Avoiding the Employee Engagement Rubber Rat!

The boring staff meeting

This article about employee town hall meetings where sitting was banned is great. On first reading that line, one might say – what a horrible organisation. However upon closer inspection, you realise that it is not as mean as it may sound.

How often have you been dragged away from your desk and from the productivity the C-Suite keep harping on, to sit in a meeting that drags on for hours? While I am all for engagement and especially where leadership is concerned, some meetings – and note I say, SOME – do not use time effectively, nor do they add value. They simply run the risk of aggravating the audience and in their minds, “wasting time”.

Engagement is important but it should also be effective. Many of us work in a fast-paced environment, and increasingly, our lives shape the way in which we communicate. We now communicate in a world of 140 characters, status updates, and short and succinct videos. Conversations do not always have to be epic. The best messages can get lost in the mire of sluggish corporate speak. The challenge for internal communicators is finding the best way to convey these messages so that 1) they are well received, understood and the receiver has good recall of the message;  2) do not head into the sphere of information overload.

While the rubber rat concept may not work for your organisation, other techniques would be more relevant – be it desktop or mobile video, internal social networking platforms or simply, better structured, better managed face-to-face meetings. 

Read More

Bringing Pretty Plaques to Life

Effective leadership means connecting the dots for employees - David Grossman

This is the truth. Too often, strategies and plans fail because the executioners do not fully understand the direction. Yes, they may have a brief which outlines what is required. Yes, they may have the tools to complete the given task. But do they fully understand the importance, the impact, the background - the why, what, where, who, when, how?

If you were to ask an employee what their company's mission or vision was, chances are some of them could rattle it off by rote. But unless there is engagement around what those words on that plaque stand for, then they are just that - words on a plaque.

This week, we started a new ad campaign and yes, we sent a brief to the agency. The truth is though, I had to connect the dots especially since this was an internally produced strategy sent to an external provider to execute. Creative they are, I am sure, but it was only in fully talking through the brief with the account executive and giving her the back story - the 5Ws and the H, bringing some relevance to the document before her, that she had that "ahhh" moment.

Employees often are taken for granted when decisions are made from way up top. The days of handing judgements down from the throne are over. The days of open communication, active engagement, soliciting feedback and opinions are here, now. Successful tactical delivery, employee satisfaction and loyalty are just some of the end results of taking internal communications to a level that goes beyond "all users" emails and memos from faceless executives. More managers, for example, have to be empowered to have cottage meetings with their staff, and to share their feedback through the management chain. The tools available to internal communicators - intranets, social platforms, video, podcasts, video conferencing, to name a few, make engagement easy and creative.

The reality is, without communication, there can be no leadership. Leaders will ultimately fail if they are not communicating regularly and effectively and all the big MBA sounding words on far reaching plans and policies will remain inanimate if there is not real passion and engagement around them and employees. Getting employees to understand and have that "ahhhhh" moment is a huge part of why companies are successful.

Are companies really ready to take the necessary steps to breathe life into words on plaques and plans?

Read More

Are you Happy and Engaged?

I found this video to be hilarious, but the not so funny part of it is that the strategies mentioned here for engaging employees are very real in many organisations, leaving a lot to be desired.



Engagement ends with management - How many times does your management team go on retreat to discuss strategic direction, and somehow the real meat of the matter never gets back to you? You're just told, "this is how it's going to be" and are expected to tow the line, no questions asked.

The email - Do you feel valued or engaged when important issues, which heavily impact your core functions, your team or your welfare are communicated via a company-wide email, which most times may get lost in your inbox and you only go search for it and read it after someone who has read it asks your opinion on it?

The ad - Do you know what's happening in your organisation before the wider world, or are you just another nameless face in the sea of nameless faces targeted by expensive advertising? Do you feel empowered to sell what your company is selling, because you have been fully involved in the process from conception to development to implementation?

