This blog is about the relationship between organizations and the people who work for them. And, it’s dedicated to the millions of people around the world who go to work every day wanting to do a great job.
Communications
From campaign to composition
Let’s face it, we live in an event, event, event world. One event after another. Big events and small events. A new brand. A new executive. A new policy. The latest quarterly results. A new acquisition. A divestiture. A new product. A flood of separate moments. From an employee point of view it can all look pretty disconnected and confusing.
The challenge we have as leaders is to have these discrete events build momentum toward the business results we’re after.
But in an event, event, event world here’s what usually happens. A big shiny new brand launch. A month or two of hints about what’s coming. Lots of energy and hoopla focused on the day of launch. A campaign. Internally all goes incredibly well. Better than expected in fact. Then nothing. Or maybe a little something. And then nothing.
Communications based on discrete events will only ever be just that. What’s missing? The composition, “the plan, placement or arrangement of the elements” in relationship to each other. The same events communicated in the context of the whole will build momentum and action toward the business results we’re after.
To move from a series of campaigns to composition takes a change in perspective. It means looking at the events in context and understanding how each event impacts the other as well as how separately and together they support the overall business objectives over time.
It means understanding what these events separately and together look like from an employee [insert any other important stakeholder here] point of view. What does success look like? If the new brand [insert any important business event/announcement here] is a success, what will we see? Specifically how will it advance the business? What are the proof points? How and when will we know? How will we tell that story over time?
As business leaders isn’t it time to insist on integrated communications strategies that will help build business momentum. Isn’t it time to move from communications campaigns to composition?
Random Posts:
What’s the value of a good relationship?
Being open. Being collaborative. Being innovative. We all say this is a good thing. But how does being open, collaborative, innovative add value to your organization?
The focus on social media – the tools and tactics – is taking us away from this more important question.
What’s the value of a good relationship to your organization? Here’s a conversation between Charlene Li and Gary Hamel.
What’s a good relationship look like? with your employees? your customers? your supply chain? your board? And what’s the value of that relationship to the business. Is anyone in your organization is really thinking about that?
Random Posts:
Annual performance reviews may be making things worse. Now what?
If, the idea is to improve organizational and employee performance, then the annual performance review may be making things worse not better. Today’s Globe and Mail confirms that according to an “academic review of more than 600 employee-feedback studies… two-thirds of appraisals had zero or even negative effects on employee performance after the feedback is given.” [link not available - "Every year not enough, try weekly performance reviews", Rachel Emma Silverman]
Since it’s that time of year, the time of year when I know many of you are focused on reviewing this year’s performance and defining next year’s team and individual objectives, I thought you might be interested in learning about something completely different. Something that will really increase your chances of improving performance next year.
The “Managerial moment of truth” presents a framework and an approach to skill building. As Robert Fritz describes it, “the managerial moment of truth is a one trick pony. But, it’s a really really good trick.”
It’s not personal. It will help you build an institutional and individual ‘cycle of correction’ and learning. It will enable you to effectively increase organizational and individual performance.
Here’s co-author Bruce Bodaken, CEO of Blue Shield of California, speaking about the impact of this approach on his business’s leadership and performance. He believes that this approach has helped him and his team unleash between 25 and 40% of the underutilized capacity in his organization at little or no cost. In his 5 years as CEO, BlueShield has become the fastest growing health plan in California. They’ve doubled membership and grown revenues from $3B to 8B. A remarkable achievement indeed. Worth checking out the full video, especially after minute 6.
Random Posts:
Close encounters of a third kind
It’s the end of summer and the skies are filled with falling stars and comets in this part of the world. Thoughts of end of summer movies and UFO’s are somehow on my mind. So, I hope you’ll indulge me.
As I’m sure you all know [; )], close encounters with UFOs come in three kinds: sighting, physical evidence, and contact. Now, imagine the CEO [read executive leadership] as the UFO [for fun you could actually make employees the UFO and see what that looks like from an executive leadership point of view]:
Close encounters of the first kind - sighting. Pretty rare in most organizations. Employees may see or hear the CEO in big announcement ‘townhalls’ [most often online], and very occasionally as they and their entourage rush quickly through the plant, store, office, or cafeteria for a ‘meet and greet’, or “Christmas” party.
