Strategic Communication Management

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
BEST PRACTICES, CASE STUDIES AND STRATEGY FOR COMMUNICATORS

Volume 13, Issue 3 April/May 2009
Creating corporate responsibility at the Department of Justice Growing the brand at Standard Chartered Bank
Reconnecting employees with the internal brand
Building a new culture and brand at iPSL How Barclays employees keep the customer promise Helping employees do more with less at Sony Europe
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editorial board members are respected communication practitioners and thought leaders, and are an integral part of the editorial direction of .
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Editor: Kelly Dyer

kelly.dyer@melcrum.com
Assistant Editor: Sona Hathi

sona.hathi@melcrum.com
Elizabeth Armstrong
Head of Marketing and Communications Standard Chartered Bank Singapore
Stuart Z. Goldstein
Managing Director Corporate Communications The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, USA
Head of Content: Mandy Thatcher

mandy.thatcher@melcrum.com
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Subscriptions Manager: Tracy Greves

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Ayelet L. Baron
Director, Emerging Markets Cisco Systems USA
Ruth Weber Kelley

Head of Group Internal Communications ING The Netherlands
Art Direction: Wesley Corbett
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President and Managing Partner Likely Communication Strategies Ltd. Canada
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For the fastest service, please email Tracy Greves at subscriptions@melcrum.com We are committed to answering all customer enquiries within 48 hours. Because we have subscribers in over 80 countries, email is our preferred way of keeping in touch. You can also contact us through our website www.melcrum.com No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopy and recording, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval system of any nature. Articles published in Strategic Communication Management are the opinions of the authors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publishers. scm is published six times a year. ISSN 1363-9064
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How to contact our editors

If you have comments, criticisms, suggestions for articles, or articles to submit, our editors would like to hear from you. Well be glad to send you our guidelines for authors which give further information on the editorial mission of . If you have an article proposal, send a 200-word synopsis to:
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Kelly Dyer Editor kelly.dyer@melcrum.com
About the publisher Melcrum is a research and information company with offices in London, Chicago and Sydney. Through our publications, research, training materials and seminars, we gather best practices from businesses around the world to help practitioners make better business decisions. Melcrum has clients in over 80 countries and has an international reputation, not only for editorial and research products of the highest standards, but also for tracking important trends in organizational communication, corporate communication, knowledge management and human resource management.
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carefully managed, sustainable forest reserves. Printed in the UK by Premier Print Group Ltd www.premierprintgroup.com Published by Melcrum Publishing Limited
Melcrum Publishing Limited 2009
FROM THE EDITOR
Helping to build the internal brand

Dear Reader, After waves of cutbacks, redundancies and general economic gloom, many companies are going back to basics. By this, I mean theyre returning to their core values to collectively focus employees on what their organization is all about and where its headed. In the past, many companies have relied on attracting and retaining employees through their external brand strength. Now they realize this is no longer good enough. Recruiting and getting the best from the most talented employees means organizations need to ensure employees experience the same values that are offered to the customer. Not only will word spread that the organization really values its employees, making it a more attractive place to work, but employees are more likely to offer great customer service as true brand ambassadors. In last issues editorial, I said that the current recession wont last for ever and companies need to ready themselves to be in a strong position to take full advantage of the wave of business opportunity when it comes their way. To do this they need a strong internal brand and clear values to attract and keep the best employees possible.
contents
FEATURES
16 Creating corporate responsibility at the Department of Justice
By Justin Gehde
20
Growing the brand at Standard Chartered Bank

By Elizabeth Armstrong
24
Building a new culture and brand at iPSL

By Helen Love
28
How Barclays employees keep the customer promise

By Sara Moorehead and Steven McGrory
32
Helping employees do more with less at Sony Europe

By Jane Sparrow
In this issue
As Kath Parrington, brand experience leader at telephone banking company First Direct, says in her profile interview on page 6, building an internal brand doesnt require starting from scratch as the external brand builders within the organization will have already done much of the work. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel, reiterates Helen Love as she explains her work at iPSL on integrating employees with a new brand (page 24). We also hear Sara Moorehead and Steven McGrory at Barclays Bank describe how they build external relationships with their customers through engaging employees in the banks brand promise. I hope you find some ideas in this issue that will go toward making a difference in your organization. As ever, please do get in touch with any comments and suggestions that we can consider to make the next issue of SCM even more relevant to what youre trying to achieve.
SECTIONS
In Touch
2 Useful resources for internal communicators
Leadership Communication
12 Helping leaders achieve strategic alignment 13 Guiding the communication efforts of a reluctant CEO
The Communicators Network

4 The latest hot debates and advice
People
6 PROFILE: Kath Parrington 7 THOUGHT LEADER: Jason Buck and Fraser Likely
Professional Development
14 How to regain your motivation for work 15 Insight into what comms leaders want right now
Technology
Kelly Dyer Editor Email: kelly.dyer@melcrum.com If you have any comments about any of the articles published in this issue, or if you have an idea for a future article, please contact: kelly.dyer@melcrum.com
8 Creating a new intranet at West Berkshire Council 9 Technology update
Calendar
36 Upcoming events
Research & Measurement

10 Three stages to measuring change communication 11 Employees trusted role in building reputation
Directory of Services
38 A list of useful service providers
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
A ROUND-UP OF USEFUL RESOURCES FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATORS
intouch
EVENTS & RESEARCH
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS CRITICAL IN BOOSTING EMPLOYEE CONFIDENCE
Only 40 percent of full-time employees feel their company has a clear plan to withstand the recession, says a new study by Threshold Communications, specialists in communication and behavior change. This finding underlines the importance of engaging the workforce during the current economic downturn. Honest communication is critical By contrast, honest communication has a definite effect on employee morale. Of those feeling strongly that their company has a clear plan to withstand the recession, 82 percent have high enthusiasm for their job and 86 percent feel committed to their companys long term success. Of those not committed to company success, only 12 percent say their company has shared its plans to withstand the recession with them. James Brooke, director, Threshold, says, The holy-grail for most organizations is to enable employees to feel a great deal of enthusiasm for their jobs. The results of our research suggest that not only does good communication engender enthusiasm, it also helps employees to align themselves positively to their company's future, even if the economic outlook is uncertain. Manager-employee relationships Thresholds survey also demonstrates the importance of communication between managers and employees. 53 percent who strongly agree their company has a clear plan are also confident their line manager would answer questions fully and honestly. Of those saying their company has no clear plan, only 17 percent are confident in their managers answers and 48 percent have no confidence at all. Only 29 percent of the respondents feel their line manager takes time to talk
GOOD COMMUNICATION HELPS EMPLOYEES TO ALIGN THEMSELVES TO THE COMPANYS FUTURE, EVEN IF THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IS UNCERTAIN.
through company plans with them. Where respondents strongly agree their line-manager communicates in this way, 74 percent feel high job enthusiasm and 86 percent have longterm commitment. Of those strongly disagreeing with this statement, a mere 16 percent are enthusiastic and only 26 percent are committed for the long-term.
EMPLOYEES UNCONVINCED ON COMPANYS CSR PERFORMANCE

Around 50 percent of companies disappoint employees in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR), according to a new study led by coaching, consulting and training company Krauthammer and Universities of Amsterdam and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. The study examines what employees expect from their companys CSR initiatives and how well those expectations are met. Organizations should practice the belief that the economy and the ecology are one thing, say respondents to the survey. But, only 26 percent of companies seem to agree. Around 50 percent of respondents claim that their organizations are operational or even exemplary when it comes to CSR practices. The other half display a reactive or inactive CSR policy. An alternative explanation for this latter group of companies is that theyre simply failing to communicate with their employees about what theyre doing around CSR. CSR vital in economic crisis CSR is needed, especially in an economic crisis, adds Professor Rob van Tulder from Erasmus University of Rotterdam. The global economic crisis puts the topic of CSR in the spotlight in an almost perverse manner. On one hand, everybody acknowledges that the causes of the economic crisis lie with a clear lack of CSR. On the other hand its fiercely disputed whether the solution to the crisis entails stepped-up CSR efforts. In the end, the systemic nature of the crisis demands longer-term approaches involving all relevant actors, he says. SH
Listen and respond This research demonstrated how crucial it is for companies to listen and respond, says Brooke. He recognizes most organizations are under pressure, but believes they can transform employee performance by improving their managers communication techniques. If employees feel listened to, the survey shows greater commitment to the company, and a much higher level of enthusiasm for the job. He says the research indicates three important actions, above all else, for linemanager focus: Genuine listening Encouraging ideas Responding to questions fully and honestly. These factors correlate remarkably strongly with commitment, enthusiasm and motivation. Now is the time to work together, Brooke concludes. Di Smith
The full article can be found at www.internalcommshub.com/open/news/threshhol dresearch.shtml
The full study can be downloaded at: www.krauthammer.com
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
BOOKS EVENTS RESEARCH REPORTS BLOGS SURVEYS URLS
BOOKS
OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS
3 By Malcolm Gladwell, Allen Lane (Penguin), 2008, US$16. By now most SCM readers will understand The Law of the Few and know that to communicate change you need only to identify and connect with Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen, those few who can tip ideas into popularity (often unexpectedly). Youll appreciate that contagious behavior of little changes can have big effects that tip into a dramatic movement (the tipping point). Yes, Malcolm Gladwells The Tipping Point (Abacus, 2000) has been around a while now. Its essential reading for communicators as it explains how ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do (page 7). Gladwells second popular book Blink (Penguin, 2005) is a fun read about those moments when we know something without knowing why. Experts can develop a gut-feel that goes beyond rational analysis. Theres a lot of useful information of value to HR people (e.g. about making judgements of people), but its not essentially about communication. Outliers: The Story of Success (sold as Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Dont in some markets) is Gladwells latest social research effort. In this he thoroughly examines the reasons for the success of some famous people (e.g. Bill Gates, Robert Oppenheimer and The Beatles) and others who achieved great success although not so well known. He also explores why some clever and talented geniuses did not achieve success. He examines some ethnic traits and the importance of putting in hard work (10,000 hours to become expert), and discovers that being born at the right time in history helps. There are ten chapters over 300 pages in two parts Opportunity (about having the chance to succeed at the right time, and putting in the hours) and Legacy (about the impact of societal traditions you are subjected to). As with the other Gladwell books there is an excellent index and lots of additional notes. Its a long while since I read a book so hard to put down. Its absolutely
ITS A GREAT READ FOR THOSE FACED WITH MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT PEOPLE
fascinating. Its not directly about communication and, yes, I know that research conducted in this way is not that rigorous (although he does quote some studies which are). But its a great and convincing read, especially for HR professionals faced with making decisions about people (e.g. how to develop high-fliers). Outliers is strongly recommended. Incidentally, I realize that some readers, like me, will have sat at Gladwells feet and heard him explain his research and conclusions. If you get the chance to hear this very talented young genius Id suggest you jump at it.
Rodney Gray Employee Communication & Surveys Rodney@rodneygray.com.au
BLOGS & URLS

