In tough times, don’t forget your secret weapon

May,  18 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – I got a Facebook message last night from an old friend (actually my first London boss) who I was delighted to hear from. Firstly, for the obvious reason – it’s nice when people get in touch – but more so because she’d read my blog (someone other than my mother emailing me about my blog is a rarity).

She’d been living and working in Spain for years until recently. She said with the recession there, her observation was that some large companies have just stopped bothering with employee engagement. A side effect of filling the work force with short terms contractors (less overhead risk) meant management perceived their need for communication to be less and subsequently their desire to invest in engagement went down. They stopped engaging people in the bigger picture.

As someone who is about to return to the UK (impeccable timing) to continue working in this field, I have to say I was slightly disheartened. Mainly because I think it reveals the knowledge still lacking in many organisations – that continuing to engage employees through the tough times, as well as the good can actually drive greater shareholder return. This is not the fluffy stuff. Getting it right can mean the difference between an organisation emerging stronger from the recession or a casualty of tough economic times. Engagement drives productivity and discretionary effort. Fact. Surely this in itself is enough for leaders to consider the advantages of continuing to communicate effectively through a down turn.

My advice to the C suite (and I say this to those in Europe as well as Australia) is yes absolutely, look at spend and be prudent, however don’t ‘cut-back’ on internal communication. It should be front and centre of your organisation during tough times. Your most powerful communication tool lies within your business – your frontline managers. Galvanise this army; equip them with the right skills, accountability and a powerful story, and you’re half way there. Enable them to have powerful conversations. Remember this should not be one way, the best employee communication is top-down, bottom-up AND horizontal, with a focus on informal influencers. Know who those go-to people are and leverage them.

As for my friend… after many years working in large and small organisations, she’s now busy avoiding mountain goats on a pair of skis in the French Alps.

As for me? Watch out UK. I come armed with a big and persuasive mission to fly the employee communication flag wherever I land (sans skis)…

New leadership at Ogilvy Impact

April, 20 – We are delighted to announce the appointment of Lorie Helliwell and Mike Beckerleg as new joint managing directors of Ogilvy Impact Australia.

Lorie and Mike replace Tam Sandeman who has decided to return to the UK after eight years with Ogilvy Public Relations Group of Companies – Pulse and Ogilvy Impact.

The appointments reflect a growing trend of companies recognising there is significant bottom line benefit when more focus and investment are placed on building brands from the inside out and driving strong brand ambassadorship with their people.

“With more than 15 years’ experience in the employee engagement industry, Lorie is renowned for the development and delivery of behaviour change employee programs which have driven countless business results. Together with Mike, whose significant insights from his rich experience as one of Australia’s smartest marketeers, the pair will take an already very successful and leading business to new heights,” said Kieran Moore, CEO Ogilvy Public Relations, Australia.

“Tam leaves Ogilvy Impact in tremendous shape and the new team is working in tandem with her to ensure a smooth transition period for our clients and our people.”

Lorie has been with Ogilvy Impact for over a year and was hired from the UK.  She has vast experience in employee communication and prior to joining Ogilvy Impact in Australia, led in-house functions for large organisations such as BT, Telewest and Trinity Procurement, a SAB Miller company.

Mike brings 25 years’ experience on both the client and agency sides. He has overseen the brand, marketing and corporate communications divisions of such blue chip companies as Sony, Vodafone and Seiko and spent several years running Telstra, one of Australia’s largest advertising accounts.

They are both looking forward to making a strong Impact… (ahem…)

The chicken or the egg – can you have employee engagement without work life balance?

April, 10 – BY KATE PIRRIE – Why organisations should care about work life balance.

Two weeks ago, at around 7pm on a Friday evening, some of my colleagues and I were left sitting at our desks, hurriedly trying to wrap up our work and get on with our weekends, when we found ourselves in the midst of a rather robust debate about work life balance. I have to be honest and admit that the irony of the situation was indeed lost on us all at the time. But it was not only the irony of the situation that was left unspoken, but the impact of the topic we were debating on our area of expertise, employee engagement.

We were debating whether organisations should care about employee’s work life balance. If an employee enjoys their job, is highly engaged and fairly rewarded, you can pretty safely assume they’ll go the extra 10% for you and be highly productive. So why should you care if they don’t have a work life balance?