The Power Point, with loads of clip art - Are you huddled into the staff training room and with your eyes taped open, confronted by a 100 slide Power Point presentation, with charts and tables and revolving text and clip art, which may be full of relevant information, but not dynamic enough to "fire you up" and get your buy-in?

"Noone says they're not". - Are you motivated? Do you feel like you're making a difference and that your work is appreciated and makes an impact on the overall operations and strategic direction of the organisation? Do you feel like getting up in the morning to go do what you do? But more importantly, does management care if you do? Do they ask? Is there any engagement initiative internally to gauge employee morale and solicit feedback?

I can't find HR - Is your well-being shackled to the people in Human Resources? Do you have to be depend wholly on them for any type of information that impacts you, or is there an organisation-wide tripe C structure of communication, collaboration and consultation, which makes giving and getting feedback painless?
Are you an important part of a well oiled machine or just one of a million screws trying to hold it all together? Is internal communications a vital part of your organisation's strategic plan or is it an "aside" that gets remembered when it's time to set targets and deliverables?

Are you happy and engaged?

Read More

Who's managing your brand?

Yesterday afternoon, after a week of craving, I headed to this particular fast food outlet to just get it over with. What I saw when I got there was alarming to say the least. There was one girl at the counter, and she was both cashing orders and packing them. That is a problem in itself but that was not the issue. What struck me was her appearance! The young lady was wearing the company branded shirt, and it was riddled with holes. Not tiny pinholes but gaping wounds in the fabric. I looked at her in horror as she stood there, non-plussed about her appearance, casually serving people their artery blocking meals.

There was a huge hole, probably the size of a 50 cent piece in the front of the shirt and she simply wore a matching red tank under the shirt, in some lame attempt to disguise it? I don't know. I cannot fathom what purpose this was supposed to serve. There were holes at the back of the shirt, some sloppily patched up with black thread, which by the way, was a stark contrast. There was, what looked like a bleach stain on the back,  and the shirt's collar looked as though rats made a meal of it. But yet on the breast was the brand EMBLAZONED for all to see.

I am not sure what the managers of these outlets are responsible for, but I would hope they would be caretakers of the brand in the absence of a Marketing VP. It is NOT the responsibility of a Marketing VP or Human Resources VP to monitor how the brand is represented to the public. Did her manager not realise she needed a new polo? Was a request made for one? I shudder to think that a request was made and denied, or that they don't have extra polos lying around. It was pretty distasteful and I don't care if you're frying french fries or giving a speech on global television, there is something to be said about image and how your employees maintain the image of your company. Even if this employee could not give 2 hoots about her ratty shirt, someone else should have.

I was just rather stunned by this as you can tell. It reminded me of any evening, at happy hour, I saw a young lady, resplendent in her bank's uniform, going down low with glass after glass of spirited drinks in her hand. And I thought, "Couldn't she go home and change out of the people's uniform before she came to embarrass herself in this manner?" There is something to be said for engaging your employees about how your brand lives everywhere, even in their appearance and actions. Every individual in an organisation is a brand ambassador. It's not solely the responsibility of the people in the Board Rooms to protect and manage the brand. It starts from the frontline and goes all the way up. Clearly this escapes some.

I don't think this franchise is in dire financial straits that they cannot afford polos for their staff. The long lines on any given day, at any given time remind me that fast food is king in Trinidad and Tobago. And while not everyone may care about the image of your brand and just want their box of oily mess, good Lord...the employees should care. How much do you care about your corporate brand?

Read More

Hip and Happenin' CSR

A lot of people are getting caught up in the whole CSR thing, without really knowing or understanding what CSR is really about. It's a new and hip tagline for some, a nice section for the Annual Report, with pretty photos of hugging kids or planting trees. But there is no substance, no tie in to the business, no buy in from staff.