BLOG: EDELMAN CHANGE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
3 http://edelmanchange.blogspot.com/ Gary Grates, president and managing director of this branch of Edelman, was a huge success when he gave the keynote presentation at Melcrums Change Communication conference earlier this year. Fans of Grates (and there were many at the conference) can become more acquainted with his musings on employee engagement through this blog. His presentation at the conference looked at the deteriorating levels of trust that exist in organizations today and one of his blog postings looks at trust from another perspective. Discussing the memoir of Ted Sorensen, the trusted advisor to US President J.F. Kennedy, Grates says this was a perfect example of great communication. Sorensen was trusted to attend the majority of the Presidents meetings, which meant he had not only a very thorough understanding of the topics being discussed, but an appreciation for how Kennedy functioned as a leader. Grates complains that communicators today dont have the same closeness or connection with their senior leaders and as a result find it hard to get a complete picture of whats happening inside their organization. Blog topics from authors aside from Grates include words that should be avoided by communicators and best practice advice for shaping a productive mindset for employees during a downturn.
BLOG: ASK MISS MANAGEMENT

3http://askmissmanagement.typepad.co m/ This agony aunt for the office style blog allows readers to post their questions on all matters to do with managers, employees, colleagues and other workrelated issues. Miss Management as the blogs author refers to herself doesnt seem to be overloaded with requests for her advice yet but theres some interesting advice to help those living in fear of public speaking, as well as tips for holding on to your job despite the current wave of redundancies.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST HOT DEBATES AND SHARED ADVICE
the communicators
NETWORK
Q A
It was unsurprising to see a discussion on the network this month around how companies can celebrate Christmas with little or no budget. As resourceful and innovative as ever, members were at the ready with several low-cost ways for managers to get festive and show gratitude to employees for their hard work over a particularly challenging year. Also shared was advice on how to calculate the true cost of internal communication.
Ive been asked to put together a presentation on our strategic plan as well as a one-page summary document. Has anyone got a model for how theyve achieved this in the past? Helen Coley-Smith
ColeySmith Consulting It depends to an extent what stage youre at with communicating your strategy whether its about raising awareness of it, creating a line of sight between it and peoples roles, changing behaviors and so on. These best practice tips are based on research inside 20 global organizations communicating strategy to employees: 1. Use simple language which resonates. Strip out or clearly explain any jargon/technical terms. E.g. leverage might become make the most of. 2. Allow local businesses/departments to tailor the communication you can be global at first, but the further you progress with communicating strategy the more youre likely to need to allow flexibility locally in communicating it. 3. Try to make it interesting and compelling use examples and stories to make it more real for people. 4. Involve leaders in the communication of strategy. Lack of leadership support to share it is a common cause of failure take account of any literacy issues. The written word may not be appropriate for each and every employee grouping. Ive seen companies use video and radio, for example, quite successfully where literacy is an issue. 5. Make sure that managers have the ability to communicate strategy.
6. Make sure materials are visually interesting lots of pictures as well as words. Evidence suggests employees like pictures when learning about strategy. 7. Try to encourage a meaningful conversation among teams don't just send out slides to a manager and leave him/her to it, unless theyre highly competent. Send them support materials such as a managers guide including context, tips on running an effective meeting, discussion points, feedback forms and so on. 8. Make communicating strategy a continual process rather than a one-off event. 9. Link the strategic plan to other key activities going on in the business, for example, values, change programs, so that everything joins up and makes sense as a cohesive whole.
Alexa Overington
Surrey County Council Were currently looking at how we can communicate our new corporate plan to our staff. In the past its been left up to managers to take the responsibility for sharing the plan/strategy with their teams, which as you can imagine, has not been very successful or consistent. The plan is written by policy managers so is generally very text heavy with complicated diagrams and tables all with limited explanation, so weve been tasked with making it more real to staff.
Weve been throwing round some ideas to support managers in sharing this years plan. One of these ideas was a flowchart. This can be used by managers to start a dialogue with their teams about how the targets and goals agreed with each individual at their annual appraisal feeds into their team plans, their service delivery plans, the corporate plan and the overarching community strategy (and vice versa). Well provide managers with a couple of populated examples so they can see how it might work in practice and theyll then be tasked with having a discussion with their teams (either in a huddle or in one-to-one meetings) to create individual ones. We recognized that this is no easy task for some people, especially those who operate in support roles (finance, procurement, legal, etc.) because theres no obvious link to our corporate priorities, which are very front-line and community focused. Hence the need to give managers as much support as possible with a discussion guide and supporting materials. Initially it is a print and online campaign using real staff to explain how what they do every day contributes to us achieving our corporate priorities. The point being to focus on people rather than policies and processes. The second phase, a discussion guide is a new concept for us. Im worried that ours is in danger of becoming too large and unwieldy. The aim is to get people thinking differently and recognizing their contribution. I dont want the discussions to get bogged down in detail or for a manager to think its too much hard work. Also, this time around we want staff to be much more involved in developing the service plans for the future. Currently, theyre very management-led and often dont reflect the priorities staff may feel are more important. Also, as we know, if staff have the opportunity to contribute to and agree what they will be delivering in the future theyre much more likely to own it.
Q
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How can we ensure engagement, debate and challenging questions at an open panel discussion where our top 100 senior managers can ask senior leaders about the vision for next year?
commsnetwork-on@melcrum.com
Emma Ridgeon
Independent consultant Arrange attendees on round tables and get them to discuss their top one or two questions for the panel, then nominate a spokesperson to stand up and ask it. This is less daunting if youre asking on behalf of a whole team, plus it gets discussion going. Line up a few people to throw in some easy/funny/controversial questions early on. This helps give permission for others and breaks the ice. Have a stack of empty post-its or event-branded postcards lying around throughout the two days on which people can write their question on and drop in a box or stick on a wall before the session. Make sure you have a few prepared questions (invite attendees to email in advance when you send out the invites) and plan to field at least one each to your five directors so they all get to speak. If you have a bit of budget, you could make it more lively/fun with some props or staging. We recently used the Question Time theme tune as an opener which got people laughing. Finally, fight as hard as you can not to get the session squeezed or chopped. Live events often overrun and its always the Q&As or the open discussion sessions that tend to suffer because theyre seen as soft agenda items.
demographic, such as a division, geography or population group. Are there more detailed clusters with certain attitudinal or behavioral characteristics?
LATEST ON THE
MELCRUM BLOG
Why "web 2.0 needs leadership 2.0" Sona Hathi posted video interviews from Melcrums member event in March, where Dr. Bonnie Cheuk, Global Head of Knowledge and Information and Samantha Bouzan, Global Communications Manager from ERM, delivered a presentation on their award winning intranet site. Members heard how the team have used SharePoint as a collaboration and knowledge sharing tool and how they gauged what employees wanted on the site. Also posted is an interview with Stephen Cox, Communications Director at the Council for World Mission. Members of the organization are based around the world, many work in remote locations and have little access to technology. In the interview, Stephen explains just how diverse his audience is and what channels work best for communicating with them. Hotel Chocolats strong loyalty focus extends internally too Coralie Thomson, senior marketing executive at Melcrum attended an event where Angus Thiriwell, founder of Hotel Chocolat spoke about how he manages to keep his brand alive for employees. Coralie recalls that Angus explained how Hotel Chocolat uses a brand wheel so that employees have a clear image of what the brand stands for the outer circle is filled with images of light-hearted things to do with chocolate, while the inner core communicates the more serious side of the brand for example, its attention to quality, its strong ethical beliefs. Employees are encouraged to focus on the customer experience and can even take a diploma in chocolate!
Does anyone have any tips/templates for communicating a change in our bonus structure from one where all employees get the same amount, to one thats now dependant on employees own performance? Mary Kuhn
Sandra Park
Heineken We use a very simple approach of asking people to form small huddles to discuss the issues and then to agree two or three questions that the group would like to ask. We usually give the groups 10 or 15 minutes to do this and then someone from the group will ask the questions. This ensures that there are plenty of questions, no awkward silences and as no one individual has to raise their hand, the questions are always very relevant and direct. Finally, with such a large population, you need to define a segmentation strategy. Start simple with some corporate-level segmentations. For example, do we have three or four main types within our employees overall, with different demographic, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics? Then begin to think about more complex segments. For example, within a particular
AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah Changes in how people are paid and rewarded do tend to get attention! I suggest, however, that moving the bonus to a pay-forperformance structure will make one group happy your top performers. It can be quite demoralizing for this group to see no difference in rewards based on individual effort and results. Id suggest focusing on the opportunity and the business reasons for the change answering the question, what does a stronger link between pay and performance provide to the employee, the organization and the customer? Make your case in a simple and straightforward manner before communicating be aware of some of the factors that might contribute to resistance. These include distrust of management, belief that performance evaluations are subjective and influenced by cronyism, poor manager communication/performance management skills, lack of experience setting specific, measurable and realistic performance goals. If some of these factors turn out to be positive (high trust for example), thats a good thing and should also be considered. A good solid assessment of the attitudes, beliefs and potential risks that exist in your organization can help you determine the best strategy for this roll out.
www.melcrumblog.com
Thoughts and revelations on internal communication and beyond
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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PEOPLE
6
Building, maintaining and aligning the internal brand PROFILE : KATH PARRINGTON
are too complex for our people to understand. The alternative perspective on this, however, is that your customer demographic and people demographic may well be different. For example, people who build Rolls-Royces dont necessarily drive them. This doesnt mean you cant understand the brand in the same way as your customer, itll just be approached from a different angle. Again, this is harder when you have multiple brands. How do you engage your people with the brand? Each year begins with an annual strategy presentation thats led by our leadership team (delivered face to face in a large hall onsite) and everyone in the business participates. It tells us in an adult way whats going on in the external world, how we performed the previous year and what our challenges are. All the messages are reinforced, including: what the brands about, what our vision is, what the brand values are, what the customer experience is, and this sets the tone for the rest of the year. Weve formed a partnership with the childrens charity Childline because it involves children reaching out for help over the phone, which has a strong emotional connection to our brand. Weve done this because it engages our people and also because its the right thing to do. What are your current challenges? As with many others, its working within the confines created by the external market situation and the need to focus on cost. This is informing everything we do. The difficulty is in recognizing what needs to be invested in and supported, and eliminating the costs where youre not adding value. Our values are fun and engagement and the obvious action is to stop having fun, but thats not the answer. If you only understand the rationale side of the brand, and not the emotional side, youll only ever make cost decisions and not those connected to investing in the future.
BRINGING THE BRAND TO LIFE AT FIRST DIRECT

