The Inside Voice

Getting Employees to Participate in the Conversation

In Marketing 101, every marketer learns the four “Ps”:  Product, Price, Place and Promotion. And they learn how putting together the right combination of these can yield optimum sales results. Recently, I read an article about how marketers can better engage customers using a fifth “P”:  Participation. The idea is that customers who participate in dialog with a company have more trust, better engagement, preference, word of mouth and brand loyalty to that company.

Can this same principle be applied to HR communications? Absolutely! This is about getting your employees engaged and interacting with the company to benefit BOTH the employee and the company.

Companies that get their employees to participate in “corporate conversations” are going to be more likely to have happier, more engaged and more productive employees than those who are not. There is a wide range of vehicles that allow for two-way conversation, including social media, meetings, events and other two-way communications.

Consider the possibilities:

• A benefits manager is frustrated by low response to a new healthcare alternative that the company thought would be popular. When the manager is researching options for the following year’s benefits, he brings together a small, inter-departmental focus group to help him understand why the employees didn’t enroll for the new benefit. With their input, the benefit is changed. The employees in the focus group spread the word on how this new addition will benefit employees. As a result, the enrollment for the newly-changed benefit is widely embraced and used by employees.

• A company lost a major account. Rumors are circulating. Employees are worried that layoffs are eminent. Productivity declines. Employees are spending increasing amounts of time speculating what could happen to their jobs and the company. To counteract this, the management team takes two steps: Senior management attends department meetings and apprises them of the situation – a need for increased productivity and cost cutting measures, and asks employees to submit ideas. The company starts an internal blog, giving updates on key successes and progress against goals. Suggestions are submitted and the company adopts the ones that make sense. Productivity returns. Hallway conversations are now generating new ideas.

Introducing a "conversation" with your employees can bring some welcome results. What have you tried to get your employees to participate in the conversation? What were your results? Share some ideas that have worked for you.

Engaging Employees in a Slow Economy

Most companies have been hit by the economy, causing employee downsizing, making many employees worry about job security. Morale sinks as a result. Companies need to keep employees focused on their day jobs instead of the effect on the economy on workforce. Workforce.com did an insightful article recently dedicated to ways that companies can help keep morale during these times.

Here are suggested communication tips and tools to help boost morale during these times:

-          Manage the message. Employees will be asking questions, so let them know what’s going on with the company. Address the questions.

o   Be clear. Be straightforward and clear in what you say.

o   Tell both sides of the story. Communicate good news with the not-so-good news. Make announcements when sales, launches and customer retention are going better than expected in addition to when things aren’t going as well.

o   Provide opportunities to help. Every communication should tell employees how they can do their part, whether it is cutting expenses, increased attention to quality control, talking up the product, etc. Let them be a part of the solution.

-          Be visible. This is not the time to have your leadership team tied up in long, closed-door meetings. They should walk the halls, interact with the employees and attend as many of the usual meetings as possible.

-          Choose the right tools. Tool selection is key  for communicating with your employees during these times:

o   Email. This is a great communication vehicle, but don’t overuse it. This is good for periodic updates from your CEO, but too many of these will dilute the message you are trying to send.

o   Online tools. A blog or intranet posting on a regular basis is a good way to let people know what’s happening. And if it’s updated on a regular basis, employees will know it’s a good source of information, and will look for the news.

o   Meetings. Having conversations with your employees is crucial. Depending on your situation, occasional hands-on all-staff meetings may be appropriate. Or for larger companies, attending department meetings or holding brown bag lunches may be more feasible.

Communication with your employees is crucial during these times. Make sure your message and tools are the most effective they can be to help boost your employees’ morale.

What tools have you tried to boost morale recently? Which ones have worked best for you?

 

Using Social Media to Improve Employee Engagement

Last week, The Inside Voice focused on how to introduce social media to your employees. A few years ago, using social media to communicate with employees was new and unproven. Even today, in my conversations with HR teams, many still feel that social media is something that is used for consumers, and rarely for internal communications.

Recently, Talent Management did an article that disputes this mindset. It shows that social media is becoming an increasingly important tool that HR departments use to keep employees engaged. This is based on a recent Employee Engagement Survey completed by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Buck Consultants.

The results surprised me. The number one communication method that companies in the survey used to engage employees and increase productivity was social media, with 79% of the respondents using this tactic. Other, more traditional internal communications were less popular on the survey rankings: email (75%), intranet (72%), face-to-face meetings (50%), website (36%), and employee newsletters (28%).

