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"We all understand the value of a solid and well-considered strategy.
But sometimes it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to planning for a change programme, an upcoming campaign or a new project, particularly at times like these when brains feel overburdened and workloads are even more weighty than usual."
Read the full article to find out more about these three structures:
TheOtherTeslaShop's comment,
January 14, 2022 1:38 AM
nice
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Scoop.it!
Comms planning. It’s never been more important to get this right. So, an all-new downloadable comms planning guide has been launched to help you. by Darren Caveney
You're 10 steps away from success! Access the article to find the links to the following free comms planning guide:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Download this poster & hang it up on your wall. Then point to it when you're discussing how you'll help them achieve success using these 10 steps. Then pull up the 10 worksheet pages and get started!
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"Employees need two-way communication to work hard, work smart, and drive business results.
Right now, however, it’s common for leadership to lay out goals for the organization with little intel from the people on the ground. Behera said this only perpetuates high-intensity work environments.
The resulting pressure cooker culture prompts people to give the perception that they’re working harder, which they are, but they have less time to prioritize and think strategically about what will make an impact. The result is a burnt out worker"
Read the full article to find out more about why a two-pronged system of communication can prevent that kind of downward spiral.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
I'm a huge supporter of cascading messages but as the term cascade implies, it often only goes one direction. For the cascade model to be really effective it should start from the top, move through managers to the front line. Then managers should talk with employees and get feedback and move that information back up the chain.
I also loved this point about the # of projects an individual should be working on: "Ideally, employees should have two or three main projects they are working on at any given time. If it’s ever 10 or more, there’s a problem with focus, and nothing gets done.
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"As an internal communicator a crucial part of your role is likely to be supporting and guiding a colleague through a comms challenge. They want your insight and expertise. That’s why they’ve asked for your input, isn’t it? So when someone approaches you, how do you guide them through the ever-evolving world of comms? What do you get them to think about? And what is the opportunity for you personally and the comms team?" Read the full article to find out more about these tips grouped by:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
What a wonderful treasure trove! Communicators are taking on more of an advisor and coaching role. Be sure to bookmark this article as it provides so many ways for you to help others with their communication requests and challenges.
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"What if you’ve been given the job of creating an internal communications strategy for an organisation, but the organisation hasn’t actually articulated what it wants to achieve? Read the full article to find out more about how to use these two tips of information to start things moving:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Great tip! Even police shows say the same thing - follow the money. And if you were wondering what key items you should obtain when you start a new position, the article also includes those: the purpose or vision statements and the business strategy or plan. Be sure to also find out if each division also has their own sets of these plans.
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"We are often asked to help organisations think through their internal communication function. The question sooner or later gets back to the question of where they add the most value and whether it is enough to be a great writer or organiser. Research that I did with Sue Dewhurst in the past highlighted the fact that whilst a good communicator needs certain basic skills, they are just that – basic. In order to have an impact, professional communicators need to do much more. To illustrate this point I have developed the internal communication value chain. The idea is quite simple. Whilst each individual step in the process is important, it is only when you have thought about the whole end-to-end value chain can you decide where best to focus your effort. Naturally, every organisation is different. Where you add the most value will reflect your industry, your history, the maturity of the communication awareness of leaders or the issues which you face." Read the full article to find out more about these components of the communications value chain:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
This is a great way of thinking through the focus of communication teams. Ideally we'd be able to do it all. But when you can't, understanding where you can make the most impact within your resources, and possibly expertise, will help guide you forward. This is also a great chart to show to people who may not understand what it is internal comms can offer the organization.
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"Effective communication between a company and its employees enables businesses to fully tap into the unique knowledge, insights, and talents of its people. Often, the benefits stretch beyond pure profit. More open discussions help build a strong community within a firm, allowing workers to feel confident and happy, and to outperform expectations at their roles." Read the full article to find out more about these five tips to improve internal communications:
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"Our guide to great communication skills from an internal employee perspective: Covering strategy, engagement, planning, tools and skills. This is the manual we use with our clients to ensure they get, support and do what they need to from a communication perspective to deliver the business agenda." View the presentation above to find out more about the sections of this 117 guide which cover:
You can also view (and print) the 2015 version of this as a flipbook. Sourced from warwickers.com.