Having worked in a variety of areas for UK-based telephone banking company, First Direct, Kath Parrington has seen first-hand the positive impact on an organization when employees truly live the brand. Now brand experience leader, she explains here why its so important to understand the customer and offers advice for achieving robust internal and external brand alignment. Why a brand experience team? Some time ago we reviewed the internal communication function and realized that the team has a wider role in the business than is encompassed by the traditional remit of internal communication. As part of the analysis we realized that what we do is fundamentally rooted in the brand. The company is frequently being commended for its high standards of customer service and thats because our people deliver on the brand promise. There are 10 of us in the brand experience team serving over 3,400 people. Were based across two sites in the UK. At First Direct, customers are relating to a voice at the end of a phone but were very good at building empathy and a sense of customer importance. Its important for the brand experience team to understand how a customer relates intellectually and emotionally with our brand. If our employees can experience the same belief in the brand, they can deliver that to the customers as real advocates. The brand experience team use traditional communication methods, which are fully informed by and aligned with both rational and emotional considerations. But some communications also include activities that have been designed purely to engage people emotionally. This creates a sense of freedom and it reinforces our cultural values. Where does the function sit? The team forms part of the marketing department. Some companies have an internal communication team, but we have a brand experience team. We also have a social function that organizes external and internal events and they make up part of the brand experience team. Our external brand values are the same as our internal cultural values: pride and passion to name two. Whats your advice for achieving external and internal brand alignment? You have to start by understanding the brand so Id suggest developing a very close relationship with the marketing team, if that doesnt already exist. It will help you appreciate how the customer engages with the brand. Do your organizational values reflect your brand values? If not, why not? Admittedly, if youre an organization working across multiple brands, for example, this is harder to achieve. What can go wrong when companies try to build their internal brand? People sometimes think they have to build a separate internal brand identity. Why do this? The marketing team has done the work for you. If we start from scratch, we risk sending out conflicting messages that
Kath Parrington is brand experience leader at First Direct bank, UK. Shes held a wide range of operational and support roles within the organization including people leadership, change management and communication.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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PEOPLE
Is the term audience one thats accurate and acceptable? THOUGHT LEADERS : JASON BUCK & FRASER LIKELY
more than just receivers, users, spectators and target segments? Is our role simply one of one-way information, news or message dissemination to a targeted and passive employee audience? Shouldnt we be thinking of engagement employees as activists, participants, interlocutors, champions, influencers, conversationalists, ambassadors or partners? That is, as active not passive. Audience is no longer good enough If so, the universal application of the term audience no longer fits our needs. What does, then? While the term stakeholder is used to identify employees with a particular stake in an issue and organizational decision, it doesnt indicate how stakeholders will behave in regard to the issue or decision. Within internal communication, we need to encourage and work with stakeholders to become engaged and to act. To describe groups of employees who become active, theres another term: publics. Publics are sub-sets of stakeholders. As noted PR/C scholar Jim Grunig has said: publics arise on their own. A public is a group of people who face a similar problem, recognize the problem and organize themselves to do something about it. Certainly social media (wikis; sharepoint; facebook; blogs; and so on.) have encouraged the re-conceptualization of employees, from passive audience to stakeholder to active public. Yes, the term audience is acceptable for the mass communication of news or messages to employees. For the other 90 percent of what we should be doing each day, the terms stakeholders and publics are better at describing the groupings of active employees and our communication with them. The utilization of all three terms audience, stakeholder and publics reveals a more up-to-date and well-rounded approach to internal communication than does the sole and universal use of the term audience.
UP FOR DEBATE: WHAT OUR LANGUAGE ACTUALLY CONVEYS

A recent posting on Melcrums Communicators Network Listserv about measuring internal news sparked a fairly heated debate. It centered on whether the term audience is suitable for internal communicators to use when referring to their organizations employees or whether it sends inaccurate signals about their role. Here to offer their contrasting views on the subject are Jason Buck and Fraser Likely. Jason says: As communicators were engaged in a multidirectional flow of information, concepts and feedback with individuals and groups, some comparable in size to small cities. While we can conceptualize our participants and respondents, in day-to-day work with our colleagues and clients, we often need to give those individuals and groups a name so they can be referred to. For this purpose I choose audience. This isnt to say audience is a generic term for an assembled mass receiving our loudhailer broadcasts, but those we interact with. To determine the most appropriate method of communicating, we might also need to divide up our audience into segments to better serve our and their needs: personas, demographics, geographics, work streams or how ever is best. After all, who are participants, stakeholders or thought leaders but identified parts of the overall audience and so audiences themselves? From here we can make informed decisions whether to engage through a town hall meeting, broadcast with a static intranet site, encourage participation between a team and its leader or nurture collaboration through organic or digital channels. Audience helps to serve needs While the communication industry is progressing and most practitioners (thankfully) understand the inescapable necessity of working beyond newsletter communication, audience is still a vital term that helps us understand, approach and serve the needs of those were communicating with. We mustnt be so concerned with renaming the world to forget how it works. The word audience, like communicator, is just another noun but it gives us a focal point from which we can inform our thinking and for our colleagues, clients and friends a name by which to understand our methods. Its not a confusing or ambiguous neologism that reinforces the them and us paradigm, but is universally understood and useful. So why not use it? Fraser says: Audience is an acceptable term. But, in 2009, is it the only or the best term to describe how we group employees? Audience can mean: a receiver of a message from a sender; the user of a media channel; a spectator in attendance at a performance; and a target segment of a population. We conceive the audience we want. We group employees into audiences: employees do not group themselves. An audience, therefore, is an artificial construct and is passive by definition. Shouldnt we think about employees as
Jason Buck (pictured far left) is a UK-based freelance web, digital and communications professional based in the UK. Fraser Likely is president of communication management firm Likely Communication Strategies in Canada.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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TECHNOLOGY
PHIL RUMENS
West Berkshire Council provides services over an area of 272 square miles to around 145,000 people. It employs around 4,000 staff who provide a variety of different services, from educators to electricians, and planning officers to social workers. The website and intranet are hosted inhouse and content is managed using GOSS iCM (intelligent Content Management) from GOSS Interactive. The intranet has recently been revamped by our web development team. We were one of the first local authorities in the UK to launch a Web 2.0 style drag and drop intranet home page. The new intranet, known as MyIntranet, is used regularly by 2,500 staff. Developing an interactive homepage West Berkshire Councils website had been developed considerably since the launch of its current incarnation in February 2006, to the detriment of the intranet, which had received very little attention. Our Chief Executive identified that internal communication via the intranet needed to be improved. The new content-rich intranet employs many features associated with Web 2.0, making use of content from many different sources. Not only are users able to customize the look and feel of the intranet, they can now add, minimize and maximize, remove, and re-order content widgets in any combination they wish. In addition, social network-style elements encourage
Making the intranet accessible and appealing to a varied employee base
with the councils HR system. Each team also has its own noticeboard, which all members can amend and use as they see fit. Based on data taken directly from the HR system, the intranet provides full details of all staff through its People Finder search and offers the ability to change details and inform the HR department, online. Polls are used to gain views on a range of topics from internal policies to the choice of sandwiches preferred at meetings. Ensuring consistency To minimize disruption, employees were offered the same content theyd had on the previous intranet system as a default. The biggest change is the ability for staff to tailor and manage the content they see. We felt it was important that users didnt feel they were losing anything when we switched over to MyIntranet. Though we encourage our staff to use the functionality, we dont force them. If they wish, they can have exactly the same content types as on the old intranet. It enables us to add new functionality when we want and with each roll-out of a widget we post a news item detailing the functionality. Weve also established an intranet review group to give feedback and to advise on future changes. Since MyIntranet was introduced, the number of users remains consistent and around 25 percent have chosen to customize their homepage, choosing different colour schemes, layouts, and widgets. As more widgets and options are added, the number of people customizing their MyIntranet homepage is increasing, although the default options will always be the most desired layout for some users. Looking to the future Weve had a great reaction from our user group, which comprises information managers from throughout the organization. Theyre continuing to provide constructive suggestions for development, which is important to keep MyIntranet in touch with the needs of all users and avoid us creating additions that may be technically great but of little use to our staff.
CREATING A NEW INTRANET AT WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL

When the Chief Executive at local authority West Berkshire Council in the UK decided that the intranet needed a revamp, Phil Rumens took on the challenge. Here, he explains how the web development team created an interactive homepage, incorporating Web 2.0 technology, to connect employees and encourage cross-functional interaction.
cross-organization teambuilding and cooperation in areas of the authority that would otherwise not naturally interact. For example, the launch of Your Space, an area specific to each team within the council, means that staff can communicate with each other via this electronic noticeboard that allows every person from each individual team to edit information. The second stage of Your Space has given every user the ability to see each others space, meaning one team can see the noticeboard of another, but not edit it. In addition, council-wide forums such as Items For Sale/Wanted items, Professional Services and Social Events mean staff who dont have face-to-face contact with each other are in contact via the intranet. Maximizing the use of Web 2.0 Users have the ability to customize the look of the intranet to seven choices of color scheme, including one designed for those with visual impairment. Information regarding council news, service delivery and specific service data are published to users via the intranet. Content can be published securely, right down to team level via information managers throughout the organization, thanks to the integration of GOSS iCM
Phil Rumens is web development manager at West Berkshire Council in the UK. He has been employed in both the private and public sectors for companies including Vodafone, Amey and UK local authorities Newbury District and West Berkshire Council.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
INCREASING ONLINE DONATIONS TO CHARITIES
User research by usability experts Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) finds significant deficiencies in non-profit organizations website content, which often fails to provide the information people need to make donation decisions. Non-profits would collect much more from their websites if they clearly stated what theyre about and how they use donations. New usability studies by NN/g revealed considerable frustration as potential donors visited sites and tried to discern various organizations missions and goals which are key factors in their decisions about whether to give money. An earlier survey by Target Analytics found that non-profits got about 10 percent of their donations online. Given the high growth rate for internet donations, NN/g estimates that if non-profit organizations improve their websites online donations will constitute the majority of donations by 2020. Well-designed non-profit websites are particularly suited for attracting new donors and efficiently supporting smallscale impulse giving. Websites are less effective at sustaining long-term donor relationships. For encouraging customer (or donor) loyalty, email newsletters remain the internet tool of choice, says Jakob Nielsen in the latest newsletter. In-depth research into what users want To discover how to design non-profit websites to encourage donations, the company tested 23 non-profit organization websites. They asked participants what information they want to see on non-profit websites before they decide whether to donate. The most common answers were: The organizations mission, goals, objectives, and work. How it uses donations and contributions. Only 43 percent of the sites they studied answered the first question on their homepage. Only 4 percent answered the second question on the homepage. Although organizations typically provided these answers somewhere within the site, users often had problems finding this crucial information. Whats restricting the flow of donations? NN/g identified what exactly turns people off donating. 47 percent were usability problems relating to page and site design, including unintuitive information architecture, cluttered pages, and confusing workflow. On 17 percent of the sites, users couldnt find where to make a donation. Youd imagine that donation-dependent sites would at least get that one design element right, but banner-blindness or overformatting caused people to overlook some donation buttons. explains Nielsen. To improve fundraising, speak plainly and answer donors main questions, and money will flow your way, he advises.
MCDONALDS SERVES UP MORE BLOGS FOR EMPLOYEES