Blogs are the social media of choice for companies, with 47% of companies currently using blogs. Which social media are companies planning to use in the future? Discussion boards (33%), Wikis (31%), Yammer (29%) and podcasts (28%) top the list.

What are some ways your company can leverage social media to communicate with employees? Here are some ideas to get you started:

-          Internal blogs. A regular blog posting from the president or management team providing insight into new product launches, sales trends, and new market opportunities can help employees feel more a part of the company, and help them understand how their role affects  the company. This communication is not a PR piece, but provides an appropriate level of information can be especially valuable in times when sales are down, or when there may be bad news on the forefront.

-          Wikis and Yammer. Both of these are great tools to boost productivity, especially for project teams.  Wikis allow multiple employees to make changes on one master document, so employees don’t spend time looking for the most recent version of a document – they make changes online that go live immediately. Yammer allows project teams to touch base internally in a Twitter-like communication, just to the people that need to receive the updates, or who have the answers to pressing project question.

-          Podcasts. Training and education are the perfect opportunities to use podcasting. Simply record the training program, and employees can listen online, or download longer programs to their MP3 player so they can listen at their convenience. This is a great medium for product training, sales tips, new benefit introductions, and topics that people may want to hear multiple times.

What social media does your company use to boost employee engagement? What successes have you had? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

Introducing Social Media to Your Employees

A colleague of mine, Elizabeth Borton of Write On Target sent me an article from a recent Employee Benefit News that I wanted to share with you. It raises the hot topic: how much control should a company have over its employees’ social online networking, and the information they post on these sites? For companies that decide to allow and encourage employees to post online as a part of a corporate initiative, how do you introduce this media to them to maximize impact and manage the message?

Deloitte's 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results show that employers and employees take different sides on this issue when it comes to employee use of social media tools such as blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  Not surprisingly, the majority of business executives (60%) feel that they have the right to know how employees profile themselves and their companies online, while the majority of employees (53%) assert that social networking pages are not their employer’s concern.

It is interesting to see the number of businesses using social networking and why. In the survey, business executives said:

·          Their CEO is on Facebook (31%) or Twitter (14%).

·          The company uses social networking as a part of their business and operations strategy (30%), or to manage and build the brand (29%).

·          The company uses social networking as an internal communication tool (23%), or to engage employees (21%).

These indicators tell us that companies are using social media as a part of their communications mix – to grow business, to recruit employees, and even keep them engaged at the company. Many companies even have employee-created or company-sponsored corporate Facebook profiles.

Once you’ve determined that social media is right for your company, how do you introduce this to the employees, and ingrain social networking into the corporate culture? Here are a few steps to move you forward:

·          Develop your social networking policy. Include key elements such as how to monitor employee use while minimizing risk and exposure to the company. But understand that social media changes frequently, so design your policy to capture the positive aspects of social media and leave room for flexibility as the tools evolve.

·          Announce the social media plan to employees. Include details of how online networking will benefit the company. Is it meant for sales growth? Customer service? Corporate branding? Is this an internal tool only? Let employees know the important part they play in this introduction. The message may differ by role, departments, position/title, etc. Be clear on your expectations, the rules, which media is allowed, preferred.

·          Launch social networking to new hires in their onboarding program. A well-defined introduction sets the stage for proper use and understanding of the tools. Emphasize not just the social media policy, but how you’d like them to engage in social media to further the business needs, especially in their new role.

·          Consider doing some social media training. This is especially important if you have “front line” employees who interact online, maybe monitoring Twitter or other media for customer comments. And cover the dos and don’ts of social media. Many of the unfortunate employer postings today may have been avoided by more of an understanding of what should and should not be posted online.

·          Make it fun. Show employees (especially the technophobes) that social media can be enjoyable and interesting. But while you’re doing that, be sure they know the rules – acceptable use, amount of time allowed, whatever your policy allows to support the business.

·          Reinforce good, social media etiquette regularly. Highlight examples of good online postings and recognize employees for good, appropriate postings. Consider including this on your intranet, employee newsletter or in team meetings.

·          Give periodic employee updates on how the online initiatives are working. Where possible, include how the employee online updates were able to help in any of the measurement areas. Did it help to grow business? Save an account? Bring in new qualified employees? Let employees know what’s working.