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
What a wonderful resource. This useful guide is about doing more of the right things and developing great habits. It dips into strategic and tactical communication why and hows plus some of the skills required to effectively communicate. Lots of tips to help you help others improve their communication skills based on their role in the organization.
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"We asked hundreds of HR professionals to tell us all about their employee communications strategy, and our research came up with these powerful stats: HR’s top communication challenges:
HR teams are using these traditional communication tools:
There’s an opportunity for HR leaders to experiment with modern trends—the way information is consumed in today’s world. We created this infographic to help get you thinking about—and ready to take action on—strengthening your employee communications strategy." Access the link above to download the infographic Strengthen Your Employee Communications Strategy to learn more about these 10 tips on how to create an effective communications strategy that places your employees in the center of your communications:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
I'm quite interested in the employee life cycle image at the bottom of the infographic. It takes you through the recruitment to termination stages, and indicates what should be communicated and measured.
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"What do you know about your employees? Perhaps you know how many people are in each location, or how many managers there are in your business? Maybe you have a breakdown of employees by length of service, diversity, age, the area of your business they work in or even by preferred communications channel? These are some of the ways that are used to segment internal audiences but how do you link this knowledge to what people think, believe and feel about your organisation?
For organisations with a large number of employees, dividing employees into profile groups to identify shared characteristics is an incredibly useful tool." Read the full article to find out why employee profiling and knowing your demographics is so important to your communications:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Without knowing your demographics, how do you know if you're using the right channels or techniques to reach your audience? I like how this article doesn't just rely on collecting your staff demographics. They create employee profiles, very similar to creating a user-persona. This is a very clear way to show who your audiences are. And I love tip # 8 - test the employee profiles with senior leadership to establish understanding of the profiles and how to use them to connect and facilitate dialogue with different employees. Leadership will certainly thank you for this one!
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"“Internal communications as a narrowly defined function and approach is dead.” So sayeth former BBC HR and Internal Communications Director Lucy Adams, who adds that “a fundamental re-think of communications—and more importantly relationships—with our employees is needed. Adams is not alone in predicting the demise of the employee communications function, however. PR agency CEO Gerard Corbett—a former PRSA Chair and CEO—penned a guest piece for SpinSucks last October in which he called internal communications “an anachronism.” While Corbett and Adams are absolutely right about all these things, none of it supports the dismantling of a dedicated communication function unless that department is engaged wholly in the production and distribution of one-way, top-down, one-size-fits all communication collateral. In fact, some of their arguments reinforce the need for a department dedicated to meeting the information and communication needs of employees at all levels of the organizational hierarchy." Read the full article to find out more about the author's 11 reasons to keep employee communications separate from (but working closely with) the Public Affairs/Corporate Communications/PR team:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Well said and a great list from Shel that points out the value of internal communicators. This article really highlights the importance of adding value by promoting the value of and developing two-way communication and being strategic in your planning. Speaking of Lucy Adams, here's a recent article by imgZine who interviewed Lucy about the blurring lines between HR and Internal Communications. Bit of a different stance than what was noted above.
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"It's a little like when the Christmas music starts playing in the malls the week after Labor Day. Months before the New Year, internal communicators and others in most businesses begin planning next year's strategies, calendar, projects, and budget. Such preparation can be a challenge. Some don't hold the purse strings, and most face roadblocks to getting the tools they'd like." Read the full article to find out more about these 10 things you can start preparing for so you can be strategic about your 2015 approach:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
It's time to plan next year's budget, projects, and staffing. It's tough; a survey shows that many don't control their budgets. Don't get left behind in the stampede for resources.