Over the next two weeks, McDonalds will expand the number of bloggers on its internal website for North American staff, Station M, from three to 15. A few of the new bloggers may simply write once, it said, adding that the objective was to drive diversity on a site dedicated to staff working across the US and Canada, in English, Spanish, and French. Example of collaboration in comms This is a good example of how corporate and internal comms teams can work side by side. The corporate team selects the blog post topics, such as product launches and brand initiatives, while bloggers help drive content focused on the daily issues arising at the restaurants. In the year since the site launched, registration has more than doubled to approximately 25,000, with crew members. One posted question, with about 40 comments, concerned what kind of gloves to wear in the drive-through to keep warm in the winter while handling money. So its definitely worth taking a look and seeing how this can, and perhaps should, apply to many other businesses across the world. Keeping your employees happy and warm both mentally and physically is an obvious way to maintain morale during arguably the most complex and frightening period in corporate history for 80 years. James Bennett
To download the full report visit: www.nngroup.com/reports/donations/
TO IMPROVE FUNDRAISING, SPEAK PLAINLY AND ANSWER DONORS MAIN QUESTIONS, AND MONEY WILL FLOW YOUR WAY.
To read the full blog visit: www.melcrumblog.com
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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RESEARCH & MEASUREMENT
A measurement approach that considers employee reactions to change ADRIAN CROPLEY AND MELISSA DARK
THREE STAGES TO MEASURING CHANGE COMMUNICATION

In this extract from Melcrums report Essential toolkits for communicating change Adrian Cropley and Melissa Dark offer a three-stage matrix for measuring change communication. Because Cropley and Dark believe that all change communication should be created with the change curve in mind, the matrix takes into account that change provokes different levels of employee response. The change communication measurement matrix is a great way of defining the types of measures we need throughout the various stages of change, as described by the change curve. It looks at the stages of change in conjunction with the three key areas of change communication objectives: 1. Think: What knowledge does the audience have about the change? What knowledge do they need? 2. Feel: What are their attitudes towards the change? How do we want them to feel? 3. Do: How does our audience currently behave? What new behaviors are we trying to introduce? The matrix allows us to understand the effect our communication is having, and gives us insight to where our audience is on the change curve. It then helps us to focus our communication approach, (see Figure One, right). The change measurement planning tool Step One: Ensure you define your desired outcomes first. Its critical that you have identified your end-state what it is that youre trying to achieve. Hopefully, there will be clearly stated business goals and outcomes associated with your change. You then need to break this down into our objectives model as a result of this change, what do we want people to think, feel and do? Take a baseline measure to gauge the current state. There are many ways you can do this, and your choice of measurement tool will largely depend on the type of change youre communicating. Understanding the current state, as well as where you want to get to, will enable you to prepare a gap analysis which will be invaluable to you in determining how to plan your communication approach.
Step Two: Use the desired outcomes and the gaps youve identified to help plan the measurement approach against your approach in communication. We plot this against the stages of the change curve, because your communication efforts will change as your employee needs change (see Figure Two, below). You need to adjust your approach as the change progresses, so at first, you may not be able to fill in all the segments of the matrix. You may need to fill in the first two to three columns and then revisit the plan as you move forward. A more focused technique The advantage of using the matrix is that your communication techniques and your measurement tools are all captured together in one place for easy reference and easy reporting to management or your change team. Your matrix will include more detail on the communication approach, and your approach will depend on your organization, the type of change youre running, and the outcomes youre trying to achieve. Using the matrix allows you to focus your measurement strategy on the most critical elements of the change.
1. For more information on the report Essential toolkits for communicating change, visit www.melcrum.com
Figure One: Change communication gap analysis
Figure Two: The change communication measurement matrix
Adrian Cropley is CEO of Cropley Communications. Melissa Dark is CEO of Melissa Dark Associates, a consultancy specialising in employee communication. Together they run Melcrums Black Belt Internal Communication Training Program in Sydney and Melbourne.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
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RESEARCH & MEASUREMENT
Where do employees want to get their information from?
they dont hear it first from an official channel, they complain that the organization never keeps them informed. Official channels do matter The Edelman study confirms this because their results showed that 91 percent of opinion leaders said that communicating the state of a companys business frequently and honestly is an important factor in the companys overall reputation. I think this validates the importance of official corporate communications for maintaining reputation, even if those communications arent seen as credible by more than 26 percent. Implications for social media Unfortunately, some corporate communicators have quoted these survey results to their leadership team to suggest that less information be provided to employees from traditional less credible corporate sources, such as newsletters and Town Halls, and more come directly from a network of well-briefed employee peers, through channels like social media and informal discussions. There are many different facets to trust. For example, employees might trust a union or works council as a source of information about proposed changes to working conditions, but might very well not trust them as a reliable source of information on their companys strategy. While social media can certainly play a powerful role in shaping employees attitudes about company issues, they shouldnt generally be the mechanism to broadcast new information to employees. Typically, peers biggest impact is going to be with attitudes rather than details, shaping their colleagues behavior as brand champions or grapevine-deniers. Thats where they can be very effective. If we remember that influencing attitudes is a very different goal from broadcasting knowledge, finding a role for employees in our processes can be a very valuable part of our communication strategy.
1. Opinion leaders were defined as college educated, with income in the top quartile for the their age and country, who read/watch business news media and follow public policy issues in the news at least several times a week.
ANGELA SINICKAS
EMPLOYEES TRUSTED ROLE IN BUILDING REPUTATION

Trust and credibility shouldnt be the only factors determining which sources of information we use, says Angela Sinickas. Just because we believe what someone tells us doesnt mean we want them to do the telling.
Earlier this year the Edelman PR agency released its 10th annual Trust Barometer Study. This found that 91 percent of opinion leaders1 aged 25-64 in 20 countries said that being able to trust a company affects the companys overall reputation. This was the third highest factor, right behind the quality of the companys products/services and how it treats its employees. The study has interesting yet potentially misleading implications for employee communication. When 35- to 64year-olds were asked how credible various sources of information were about a company, the following percentages said our audiences were extremely credible or very credible: 40 percent said conversations with friends and peers. 40 percent said conversations with company employees. Only two sources were more credible: stock/industry analyst reports (47 percent) and articles in business magazines (44 percent). Others were lower, like CEO speeches (27 percent), corporate communications (26 percent) and business blogs (19 percent). Clearly, we need to make sure our employees are well informed and positive representatives of our companies viewpoints so they can provide reliable information to the customers and
shareholders who trust them. But do these study results suggest that our employees, too, would prefer to learn company information from their own trusted peers? Peers are not preferred Just because a source has credible information doesnt mean employees want to get new information from that source. When we ask employees for their top two current and top two preferred information sources on a variety of specific topics, peers or colleagues are never selected as a preferred communication source by more than 2-3 percent of respondents on any topic. The usual preference level is 0 percent. This is even true at companies where rumors are a significant current source of information for up to 25 percent of employees on topics like organizational changes, news, compensation/benefits, career development, competitive issues and branding. This doesnt mean employees dont like their colleagues or dont trust them. It just means they dont want them to be among their first sources of information on a topic. While they may trust what they hear from a colleague, if
Angela Sinickas, ABC, IABC Fellow, is president of Sinickas Communications, Inc., an international communication consultancy specializing in helping corporations achieve business results through targeted diagnostics and practical solutions. For more information visit: www.sinicom.com
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
Creating guidelines for standardized leadership communication BARBARA MASSURY
1. Target specific communications Help leaders understand the importance of acting and communicating credibly and with empathy using tailored messages to specific target groups. 2. Role model in corporate culture Provide clear information on how leaders are expected to communicate, how transparent they should be and what kind of company culture should be transmitted. 3. Messaging Support them with a set of key messages about the company and of key topics that need to be transferred to employees. 4. Visibility and consistency Provide clear guidance on suitable channels and how a leader should transmit messages consistently using these channels. Recommend which communication tools should be used and define how often a leader should appear in internal media using exisiting platforms. The goal is to ensure consistency at all levels and support leaders in their efforts to communicate in a consolidated way. Support communication colleagues Its not just leaders who need support. In international corporations a fruitful interaction between communicators at all levels will foster a healthy alignment process. Local, regional and/or functional communicators will appreciate advice in helping their leaders communicate in the most efficient way. Offering a support package on leadership communication specially tailored to the needs of communicators, including key questions and process suggestions, will facilitate a consistent approach to communication. Defining expectations through clear guiding principles is key for strategic alignment. Are great leaders great communicators? Leaders should be doers who talk. Its essential they reach out to employees, listen and hear whats being said. We as communicators are there to consult, to support, trigger and enable this process to help managers get a clear understanding of what needs to be done to achieve alignment behind their strategy.
HELPING LEADERS ACHIEVE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

How can communicators support senior leaders in encouraging a workforce to move in one direction towards one common goal? Here, Barbara Massury identifies four key areas that need to be focused on if the dream of strategic alignment has any hope of becoming reality.
Lets get one thing clear: Im a doer, not a talker. This is how a newly appointed business unit leader once opened a meeting with me as his communication expert. Sound familiar? It may not often be said quite this bluntly, but communicators frequently face this attitude. Top managers tend to focus on facts and figures. From their perspective, employees get paid and they should deliver whats required to achieve their respective goals. Internal communicators should help employees to understand what needs to be done in order to be successful and also help line managers understand their role. So, management and communicators have an overaching goal in common: strategic alignment. Of course its far more complex in practice. Besides getting buy-in from management to understand the crucial role internal communication plays in achieving strategic alignment, theres also the question of roles. Who does what in this process and whos responsible for making sure we all move towards one well-understood direction? Working with other functions Internal communication is a discipline and not the task of a single function. Working towards strategic alignment must be a cultural mindset within the company, driven by a consolidated and well-orchestrated approach from various functions and enabled by internal
communicators. Together, communicators and HR colleagues need to put in place processes and structures that allow all leaders to send the same messages regarding the overall goal and direction of the company. There needs to be a common understanding of whats expected from managers in their communication approach and each leader should be made accountable for delivering this. How to standardize processes In difficult times with decreasing budgets and increasing workloads most organizations tend to go into survival mode and focus on crisis management. At times like this, alignment is more vital than ever and this calls for standardization. Standardized leadership communication processes help ensure that leaders deliver on communication tasks. If the internal communication team can put in place a clear set of guiding principles, overarching messages and tools (working in conjunction with HR and other relevant functions to create this) they can help provide clear and distinct guidance of whats expected from a leader. These guidelines should address four key areas:
Barbara Massury is founder and president of MASSURY Customized Communications, consulting top leaders on positioning, communicating restructuring and change. She also owns REACH, a unique, stakeholder-focused communications approach to drive strategic alignment. Contact massury@massury-cc.com for more information.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
How to encourage a leader to stay connected with employees during tough times ROGER DAPRIX
GUIDING THE COMMUNICATION EFFORTS OF A RELUCTANT CEO