Without going into how to achieve a work life balance (stay tuned for next entry), here’s some reasons why you should care about the work life balance of your employees:

• There is more pressure on the average employee today than ever before
• Most of us respond to increased pressure to perform by putting in longer hours, which eventually takes a toll on physical and mental wellbeing
• This then leads to a decrease in engagement and productivity, and organisations pay the price of having overworked employees through an increase in operating and productivity costs, the costs of absenteeism, lack of commitment, recruitment and retention costs and possibly even medical costs
• By having increased energy levels, it is possible to get more done in less time, consistently and sustainably as well as improving relationships with clients and customers
• Rather than trying to squeeze more out of employees, if organisations invest in providing their employees with measures to help them achieve work life balance, they will not only get the most out of employees both physically and mentally, but they will also be more motivated and loyal
• A study by Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy as reported in Harvard Business Review in 2007 found that employees participating in an energy renewal program outperformed a control group of employees by 13% in the first quarter of 2006 and continued to significantly outperform the control group for a full year after completing the program
• Last but not least, an article by Peter Martin published in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that statistics show that those who play sport the most work between 40 and 50 hours per week, and that 88% of Australians working 41 to 48 hours play sport in their spare time, compared to 79% of those working 16 to 24 hours, indicating those with a work life balance work harder

So, it seems the more organisations can invest in their employees and provide the infrastructure and encouragement for employees to find their balance, the more likely they are to sustain high levels of engagement and productivity.

Would you hire Goldman Sachs’ Greg Smith?

March, 16 – BY MEGAN CAULFIELD – Greg Smith’s ‘Why I’m leaving Goldman Sachs’ letter published in the New York Times has sparked debate about the company’s values and culture and thrown the organisation into serious damage control, not least around the way it will now deal with its internal communication.

Goldman has issued a memo to employees disputing the ex-executive’s claims of money taking precedence over clients, or “muppets” as Smith claims some MDs refer to them. They outline the workplace satisfaction levels with 89 per cent of employees believing the firm provides exceptional service to them. And Goldman recognises they face challenges but reinforce they have a culture which encourages openness and transparency.

It’s a well-crafted response as you’d expect. But in all of this hoo-ha, what struck me when reading Greg Smith’s words was his passion and conviction.

Smith’s version of events – his belief in a culture which had revolved previously around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, or his sense of pride in the service he delivered to clients  – demonstrate the qualities which organisations strive to attain. Organisations want to drive employee engagement and desire employees who espouse company values, who care about the work they do and are willing to support and lead those around them.

Much of the commentary over the coming days will focus on a disgruntled Smith having an axe to grind. And for organisations, it will reinforce the importance of a good crisis management plan in an age where public and private boundaries have blurred.

But the question that I’m left with is who would employ Smith after this?

On the one hand he will be seen as someone who can’t be trusted. But he’s also demonstrated a vision for a different world where values and the clients sit at the heart of the organisation.

In the end, it all comes down to where your values lie.

Being on speed really can be the answer

March, 9 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – This week a trusty colleague and I, stopped building our ark to escape Sydney’s fine weather, in favour of attending the annual MNC HR Team Briefing – an annual gathering of HR professionals from multi-national organisations.  The session was great for a number of reasons, not least for two specific reasons for me.  Firstly, I heard some new thought-provoking stuff – always good on a rainy day, and secondly, I finally won one of those business card prize draws (which I’ve always thought were rigged – I take it all back). 

We heard speakers telling tales of the importance of culture when it comes to getting business results from the card people (Hallmark) and the biscuit and snacks people (Campbell Arnotts).  But it was the final speaker, Dr Adam Fraser, who ran a fantastic and insightful session about how high performing organisations can lift performance even higher by getting their people out of what he called ‘grind’ and into a state called ‘flow’ where we perform our best, similar to ‘being in the zone’ for an elite athlete (not unlike myself – ahem).  Clearly an important topic for anyone who works in employee engagement, internal communication or HR. 

Now, logic tells those of us of sound mind that ‘being in the zone’ obviously sounds like the right place to be to perform at work. But, the most interesting insight for me was around the pace we work at.  I know I’m not the only one who has said my biggest challenge is time, and the speed at which I’m expected to deliver, which seems to get faster and faster.  My instinct here is to try to reduce my workload.  Dr Adam’s comments reinforced my thinking, stating that specialists say the solution is to ‘do less’. 

However, his research has proven some of the best, happiest people are those who are living at pace.  People who are working at speed.  That speed is OK.  It’s just about being in the right frame of mind while you’re going at that pace.  It struck me that those of us looking at internal engagement initiatives in organisations must work to help people get into the state of ‘flow’, which, as he put, is where we are truly and authentically happy.  I loved his idea of looking deeper than the sheer volume of tasks we have on our agenda, and then started to draw parallels from our good internal communication practice.