Helping your employees understand their role in building your company through the proper use of social media can be made part of a healthy, corporate culture. Once the parameters are set, continue to develop ways that your employees can play a part in growing the company using new technology tools.

Has your company become a part of the social media wave? Which social media tools do you use? What’s worked for you? Share your successes and challenges.

What’s the Best Way to Send My Message?

 

With so many communication tools to choose from, internal marketers are faced with the ongoing challenge of knowing the best way to communicate to the employees. It can be hard to wade through the choices, which sometimes leaves the communicator using the same tools repeatedly – with limited success.

The biggest challenge is taking what you know about your audience – how they best receive information and what communications get the best response from them – and using it to help select what vehicles to use.  Here are some suggestions to get you thinking about what might be the best choice of tools for your next communication:

Traditional tools and paper-based communication tools are beginning to take a back seat to electronic media because of both cost and green initiatives. There still may be a need for a more traditional approach for some audiences. For example, some employees may have less access to computers, or be more traditional in the way they communicate. Other employees may just need the comfort of having the communication in hard copy.

·         For longer, more detailed correspondence:

-        Traditional letter or memo

-        Payroll stuffer

-        Newsletter

·         For larger or longer campaign reminders, or where a response is crucial:

-        Posters, signage

-        Cost-effective promotional item

Technology-based tools come in many forms for a variety of audiences. Some require use of a computer, while others can be seen around an office or worksite.  Technology tools also offer a wide array of offerings from global to one-on-one communications.

·         For deadline reminders or new program announcements:

-         Voice mail delivered to their office or home phone

·         For reaching large numbers of people cost-effectively:

-        E-Newsletter

-        Intranet can be linked from an email or mentioned in a letter

-        Video kiosks

·         For adding visual impact. Visuals are a great way to get people to take notice to a topic they sometimes ignore:

-        Interactive displays

-        Loop videos

-        “Ticker tape” displays

·         For reaching large or small groups:

-        Email – if used well and in moderation.

-        Yammer. If you’re not familiar with it, Yammer is a new internal communication tool that’s part of the social media wave. It can be effective for shorter, reminder messages to a tech-savvy audience. (www.yammer.com)

Events are another approach to reach groups of people. Because these are time-intensive and can sometimes be costly, you may want to reserve these tools for campaigns that justify the time and expense.

·         For big rollouts, such as introducing a new program, or to raise attention to ensure appropriate follow-up, try:

-        All-employee meetings

-        Staff meetings are great for getting feedback on specific programs

·         For getting the details of a new program out to your audience:

-        Brown bag lunches

-        Webinars/webcasting (either scheduled, or on-demand)

-        Podcasting

-        Training programs

·         For an initial introduction to new employees, try these tools. But make sure these aren’t the only place new employees are getting their information.

-        Onboarding

-        Orientation

What tools have been most effective for your company?  Have you tried anything new and innovative? What were the results? Let us know what’s worked for you.

Know Your Audience

One of the key elements to any successful communication is targeting the audience you need to reach. Though this may seem like common sense, many forget to think through this step, miss the audience they intend, and suffer the consequences with a low response or unusable information.

 

Effective communicators define their audience, understand how they communicate and then speak directly to them, rather than try to reach the masses with a single communication. Given today’s diverse workforce, trying to focus your internal communications can sometimes feel daunting. Here are a few tips to help you better reach your target audience.

 

Define your audience.  To get the best possible response, have a clear picture of who you are trying to reach before you start writing. Put as much definition around your audience as possible using the criteria that will help you best reach your goals. Some examples might include: position/title, job description, common tasks/responsibilities, office location, a central rallying point, a common project, etc. The more specifically you define your audience, the more clear and focused you will be when you draft your communications. 

 

Choose the appropriate tools. Now that you know your audience, you should also know the ways that they communicate – and respond – best. Does your audience have access to a computer to check email or an intranet site? Or are they more reliant on hard copy letters, payroll stuffers or more traditional communication means? Are they more responsive to face-to-face communications, and a visit to a staff meeting may be more impactful? Using the most targeted tools for your audience will help boost your audience response.

 

Speak the language. One of the biggest communication errors individuals make is writing to themselves instead of to their audience, leaving the audience with no understanding of the communication that the author understands clearly. Once you’ve determined your audience, communicate in the “language” your audience uses. Minimize the use of HR lingo and legalese, which may be cumbersome to understand. Instead, simplify the wording where possible to ensure the best audience understanding and speediest response.