How can you persuade a leader that to maintain engagement and steer a company through hard times, employees need to hear from the person at the top? Clear and honest messaging is vital during a recession, but what can communicators do if their senior leaders are less than willing to cooperate? Here, Roger DAprix offers his advice for getting leaders to stay in touch with their workforce. Theres no question that the hottest topic these days is the faltering global economy and its impact on the workforce. A notsurprising finding by research company Quantum Workplace is that employee engagement in US companies between 2007 and 2008 declined in 66 percent of the firms studied. Its troubling that employee engagement is actually declining at a time when we need it most. Troubling but not surprising. Bolstering employee engagement and protecting the brand promise are crucial at a time like this. In this uncertain economy workers are fearful and insecure as massive layoffs are announced in company after company. Learning from the past Compounding all this is the fact that, in general, corporate leaders have a miserable track record in handling staff reductions with sensitivity and selfawareness. In fairness, its a task thats never easy but the ability to do so is the essence of real leadership. During World War IIs worst days, Winston Churchill promised only blood, sweat and tears to a demoralized British public. More recently, Barack Obama has declined to sugar coat his messages on the state of the economy. Its what good leaders do as they rally their constituencies to face the facts and help deliver the solutions. Todays corporate leaders could learn a lot from these examples. In the Quantum study researchers found that the two circumstances that tended to differentiate the companies with higher levels of engagement were setting a clear, compelling direction that empowers employees, and open and honest communication. How to help a reluctant senior leader At ROI Communication, weve been facilitating webinars on the subject of communicating with employees during a global recession. One revealing question weve heard many times is: what do you do with the CEO who refuses to engage bad news and prefers to remain silent and let his or her actions speak for themselves? A recent survey by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Mercer Human Resource Consulting revealed that in about one third of the companies surveyed the senior leaders were responding only to specific issues and inquiries; and one in five CEOs were not visible or actively responding, in effect remaining silent about the companys response to the economic crisis.
Persuading leaders to stay in touch The question is how can you reach such leaders and persuade them to address this difficult subject? The best answer is to demonstrate to them the performance consequences of silence by collecting the employee data that reflects those consequences. Employee focus groups, pulse surveys, standing company research any technique you can think of that will show the magnitude of the employee concern and its observable impact on engagement and productivity are all useful tactics. Use this data to make the business case for communicating the companys short and long-term strategies to cope with whatever marketplace forces are causing upsets in company results. Performance issues always get the attention of otherwise indifferent leaders, and to the extent that you can show a link between silence and employee performance and productivity you have their attention. Measuring white collar productivity is always a complex issue, but anecdotal testimony by employees about their level of motivation, engagement or morale can be very persuasive. Finally, help get isolated senior leaders out of their offices and into contact with real employees in town meetings and other places where they can observe and listen to employee concerns. Again that can be a powerful motivator to action. And once you manage to get them moving is there a message formula that can help them deliver the goods? The best one I know of is essentially the following: This is how our marketplace is behaving. Heres how those changes are affecting our company. We have a strategy and a plan heres what were doing in the short and long-term. Heres how you can help. With your help we expect to succeed. Strong engagement means strong leadership Much is at stake today. Keeping employees engaged and protecting the brand promise in difficult times are two critical issues intimately tied to effective leadership.
Roger DAprix is vice president of ROI Communication. Hes had a distinguished career in consulting and corporate communication. His latest book, published by Jossey-Bass, is The Credible Company: Communicating with Todays Skeptical Workforce. Hes been a member of SCMs advisory board since its founding.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Five questions to help you rediscover what drives you in the workplace SUE DEWHURST
1. What are your personal values Think back to those times (inside or outside work) when you have felt really motivated and alive. What do they have in common? Your values are those themes that keep coming back over and over again. 2. To what extent does your job allow you to live those values in practice? What could you do to get more of them into your working day? They dont have to be major changes often its the small things that make the difference. 3. Why did you choose to work in internal communication? What was it about this world that attracted you? Is it still there? If so, remind yourself of it. If not, what can you change to get it back? 4. How are your own engagement levels? You help your leaders action plan for their teams, so plan some actions for yourself. Identify the three areas that most need some attention, and plan an action to take against each of them. 5. How about pride? Do you get to see the value of what youve achieved? If not, youre probably not measuring enough or investing time in getting feedback. So start now. And when you get a great result, keep the evidence and put it somewhere you can see it. Invest in yourself as well as the company Im a great believer in practising what you preach. And what we preach is that engagement, pride and living the values leads to more motivated people, better performance, and ultimately better organizational results. So, as well as being inspired by all the ideas in this issue about what you can do to support your organization, invest some time to work on how you can support yourself. After all, to use a famous slogan, youre worth it!
HOW TO REGAIN YOUR MOTIVATION FOR WORK

As more organizations return to their values to engage their workforce during the economic collapse, Sue Dewhurst suggests you dedicate some time to reviewing the values that matter to you personally. If youve forgotten what fuels the passion for what you do, answer Sues questions to help give your career the boost it needs. Let me ask you a question: how do you feel about your job? While the other articles in this issue are probably focusing on helping you to develop pride and engagement within your organization and getting people to live its values, I want to focus on you. While youre trying to build pride and engagement in, as well as commitment to the values in your company, how are things on your own doorstep? Were all professional enough to be able to focus and produce results even if we dont believe in what were doing. But, as we so often tell our internal customers, we produce better results if we do. Review your reasons for working Around five years ago, I found myself at a career crossroads. Having spent my whole working life in internal communication, I was feeling stale and demotivated. I had gone from working for the best leader ever to one who didnt really get it and didnt feel I was adding any real value. Based in corporate headquarters, I missed the constant contact I used to have in previous roles working with people at the sharp end. I wanted to move on from this organization but just couldnt get excited about applying for another internal communication director role. It prompted me to spend some time with a coach thinking through what I wanted from life, what my personal values were, and what I needed from a role to help me fulfill them. I discovered that the things that make me tick are freedom, connecting with people, making a difference and learning. Once I knew what my values were, I was able to make changes. Focus on what motivates you I realized I hadnt fallen out of love with internal communication, but I did need to change some aspects about my working methods to get my motivation back. I decided to start my own business to get the freedom I wanted. I chose to specialize in internal communicationrelated training and coaching, because it gives me so much day-to-day contact with people and Im constantly learning. As well as this, I can actually see and hear the difference I make, which gives me such a massive buzz. I still have my off days dont we all? But overall, I enjoy what I do, I feel proud of the projects I work on and I go the extra mile to deliver the best result I can. I make choices about the work I undertake, based on the kinds of activities that connect to my values. Delve a little deeper It might help to ask yourself the following five questions:
Sue Dewhurst runs The SD Group and leads Melcrums Black Belt training program in Europe. Shes also the research associate director of Melcrums Strategic Communication Research Forum.
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Volume 13, Issue 3
April/May 2009
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Become strategic and tech-savvy to truly demonstrate your value SONA HATHI
AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT COMMS LEADERS WANT RIGHT NOW

Melcrums latest global survey, Key Benchmark Data for Communicators 2009, has confirmed the communication function is indeed facing significant challenges as a result of the global economic crisis. Here, Sona Hathi describes some of the findings from a professional development perspective and reveals what communication leaders want from their teams to help the function and their organizations survive the recession. One of the key questions Melcrum asked in our 2009 Key Benchmark Data for Communicators survey was: What is your biggest communication challenge right now? From the 2,200 responses around the world, it can be concluded almost without doubt that the biggest challenge the function is facing right now is keeping employees engaged and motivated during the effects the global economic crisis is having on businesses. The idea that redundancies, cost cutting and changes in structure are all creating an atmosphere of low morale and deteriorating engagement levels within their organizations is one that respondents mention time and time again. Its also evident that keeping employees engaged is a part of the broader challenges of change management and change communication. Equipping managers with the skills, tools and knowledge they need to be better communicators forms the second most common challenge for communicators. The third most pressing issue is having to meet increasing requirements with less resources and working within a tight budget. Measurement is still an obstacle The survey reveals that communicators still find measuring the effectiveness of their communication a difficult hurdle to overcome. Over half of the respondents feel theyre unable to demonstrate the ROI of internal communication. This represents a catch 22 situation for communicators. While its difficult to get good ROI on a small a budget, its also tricky to get leaders to increase the budget without demonstrating ROI. On a more positive note, 44 percent feel that they get the training they need to progress in their careers. Some 60 percent feel they get paid fairly for the work they do and 51 percent agree that the internal communication function is respected by senior leaders within the organization. What senior comms leaders think The survey asked some specific questions to communication leaders. Out of 400 leaders, 66 percent feel that their companys internal communicators have the appropriate skills to deliver the company strategy, however, a 25 percent feel this isnt the case. Among this latter group, some of the common reasons given are along the lines of: Too many operational communicators and not enough strategic thinkers. Not enough knowledge of how new communication channels can be used strategically. Internal transfers from other functions has diluted the quality of communicators. Over 50 percent of leaders say that coaching managers to communicate was
the skill that would be most beneficial for their communication team members to develop over the next 12 months. Andy Szpekman, president of AHS Communications offers an explanation for this finding: Managers possess a big advantage: they know their teams well. Managers have the insight necessary to tailor information to their audiences needs something few communicators are as qualified to do. How to assess communication effectiveness, strategic planning and managing change communication followed close behind each being selected by over 40 percent of leaders as important areas of development. Changes in headcount More than 40 percent of leaders say a reduction in the headcount of their companys communication function over the next 12 months is unlikely. Some 37 percent say it is likely and 22 percent said they werent sure. Looking at the explanations offered, reductions are mostly down to budget cuts and restructuring as an effect of economic downturn. Many of those who werent sure predicted layoffs based on downsizing that has occurred in other areas of their organizations. Those who plan to take on new recruits are looking for communicators who are skilled in new media and web 2.0, and those who possess business acumen and can provide strategic guidance. With this in mind, Fraser Likely, president of Likely Communication Strategies, suggests that if senior communicators are to be true strategists, they must understand these five glaring misconceptions about how to think strategically: 1. A strategy is the same thing as a plan. 2. Strategic management only involves the development of a strategic plan. 3. Communication plan objectives should be linked to the organizations strategic plan objectives. 4. Managing the communication function strategically means speaking with one voice and having a common set of messages derived from the organizations objectives. 5. Strategy follows objectives in our communication planning template.
Melcrum will be releasing more information from the Key Benchmark Data for Communicators survey 2009 soon. To find out more, contact sona.hathi@melcrum.com
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Creating corporate responsibility at the Department of Justice