It makes me recall a disturbing conversation I had with a colleague once. Her company had partnered with an NGO which focused on HIV/AIDS education and awareness. Oh, there was the big corporate splash, with internal blasts and a media release and the requisite pretty photo for the website etc. During an internal event, geared at promoting wellness, the "partners" from the NGO placed posters throughout the office about prevention and condomising. Somehow the word "condom" and the accompanying image did not find favour with the chief exec, who was aghast that such a poster would be placed in the building, and he demanded that it be removed forthwith. Furthermore, there was to be no distribution of condoms to staff. Only pamphlets, and that was a miracle she achieved through no meagre effort.

And that's what a lot of businesses are doing, to one degree or another. There is a lot of talk but no real action or ownership of CSR initiatives. If that exec's personal convictions about condoms were so strong, perhaps he should have explored another cause to support, if he was really and truly interested in genuine CSR activities in the first place. It's a lot of gloss really in some organisations. Companies support a cause - and it's either usually a one-off event with no follow through, no sustainability, no partnerships, or a cause they do not thoroughly examine and assess for relevancy to their business, their core values, their people.

And the people part they often ignore completely - both externally and internally. Sponsorships are not CSR. Let's get that straight. Anyone can hand over a cheque, but CSR really should place greater focus on the human resource as opposed to the financial resource, and the long term benefits of partnerships to both the community and the organisation. CSR does not live with any one department, but it should be such an integral part of the social fabric of the organisation that the employee should feel a sense of ownership, commitment and responsibility. But often, that people element is missing. And it's simple things. Like the Finance Team helping an NGO out with their accounting or the legal team guiding them on governance issues. Or the communications team helping them to build a social media presence to promote their work and attract volunteers. It comes down to how employees are engaged, how policies and systems internally foster empowerment, creativity and company loyalty.

So all this hip and happenin' CSR talk around the place means nothing if there is no real commitment from organisations to really get it right. But do we want to do the work to get it right? Or is it just easier on everyone to snap the photo and get on with the rest of it? That's the burning question.

Read More

Fear Factor: Transparency, Communication and Engagement in the Workplace

Yesterday on my way home, we got the signals from our fellow motorists on the North bound lane of the highway. The blinking lights that could only indicate one thing - the po-po were on the loose, roadblock and the inevitable traffic tickets ahead. I saw some dark tinted vehicles, and other highway miscreants making the requisite "cut through the back" turns in true mafia style. Had it been one motorist flashing his/her lights from the other side, I would simply have thought they were flashing the driver ahead of them, or a friend on the other side. But the collaborative efforts of about 30 or so other drivers ensured that we got the message - put on your seatbelt, hide the beer, make sure you have your insurance, dispose of any illegal substances or just simply get on the back road cause the police are ahead.

I told you all....communication is everywhere!

I had my session with new employees yesterday, basically to tell them about the team and what we do yadda yadda. It was also a great opportunity to make a plug for social media and getting them on board from the get-go. It was great talking to them and getting their reactions, feedback and feeling a bit of enthusiasm on their part. And like the highway brotherhood, it is essential that staff buy in to the social media programme especially since the majority of them use social media in one form or another. Whether they consciously recognise it or not, they are agents of the brand and how they engage in social media, be it on their own time or as part of the corporate strategy is important. It's important because they can lend tremendously to not only growing our customer base, but also by bringing that conversational element that traditional marketing tends to lack.

There is always the talk from senior management level in companies across the world about using social media and there is always that fear that too much information will get out - confidential information, etc, or that staff will waste the day away chatting or tweeting. There is that fear factor and maybe not mistrust, if you don't want to call it that, but a definite hesitation to give employees free reign on the web. But I remember hearing somewhere that if you put a phone on an employee's desk and tell him/her that it can be used - to talk to customers who may call or be called - then, hey...why can't they use Twitter? If you trust them enough to let them talk to your customers on your behalf, all day, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, then why can't they answer a question from a friend on Facebook? If you trust them to not sit and talk to their friends all day long, then why can't they blog?