Close encounters of the second kind – physical evidence. Employees can see the effects of the CEO pretty regularly – the welcome letter in the orientation package [if you're in an organization that takes your orientation seriously you might also get a video clip welcome], the quarterly newsletter, the financial results e-mail [and 'townhall', see above], the occasional e-mail and video for a launch of a new brand [identity], introduction of a new product, divestiture, acquisition and/or change of organizational structure or leadership, and even more indirectly in policy changes, the congratulations note for years of service. Physical evidence may still be the most common kind of CEO encounter.
Close encounters of a third kind – Contact. The most direct and the rarest. This is where CEOs and employees actually connect. Human scale, face-to-face contact. Conversations about what matters most. Feedback about what’s working and not working. Personal commitments for support and action. Direct follow-up.
Random Posts:
We have no bananas!
Yes, I’m sad to say we have no bananas today.
I’ve been in and around the blogosphere for 4 or 5 years. And, I’ve seen a lot. Some of it good [great]. Some of it bad. Some of it ugly. Today, I saw all three in one day.
And, I have an observation. Most of the communication, management and marketing blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook pages and groups I frequent start off very well; very well, indeed. They have a strong editorial point of view. They’re strategically oriented. Edgy, stimulating and provocative. The people they attract are from different backgrounds. All of them looking for insight and perspective. The conversations that follow are driven by the “founders”. Then there’s a moment when either the authors/founders lose interest, or where they take a decision to change the model.
On blogs, they invite guest bloggers. This isn’t so bad, since they are usually like-minded thinkers. On LinkedIn and Facebook pages and groups they open up to public postings. Despite what any of us may think about democratization of information and crowdsourcing [both of which I am in favour of by the way]. I haven’t seen a crowdsourced blog or page that really stands up.
Vision, an editorial point of view and “curation” are important. They lead to more vibrant and interesting discussion. They help attract the ‘tribe’ of “like-minded” followers.
Instead these sites end up losing everything they originally stood for. The thinking – strategic not tactical, systemic not siloed, innovative not iterative is replaced by discussions on questions like – what are the top 10 things great managers do? what are the best practices for process mapping? what’s the best social media tool for ceo’s? etc. It’s more a pooling of ignorance or a thinly disguised “marketing” approach than anything close to something that will further the profession.
What’s happening? Lost is the thoughtful and thought generating discussion. Found is watered-down free association.
Please, please can we have more bananas!
Random Posts:
Smile!
… and the world smiles with you! Or not, according to an article in today’s Globe and Mail. How and when we smile depend on “gender, race, culture, and class”.
It’s interesting to think about the impact this small thing, a smile, has on our boardrooms and workplaces. As an example: ”Impassive facial expressions are the default for men” and “women are more likely to… return a smile and … to smile when the are disappointed.”
So, the people in power aren’t smiling [men hold 86% "of board seats among the 500 largest Canadian companies"] and their women employees are out there smiling even when they are disappointed. See a problem here?
If employee involvement is our goal, then maybe we need to start with a smile!
Have a great weekend!
Random Posts:
Storytelling, media & me
Today, I read an article about the growing demand for people who are able to tell stories in every media - photographs, text, audio, video, alone or in any combination - and made the case for pr [read communications] professionals to build these skills. The medium, it seems, really is the message.
So, I thought it was a good time to check in and see where we stand in this world of ‘content’ production.
Me? For the past couple of years I’ve been experimenting with different social media and getting used to writing and sharing ideas and stories online - here, as support to Michael for From Marshall and me, on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare [which after much frustration I've stopped using] and by commenting on other blogs when I feel I have something to add to the discussion. I’ve attended a two Montreal PodCamps and several Third Tuesdays to get a deeper understanding of what technologies and applications are out there, how they are used, and what opportunities there are for institutional communications. I’ve met amazing people - Mitch Joel, Julien Smith and Michelle Sullivan - who have advised, provoked and inspired.
In the past few months, I’ve been revisiting and rebuilding my structural thinking and consulting skills. The most recent training was last week. I attended a fabulous 5-day Advanced training with Robert and Rosalind Fritz. The importance and power of structure to the creative process and in storytelling was clearly evident. I always knew this training was key to my professional consulting practice. Now I know it is key to being a good storyteller.