Some of his points when questioning ourselves were:

1. Do we have clarity of purpose? – this is akin to having a vision – a common goal – something everyone can pull behind. 
2. How about our environment?  Can we control this to minimise distractions?  similar to decluttering communication in an organisation. 
3. Are we present? – This is about active listening – really focusing on what’s in hand.  In the internal comms world, this is about two way communication – it’s got to be a conversation, not just one way
4. Are you positive when you ‘show up’? – being positive has such a good ripple effect on everyone.  Dr Adam said, positive emotion encourages different parts of the brain to wake up and so leads to more positivity, more creativity and a culture of innovation – all these can only be good for business

His final point was again something we all know – just how important this behaviour is for leaders.  For people to perform at their best, it’s leaders who can make this happen.  Our suggestion is that internal communicators / anyone working in employee engagement start looking at these areas as if we get people in this state – this will make the true difference between being good, being great or being a company who is talked about.

Storytelling at its best – the tale of the tiger and the loaf

Jan, 26 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – A blog that is short and sweet… just look at this wonderful letter which brought a smile to my face this Australia Day as I came upon it on Facebook.

An employee who completely 100% gets customer service, so much so that it’s been reposted online – and Sainsbury’s will reap the reputation benefits as I have no doubt this will get re-shared and liked many more times over the coming days.

In our world of employee engagement two things struck me. One is organisations must now start to trust their employees to have the brains to do the right thing when customers (of any ages) want to interact with them and secondly it highlights just how powerful tailored communication can be. While this is just a cute story, it really shows Sainsbury’s has really got it right and not only engaged its customer service team, but is showing strength and authenticity of brand in communicating like this.

And now thanks to social media, we’ve been able to share it too. Just imagine if your organisation was brave enough to empower the front line to communicate online in this way. A true army of passionate employee ambassadors – just so powerful.

In the meantime, I’m off to find some giraffe bread.

Tam Sandeman
aged 41 10/12ths (but wishing she was still 3)

How many leaders does it take to change a light bulb?

Jan, 11 – BY SHALINI GONSALVES – How many leaders does it take to change a light bulb in your workplace? Chances are, they’ll delegate it.

But you can’t delegate leadership. In fact, especially in 2012, you shouldn’t be running a business where leaders deflect responsibility.

It’s impossible to plan for 2012 – there’s game changing carbon legislation in July, dangerous surf conditions for our manufacturing and retail sectors and the wild rodeo ride of mining. And yet, everything hinges of China and Europe behaving well.

Wherever you are in Australia’s two-speed economy, your leaders need to be ready to engage employees to improve productivity and deliver exceptional customer service in the face of disappointing business results, or ready to reward and retain employees in strong performing industries. The Australian Financial Review (6 January 2012) reported recently that leadership is moving from the old concept of command and control to more intelligent leadership. Leaders need to learn and exhibit skills that include:

• Conflict in the workplace
• Cross-cultural communication
• Presentation and plain language communication
• Managing through change and uncertainty
• Working with a global, dispersed workforce
• Communicating with employees in a digital world

From our experience in employee engagement consulting and advice over the years, we sense that more than half of those in middle management and senior leadership positions are exceptional business managers, and have been promoted for those skills – rather than the inspirational and important employee engagement and internal communication skills required at that level to engage employees to be advocates, strive for performance and retain the best performers. So more than half your leaders are not fulfilling the basic requirements of their role – and you, and they, may not even know it.

All it takes is three steps to turn this around:

1. Benchmark what your people think about their leaders’ communication competency; how well they articulate and contextualise company goals and strategy; how they give and receive feedback that changes business outcomes
2. Determine the gaps between your leaders’ competency and ideal leadership skills
3. Invest in leadership communication skills training

Sarah Clout

Strategist

Sarah brings over 10 years’ broad communications experience to Impact, having held senior roles in a variety of sectors. Sarah’s industry experience ranges from global organisations such as Shell, to local government bodies, plus financial services, healthcare, retail and the charity sector.

Focusing on employee communications, Sarah has also held responsibility for external stakeholder engagement including media, government and industry bodies – helping to align employee engagement with wider business strategy.

Sarah has steered key communications and change projects, involving company merger, acquisition and rebranding. She has worked with senior leaders on reputation development, helping to position new CEOs and brands as thought leaders with both employees and external stakeholders. She has also managed internal launches to ensure employees are engaged as ambassadors for new external products and brands.

Working with senior managers, Sarah has developed tools to deliver employee engagement strategy, from the analysis and diagnosis of employee attitudes, to stakeholder mapping and message matrices. She is experienced in developing events to engage employees with business strategy and values, from themed management conferences to overseas charity events.

Sarah also has extensive experience of employee communication channel rationalization and development, communications training for senior leaders, and illustrating business strategy by bringing employee stories to life. She is able to distil complex messages for a range of different audiences, and has successfully secured industry awards and corporate sponsorship packages to engage with internal and external stakeholders.

Sarah’s practical experience is enhanced by her academic studies, including an MA Distinction in Marketing Communications from the University of Warwick, and current part-time studies for an MBA at Warwick Business School.