 

Understanding your audience and using that knowledge throughout your communication can help you create more clear communications, and ultimately boost your response from the people you really want to reach.

Have you had any communications that have missed the mark because the audience wasn’t as clear as it should have been? Have you communicated differently the next time? What was the difference? We’d love to hear your learnings.

Fundamentals for Effective HR Communications

You’re in charge of a new project for your company. Let’s say, for example, you’ve developed a new, innovative training program that your company. This is your chance to shine. You’ve spent months putting together the program, the logistics and it’s perfect. Now it’s time to roll out the announcement to get people to sign up to attend. And, after all of your hard work, you want a great response.

Before you click "send" on that announcement email, check to make sure that you have the key components of an effective communication incorporated. Here’s a quick checklist to run through before you launch.

In the next few posts, I’ll go into more detail on each to give you more insight.

1.      Audience-friendly. Focus your communication to your audience. Who needs to have this information? In our training example, do all employees really need to get an email about this, or would targeting your message toward front-line employees be more appropriate?  Are you using the language that this targeted audience will understand? Talking in HR-speak will dilute your chance of getting a response from your communication – much less having them read past the first paragraph.

2.      Tool choice. Are you communicating using the vehicles that your audience prefers? If your target audience is tech-savvy, what are the chances that they will read a good, old-fashioned paper memo? If your audience works in a role where they don’t have a computer in front of them, will they get an email, and how long will it be before they open it? Understanding how to reach your target audience increases your chances of getting your message across and getting them to take action.

3.      Multiple communications.  When you’re putting together your plan on how to communicate, be sure to use multiples:  communicate multiple times using multiple communications. A simple example of this using the training scenario: you send your audience information about the training program in an email, discuss it at a staff meeting, and include it on a payroll stuffer, the more it will peak their interest the next time they see it.

4.      Clear information. Be sure to provide all of the information your readers need to make a decision or take action. Give them a resource if they need more information or have questions – maybe a website or a person to contact? Is the communication focused with only one or two points to cover? Is it easily understandable by your target audience?  Be clear, and address the questions that may arise.

5.      Call to action.  What do you want the reader to do? Have you given them clear direction? Do they know what they are supposed to do when they finish reading your communication? Does it tell them to sign up for the training - and how to sign up for it? Have you given them an enrollment deadline? Being clear on what you want your target audience to do will improve your results.

How do your communications rate against these basics? Are there other checkpoints that you use before hitting that “send” button?

Finding Your Inside Voice

An HR professional recently confessed her chief frustration to me: “information I just can’t seem to get across, whether I shout or whisper it.”

 

If you sometimes wonder which “voice” to use to reach your employees and get them to act, this blog is for you.

 

The Inside Voice draws on many strands of effective communications practices and focuses them specifically for internal use in your company.  We recognize that you face a variety of challenges, from establishing internal standards to "framing" news to motivating employees to take a next step on some issue of consequence. Which strategy, tactic, voice, is your best bet in each new circumstance?

 

As an HR professional, you have been designated an essential company “inside voice.” New candidates hear your voice first when they interview. You present the company profile, paint a picture of the culture, outline benefits and opportunities. It is your assistance with onboarding, education and training that help shape an employee’s career…and those careers, in turn, that shape tomorrow’s company.

 

The voice of frustration I described at the start of this column comes from having those exciting responsibilities in an increasingly demanding climate. Today’s overwhelming challenges mean your employees are more preoccupied than ever, making them harder to reach.

 

That’s where this blog comes in. Ideas, insight and guidance are yours through The Inside Voice. Which strategy to use—and which voice—to break through the clutter. How to make e-mail work…when to stop e-mail and start blogging…how to draw on resources outside the HR area…which voice (and tone) to choose for executives vs. new-hires vs. peers.

 

Look here for an approach to HR communications that maximizes your effectiveness. We promise more than "best practices" and great tips. You'll find new perspectives, a fresh universe of thinking, tools you haven't considered--and help with choosing among them. And a forum for sharing what's worked for you, what you still need, what you want me to address.

 

Stay tuned to The Inside Voice for workable ways to be heard, company-wide.

Welcome to "The Inside Voice"

The Inside Voice brings fresh thinking, concrete strategies and inspiration to HR professionals who want to more effectively reach employees, get them to take action on the communications ... and overall better engage these employees. Visit, share your successes, vent your frustrations, let us know what you need!