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""We need a poster!” Can we have a page in the magazine? I’ve shot this video on my iPhone.” How many times do internal communication conversations start like that? Once you’ve nodded and smiled, it’s the skill of the strategic communicator to steer the discussion in the direction of results." Read the full article to gain more understanding and access to a larger version of the infographic shown above, which will help steer outcome-based comms planning discussions:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Thank you, thank you, thank you Kate Jones for this incredible infographic. Never again will I need to try to verbally explain this. Download and/or print this infographic, and never attend a comms planning meeting without it. It's the perfect tool to help you work with non-comms people so they can see how to match the output to the outcome to help achieve the results needed.
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"The majority of employees don't understand their company's strategy according to our research. It’s up to you to engage others so they have the same clear picture you do of your strategy and where the business is going. The reality is that some may have small windows into your view of the strategy, but very few have the whole picture like you do. Lift the perspective out of your head and get it into others’ so they can own it and help you achieve it."
Read the full article to find out more about these 6 steps to help your employees understand your strategy:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
The issues raised here are common to many topics. So these solutions could be applicable to many of your communication challenges.
To dig in a little deeper, I recommend these two articles by the same author:
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"This new tool is a comprehensive community resource created to simplify the science of IC. It captures the essential elements of IC and collates them all in one place to help people strategise, plan, problem-solve and communicate.
The Periodic Table of IC began as a simple listing of elements, and things have certainly moved on. Now communicators can dig deeper into each of these elements to discover, research and explore resources." This article links to and summarizes what you will find on the website Elements of IC. The content is split into the following seven categories containing over 150 elements - all leading to a number of related links, articles, videos, visuals and podcasts from diverse sources:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
I am so excited to see this new iteration! And it's not finished yet. You're invited to submit sources and new elements on the website.
Kudos to Alive with Ideas and Chuck Gose!
Scoop.it!
"Can you articulate your organization’s strategy in a meaningful way that all employees would understand? Would all of your leaders say it the same way, no matter the division they lead? And is it integrated into all of your internal communication programs? Are you sure?
Corporate strategy drives our future, how we focus our efforts, and it provides our ultimate goals. It’s our North Star. And it’s what leadership cares about.
Imagine if employees and leaders had different versions of the North Star – we’d never reach a shared vision or goal.
This is where Internal Communication should be connecting the dots and providing context to make sure all are aiming toward that one direction. Corporate strategy is the ultimate common thread that stitches all internal communications together. But many of us have not truly integrated it everywhere. We have help – and it’s just down the hall."
Read the full article to discover how you can use education to teach leaders about strategy, communication, and their accountabilities for both:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Providing context and connecting the dots - these are often the solutions to many engagement and communication issues. Internal communicators who can draw that information out and relay it in an easily understandable manners will find the rest of their job gets easier.
The intro to the case study this article was formulated after, highlighted what can prevent us from getting there.
Whether it's strategy (or any other topic), don't trust when people tell you they know. If you see this behaviour from anyone in your organization, they likely don't and may not even realize it. More than likely you'll also see a correlation to dissatisfied or floundering staff.
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"Internal and external audiences are converging according to some communications professionals or people involved in implementing and managing digital workplaces. However the majority of internal- and external-facing channels are still considered separately, due to the different needs, characteristics and intended calls to actions for the audiences. Audiences are fundamentally different in many respects, but that doesn’t mean considering these audiences in isolation when designing internal and external digital offerings and producing related content." Read the full article to find out more about:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
A great article highlighting why there should be more alignment and coordination between internal and external messaging. These audiences usually do have lots in common, and we should take advantage of it - allowing for efficiencies and new opportunities.
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"We're looking to define the building blocks of IC and create an interactive resource for comms pros to jump start discussions and plans, helping to spark ideas and create compelling communications." Access this page to download the internal communications periodic table created by Chuck Gose and Alive with Ideas. The elements are presented across seven separate sections:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Nicely done! Very handy to see all these items listed on one page. See any missing elements? You're invited to submit your suggestion on the Elements of IC webpage.