When not working or studying, Sarah can be found exploring Sydney, either above ground or below, as an advanced scuba diver.

The art of creating conversation

Oct, 24 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – Not long ago I blogged about Australia’s PR industry dialing up its interest in the power of employees as brand ambassadors. So it was with great delight that I accepted the invitation from the PRIA (Public Relations Institute of Australia) to speak on employee communication at its annual conference yesterday – PR Directions 2011.

While it was clearly a positive move to see internal communication on the agenda – for me what was even more exciting was the title of the session – Cool watercooler conversations in your organisation: Effective internal communication – highlighting the industry’s understanding that we deliver so much more than newsletters, CEO blogs and mousemats with the company strategy on it.

Driving conversation and dialogue is absolutely what it’s all about – and to be fair, in our view, always should have been. Long gone are the days when a charismatic (and unfortunately sometimes the opposite) CEO’s town hall speech at the start of the year was enough to rally the troops. Today, more than ever it’s simply not enough. Employees are more comfortable to ask questions after hearing from the CEO and actively demand more transparency around company decisions. We say leaders are at their most powerful when they don’t really think they’re communicating – in the corridor after the big meeting, on the way to the car park, in the bathroom (not ideal) – but it is these informal interactions during which more authentic, genuine communication takes place that really counts – because they’re believable and tailored to the individual.

I was asked to give 10 minutes of insight from our rather enviable position of having a bird’s eye view into the employee engagement and internal communication of many of Australia’s top organisations. Here were the four points (there would have been more, but 10 minutes goes fast) I believe all organisations need to consider when it comes to driving conversation:

1. The introduction of social media has meant ‘water cooler’ conversation now has a new channel – with informal conversations enabled online as well as face to face.  Companies taking social media seriously as an external channel but not for their own people do so at their own peril.
2. Avoid MMM (Middle Manager Madness) – Time poor leaders and diverse workforces mean that many organisations are simply not giving communication the time it deserves. But who is it that needs to be skilled up on the art of conversation with the right content? Not just the senior leaders. It’s the middle or frontline managers who are key to succcess – they have the opportunity to converse with the frontline every day – so it’s clear – THEY are the ones who need to be invested in and at the moment they are clearly forgotten.
3. Great conversations don’t just happen. Well, they do sometimes – but they need help. Providing managers with the right tools to stimulate conversation is key. Be creative. Provide them with stuff they actually want to talk about – something they see the point in. Journey maps and conversation guides are just two of the tools flying off our shelves at the moment. What’s better is… when measured – they really do work.
4. And finally…  be culture and demographically appropriate with your tactics. If you want to drive a culture of conversationists – it’s got to come from the top. Don’t choose something crazy and out there if you have a cynical workforce. This may come in time – road test anything you’re not sure about. Nothing worse than getting it wrong – this could do more harm than doing nothing.

As we say – it’s not rocket science, but we are all different creatures and there’s an absolute art to getting it right. Thank you to the filled room at the Hilton today – it’s great to know so many PR professionals are interested in this side of communication. I hope to meet you all at a water cooler some day…

Don’t reach for the stars

Sep, 9 – BY MEGAN CAULFIELD – The goal was simple. Spell the words correctly and the gold star was mine. Get it right the next week and I’d be looking at two stars.

Being slightly competitive I underwent a strict training regime. Work was taken home for evening review. Flash cards were created and poured over in alphabetical order. Invitations were repeatedly offered to test my spelling prowess.

You may think this rather excessive behaviour all for a simple sticker. But a recent HBR study reported in this week’s New York Times made me reflect on whether the goal of my primary school spelling bees was really a star or something more.

Research conducted by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, authors of “The Progress Principle”, asked 669 managers from companies around the world to rank five employee motivators in terms of importance. They ranked “supporting progress” last. But recognising progress in meaningful work was identified in the study as the primary motivator amongst employees. Even more than incentives like raises and bonuses.

In working with organisations on their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs), we often hear of new and improved formal recognition programs. Of course it’s critical to have the right processes in place to recognise employees going above and beyond. But it’s not awards or incentives that will mobilise the efforts of all employees in a sustainable way.

In the end it comes down to employee engagement and how good managers are at having the day-to-day conversations with their people. It’s about knowing the right questions to ask. It’s about listening, finding out what a person is working on and talking through any challenges. It’s sometimes as simple as saying hello and asking the person how they’re feeling.

Pretty simple stuff. But for many managers such behaviour may not come naturally. Or other things take priority and time becomes the excuse.

In my experience, there’s an opportunity for organisations to do more. It doesn’t have to be formal manager training as such. Highlight through your internal communication channels the business benefit of happy, motivated employees; reinforce their responsibilities in supporting their team and outline different things they can do to show their people they care.

