Reaching offline employees in a 3.0 world

Posted By Cindy | March 12, 2012 | No Comments

Filed under: Best Practices, Communicating to offline employees

Social and multimedia are great . . . but what about all those employees who don’t sit at computers for a living? Cindy Crescenzo explores a menu of options to reach non-wired staff and employees on the go.

Social media and multi-media have changed the way communicators do our jobs. We’re no longer here to just “publish and push” information out to our audiences. It’s now about creating content that engages and educates our audiences while creating communities and conversations.

These are exciting times for internal communication…but what if you are one of the many communicators out there who works at a company where a big portion of employees are not online to use these new tools?

How do we apply these new best practices to audiences like call center staff, field workers, nurses, truck drivers, retail and warehouse employees?

Here are some useful tips on how to grab the attention of offline staff while getting them the information they need.

 

Know your audience

This is relevant any time but it’s especially true for non-wired employees. The nature of their jobs demands them to pay attention to the customer (as it should be). That means we can’t waste their time sending them everything we create just because we created it.

Non-wired employees need messaging tailored to them. If it’s not relevant, quick and easy, they’re not going to take the time to read or watch your communications.

Think about what they have to know and why. Make sure they know why they need the information and that your communications answer the “why should I care” question no matter what vehicle you use to deliver the message.

If you want employees to respond or interact, how can your audience realistically do this given the nature of their jobs? It could be as easy as a suggestion box – but you have to make sure the vehicle makes sense and is easily accessible.

So be smart about what you send to these groups and make sure it counts. Once you’ve got that mastered, here are some additional tips to get your messages delivered and received:

 

Never underestimate the power of print

That’s right. I said it. Print. A dirty P word at most companies, because it (gasp!) costs money (as if online tools don’t). Just because you have a slew of new online tools doesn’t mean print should be obsolete! Done correctly – it works. And the most important thing is knowing how to use print the right way so that your messages get noticed and read.

Don’t have money in your budget? Well, calculate the resources and time you use towards all the online vehicles that aren’t getting used by these audiences. How much money are you wasting there? Get more bang for your buck and use vehicles that work for your audiences. That’s how you justify the extra expense.

This means of course, that you have to measure – something we’ll get into later. But, if you know your audiences aren’t using the online tools because of the nature of their jobs – you’ve got to come up with a different solution to communicate to them.

For example, a major retailer we worked with uses “table talkers” to communicate with their warehouse and retail employees. These clever multi-sided plastic displays sit on top of the tables in the break room.

After talking to offline employees in focus groups, we found out that everyone noticed the table talkers and looked at them; however, the information wasn’t relevant enough and, at times, was outdated.

So we adjusted the vehicles accordingly:

• We established communication contacts in the retail centers and the warehouses. They’ve been instrumental in helping us keep the content up-to-date and relevant. Instead of being updated once per month, they are now updated two times per month so that the information is more current.

• We kept the copy short and sweet. This retailer does a great job at writing and designing in a consumer style – everything is presented via short bits of information so it feels like you are reading pages right out of a magazine. Tidbits include, “5 ways to help the customer,” “Top 10 products we’re featuring this month,” “What you need to know about ‘Dollar Days’ promotions.”

Our focus groups provided the necessary feedback to continually improve the vehicle. For instance, the same information was going to retail employees and warehouse employees. Warehouse staff didn’t care too much about the “Dollar Days” promotions; they just needed to get the goods delivered.

Therefore we now have two versions of the table talkers – one for retail staff and one for warehouse employees; all with targeted messages relevant to each audience.

Each table talker contains a panel for any news pertaining to people’s specific locations (fed by our contacts in each region).

We use the remaining spot on this display for a feature story such as an employee recognition piece or a Q&A with a leader or colleague (both topics had been sorely missing according to our focus groups).

 

Employee magazines

These print publications aren’t meant to be newsy and timely, but a way to dig deeper and explain strategies in depth. Many organizations are switching to a quarterly or even a twice a year format so they can take their time and create messaging the right way.

It is also an effective way to provide detailed information that your audiences can’t get from table talkers or posters. What’s best is that they can take a magazine with them and read it at their convenience. Again, content is crucial. If you make it interesting and relevant, people will read it.

A pharmaceutical company we work with publishes a year magazine that focuses on the business while tying employees to the goals of the organization. The result? Employees feel they are a part of the business and know how they contribute to the organization’s success.

