communicators to ‘wise them up’.

I am looking for seasoned (and only lightly salted) internal communicators who are willing to be interviewed (probably over Skype) for about 30 minutes.

The questions I would put to you are some/all of the following:

• Why do you think internal communications are an important part of the overall communication/PR mix?

• What method is the best for communicating to employees?

• There are some experienced business commentators who say that despite the focus on it, ‘engagement’ is worse now than, say, ten years ago. Do you find this? If it’s true, what are the reasons and what can be done about it?

• Does the size of the company make a difference in how you communicate with employees?

• In your experience is it possible for there to be too much communication?

• There is a saying that everyone sees themselves as being a ‘marketer’, or at least has an opinion; does the same mindset apply to ‘communication’ (i.e. everyone sees themselves as a brilliant communicator) and what is the most effective way of dealing with it?

• What was your biggest internal communication success?

• What was your biggest internal communication ‘learning experience’?

• Finally, any last words for students of communication/PR who may be considering adding internal communications into their skillset?

If you are able to help out and are willing to be ruthlessly grilled to the point of tears give of your wisdom, then please either email me: Lee at LeeHopkins dot com or else leave a comment on this post.

I feel it vitally important that we educate and promote our passion to others, especially those who are about to enter into the giddy world of PR/comms and who may not be aware of how vitally important good employee communication is.

Many thanks in advance,
Lee