Changing employee behavior to ensure public confidence
BY JUSTIN GEHDE
o maintain public confidence in the collection and storage of sensitive files and information, the Department of Justice in Victoria, Australia, embarked on a journey to establish a corporate responsibility framework, empowering employees to take accountability for their work. Justin Gehde explains the internal and external implications of the campaign.
federal privacy commissioner found public trust in government departments when handling personal details to be at a record high. Nearly three in four Australians (73 percent) believed government departments could be trusted with their personal information. However, nearly one in five (19 percent) thought public sector agencies could do much better presenting an opportunity for public servants to remain vigilant when dealing with personal and private information.
Reviewing the department

The Department of Justice is one of the largest and most complex government departments in the Australian state of Victoria. It deals with sensitive areas including prison operations and consumer protection, and relies on its employees to adhere to a range of policies and procedures. Areas of critical importance include privacy, information security and records management. With more than 40 business units working on very diverse areas under eight umbrella portfolios, the types of tasks undertaken by employees across the department are incredibly varied. It also presents challenges in the way information is gathered, stored and managed. To ensure growing community confidence, the department reviewed its assets and records management processes to determine if they could be further strengthened. This revealed that while the department had adequate processes in place, it would be prudent to promote them more strongly among employees. The outcome of this review prompted the organization to implement a significant program to ensure that all employees were aware of, and adhered to, department policies and procedures. Despite the potentially dull content, the departments internal communication function worked closely with a newly established project team to unleash a colorful, creative and fun approach to corporate compliance. Underpinning the campaign would be training, tools and resources that would enable employees to meet all their legal obligations in areas such as privacy and record keeping, but also remind them of their responsibilities under the states public sector code of conduct, and the departments commitment to reducing its impact on the environment.
The Department of Justice, Victoria, Australia, encompasses police; courts; prisons; emergency services; regulation of gaming, racing, liquor licensing and trade measurement; and victims services. Activities also cover the drafting of legislation and the administration of various programs to protect citizens rights. It employs more than 6,000 people.
Keeping information confidential

Ensuring there are adequate processes in place to protect the integrity of the information is critical to public sector agencies. Over the past decade, government departments in Australia have significantly improved the way they collect, store and protect information they hold on citizens. A 2007 report by Wallis Consulting for the
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With 6,000 employees spread across a state larger than Britain, working in roles as diverse as prison officer, lawyer and administrator, engagement was always going to be a challenge. Some business units across the department had a strong operational focus with staff in the field carrying files and warrants in vehicles, or correctional staff collecting and managing the personal information of prisoners and offenders. Other units with more of a policy or administrative focus worked on strategy development and community consultation in more traditional office environments. The department had already undertaken internal campaigns to promote key areas such as privacy, corporate values and the environment, and the senior executive team wanted to build on these and draw them all under one campaign umbrella.
and flexible enough to enable the various subject areas such as privacy, information security and environment to be included under the campaigns umbrella. This required consultation with business units across the department about how to incorporate their campaigns into the artwork. Our solution was to create a set of icons to represent the key areas of the campaign, such as an outline of a tree for the environment and a document folder for record keeping, to act as signposts for staff. These icons were placed in a colored grid that enabled color coding for each element of the campaign. Having a strong, flexible design enabled each element of the campaign to develop its own identity and sub-campaign, while still being readily linked to Taking Responsibility.
Justin Gehde is a strategic adviser within the internal and stakeholder communication team at the Department of Justice in Victoria, Australia. He provides strategic advice and support on significant internal campaigns that affect all staff. Prior to this, he worked in Amsterdam and London in various corporate communication roles.
A challenging brief
A strong theme coming out of discussions with senior leaders was the need to promote and reinforce accountability across the department and to focus on the basics. As a government body, the department is accountable to ministers and parliament. For staff this translates to everyone meeting their obligations as public servants. After much brainstorming and refining, the internal communication team settled on the title of Taking Responsibility for the campaign. It succinctly captured what we wanted to achieve all staff to be accountable for meeting their responsibilities. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of policies and procedures and the critical need to follow them to ensure the integrity of systems and information. While internal communication would play a central role in the project, the senior executive team recognized that a project team would be required to coordinate the programs strategy and governance. In developing the internal communication strategy we decided to take a phased approach, moving from raising awareness in the initial phase (six-eight weeks), to changing behavior in phase two (12 months) and finally maintaining the accepted behavior (12 months). We identified several corporate hooks including: compliance acting as a quality control system leading to a high-performing justice system; translating process and policy into actions for staff and building business capability to provide a strong organizational foundation. Once this was finalized, the first thing we set about developing was some strong creative for the campaign. We wanted to incorporate some of the design elements developed for previous campaigns. The creative had to be strong, bold
Launching the campaign

We launched the campaign with a short video announcement on our intranet from our departments Secretary (the equivalent of the CEO), outlining her rationale for the Taking Responsibility campaign and painting the overarching picture. We followed this with a series of video announcements from each of the heads of the eight portfolio areas, plus other leaders from sensitive operational areas such as Corrections Victoria and Sheriffs Office. These follow-up videos provided tailored messages to all areas of the department and enabled leaders to speak directly with their teams about issues relevant to the portfolio. We published these videos on a newly created intranet site and compiled them all onto a DVD that was distributed to our regional locations. Launching an internal campaign by video was a first for the department and really helped to reinforce the significance of the campaign and its relevance to all areas.
Carrying out internal audits

The launch was followed with a series of internal audits. An audit of every business units information security needs was undertaken to determine whether there was adequate secure
KEY POINTS
Although the Australian public had a high level of trust for government departments looking after confidential information, the Department of Justice in Victoria wanted to review and further strengthen its policies. As a result, the Taking Responsibility campaign was launched. This approach encompassed interactive games on the intranet, a new corporate screensaver, specialized training and a desk calendar for employees reminding them of their responsibilities. 17
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Creating corporate responsibility at the Department of Justice
Figure One: A black balloon denotes a serious breach of confidentiality
areas were needed or considered too insecure. To enable the same activity to take place outside the central business district, colored balloon packs were distributed to regional locations. The results of the 1,600 desk sweeps were given to the appropriate business unit heads and department Secretary. While this activity had an element of fun, it also effectively highlighted the importance of keeping information secure. A simple outcome from this was the development of a laminated desk sign that said the occupant was away from their desk so no confidential files should be left unattended.
Launching interactive games for the intranet

Another fun component of the campaign was the deployment of a memory game on our intranet. We worked with IT to build an online memory game involving a screen with 12 squares or blocks. Behind each square was one of the campaign icons, with six pairs in total. Players could click on each square and it would reveal itself for a few moments. If you correctly clicked on two matching icons they would stay revealed, and once all the pairs were matched the digital timer stopped. Players with competitive times could leave their names next to their score. We conducted a competition to see who could match the six pairs of icons in the fastest possible time and the winner was announced on the front page of the intranet. This generated a healthy level of competition across the department and added some color and movement to the campaign. Continuing with the electronic theme, the departments corporate screensaver was refreshed to incorporate the campaigns artwork and key messages. An important enhancement from the previous screensaver was the addition of a text field on each page that would allow content to be drawn from our content management system, a little bit like an RSS feed. This field enables message updates without having to recreate the screensaver and adds dynamic content to the pages.
7 storage and filing cabinets in their area. A series of practical electronic toolkits were developed and published on the intranet. The toolkits allowed local work areas to easily assess their information security needs and determine whether they needed any support or storage solutions. A summary of the assessment was forwarded to the program team. A new corporate video was produced which reinforced the key messages from the campaign and highlighted the diversity of work thats done across the department. We published the video on our intranet and its now part of the departments induction program.
Colored balloons
One of the most successful activities was a colored balloon event to highlight whether employees adhered to our new clear desk policy of leaving no confidential documents on desks or unsecured. For two weeks after business hours, a small team would target a floor of our central office and check desks and filing cabinets. They would then leave behind a card and helium-filled colored balloon green if everything was clear, orange if some work was needed, red if there was a breach and black if there was a serious breach (see Figure One, above). The card had an explanation of the colors and a written comment if there was an issue. Employees would arrive at work to unexpectedly find colored balloons dangling everywhere. It was quickly apparent who was not adhering to the clear-desk policy or if storage
Running training days

In combination with some of these activities, workshops were developed on record awareness. The Secretary mandated that all employees in the central office building had to participate in the workshops. Attendance reports were provided to the Secretary so she could see which areas had not been represented in the training. This was a strong incentive for business unit heads to ensure their teams took part. The content of the workshops was very practical and led by a team of employees who had volunteered to be trainers. This enabled 84 workshops sessions to be held with more than 1,500 employees, and created a pool of records
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champions throughout various business units. In addition to the record awareness workshops, employees in key roles such as executive assistants and business support officers, who frequently dealt with briefings, memos and corporate records, attended rockstar records training. The training specifically targeted this key group to provide practical, relevant tips and advice directly related to regular record-keeping activities in their daily roles, rather than awareness about the need to keep records. The training was held around the time of a national music award ceremony, so the content was peppered with music references and challenges to make it timely and fun.
Reviewing and refreshing key policies

Part of the campaign included a review of 150 of the departments key policies. All the policies published on the intranet contained a range of styles, templates, quality and approaches. Some policies needed an urgent review after several years of neglect. A new online policies template was developed and business areas worked with a dedicated online writer to review, refresh and republish key policies so they were clear, relevant and understandable. New review benchmarks were established to ensure that policies were regularly updated. To promote the refreshed policies, we created a new section in the middle of the front page of the intranet called Focus On, and each week wed highlight a policy or procedure. Intranet content approvers were updated on the new policy template to ensure no old templates were put forward for approval and slid back into circulation. To maintain staff engagement and keep policies fresh and relevant, new feedback boxes with suggestion pads were placed in all lunch/break areas. The boxes are cleared every week and the forms sent to the project team. We also published an online suggestions board that included implemented improvements from across the department. A successful tool was a desk calendar for staff that included key messages on each page that were tied in with relevant events occurring during that month. For example, during Privacy Awareness Week we promoted privacy messages and for World Environment Day in June we had environmental messages. The calendar served as a daily reminder to take responsibility.
their behavior accordingly. Asked whether they understood their obligations to information security, 98 percent of employees responded well enough for my role or very well. On the question relating to privacy, close to 90 percent felt they understood it well or had a strong enough understanding for their job. Encouragingly, 90 percent of staff applied environmental considerations in their everyday work practices. A campaign evaluation conducted by the internal communication team found that over a 12-month period, 92 percent of staff had become more aware of the importance of respecting peoples personal information and other privacyrelated issues, and 93 percent became more aware of the need to keep sensitive information and documents secure at all times. Its now common for employees to raise issues around privacy when information gathering is discussed or to question whether proposed activities are environmentally sound.
The campaigns achievements

Awareness of the campaign grew across the Victorian Government and several departments and agencies became very interested in what wed established. The central body charged with improving government service delivery, the Victorian State Services Authority, is currently considering the program for deployment across the state government. The project and internal communication teams were presented with the departments highest internal award, and the project manager received the Secretarys own pinnacle award for his contribution. On a global scale, the campaign received the International Privacy Innovation Award from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. The campaign earned significant recognition by winning a commendation in 2007 for excellence and innovation in records management in the Victorian public sector. The success of the campaign was underpinned by balancing practical training and support, with fun and creative activities, alongside formal monitoring and reporting. Turning the rustiness of policies and procedures into something relevant and fun was challenging, but one that returned great outcomes for the department and ultimately the people of Victoria. scm
Evaluating the campaigns results