 

Audio & video

Just because you have employees that are offline doesn’t mean you can’t use innovative tools to communicate. You just need to plan better. Audio is great because it’s portable. Video is great because it really helps showcase the “people” behind your communications.

But, let’s be honest – it’s very likely employees won’t absorb these channels consistently on their own time.

A government agency we recently worked with was struggling with their call center communications so we came up with a plan for managers to give up three minutes a week during one of their daily huddle meetings.

When appropriate, we used this time to play a podcast or video for the group since the agency leader needed to talk to staff about challenges they were facing and their impact on the community they serve.

We’d then follow up with managers with a quick three-question poll:

1) Did your employees understand the message?

2) Did they like the format?

3) Do they have any questions?

The feedback we received helped us identify what we needed to communicate in the future and how.

 

Signs of the times

Digital signage is another effective way to reach non-wired audiences with video and audio.

This growing technique has moved way past posting plain, bulleted messages. The best systems (which are not as expensive you might think) offer the flexibility to easily create dynamic communications that use graphics and multi-media tools. Organizations like Lockheed Martin are using digital signage in various locations like break rooms, elevators, hallways and warehouses to reach employees who aren’t in front of a computer all day.

Since digital signage systems are wireless, you can feed content right from your computer—including blogs, videos and articles – content that used to exist only on the intranet.

 

Face-to-Face

Most employees appreciate face-to-face communications, but this old-school channel speaks volumes to front-line employees. It helps people feel recognized, valued and connected to the organization.

If possible, try to schedule an event on a quarterly basis, or even two times a year. A major consumer electronics company we worked with learned that many of their contact center employees felt as though they couldn’t keep up with new product launches.

Therefore, we came up with a quarterly “Lunch & Learn” series where employees at designated locations were invited to bring their lunch to a specified room and learn about the new products. (Attendance was completely optional).

As a result, employees loved the opportunity to experience the products first-hand, ask questions and connect with their colleagues.

 

Mobile apps and home access

Already growing in popularity, mobile technology will be the standard for internal communications in the future. Companies like UPS and Walmart have created mobile aps for their intranets made accessible to offline employees and that are smartphone-friendly.

Walmart has created a popular internal social media network, myWalmart, that thousands of employees can access at home or when they’re on the go – all on their own time.

Why would any sane person access a work site from home, you might ask?

Two words: Superior content. If you’re just rehashing boring press releases and stale executive PowerPoints, don’t even bother making the intranet available away from the office.

However, if you’re creating relevant content that employees care about – and allowing them to contribute their own content, which is what Walmart does, — employees will spend some extra time on the site.

 

Just listen

Ready to implement some of these new and exciting channels to reach your non-wired employees? Before you do, make sure you listen to them.

As I demonstrated, conducting focus groups is a great way to understand people’s needs and wants. So are surveys.

Once the feedback comes in, cut out what’s not working for employees and spend more time creating content and tools that are relevant and accessible.

Be sure to measure along the way so you can continue to deliver what your offline employees need. It may take more time and effort to communicate to these audiences, but once you’ve mastered the process, you’ll have a much better chance of engaging, informing and motivating them.

Communicators, Don’t make these five mistakes!

Posted By Cindy | February 12, 2012 | No Comments

Filed under: Best Practices

 

As communicators, our role has changed. Steve talks about five common behaviors that communicators need to change in order to stay relevant and add value to their organizations.

Learn from BPs communication mistakes

Posted By Cindy | August 5, 2010 | No Comments

Gerard Braud, a good friend and one of the leading crisis communication experts in the industry, was recently featured on the news in New Orleans. Gerard did a great job outlining the communication mistakes that BP has made so far in dealing with the oil spill crisis:

As Gerard outlines in this video, whether you deal with internal or external communications — you can easily avoid these common mistakes — that we, unfortunately, see all the time:

1. Communicating what you think people want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Being clear, direct and honest is the key to the most powerful communications. Your audience may not like what you’re saying, but in the end they will appreciate the honesty.




2. Making communications available only on a need-to-know basis. The opposite has to happen when you are in crisis — you need to keep communicating and you have to have two-way dialogue with your audience!  Shutting it down only sends the wrong message to your audience. You look like you’re hiding something … and chances are this is exactly what you’re doing.




