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?

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Don't Hog the Ball: Adopting the Football Model in Business

Football is a team game; it always has been and it always will be. Having good positional sense, communication skills, and an awareness of where your teammates are is far more important than being able to perform a step over or shoot effectively from 30 yards or more. - Bleacher Report 

And like football, communications in an organisation requires teamwork and the ability to create synergies across teams. No longer can team execute their responsibilities as silos and PR/communications teams cannot hope to develop and implement internal and external communications strategies without the input of other teams and a healthy collaborative culture.

When communications within a team breaks down and disharmony manifests itself, or a resistance to be part of a collaborative efforts, bet your last dollar that the results would not be as outstanding had the team worked together as a unit. I have been part of organisations where programmes were rolled out without proper consultation and feedback from the rest of the company. You get to work and there in your inbox is an email about some new programme that noone broached as an idea, or which clearly was not thoroughly thought out from various angles and employee perspectives. Something that may seem like a great idea to one team, may have other implications for another, but how would you know if there does not exist a deeper consultative culture? And while not trying to promote bureaucracy and unnecessary corporate red tape, because God, we know how that can go, it is always better to have other teams on board to ensure universal buy-in and support, and ultimately a better final product. The French football team is currently showing signs of team wear and tear and it is showing in their performance thus far at the 2010 World Cup.

Many of the French players seemed to be under the impression that they were there to create their own personal highlight reel rather than to perform as a functional team. Nicolas Anelka and Frank Ribery are both outstanding players, but they did not perform to anything like the level they are capable of against Uruguay.

The main reason for this was their reluctance to play simple football, to simply receive the ball, protect it and lay it off. Virtually every time that either man received possession they embarked on an ambitious solo run and almost without fail they ended up surrendering possession... (Bleacher Report)

In an organisation, one has to be open to new ideas and suggestions and to be able to provide different perspectives on strategies, with the end result being a more effective team with a common goal. It's like having your own internal focus group to weed out the bad elements of an idea and improve the good elements. And whether it's a social media initiative, an advertising campaign or an internal rollout, the double C effect of consultation and collaboration in my opinion, is always a better bet than hogging the ball and trying to shine solo. It often just does not work - in football or in business.

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The Perils of Keeping your Small Business Offline

Yesterday I tweeted this question:

So, is it?

I was actually trying to find a caterer for an event I am planning, preferably one closer to the event, and it has been an ordeal. Clearly a lot of small businesses are not online and this is worrying. I had to eventually resort to emailing friends for recommendations or suggestions and ended up calling a few of the options. Quite frankly, I find this tedious. I am online most of the time, so it is easier, not to mention more convenient to do a quick Google search, locate a website and then email the person. Or at least the website would have enough preliminary information that when and if I do call, I am not in a state of utter ignorance and I am a bit more informed and persuaded to make a positive consumer decision.

There are a lot of small businesses out there and I applaud this. I think it is great when people follow their passions and make their dreams of having their own business a reality. But really...gone are the days when you printed flyers on coloured paper and left them on office coffee tables and on lightposts. Why don't you have an email address for your business? This is not at all a winning move!

When I called the caterer that sounded the most promising, she asked me for my email "number"...wow. Then when I finally got the email, it was from her friend's email address because she did not have an email address, and the friend's address was sketchy at best (something along the lines of sweetreds@domain.com). A total fail.

Funding agencies for entrepreneurs should be equipped to assist small business owners with the information on these basics and why they are so important. While a start-up may not be able to afford a snazzy website off the bat, Facebook Pages have now made it easier to get yourself an online presence. Too easy. Way too easy. So, why aren't you online, and why should you be?

The internet is like the Yellow Pages - I only use the physical yellow pages when I am on the road and cannot get through to the operator. For everything else, I turn to Google. Millions of people feel the same way, so if you're not online, you're almost non-existent.

Visibility, credibility and promotion - It's all well and good to have people know you via a friend, but you can really establish your new brand with an online presence, which can take you from the lightpost to the masses with a couple easy steps and great content. For my caterer friend, if your menus are online, I don't have to wait for your friend to email them to me, or worse...fax them and hope it's a good copy.

Online orders/online business - There are those who have not seen a physical cash register in years because they live by online shopping/ordering. Don't limit yourself and lose the opportunity to bring in some extra business.

Analytics/Feedback/customer suggestions - How many people are visiting your site? Who are they? Where are they? This kind of information can help you market your business and develop new ideas to meet the needs of the people who have shown an interest in what you're selling. Additionally, you can get a lot of great feedback from customers which can assist you in fine tuning your products/services.

Not because you're operating out of your kitchen, should it mean that your marketing efforts should fall by the wayside. It's more important in the start up phase to establish yourself and get your business name, your services, your contact info etc out there to prospective customers. Your online presence is part of your calling card - it gives you greater legitimacy and greater visibility. And please...

• Have an email address that identifies your company - sweetreds@domain.com is not it. Use your company name to identify yourself electronically.
• Ensure your site, your Page and your website, are professional and cover the areas that a prospective customer may be interested in.

I am left holding a copy of a menu that leaves me a bit cold, and will have to now call her back and make suggestions. That is, if she answers the phone, because on my first attempt she had forgotten her phone at her aunt's house and the aunt had to take a message and have her call me back a couple hours later. If there was an option, where the business was already online, with a more convenient communication channel, then she would surely miss out on my event and my business. Don't make the same mistake.

Photo credit: www.freewebsitetemplates.com

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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?

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