Six months after the campaign started the department conducted its regular employee attitude survey, which included questions around the key areas of the campaign. The results were very pleasing and indicated that employees had taken on board the campaigns messages and had adjusted CONTACT DETAILS
Justin Gehde Department of Justice, Victoria Justin.Gehde@justice.vic.gov.au
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Re-evaluating the significance of brands within the financial sector today
BY ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG
lobally, billions of dollars of brand investment have gone up in smoke, causing marketing and communication professionals to re-think long-held opinions about the right way to build a brand. But do they really need to, or has the answer been staring them in the face all the time? Elizabeth Armstrong offers her experience of internal brand building at Standard Chartereds Wholesale Banking Division.
Standard Chartered Banks Wholesale Banking business thought it was starting its brand journey in 2002, only to discover in 2006 that despite any real investment in marketing tools, we had a valuable positioning. Over the next two years a brand communication strategy was activated, focused first on employees, the first overt external salvo being made just as the international banking landscape changed dramatically in September 2006. Standard Chartered Bank has operated in the worlds most dynamic markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East for over 150 years. Its income and profits (derived from consumer and wholesale banking) have more than doubled over the last five years primarily as a result of organic growth and supplemented by acquisitions. The Group has around 1,750 branches and outlets located in over 70 countries employing 75,000 people, nearly half of whom are women. We have 115 nationalities, of which 60 are represented among senior management. Its certainly not the same bank I joined in Hong Kong in 2001, and its not even the same
wholesale banking franchise it was when I became Global Head of Marketing in 2005. Our transformation has been rapid, exciting, painful and successful.
Some background
Standard Chartered defines wholesale banking as the providing of banking services to all corporates and institutions with an annual turnover of over US$25m. Prior to 2002, Standard Chartereds Wholesale Bank was a collection of largely product-led businesses. We had a fantastic franchise in unique markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and for the fact we started our life in these markets back in 1853 (as Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China and The Standard Bank of British South Africa in 1863) we had been a founding partner in the development of trade and investment corridors in growth markets, with deep local knowledge thats hard to replicate. Our challenge in 2002 was how to leverage this unique network to deliver more value to clients with our then existing product range we couldnt support their growth aspirations. So we embarked on a dedicated investment program to build our product and service expertise, so that we could exploit our knowledge of these markets. In early 2006, after several years of transforming our business, we felt it was time to make a more overt message about who we were and what value this represented to our clients. Anecdotally, it was annoying our senior management to make client calls and discover they didnt know we operated in Africa, despite
Standard Chartered is a leading international bank focused on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, serving corporations, financial institutions and consumers. Headquartered in London, its global operations are based in Singapore. It employs over 75,000 staff.
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having been there for over 150 years. Weve never had the luxury of relying on an expensive advertising strategy, a vast distribution network, or front page headlines in major media on a daily basis. Like our approach to banking focus on the basics our brand was built the same way focus on the simple things that make the most impact.
master brand, one that would inspire our employees and better resonate with clients, and would be delivered through a number of touch points. We decided the best return on investment was to proceed with defining our expression of the master brand, galvanize our employees behind this, and in time make a more overt, yet measured, message externally, via advertising.
How the brand developed

We started our brand communication strategy with a landmark piece of proprietary research in 2006, asking our clients to tell us what perception they currently had of our brand, and also, what attributes they ascribed those banks that held the core relationship with them. We were very encouraged to learn that in clients eyes we were clearly differentiated from our international and local peers in terms of approach: they saw us as a committed partner, responsive and friendly, which is right at the heart of the Banks brand promise to be the right partner. But we were disappointed to learn that despite all the new capabilities and deeper footprint, our customers had a very low awareness of the new product capabilities, particularly our financial markets solutions and expanded coverage in markets like Korea. Should we have been surprised? Wed never invested in a communication strategy to tell our clients to think a certain way about us. Our whole positioning had been delivered through the frontline. When we asked our employees the same questions, we got a very similar reaction. We also identified an interesting, but worrisome gap between our clients perceptions of our reputation versus our competitors, and our employees perceptions of the same. Our clients rated our reputation higher, our staff lower; our clients rated our competitors reputation lower, our staff rated it higher. Our employees also marked us down for other things that our clients rated strongly as being unique and special, such as our commitment and culture. We took away two big messages from our research: 1. We had a unique and trusted relationship with clients, and this was a strength to grow. 2. If our own employees didnt know what we were capable of delivering, and how to articulate this value, our clients would be none the wiser. The research gave us a number of options. We could do nothing, and continue to deliver our brand through the frontline. Or we could step up and define a wholesale banking expression of the Banks
Working with senior leaders
Critical to the success of this exercise was senior management support. Fortunately, the key stakeholders were highly engaged right from the beginning of the journey, which started with the Wholesale Banking CEO co-authoring the brand strategy paper in 2005. For several of the team, this was their first experience with branding in its truest sense; it was an intellectually compelling process. Early light bulb moments occurred during conversations about sponsorship (especially on the topic of existing sponsorships and how they may or may not align us to a certain perception about our business) and employee behavior. But the penultimate understanding was around the delivery of client value what we needed our brand to communicate. To make our name synomous with a defined value to clients was the holy grail. Securing the right conversation with a group of senior executives around brand isnt easy. In the early days we almost derailed the program. We were working with a number of grids and graphs, facts, figures and statistics from the research company (see the box-out on page 23), which overwhelmed some of the senior managers during meetings and caused defensiveness. Susan Burrell, Global Head of Client Research, Wholesale Banking painstakingly re-created grids, re-cut information and created a number of different formats of presenting the same information but to different stakeholders. In this way we were able to work in peoples comfort zones, bringing them 3
Elizabeth Armstrong is managing director, global head of marketing, wholesale banking at Standard Chartered Bank. Since 2005, Armstrong has led Wholesale Bankings marketing function, which supports brand building efforts for all products and client segments across 70 countries. Her earlier employee communication strategies at Standard Chartered Bank were recognized with a number of international awards, including the IABC Business Issues Award and a Gold Quill.
KEY POINTS
In 2006, Standard Chartered Bank decided to take a more overt approach towards marketing its services. Research revealed there was a disconnect between opinions held by customers and those of employees. This was tackled by launching a brand communication strategy to redefine the master brand and ensure full understanding and backing from employees so they could offer a higher level of service to customers. 21
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IF OUR OWN EMPLOYEES DIDNT KNOW WHAT WE WERE CAPABLE OF DELIVERING, OUR CLIENTS WOULD BE NONE THE WISER.
7 on board and leading them through decisions that needed to be made. Engagement on the brand communication strategy took two years (and continues), but throughout this time, the actual strategy was being executed. There were a number of process and functional disciplines that were essential to business as usual, and these were aligned to the organizational changes that were taking place to support Wholesale Bankings transformation. For example, essential to the banks ability to deepen client relationships, was its client coverage model. In an investor day presentation in 2006, we explained how we were complementing the extension of our product capability by increasing the number of senior bankers with sector experience. Most of these bankers had joined us from other organizations, with very different cultures. As part of their on-boarding, client pitching and presentation training played a big role in inculcating our culture and approach to relationship management. This training gives the marketing function the ability to mandate messaging and the look and feel of the materials used. Prior to 2005, very little investment had been made in client communication tools such as pitch books and fact sheets. The primary resource was a powerpoint template that had been designed and implemented for the entire bank to use when the corporate identity was refreshed in 2002. The Wholesale Banking business had been left
to its own devices, and while there were pockets of brilliance, a lot of people were working from information cut and pasted from old presentations, and creating new versions of a powerpoint template. And this problem was exacerbated by local country preferences that saw the proliferation of animated graphics (think flapping flags and cars racing across the slide) and typeface in every possible color. It may sound basic, but the most effective salvo in our campaign to make a more overt message to clients about our capabilities has been the overhaul of our sales tools and client communication. Since 2005 weve reallocated investment from other marketing activities, and pumped it into the creation of mandatory powerpoint templates, fact sheet templates and brochure ware. Last year alone we published 88 guidelines to cover the range of client communication tools that were developed in 2008. The collateral plays a dual purpose. It not only delivers accurate information, and up-tiers the professionalism in which were perceived by clients, it also enables us to educate frontline employees on key messages and benefits of our products, services and network not just the features. Complementing the production of collateral, the marketing function also coaches individuals and groups in how to prepare and present to clients.
Developing a TV campaign
From 2005, a small amount of investment was made in advertising in trade publications, predominantly full page tombstones that are a series of tiles identifying high profile deal transactions, or award wins. Twice a year, the day after the full and half year results are announced, tombstone adverts are also run in the Financial Times globally, and the Asian Wall Street Journal. The primary audience is employees, and its also used as a client engagement exercise. This targeted approach was adopted to establish a relationship with the publications, particularly those in whose award and poll programs we participate. Recognition via industry awards is an important proof point for any organization. For the Standard Chartered Wholesale Banking brand strategy, award success helps define and articulate our market leadership in key products and geographies. Awards and league table positions feature heavily in credentials and pitch books. The awards, league tables and the TV commercial have increased employees levels of pride and belief in the organization for which they
Figure One: Building the brand from within
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work. Its a way for employees to establish credibility when introducing the bank and demonstrating a track record of expertise in a chosen solution. With regard to the TV commercial, its the first time that our bankers have had something in the public domain, after years of seeing our competitors high-profile advertising. Given the gap in client awareness of our product capability and network reach, for the first time in 150 years, we decided to develop our first Wholesale Banking specific television commercial. The print and television campaign took a twoprong approach, based on a competitor review. With deeper advertising pockets, our peers often create corporate and generic brand-building print and television campaigns to complement segment or product specific projects. In most cases the corporate television advert is used to encompass their wholesale banking proposition. In our case, our single corporate television advert at the time featured the story of one of our brand ambassadors, the blind marathon runner, Henry Wanyoike. Our television commercial was developed to demonstrate how the connectivity of our network grows our clients business. From Asia to the Middle East to Africa, across industries and client segments. The visual device is molten steel, a river of which we follow along its journey from a foundry in India, as it spreads under the earths crust, and then pushes up through the earth to form a bridge joining two sides of a river in China, a skyscraper in Dubai, and a series of telecommunications towers in Africa. While bold and confident in approach, its not a chest beating exercise for the Bank, more a strong statement about the growth in our franchise, and the role we are playing to help our clients harness this, by connecting our network to make them successful. Launched in 2008, this commercial runs globally on business channels such as Bloomberg, as well as on the in-flight channels of airlines that fly to, from and within our franchise. An important audience for the commercial is employees, the tone and approach resonating well.
profit growth of 13 percent. As a strong contributor to group performance, Wholesale Banking reported outstanding revenue growth of 34 percent and profit growth of 37 percent. The performance was exceptional given the market conditions in which this was delivered. There are many factors that contribute to financial performance, but the main driver is clearly the continued successful execution of our client-led strategy. In Wholesale Banking, implementation of the strategy relies on the day-to-day interactions between our employees and our clients. Since 2006 this has been scaffolded by a robust brand communication strategy that has encompassed a number of internal and external tactics. A serendipitous by-product of the financial crisis has been employee pride in our brand and how it has been delivered. The market is testing the positioning, strategies and infrastructure of many organizations. In understanding ourselves better through the research in 2006, we havent pretended to be something we cant deliver. We are open for business, as usual. scm
BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH

