What will you do tomorrow

1
What will you do tomorrow?

• Communicating with the front lines
• June 15, 2007
• Ragan Communications

2
Tomorrows Saturday

• Dont do anything
• Read a novel
• See an uplifting film, like 28 Weeks Later or
  Mr Brooks
• Become a Cubs fan

3
What about Monday?

• Time to make a to-do list
• What you can do immediately
• What needs approval
• The long haul

4
Step 1 Where are we right now?

• What is the current level of engagement?
• How do the people in our organization connect?
• What does our communication do to make that
  happen?
• Whats getting in everyones way?
• Executives
• Front-line workers
• Communications
• Everyone else

5
Assessment

• Wendy Hirsch
• Find out what is unique and distinctive about
  your organization
• Its whats different that matters
• Whats it really like to work here?
• Look inside
• You already have lots of data
• Whats working and what isnt? Measure return on
  investment
• Match the work force strategy to your business
  model

6
Create a successful employee value proposition

• 1.Think in terms of systems. What is the right
  combination of programs and practices?
• 2. Demand the right facts. You cant manage
  effectively if you dont have detailed, accurate
  information
• 3. Focus on value creation. What is it about the
  employee experience that helps our organization
  be successful?

7
Take advantage

• Lead advantage Whats your strongest weapon for
  getting/keeping talent?
• Secondary advantage What is your best defense
  against talent competitors?
• Aspirational advantage Where do you have the
  best chance for meaningful, visual improvements?

8
Assessment

• Raj Sharman Get some outside help, if needed
• Employees wont tell managers what they really
  think
• John Smythe Remember that people work in small
  places, not large organizations
• Bruce Reynolds Hard to listen when things are
  going well
• And when things get better, morale doesnt
  necessarily follow. People may not be ready for
  cheerleading

9
Your to-do list for research

• Step back and take a new look
• Find out the goals
• Integrate messages
• Align management and employee interests
• Analyze gaps qualitative, quantitative
• Act on existing data
• Right message in right channels

10
Step 2 Make a plan

• Linda Dulye
• Create a spectator-free work force, where
  everyones an active participant
• Connect the top, bottom and middle of your
  organization
• Develop a simple, shared definition of engagement
• Make it business-driven How will this make us
  more successful?
• Set realistic expectations

11
Bruce Reynolds

• People want to know why. And sometimes they
  want to hear that you made a bad decision
• Pick your spots to have some fun and be able to
  laugh at yourself

12
Simple, clear goals

• Raj Sharmans singular mission to create an
  environment where people actually feel good about
  coming to work and still feel that way when they
  go home
• Devote resources Time and financial

13
Your to-do list for planning

• Base plans on research
• Bring owners of plan together
• Involve implementers
• Involve front lines
• Make the plan evergreen, living, flexible
• Planning blog?
• Build some quick hits in (low-hanging fruit)

14
Step 3 Just do it Tools and techniques

• Focus on two-way communication
• Linda Dulye Eliminate the word cascade
• John Smythe Reaching down to places we normally
  dont go to drive change and improvements
• Smythe Take some risks. Let the employees
  actually help to solve a problem and identify the
  -up points

15
What Raj did

• Create a process for decision-making
• 26 employees x 10 hours a week to work on this
  initiative. Selected through nominations
• Keep work moving while team members are away
• Weekly huddle Engagement team tells everyone
  else what theyre doing with those 10 hours a
  week
• Customer eventsled by employees
• New-look quarterly meeting Employees changed it,
  come up with topics. What do you want to know
  this quarter?
• Corporate events Employee presentations

16
Tips from Bruce Reynolds

• Hourly employees Connect what they do to the
  customer experience
• Develop a checklist to launch a leader. Ask your
  marketers!
• Field staff Low-tech options, like a 2-minute
  message they can call into. Heres what you
  missed.

17
Jims tools for managers

• Make communication part of a managers routine
• Make it regular, easy, not burdensome
• A little training goes a long way
• Listening, no spinning, bad news

18
Find the right vehicles for the right messages

• Print to explain how and why
• E-mail for quick, factual information
• Online tools for easy access to information,
  interaction
• Social media tools for comment, dialogue and
  accountability

19
Communicators need engagement, too

• Mike Bares Internal Communicators Network
• List everything a network could do for the
  company
• Put them in cabinets that make sense
• Dont kill the passion of people who want to
  communicate
• Instead, connect them to resources they need to
  do effective communication

20
Elements of the network

• Big picture stories
• News network
• Stories others may be able to use
• Team member bios
• Talk it up A kind of blog
• Internal social networking
• Six cabinets organize interests

21
Structural/cultural elements

• Direct reporting to CEOno approvals
• Integrated internal/external
• Decentralized
• People front and center through stories
• Town Hall meetings

22
Claire Watsons memorable meetings

• Reframing the message
• Powerful words
• Plan, create, inspire

23
Claires 12 rules

• Strategy. Begin with the end in mind
• Link everything to the business agenda
• Make it real
• Know your audience
• Make it creative, relevant and fun
• Get others involved

24
Claires 12 rules

• 7. Skinny agenda. Less is more
• 8. Open the floor for questions
• 9. Feed people well
• 10. Make time to network
• 11. Pay attention to detail
• 12. Measure results

25
Mark Crowley, National CitySteven Green,
Pollstream

• Create interactive opportunities
• Audiocast Five minutes with Dan Frate
• Lead intranet story with link to audiocast
• Moderated blog
• Pick an easy topic to get people to loosen up
• Polling
• Using humor to get people in
• But making sure its relevant to the business
• When they get the answer wrong, they learn the
  right answer
• Use poll results to link back to more information
  and stories online

26
Connecting with employees

• Monologue to dialogue
• Sharing meaningful information with employees
• Using tools that allow employees to hear and be
  heard
• Combine data gathering (polling) with education
  and information

27
Focus on your leaders

• John Smythe
• Find the First Movers People at the top who get
  it and are willing to take a risk
• Find the success stories that the executives
  might not see
• Raj Sharman
• Managers have to let go of old command and
  control methods
• See your business through the eyes of your
  employees. What does it mean to be a mechanic?
• Get out on the floor. Walk arounds

28
Barriers

• Linda Dulye Coach people who are blocking the
  way
• Raj Sharman Managers are the biggest obstacle,
  because they wont admit they dont have all the
  answers
• John Smythe Tough issues, particularly with
  unionized work force
• Its not what has to change, which may be
  non-negotiable, but how we get there

29
Your to-do list for action

• Use the wall
• Work/life balance prioritize
• Bottom-up social networking Work where you are
• Life and fun in meetings
• Face-to-face

30
Step 4 Evaluate and adjust

• Constant measurement
• Linda Dulye How are we doing, and what
  adjustments should we make?
• Raj Sharman Continuous leadership learning

31
Four choices from John Smythe

• Tell them. Employees as spectators
• Sell them. Compliant collaborators
• Inclusion. Willing collaborators
• Co-creation. Personally committed reformers

32
Implications for leaders

• From God to guide
• From telling to well-governed engagement
• From coercion to inclusion

33
Your to-do list for measurement

• Virtual focus groups
• Ongoing
• Learn to measure to get accurate data
• Frame questions to target right goals
• Averages can be deceptive
• Peel the onion Probe to root causes look at
  demographics by audience