In the end, no matter how old we are, we all want to be noticed for doing a good job. For me, as a ten year old there was nothing better than seeing my parents’ faces when I showed off my stars. That’s the driver. Not the stars.

Sabrina trumps one for Impact

Sept, 2 – This week, Ogilvy PR Australia announced its first Trumpet winners. The Trumpets is Ogilvy PR’s formal employee recognition program launched in May this year. Our company culture is built on three core values – Partnership, Learn & Grow and One Step Ahead – which are the foundations of the way we work with our clients, each other and our environments. As you would expect Impact to counsel, Ogilvy PR’s values are definitely not just a poster on the wall. Our leaders take them seriously and as such this program recognises those who exemplify them across the Ogilvy PR businesses.

We are delighted to report that our very own consultant Sabrina Herbrik, has won one of these inaugural award for ‘partnership’ to the senior team around client service and driving new opportunities.  Still at only the tender age of 23, Sabrina is already in her third year at Impact and has built outstanding client relationships with all her clients.  It is this which has led Impact to developing further employee engagement and change communication projects for a range of leading Australian organisations, and importantly allowed them to achieve their business goals.

We are absolutely delighted she has been recognised in this way. Sabrina will now compete at the end of the year for a bigger annual award to the value of $4,000.

A big congratulations from the Impact team also go to Rudolf ”One Step Ahead’ Wagenaar and Skye ‘Learn & Grow’ Lambley from Howorth who were recipients of the other two quarterly awards.

Apple: simplicity at the core

Sept, 2 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – Last weekend I’m sure I was not the only one shocked to see the pictures of a frail Steve Jobs after what will no doubt become a historic shift in leadership for one of the world’s most impressive and much envied organisations. Handing the reins to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook can have been no easy task for the man who has defined so much of the technology lifestyle innovation so many of us take for granted.

This change however does present an interesting challenge from an employee engagement and a leadership perspective. How does a successor to someone who ‘is’ the brand, someone who is known the world over, someone who is admired by employees and consumers alike, ensure that they come out of the starting blocks the right way. How do they build on the legacy as the same time as carve the right leadership niche for themselves and the company.

Admittedly in this instance, Tim Cook is an insider – he’s been with the business for 13 years, but despite the familiarity, it’s still a challenge.

My observation comes from the email sent to Apple employees (see below) immediately after this announcement from Tim Cook. The message is strong and clear and therefore very powerful. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure being Apple, this note will have had rigour behind it in its crafting – really making sure the tone hit the spot would have been critical. But it’s simple.

Simple. Passionate. Authentic. Focused on recognising the past, but also recognising what could be. With a strong call to action.

Clearly this can not exist in isolation. The incoming CEO needs to maintain momentum, demonstrate he’s listening, keep up the visibility and continue to inspire people in Apple’s vision and drive a clear strategy in which everyone can see how they play their part. However, if all new leaders take a few lessons from this simple email and ensure their communication ticks these boxes when they take over big roles – no matter how big – they too could capture some of that Apple factor that has clearly contributed to making them what they are today.

Something to think about.

Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim

(Source: mashable.com)

Think inside the box

July, 14 – BY SABRINA HERBRIK – Are the noticeboards at your office overflowing? Do messages get hidden and lost amongst the mess? Competing with other campaigns and initiatives for poster space on your office walls?

If you really want to get your message out there to a captive audience, consider that small boxed in area that you find in (hopefully) all workplaces – yes, the toilet cubicle. More specifically, the back of the toilet door.

Think about it. In most cases, this is an empty space. All of your employees will be in there at some point. It’s a captive audience.

By using this space effectively, you suddenly have one more internal communication channel available to you. One more opportunity to create awareness, inform and educate employees. One more way to get your message out there.

Utilising those toilet doors can really pay off but keep a few things in mind:

• Rotate your posters regularly – there’s not much worse than seeing the same thing week after week
• Consider the layout of the posters – keep the text short, make them bright and provide ways to find out more information
• Ensure bathroom posters are used as part of an overarching communication strategy and plan – reinforcing messages received through other channels

So next time you want to ensure your communication gets seen – try the toilet door!

A roaring success for Impact

July, 7 – By Maha Obeid for Marcoms News

An integrated brand campaign with Ogilvy & Mather in Hong Kong has seen Impact take home a prestigious Bronze PR Lion from last month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Chaired by Dave Senay, President & CEO of Fleishman-Hillard, the PR category entered its third year in 2011 with 819 entries, a 43 per cent increase on 2010.

Impact scored one of 15 bronze lions for its work on the ‘Inside Out” campaign (below, pictured)​ for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, taking the stage with other bronze-winning campaigns including Greenpeace’s ‘A New Warrior’.