Today, I’m officially committing myself to the next step in my journey to create compelling content and learning how to share it in different ways. Sure, I will continue to blog and do the stuff I’ve been doing, and, over the coming months I’ll be learning and building mastery [OK getting competent] with as many communications technologies and applications as I can.
This is a pretty big step for me. As those of you who know me will attest I’m no geek! Here’s my starting point. What technology is usable and what’s not!
Ouch! And, it is a secondary choice to a primary choice to producing great, compelling stories that I can share. Standby.
You? I’d love to hear about what you’re doing to build your storytelling and media skills? What were your successes? What did you learn from your failures? What can you recommend?
BTW: I’ve already started experimenting with my new camera [Canon S95] [no commercial relationship]. I’m still not working with the SLR or video features, but I’m looking forward to that. And, the scanner is plugged in and ready to go so that I can start a family project I’ve been thinking about for years. An opportunity to experiment and learn to tell a different story in a new way…
Random Posts:
Stories sell
Years ago I was a serious about photography. I loved my SLR camera. I took several classes and had achieved a certain level of mastery. I shot images I really loved.
Then came digital. I was lost and overwhelmed by the technology and eventually ended up with a blackberry and the occasional very bad shot. Yesterday I decided to change all that.
Michael and I arrived in the photography shop universally hailed as the best photo place in town and were greeted by two nice gentlemen. We’d just walked for 90 minutes to get there in the bright sun and as my eyes adjusted to the light I realized I was in photographer heaven. The place was packed with equipment and people. We lined up and eventually got to speak to a nice young man.
Over the first 20 minutes or so he told us fact after fact about the two models that he thought best met my need and budget. He was professional and pretty restrained.
And then, he reached for a third model. His voice changed. The way he handled the camera changed. And he told a story. He told us he’s sold this model to a friend of his who was looking for SLR features in a light weight point and shoot. And how having bought this camera his friend was raving about it. It was a short story. Maybe three sentences. And it changed everything. I bought that camera. Yes, it cost more. But it weighed less and … his voice and the story closed the deal.
Sometimes, stories sell.
Oh dear! Now I may need to head to Pheonix. Stories do sell.
PS: For those of you who are interested I got a Canon Powershot S95 and I’m now on pg 29 of the 196 pg manual! Can’t wait to get shooting.
Random Posts:
The language might be different, but are the messages the same?
Turns out trying to increase productivity and motivate and engage employees is nothing new.
Last night I was watching Antiques Roadshow [yes, it's one of our favourites]. And, someone brought in a series of “work incentive posters” from the 1920s and 30s. Besides being valuable [as per estimates by Swann Galleries], they were visually stunning and the messages sometimes funny and familiar. The language might be different, but are the messages the same?
And finally in this age of wikileaks and with a smile:
Random Posts:
You can’t know what you don’t know!
“Orienting employees has more to do with introducing employees to your culture – “The way we do things around here” and the brand experience – than it does all the rules and regs that are the usual focus of employee orientations.” Yes, I said that in a post last November.
And, I still believe it. But part of the way we do things around here has to do with rules and regs so employees need to know that too.
My nephew, let’s call him John to protect the innocent, got a job at Subway earlier this summer. He’s 16 and this was his first experience working outside the family business. He lasted less than two weeks. No one told him that on breaks there’d be no place to take the break. You see at this Subway outlet you can eat all the food you want, but there’s no where you’re allowed to eat it. Unknowingly, poor John found a corner in the empty restaurant to take his break and have his snack. The next day he was told off [I guess the manager watches the video] and his hours were cut. The day after that he quit.
You can’t know what you don’t know.
This came to mind today when I was out chiwalking up Mont Royal and heard someone coming down the hill complaining about being told off at work for something they’d never been told and couldn’t be expected to ‘just get’.
So, ask yourself: What do new employees need to know about the way we do things around here? Are we giving them an adequate orientation or are we just waiting until they break a rule or cross an invisible line to let them know?
Good for John for quitting. And too bad for Subway ’cause they lost a great employee.
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Recent Posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
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- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
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Recent posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
- The truth about the number 1 fear
- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
- Staying in touch with reality
- “Just hire a Dalek”
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