3. Your words don’t match your actions. We’ve seen this time and time again in executive communications and nothing can kill your credibility faster. Don’t set false expectations. Do what you’re going to say, or don’t say it.




4. When spin is part of your communication strategy, you have a problem. Your audience is not a bunch of idiots — they see right through this! Again, delivering clear, concise and honest communications is the way to go. That doesn’t mean you always have to have an answer. If you don’t have one — tell your audience you don’t, and why you don’t have an answer. If possible, tell them how you’ll go about finding one — and then be sure to follow up!

At some point in our communications career, we all find ourselves communicating during a crisis. Sometimes a little too often. But the same standard rules apply and, if followed, can see us through to the light at the end of the tunnel.

The farther away you are, the harder you need to listen

Posted By Cindy | April 16, 2010 | 5 Comments

Filed under: Best Practices, Case Studies

Are you struggling to engage your global audiences? Are you trying to break a silo mentality between regional offices? Find your solution by listening. Really hard.

The IABC Global Communication Conference in Hong Kong was an eye-opening experience. Outside of being in an incredibly cool city, it was really refreshing to hear about communications from a different perspective.

Last week communicators from countries all over the world (Canada, China, Singapore, Australia, and  India … just to name a few) experienced the first-ever IABC communications conference in their neck of the woods.  One of my favorite sessions was with Mark Schumann, ABC. During his morning keynote he talked about the new rules of employee engagement -  and I had an “a-ha!” moment.

One of Mark’s main messages was that when it comes to communications it’s all about listening. Now, we’ve all heard this before, right? I’m a measurement person, so I definitely have heard, and have said this myself many times. But this time, there was something different. Mark used a wonderful analogy to put this statement in a global perspective.

“Think about two tin cans and a string,” he said. So I did. I could visualize myself using these to talk to my sister when I was growing up. I thought it was cooler than the set of walkie-talkies we had.

“Now,” said Mark, “Think about what happened as you got farther and farther away from the person who was holding the other end. The farther away you were from that person, the harder you had to listen. The same applies with global communications.”

OF COURSE! That made perfect sense to me. And, it’s so true. I work with a couple of clients right now and engaging the regional offices and working to not be so U.S. centric is an ongoing battle. And, while we have included them in employee surveys — and have done some focus groups here and there — we just aren’t listening hard enough.

Unlike our ability to constantly get feedback from the offices we’re located in, we’re making the mistake of only “scheduling” feedback mechanisms once or twice a year. And, as Mark put it during his keynote, that’s only a snapshot of how their feeling right at that moment.

In order to engage them throughout the year, we need to have conversations with them throughout the year to understand their challenges, their achievements, their fears, their questions and their markets.

So how do we do this? Here’s a couple of  ideas I have that I’d like to toss out here — I welcome you to do the same.

Identify communication correspondents: You should have a communication contact in each of your regional offices. Now I know a lot of organizations don’t have an official communication person in every office, but I don’t think each person has to necessarily have a communications title.

They just have to get it. And, believe me, these people are out there. As a communications person, it’s become our role to scout them out and find them. With regularly scheduled meetings with them (either by phone or video conference), they’ll be your eyes and ears to their part of the world and will be able to keep you in the loop. More importantly, they’ll be able to provide ongoing feedback on your communications to let you know if the content is relevant, appropriate and accurate.

Take the time to understand their business. It can’t stop at the communication correspondent. YOU need to understand their business so you can ask them the right questions to get the right type of information out of them. Start by talking with regional managers. Let your regional managers help you to identify employees involved in major projects so you can talk to them as well.

Get leaders and employees involved. One of the best ways to understand what your audience wants to know is to let them ask the questions themselves. I sat in another session with a communication leader from Unilever, Helene Bradley-Ritt. She gave an excellent case-study where she launched an ongoing teleseminar series with regional leaders and employees.

In a nutshell, the teleseminars are limited to only 25 participants per session and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants need to agree to come to the teleseminar prepared with questions for the leader on a specific subject. Questions from other employees are also collected beforehand and helps to form the starting dialogue. It’s not only encouraged employees to interact with regional leaders, but it’s also provided great feedback for the communicators. The teleseminars help to reveal the global topics that mean the most to employees. It’s brilliant.