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"Much like chess, a carefully calculated internal communication strategy is the quintessence of a successful and lasting business. How you position and communicate with your employees and how they respond to challenges and the competition can determine the prosperity of your company. Clear, open channels of communication fosters loyalty and a commitment to job performance excellence." Read the full article to find out more about these internal communications best practices to help get you started with a communication strategy for your business:
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"I firmly believe that leaders are always communicating, whether they intend to or not. And just like a leader sends a message by communicating – or not – an organization shows its commitment to communication whether it intends to or not. That’s why, when clients come to us for help on improving communication, we start by taking the organization’s temperature. That means evaluating some big-picture indicators of its commitment to the practice and value of communication." Read the full article to find out more about these elements of an internal and leadership communications “temperature check” to discover an organization’s level of commitment to communication:
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"At the Digital Workplace Group (DWG), we’ve developed a framework called the content wheel to help IC practitioners take a more structured and systematic approach to content, messaging and news across the organization. This framework can help you make more informed and intentional decisions about your content, audience and channels. Similar to a colour wheel – where the complementary colours red and green are opposite one another – the content wheel puts opposing pairs of messages opposite one another, e.g. Push and Pull. For each content “pair” we give a description, examples and recommendations." Read the full article to take a walk around the content wheel and look at the different kinds of content and messages we send on a daily basis in large organizations and when to use which for:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Here’s a framework for internal communications practitioners to help them take a more structured and systematic approach to content, audiences and digital channels across the organization. Make sure you build a structured process for picking the right message for the right audience and the right channel. Map out all your available channels and audiences. And use DWG s content wheel to talk with your stakeholders about content.
Lingua Digitalis's curator insight,
March 11, 2015 4:17 PM
I really like this framework - loads of good ideas for internal or even external communication planning
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"How can you make a strategy and values launch interesting and engaging for employees and answer the elusive “what’s in it for me and why should I care?” I’ve discovered one of the best examples I’ve seen and am delighted to welcome Liz Clyro, Head of Internal Comms at Royal Mencap Society to share how the charity has been addressing these questions and much more, through the launch of their BIG plan. On 29 January 2015, we seemed to get it right. It was a great day for Mencap. We launched a new five year plan, including five new values, to employees and volunteers. Mencap people got together, had fun, talked values and future plans and really loved it. And to top it all off, they managed to get us trending on Twitter – a first for our charity." So how did we do it? Read the full article to see tweets from the event and find out more about these components of Mencap's strategy:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Great example of a successful communication strategy using basic techniques.
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"Recently, I joined a new company as head of internal communications. One of my first tasks – after spending considerable time meeting various people and observing how they work – was to establish an internal communications framework. The real value of a framework is to help us prioritize and make decisions. It covers broad themes – purpose, philosophy, tone, style, channels, future – and will serve as a foundation for decisions involving talent, techniques, and technology. Here (below) are some excerpts from our framework. Perhaps some of it will apply to your organization, too." Read the full article to find out more about what these framework sections contain and involve:
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"Did you know that the leadership communications crisis is deepening with only 1 in 5 people globally believing that leaders demonstrate effective leadership? Or that poor leadership costs companies money, with 61% of people boycotting or buying less from a company they believe to have poor leadership? In IBM’s recent Global CEO study on effective leadership communication, which polled almost two thousand CEOs worldwide found that senior leaders are aware and ready to face these new challenges." Read the full article to view the infographic that pulls from this study and covers:
Kim Zinke (aka Gimli Goose)'s insight:
Leadership communication strategies are changing. Leaders must be good communicators to develop employee engagement. They need to become more open, less top-down controlled approach, provide more collaboration opportunities, and implementing a communication strategy.
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"The communication strategies you choose impact every area of your company, especially your financial bottom line." Read the full article to find out more about these ten best practices, and link to articles with more in-depth information:
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Three great options to help get you started on your strategy.