With the Impact team dusting off the trophy this week, Megan Caulfield, Impact’s Associate Director (pictured), said the campaign’s success came from working with Shangri-La’s employees.

“Our involvement extended from running training sessions through to the development of support materials that helped leaders not just ‘tell the story’ but to engage in real conversations about what the brand means for employees day to day,” she said. “In targeting employees first we could ensure the brand promise was delivered to customers successfully.”

The campaign centred on delivering the Shangri-La brand promise of treating guests not as king, but as kin.

“From the outset we recognised that for the Shangri-La brand proposition to inspire employees, it needed to be credible, consistent and relevant. Therefore our strategy focused on gaining leadership buy-in and encouraging discussions about the behaviours that underpin Shangri-La’s family philosophy,” Caulfield explained.

Caulfied said the team was proud to bring home the award, at the same time as bringing home Shangri-La’s message.

“It’s extremely gratifying to see the great results of the campaign, which is testament to the critical role of employee engagement as part of a broader brand strategy. It’s also exciting to then be recognised with a Bronze PR Lion, which the entire team feels very proud of.”

Cannes Lion Win

July, 4 – The team at Impact is very proud to announce the latest addition to our trophy cabinet with a Bronze PR Lion from the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Recognised for our work with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts as part of a joint campaign with our Ogilvy & Mather colleagues in Hong Kong, the award is testament to the critical role of employee engagement as part of broader brand campaigns.

‘Inside out’ was the result of an integrated brand campaign that focused on building the brand from the inside out, ensuring employees had a genuine understanding of the values and behaviours needed to deliver the Shangri-La brand promise – treating guests not as king, but as kin.

In its 58th year, the Cannes Lions Festival is recognised as the most prestigious international awards celebrating creativity in communication, with more than 24,000 entries from across the globe.

Don’t be an April fool

April, 1 – BY LORIE HELLIWELL – So midday April 1 has come and gone and the opportunity to play a prank on friends and colleagues has passed for another year. Hopefully you escaped – unlike Sabrina in the office here, who found her desk wrapped in cling film like a long-haul suitcase. To explain why would take too long… when what’s important, is to remember opportunities like April 1^st and all the “special” days around the world provide employee/internal communication professionals with great opportunities to pep up our communications with employees.

Why not have an out of the ordinary special ‘4^th of July’ message  from the CEO for example, or ‘Carnival’ celebration theme to recognise employees as part of your engagement program? The opportunities to reiterate corporate messaging  while being  creative are endless. Just think what you could do to celebrate your national, cultural or ceremonial festivals, and then plan in advance a calendar of communication “events” throughout the year that mark progress, engage employees and celebrate success. And importantly have fun.

Who said employee communication has to be dull?

Drive the most out of your celebrity endorsements

February, 16 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – This month saw the appointment of Australia’s golden boy of tarmac, Formula 1™ hero, Mark Webber, as official ambassador for Qantas, as the airline broadens its activities beyond the Melbourne Grand Prix itself.

It got me thinking – are companies that are making what I’m sure is a significant dollar investment, really truly leveraging the value of the ‘tool’ they have at their fingertips?  Yes of course, all organisations don’t miss a trick when it comes to offering prizes in the form to tickets to sporting events, but are internal communicators missing a trick when it comes to their role in trying to communicate messages which inspire greater effort and engagement amongst the workforce.

Individuals in the public eye, renowned for success and working hard to be ‘above average’ provide a fantastic, and cost effective method (vs. the thousands, sometimes millions spent on celebrity endorsement) to tell stories and inspire people to operate at their best in the workplace.  Especially organisations undergoing major change.

So where to start?  Given these decisions (and the associated dollars) usually come out of a marketing or brand function reinforces the need for the internal communications team to have strong relationships with senior marketeers.  We must educate them gently on the power of internal storytelling.  We should remind them about the importance of negotiating some simple internal communication activities as a fundamental in their contracts.  We have to reiterate its not about internal ‘marketing’ – that posters and DVDs aren’t enough – its about stories.  Analogies from stories which will inspire our people to be their best, to be on brand, to help deliver the company goals.

Imagine getting the opportunity to hear first hand from Mark Webber himself:

• About the pressure he is under – how he copes, how he picks himself up, how he learns from mistakes;
• About the importance of teamwork - How F1 is clearly not just a one-man game – while drivers get all the limelight, it remains a team sport. Every piece of an F1 car must be exactly right to enable the machine, and its driver, to operate at its best – much like a well-oiled organization
• How every pit-stop needs to be a perfectly timed, millimetre perfect piece of choreography.  A far cry from the chaotic disorganized pit-stops of the 1970s, this parallels the importance of executional excellence for many organisations – and just how strategy is turned into business success
• The need to be flexible – the variables thrown into F1 by the weather – the need to change tyres to suit wet or dry weather patterns – translating into the need to adapt, not to expect the norm

It’s easy to see the analogies are endless – but relevant.  Very relevant to today’s operating environment in many industries

Storytelling is still one of the most powerful ways to communicate a message.  People remember stories, they don’t remember facts.  They like stories so they can learn from other people’s experiences.