Use the new tools. This is what social media is all about! Don’t be afraid to use new tools such as blogs, podcasts and videos to help bridge the gap between offices. I’ve seen dozens of communicators launch leadership or employee blogs — and only recruit people in their offices to participate. Branch out and get people from other offices to start the conversation using these tools. Again, as a communicator, it’s your job to coach them and to have excellent interview skills so that the content is spot on. But, this can be done — and when it’s done well, it will be incredibly powerful.

Steve and I are off to London next week (April is proving to be an exciting month) to speak at the Simply-Summit. I’m hoping to get more case studies and best practices from across the pond. In the meantime, what about you? Has anyone used any techniques to bring global offices together? I’d love to hear from you!

Five reasons your internal surveys are generating low response

Posted By Cindy | April 5, 2010 | 5 Comments

Filed under: Best Practices, Measurement

“Surveys just don’t work for our organization. No one pays attention to them.” How many communicators have said this before?

In our recent seminar, Strategic Communications, Steve and I cover what we like to call “Guerilla Research.” Quick hitting research that communicators can conduct on their own, that if done correctly, is incredibly powerful and provides valuable insight into your communication efforts.

When we get to the Guerilla Survey section of the presentation, it never seems to fail that someone will either raise their hand, or ask me during the break about what to do when “surveys don’t work” in their organization.

In my opinion, you need to start out by identifying why they don’t work, and it usually comes down to these five reasons:

1. You over survey
Take a look at the calendar and see how often you are sending surveys out. Even better, compare your schedule to other departments that may be sending surveys out as well (marketing, HR, etc.). This can be a very eye opening exercise. I mean, c’mon! How do you expect anyone to get any work done? Do more with less.

2. It’s too long
One of my past clients had to deal with a consulting group who considered themselves to be “engagement specialists.” This meant that they saw it necessary to send out an engagement survey that was 106 questions long. That’s right. 106. And, do you think they were surprised when only less than five percent of the internal audience submitted a survey? Or were they surprised that out of those submitted, 90% of them were only partially completed?

Well, no they weren’t, because this consulting group was a bunch of idiots. Again, people are at work here. We need to respect that. Unless there is a REALLY good incentive (extra days off or a brand new car) don’t expect people to trudge through lengthy surveys. It’s just plain unrealistic.  Especially when organizations everywhere are being asked to do more with less.

It’s also good practice to tell employees how much time it should approximately take to complete the survey. By giving them a little insight into how much time they need to set aside to take your survey, you’ll help reduce the number of incomplete surveys.

Finally, when choosing which questions to include in your survey, ask yourself this question: “What will I do with the answers I receive?” If you don’t have an answer to this question, then why are you asking for this information in your survey?

You’re not only cluttering up your survey, you’re setting false expectations. If people are asked their opinion, they expect you to do something with it. If you can’t, simply don’t ask. Guerilla surveys are all about keeping things simple.

3. Participants don’t understand the value or purpose.
This might be one of the most important reasons why surveys don’t work for your organization. If your audience doesn’t understand why they should give you their input, than why should they take the time?

When you administer the survey, let them know why their input matters. What will you do with the information? And, most importantly, AFTER the survey was sent and the results tabulated, follow-up! Communicate the results at a high-level and then tell them what will be done based off the results.

Finally, don’t be afraid to use incentives. From cafeteria gift cards to company baseball hats, you’d be surprised what works. If you have the budget for it, use it to your advantage.

4. The survey isn’t relevant to all of your participants
Before you send out your survey ask yourself these two questions. 1) Can everyone who takes this survey answer all the questions? 2) Can everyone who takes this survey understand these questions?

If your answer is “no” to either of these questions you either have to a) re-think who you’re sending your survey to, or b) edit down your questions so they are relevant to everyone.

5. You don’t have manager buy-in
So many times, employees don’t think they are “allowed” to take the time to participate in these surveys.  I always recommend internal communicators work with their management team to help increase employee response on surveys.

Again, let them know why it’s valuable and why it’s important to get their employee’s input. Then, ask them to discuss the survey at their next team meeting and encourage employees to fill them out.

If your management team is reluctant, then you need to start at the top and get your executive or leadership team on board and have them encourage managers to get employees to participate.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? If so, think about doing things differently. In good time you’ll start to see your response numbers on the rise  … along with the valuable input you need to build strong communications.