Winning Ideas in Employee Communications

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Winning Ideas in Employee Communications
IABC/Charlotte October 2009
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• What well cover
• Employee communication
• ideas that work and make
• a difference in leading
• organizations

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Communicators contribute to engagement, improved
resultsITT Communications making a difference

• Challenge Maximize performance through Lean Six
  Sigma
• Corporate communicator joins pilot site launch
  team
• Leaders, employees define critical few
  performance factors
• Team effort to develop case for change
• and the storyline/messagesaligning
• the say with the do
• Six Sigma DMAIC and process
• mapping help evaluate effectiveness
• of current communication

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ITT Communications making a difference

• Getting started
• Comm. infrastructure put in place
• Town halls fill in strategic details
• Scorecards and other visible measures
• Education on customers, competitors,
• and how to influence business results

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ITT Communications making a difference

• Daily shift performance huddles
• Employee team meetings help
• move info quickly
• Huddle training for managers
• and supervisors covers
• -- Meeting best practices, flow
• -- Role plays/critiques by peers
• Supervisors gathered after
• actual meetings started to
• discuss challenges/successes

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ITT Communications making a difference

• Leadership priority shift
• Leaders adopt new roles, expectations
• -- Real focus on communication
• Importance of training managers in comm.
• Initial priority
• Early machine shop focus reduce re-work
• Map out the entire work flow process
• Action
• Communication breakdown discovered
• Scrap/rework decreased 40
• Later On-time delivery hiked from 70-95

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ITT Communication making a difference

• Happening Now
• 2nd pilot starting up in PA
• Will hire communicators for each site
• Takeaways
• Process helps communicators earn a seat
• at the table as true business partners
• Establishes communicator credibility
• Fosters development of communication
• professionals

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Communicators get in the game, lead
changeEnabling the power of idea sharing

• Dell Computer
• EmployeeStorm visited by 45 of employees every
  day
• People post, discuss ideasproduct, service, HR
  topics
• 4,000 submissions so farhundreds adopted
• People vote on the ideadialogue ensues
• Online recognition for winning ideas
• Social media gives us the chance to read and
  react to
• change faster that translates into competitive
  advantage.

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The profound impact of social media

• Social media has become an established way
• of communicating with employees here that, in
• some cases, is replacing or reducing some of the
  
• traditional communication approaches like
  publications
• with more results focused communication that
  better
• meets employee needs and interests.
• -- Christa Semko, Dell Computer

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Enabling the power of idea sharing

• Rogers Communications (Canada)
• Communicator creates idea site
• General idea sections, 5 topic areas
• Challenge section targets
  
• audiences for special problem-solving
• 1,200 ideas a monthprizes awarded
• Great follow up builds credibility
• Listening and feedback are important
• parts of my job

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Rogers You Improve Web Site
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Enabling the power of idea sharing

• Finning (Canada)
• Dire necessity to cut cost, all-out effort
• Senior execs visit sites to tap employee ideas
• Local HR arranges small group meetings
• Corp. Comm. collects inputs, coordinates
• Website set up to take ideas online
• Surprising hourly participation at web site
• CEO discusses site visits/good ideas in blog

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Capitalizing on the You Tube phenomenonCon Ed
Building an employees who care culture

• CE Eye video news channel
• SharePoint platformshort video clips
• Flip cameras7 field mgrs. trained, film
• Invite ideascommunity service focus
• Peer-to-peer builds credibility, interest
• 70 completed to dategood viewership
• Contest Pick best video in the past year
• Advantage low cost, minimal work
• Advice Just dabble, but dont overdo it

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Textron Emp. advisory groups act as reality
check

• Communication Working Groups
• Goal foster open, honest dialogue on comm.
  effectiveness
• Business issue focus
• Mix of levels and positions
• 8-10 per group, 1-year term
• A few basic ground rules upfront
• CWGs set own operating rules
• Employee Comm. Mgr. facilitates
• Recognition for participants

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Textron communication advisory groups

• Feedback for multiple purposes
• CWG themes reported to leadership
• Communicators seek inputs on activities
• CEO may visit a meeting
• Leaders sometimes submit topics
• -- Example HR requested input on rollout
  
• of employee engagement initiative

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Communicators as air traffic controllersBlueCross
TN Smartly managing key rollouts