If done the right way, utilising the power of storytelling by our marketing properties really can help inspire performance, drive collaboration and encourage people to innovate and move outside their comfort zones – but only if you use them properly.

I’ve witnessed just this business success when a large FMCG partnered with Aussie legend Steve Waugh when facing some major organisational change.  Capturing hearts and minds was going to be the key to overcome significant change resistance, and they did this carefully and credibly using the power of the analogy.  The business change (which was a major technology change over 23 sites in Australia) was cited as fastest in its world globally – and significant weight put on the way the internal communication and the change management was carried out.  It’s simple.  It works.

So, as a reminder, to get the most out of a major association, remember to consider the following:

• If you haven’t spoken to the marketing team for a while – go and have a chat
• Ensure internal engagement activities are written into contracts – as a must have not a nice to have – talent is usually happy to do them
• Get to know your ambassadors, understand where the true value lies in their own storytelling.  You have to understand your own organisation’s stories first – then and only then can the power of the analogy work at its best
• Give as many people as possible in the organisation an opportunity to hear them first hand.  Don’t let it just become a poster campaign

Even better will be if Mark Webber wins in Melbourne… now that really would be a dream come true.

Melcrum Social Media Conference for Internal Communications – Day Two

June, 30 – BY ALISON PIGNON – The standard of the content, presentations and debate on the second day of Melcrum’s Social Media conference for Internal Communications was very high overall. I was madly scribbling notes all the way through. Meanwhile, others were tweeting madly to share the gems they were picking up, with a prize being given to the person who tweeted the most throughout the day.

The conference was opened by international keynote speaker Euan Semple, with his entertaining mixture of dry Scottish wit and insightful observations. These included the need for organisations, and particularly leaders, to think less in terms of justifying ROI when it comes to social media and more in terms of justifying COI, i.e. Cost of Inaction – that is, not allowing it to happen.

The first case study was from a high profile professional services firm who is using social media to successfully encourage innovation and sharing of ideas by employees through an ‘Idea Zone’ on their internal website. It also turns out that this organisation has the largest Yammer community worldwide with 3,000 employee members. Their governance approach includes a social media steering committee and also a social media response team.

Next we heard from Robin Crumby, Managing Director of Melcrum who flew in from the UK to speak. He took us through some of the key findings of Melcrum’s 2010 global research into social media adoption internally by large corporations. It was interesting to hear that half of the 2,600 respondents (19% from the Asia-Pacific region) feel that the business case for social media is clear while the other half feel it is not clear. It seems the business world is still completely divided on this point. The research revealed what communicators believe to be the three most effective uses of social media internally:

1. Getting employees to talk, share information and collaborate
2. Building communities
3. Connecting to and learning from Generation Y employees.

After lunch, Lizzy Geremia, Brand Strategy Manager at NAB talked us through a very interesting case study on the use of online event technology to engage employees in the Personal Banking part of the business in the new brand promise. Using an easy to navigate and visually interesting online conference platform, employees were able to listen and watch a recording of the business head talking in an auditorium about the brand promise and then wander through to other booths to listen to other leaders’ ‘talking heads’. Employees were able to put questions to leaders via chat functionality, as well as talk to each other, and also provide online feedback. The results were great with the event reaching nearly 50% of the population and 95% of those who completed the feedback saying they had a better understanding of NAB’s brand focus as a result.

A final highlight of the day was the case study presented by a large banking, insurance and investing services organisation. I particularly liked how they measured the levels of employee engagement with social media tools and were able to group them into champions, advisors, members or just ‘missing’. The organisation identified the need to be more collaborative and grouped their communication tools under four groupings:

Connect – online portal

Share – video channel for employees to use

Discuss – Yammer and Microsoft Office Communicator

Innovate – Magazine

A lively panel debate closed what has been an interesting and engaging conference. Perhaps the next one will take place in a virtual setting?

Jacqueline Teurlings

Consultant

Jacqueline Teurlings is a Consultant at Impact Employee Communications. She joined the team in March 2010 and she works on a variety of strategic communication projects, from change management to internal communication audits.

Working with clients including BP, Coca-Cola Amatil, Leighton Contractors, Department of Defence, Inghams and large FMCG companies (e.g. Nestlé), Jacqui has supported projects related to sustainability communication, employee events, safety communication and social media.