Of course, as with anything, there will be structure as to how this is done. Hey, we tell them how we would prefer they answer their phones when representing the organisation. I think it's pretty plausible and important to offer some structure to how they use social media as well. There is no rush to just throw them into the deep without a lifejacket!

• Social Media Guide - Yep. I took some time and did one of these which will be part of the training for staff. It basically is a guide, and not really a policy, because policy sounds like you're putting a gun to their heads and saying DO THIS, LIKE THIS! But it offers employees some suggestions and direction for when they blog or tweet or interact with people on Facebook, while representing the brand.

• Training - During my session yesterday, I asked how many people use social media, and most Trinis know about Facebook but that's kinda where it ends for some. And then they use it strictly for personal reasons. Asking them now to get on the social media bus when they are not quite aware of what's out there and how different tools can be used, is a bit much. So, in comes interactive sessions on social media, which I hope will give them a greater appreciation for just how extensive it is, how it can be and is used for business, and how widely used it is in business. And...how they can get on the bus.

• Engage and Reward - I tweeted this morning about my cluttered desktop and it being a reflection of an often frazzled mind, because I have so many other things to do during any 24 hour period. So creativity often bites the dust as far as coming up with ideas for engaging customers or staff are concerned. But with my brand new social media army, who needs to think hard?? Hopefully with enough training and engagement and finding those who are really excited about being part of the show, the ideas and suggestions would come to me. I know there are many people in the team who have great suggestions. It's really just tapping into them and getting them to understand that they are indeed appreciated.

And in any event, it cannot just be about me or the team, it has to be about the organisation. In much the same way we enlist customers as our global research/product development/PR/marketing/customer service team, employees just cannot be left out. There will always be the "canned" messages going out to the public, those PR messages that some people call BS messages (I know you do it!) but the employee perspective and conversations are the ones which customers trust more. As I mentioned in another post, a company's website can ring all the bells and have all the trimmings and streamers, but I always look to someone who works there to give me the 411. So, can I leave my colleagues out of the loop? Especially when now I know they are interested? What would that say about our levels of engagement?

We usually fear what we do not know or understand. It's still a tough road, but we will get there. But the aim is to get them talking about it, asking questions, making suggestions and being brand ambassadors/networkers online. But it should be a collaborative effort, flashing lights style.

Read More

Podcasting Adventures, Part 2 - Behind the Mic

Last night I got home with a terrible headache, lancing pain on my right side, from my hip bone to my toes and hunger (lol). I cannot remember getting into bed, or failing miserably at trying to read a chapter of my novel, or turning off the light before 8.30pm, but I clearly did cause the book was back on the bookshelf, my blankie was on the bed, and the light had been off. That being said, it was not a bad day.

I had my first podcast recording session yesterday. Funny. One thing I can say about podcasting, you bond with your colleagues over your flubs and tongue tied-ness. Even though you may have had the odd kitchen chat ever so often, sitting together for 2 hours, laughing out loud over lost thought streams, mispronounciations and invented words can do wonders for employee engagement. For 2 hours, I was really enjoying my job. We did okay for a first run at it. In an organisation that's used to deadlines, numbers, targets, results, wins - talking about what you do is not as simple as it may seem, nor is it initially seen as a priority. Yet it is. And, like everything else in the business, people take this talking thing seriously. Talking in a makeshift studio - an empty office, my laptop and a mic - brings on the nerves apparently. I guess because there was so much info to share, there was the obvious anxiety, and it will be my job to get them to just talk. But getting them talking is a must and not just talking, but having a genuine conversation, without anxiety and a sense of responsibility to a team, or a manager, to "bring it". But there is clearly an excitement there to share, so it makes it all easier and worthwhile.

I am excited to get more of these hidden faces behind a microphone, finding their passions, telling their stories, educating our audience, bringing our customers in to the fold - flubs and all. Creating conversations is fab!

It should be fun.

Read More