• Key program rollout collision the norm in
  corporate America
• -- Overload leads to poor communication,
  execution
• BCBS TN communicators raised concerns, told to
  take lead
• Cross-function team manages flow of change
• Coordinated effort built around change mapping
• -- Color-coded chart captures dates, key
  data
• Initiatives all linked to company Master Plan
• -- Provides rationale for how each change
  works
• -- As one rolls out, heads up given on
  next one

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Ongoing
Snapshot from TN BCBS change map
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Lockheed Martin AeronauticsFace-to-face supports
business success

• Program structure
• Six Sigma/Lean environment
• Regular manager/supervisor staff meetings
• Leader site visitsmeetings, walk-arounds
• Webcasts business picture/changes discussed
• Face-to-face Most important communication
• factor influencing business improvement

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Lockheed Martin AeronauticsFace-face supports
business success

• Program support
• Weekly exec staff reports circulated
• along with suggestions for use
• Required trainingavoids the dreaded
• they told me to say this
• Training is based on the book,
• Critical Confrontations
• -- Focuses on handling touchy
• situations

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Lockheed Martin AeronauticsFace-face supports
business success

• Program Measurement
• Supervisor Communication Assessment
• - Employees complete brief comm.
• effectiveness survey about their boss
• - Results tabulated by third party
• - The boss and their immediate mgr.
• get results and discuss the input
• Other feedback Employee Forums
• - Self-nominate or others nominate you
• - 24 people per site meet monthly with HR,
  Comm.

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Dana-Farber Cancer Inst. uses dual print, online
approach Revamping the newsletter for a new age

• Background
• 14-yr. old biweekly pub, low cost,
  employees/patients read it
• Very different EE audiences researchers,
  clinicians, admins
• Strategy
• Streamline the publication in a busy digital
  world, assess delivery
• Conduct survey listen, learn, analyze
• Discovery
• Admins prefer online news, researchers prefer
  print
• Preferences human interest, fast facts, work
  better tips

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Revamping the newsletter for a new age

• Revised approach
• Simplify Inside the Institute publication
• Add DFCI online news capability
• for breaking info...supplements print
• Reduce length from 8 pages to 4,
• shorter stories for todays world
• Cross-promote to encourage
• readership across channels

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Revamping the newsletter for a new age

• Design
• Tabloid maroon used more
• effectively as a spot color
• ...for bars, rules, highlighting
• of key words and phrases
• Newseum front pages
• were an inspiration

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Revamping the newsletter fora new age

• Content
• Max 600 words per story
• New Work Better column
• Staff ID column QA
• More sidebars USA TODAY
• Patient care stories
• usually in printed version

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(No Transcript)
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Revamping the newsletter for a new age

• Feedback
• Well received, readership strong
• Big winner in Ragan Comm. contest
• Story ideas come from beat reporters
• Heavy newsletter publicity helped
• achieve 99 open enrollment
• Advice
• Think about readers first what they
• want to know and see
• Think of the newsletter as a strategic tool

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Clever approaches for customer awareness

• PepsiCo podcasts bring customer
• feedback right in to the workplace
• Timely customer clips used in podcasts
• Division heads discuss products, needs, strategy
• Employees listen, then comment on supporting blog
  
• Marketing even steps in to add additional
  information
• Roving reporter feature in which employees
• ask questions later answered by CEO, other
  leaders

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Clever approaches for customer awareness

• Visits to customer sites
• Car, bus, plane to warehouse, plant, office
• Tour facility, hear how parts/service used
• Gain understanding of customer needs
• First-hand look at world of competition
• Return home attendees build comm. plan
• One idea Video with speakers bureau to tell the
  story
• Another idea Pamphlet with comments from
  participants
• Credible peer-peer communication more powerful
  than 10,000
• exec speeches on quality, cost and customer
  service

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Summing It All Up

• Practice what high performing organizations
  know
• Idea acquisition and adoption
• ignites great performance!
• Avoid Not Invented Here mentality
• Seek out and apply the best ideas
• add value through innovation and
• by focusing on the right things

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A final thought

• Ones mind once stretched by a good idea,
• never regains its original dimensions.
• -- Oliver Wendell Holmes