Originally from the Netherlands, Jacqui previously gained in-house experience in her role of project manager at the Communications & Corporate Identity department at the head office of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

In South Africa, at one of the world’s biggest gold mining companies, she conducted post-graduate research related to employee engagement and internal communication as part of her Master’s degree.

Jacqui holds a Master of Science degree in Communication Studies from the University of Twente, The Netherlands.

In her spare time, Jacqui is all about engagement, but this time with her tennis racket which she uses with fantastic prowess and we are happy to loan her out to compete with any clients!

Building A Brand

Three years ago Leighton Contractors set an aggressive strategy to build a strong and profitable business across its core markets of Construction, Mining, Industrial Services, Investment, Building and Telecommunications. To do this, the business recognised that employee engagement was a critical driver in supporting and motivating the workforce, and made the strategic decision to focus on building the brand from the inside out.

Impact has partnered with Leighton Contractors on this three-year journey, helping to align a geographically dispersed workforce with the business direction, strengthen the connection between the leadership team and employees and build a can-do values based culture. In this time, Impact has provided strategic counsel and planning, executive leadership coaching, supported and managed the delivery of events (like their group wide company updates, safety and leadership summits) and conducted qualitative ‘Word On The Street’ research with their employees.

The strong focus on employee engagement has paid off with 72% of the workforce reporting high engagement levels with the business. And Impact continues to work with the Leighton team to ensure the ever expanding workforce, which has increased from 2,500 to over 8000 employees, is engaged.

IABC World Conference 2010 – Day One

June, 9 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – This week, the home of the Blackberry (the phone not the fruit), Toronto, sees the world conference of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) which had its fill of Ogilvy Public Relations.

Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy PR North Asia, represented us in speaking about “Brand Building in China”. Scott’s insights reflect his 19 years in Asia, complete with success stories and failures of brand building efforts. The thirst for knowledge about China was evident through a very well attended session.

However, I am here to attend sessions on employee engagement, communication and change – hear and possibly bring back new thinking.

Day one saw various themes running through a packed agenda of sessions – change management, employee communications and leadership communication.

From the first sessions, the most obvious issue presenting a significant opportunity for improvement for internal communicators, is that there is now a recognised lack of confidence in senior leadership from employees.

This problem has grown since 2003, as cited by Professor Veronica Hope Hailey, from Cass Business School in London, who has been researching change communications for over 20 years (including Australia). Interestingly, she sees real danger in 2010, that leaders will attribute the reason for this breakdown in trust to the economic downturn. And, more importantly, going into recovery will NOT rebuild trust in organisations. Leaders need to invest time in improving the way they communicate and engage, and do it better than they ever have before.

Secondly, (and unsurprisingly) all sessions I attended highlighted the strong need for authenticity in leaders. As communicators we must work with senior leaders enabling them to communicate strategy and direction in a real, authentic manner. Only then will we ensure we turn business strategy into action.

Lastly, as with all our work, driving interaction and conversation will be fundamental for success as leaders trying to engage employees in business critical initiatives.

One particular first day highlight was hearing keynote speaker, Kevin Warren, CEO and President of Xerox Canada. A leader who truly lives and breathes employee communication and engagement and one who directly attributes positive outcomes on the bottom line to their investment in this area. Even better was his inspiration – a sign he’d seen on the wall of Ford Motor Company – “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, emphasising your strategy is nothing if you can’t get the people piece right.

Another highlight for our team must be our attendance at the prestigious IABC Gold Quill Awards dinner which saw us collect our two Gold Quills of Excellence for work with Bayer ANZ and Ford Australia, as well as a best of the best award for the Ford work. No other consultancy took as many awards and proved again, Australia and particularly Ogilvy Public Relations punches well above its weight on the world stage.

So far, Toronto has treated me well, and I’ve also managed to catch the BlueJays vs the New York Yankees before the conference started. Given Toronto is also the city of choice for this year’s very imminent G20 frivolity…  if they coped with an Ogilvy PR invasion, they’ll be OK.

More from day two to follow…

Social Media Event

Sept, 24 – Social Media Event: This morning, 35 employee comms professionals gathered at Ogilvy House for a hearty breakfast of yammer, tweets and wikis. The drawcard was Brian Giesen, Ogilvy PR Worldwide’s director of 360° Digital Influence, explaining why social media matters for employee communication now more than ever before.

Brian discussed the recent trends in social media internally and externally, and how it’s being embraced as an effective employee engagement tool in organisations globally.

Click here to download Brian’s presentation. Feel free to share it with your colleagues.

If you need a hand using social media to tackle your business challenges, call Tam Sandeman or Stephen Hale on +61 (2) 8281 3222.