Standard Chartered Wholesale Banking wanted to build a distinctive organizational character around its brand. In order to do this, there was a need to understand the corporate banking scenarios across the world. Therefore, Standard Chartered commissioned TNS Singapore to conduct a corporate reputation study to help answer the following questions: Who are we? What should we be to reach aspiration?
Serendipitous by-product of the financial crisis

You have a brand regardless. The challenge is having stakeholders say of you how you wish to be perceived, understand the benefit and choose you over your competitors. On 3 March, 2009, Standard Chartered Bank reported their 2008 full year performance. The Group reported revenue growth of 26 percent and
There were two phrases to this study. The first phrase was a qualitative study to address Who are we? Hypotheses based on the qualitative findings were fed into the second, quantitative stage to help answer the question: What should we be to reach aspiration? Corporate and institutional clients and employees across major geographies were interviewed.
CONTACT DETAILS
Elizabeth Armstrong Standard Chartered Bank Elizabeth.M.Armstrong@sc.com
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Integrating employees into a new organization
BY HELEN LOVE
nternal branding can be a challenge to get right, but if youre successful it can provide great rewards. These can be seen not just in the communication arena, but in the fields of employee engagement, reinforcement of the external brand, and, as Helen Love explains here, in facilitating major change in a merger and acquisition scenario.
Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited (iPSL) was launched in 2000 as a joint venture between the financial institutions Unisys, Barclays and Lloyds TSB, with HSBC joining as a subsequent shareholder in 2001. The company was set up to manage outsourced cheque clearing and processing for the majority of the UKs banks, processing over 76 percent of the UKs cheques.
The challenges
Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited (iPSL) was established in 2000 to manage outsourced cheque clearing and processing for the majority of the UKs banks. It provides services for approximately 300 banks and building societies including Barclays, The CoOperative Bank and National Australia Bank Group Europe. From its inception, there were a number of key objectives for the joint venture and some significant challenges. A major consideration was to achieve economies of scale by migrating all the different banks cheque clearing systems onto a minimum number of common platforms (major transformation project for technical platforms). Simultaneously, they had to TUPE1 across the existing cheque-processing staff employed by each of the member banks into the new organization. (The TUPE process is a series of regulations that preserve employees terms and conditions when they
move to a new employer.) They also needed to consolidate operations across the 13 sites, with a view to closing offices and reducing the original headcount from 4,500 to around 2,500 in only three years. In parallel with the TUPE exercise, there had to be an ongoing transition of terms and conditions from legacy employers to new ones based on the contractual model of Unisys. In an effort to drive up service levels and improve performance, there were simultaneous rollouts of both performance-based remuneration for all staff and across-the-board Six Sigma Lean techniques to achieve continuous process improvements. In addition to all this, the communication function was faced with a workforce where 85 percent had no internet or email access, 85 percent were shift or part-time workers and there was a critical need to ensure commitment and support from the various unions, of which the majority of the processing staff were members. This was in effect a merger and acquisition scenario, with 4,500 staff brought into the new organization (following the TUPE regulations) from culturally and politically diverse legacy environments. Not only did they have to be merged into one identity and culture, but they also had to adopt a different mindset as they were now to be judged on client deliverables and personal and team performance.
What needed to be achieved

Working with a cross-functional team and with the support of the senior management team, the primary aim was, as soon as possible after the
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takeover, to launch one culture and identity for the new company iPSL a new internal brand which would not only tie in with the various legacy cultures of the banking partners, but would also be aligned with the commercial strategy of the majority shareholder, Unisys. This new brand, culture and values program was to be designed and rolled out through a period of ongoing major technological migration and consolidation, planned job losses and site closures. Against this somewhat negative backdrop, there was an overriding need to build engagement in the workforce, pride in their work and improvements in performance against service-level agreements contracted to the existing clients. In effect, we were implementing a cultural transition to a performance-based culture, which was unfamiliar to the majority of the staff.
several years at this point, so we decided to replicate the different elements of the Vision ON program in an iPSL Values Into Action (VIA) program. There were four key components in the original Vision ON program: Reward and recognition Location teams Suggestions scheme Special projects All were underpinned by a strong brand identity, a relentless communication campaign and an ongoing and participative commitment from the Unisys leadership team to provide resource and support for the initiatives. Firstly, we secured the commitment and support of the iPSL management team and the Unisys Vision ON team to assist in the implementation of the new internal branding and engagement program. As the program was to be rolled out by the head of communications at iPSL, the support of the local and corporate communication teams was also guaranteed. The senior management team in iPSL were introduced to the concept, shown the proof points from the successful Unisys rollout and shown how the program could be customized to suit the iPSL culture, workforce and business strategy, which were quite different from those in Unisys. iPSL already had an existing suggestions scheme, which was working well and we didnt want to undermine it, so we elected not to replicate that particular element. Instead, we decided to roll out the rewards and recognition, the location teams and the communication framework as the Values Into Action program.
Helen Love has worked in internal communications for the past 15 years in large companies such as Unisys, iPSL, Microsoft UK and Yahoo! Europe. She and her business partner, Geoffrey Morgan, set up Intuitive Brands to offer bespoke and practical support in all employee engagement activities. See www.intuitivebrands.co.uk for more information.
What we did
iPSL needed a foundation set of employee values to act as the basis for the new internal brand. The first step was to establish what common ground existed from the legacy employers. A series of employee focus groups was launched, where employees, union stewards and HR representatives from each of the partner organizations shared historical values, behaviors and cultural attitudes in an open discussion forum. The various inputs were discussed and fed back to staff via team meetings, until eventually a list of seven values, common and relevant to the legacy organizations, was agreed. In order to make these values meaningful to the employees, each one was communicated simply and clearly, with specific examples of behaviors, which reflected that particular value. These were all set out in a values booklet that was delivered to all employees. Once these values were established and articulated, they had to be embedded in the workplace, to build internal attitude and behaviors (forming the company culture), which reflected the key values. Because the values had been discussed and agreed with staff and they felt theyd actually had some input into the definition process, they were readily and quickly accepted by the majority of the workforce and other stakeholders. We now had to take those values and build them into a robust internal brand that would give iPSL a clear internal and external identity, yet remain aligned to the commercial strategy. To do this, we decided not to reinvent the wheel, but to base the program on a proven process that had been used to drive culture change and internal branding in the parent company, Unisys. The Unisys Vision ON initiative had been running very successfully for
Rewards and recognition

With immediate effect, we began a recognition scheme that called for nominations across the entire organization of any individuals who had demonstrated behaviors that reflected any of the
KEY POINTS
In 2000, Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited was established to deal with the cheque-clearing process for a large number of banks in the UK. During 2000-2005, there were a number of challenges that the author was involved with, including bringing together employees from various cheque-clearing companies to work for a new organization with new technology. Building employee engagement levels played a large part in uniting the workforce behind the brand.
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WHEREAS BEFORE, EMPLOYEES HAD OFTEN BEEN UNABLE TO SEE PAST THE NEED TO RECTIFY SMALL PROBLEMS, THEY WERE NOW ABLE TO FOCUS ON THE BIGGER PICTURE.
7 seven key values of iPSL. The winning candidates were then featured on giant posters each quarter, which appeared in strategic display areas across all locations. Photos and a brief description of the reason for their nomination were not only displayed on the posters, but were also featured in the quarterly employee communication magazine (which also mentioned all other candidates who had been put forward). It was important to display winners in all locations, as some of the offices had retained a high proportion of TUPEd staff from the legacy partner whod owned and operated in that site, so poster displays reinforced the new One iPSL identity and all included the programs logo and branding. The winners were named at regular leadership roadshows, where they were presented with certificates from the company CEO and their success celebrated openly with their colleagues and managers. Instead of offering a financial reward to the winners, which would have been problematic as we had frequent team nominations, we asked each winning individual or team to name a charity of their choice. We then made a donation to that charity on their behalf, securing additional local and national press coverage for the donation wherever we could. There were multiple reasons for making the reward a charitable donation. It did, of course, reduce personal tax liability, but it also promoted an altruistic attitude and a heightened awareness of social and community responsibility and the contribution that employees could make to local charitable causes. Furthermore, it got staff in each office location thinking about their involvement in the local community and how they could benefit not only charities, but other local schemes that benefit employees and the wider community. This would be a critical success factor for the implementation of the next element of the program the location teams.
Location teams
The next objective was to establish location teams in all of the iPSL offices remaining open throughout the launch year, with funding for this project already pre-approved from the senior management team. iPSL was operating in a challenging economic
climate. The iPSL business strategy at launch was built primarily on the need for banks to outsource a key component of their back office processing cheque clearing. However, since the joint venture had been in existence, the revenues from cheque processing had been dropping significantly and at a quicker rate than anticipated. This was as a result of rapid reductions in the use of cheques by both companies and individuals. In such a challenging business climate, there was an even greater need to improve morale and motivation among our staff, working together to deliver improved results and nurture a team spirit across all sites. The aim of the location teams was to encourage and support employee participation and involvement, to increase support for local initiatives both within iPSL and in the local community and to harness the enthusiasm and drive of our employees. This was just one small element of the big picture, improving employee engagement to support the new company brand internally and externally. Each location team comprised a cross section of volunteers who came forward to get involved and help make a difference at their local sites. They could come from any shift, any department and any level within the company, united by the shared desire to help iPSL employees and the local community by being proactive in any business specific to their own site. This could include support for local charities, organization of employee sports and social activities, looking at ways to improve the working environment or addressing issues of work/life balance within the workplace. In order to demonstrate trust and empowerment by the iPSL management, each of these teams was awarded significant funding to cover both charitable donations and discretionary spend. They organized many employee events, such as Christmas celebrations and childrens parties, provided support and funding for local charities and improved the work environment for the benefit of all employees. They contributed an overall improvement in morale and an increased sense of belonging for all staff, with encouragement and help from the company. Each location team established its own charter, based on the iPSL values and behaviors, but was in effect self-governing, with little intervention from senior managers. This sent out a very powerful message to employees we trust you to do the right thing. Interestingly, the fact that the location teams also had discretionary spending powers generated some additional and unanticipated benefits. When the location teams used their discretionary funding to address issues in the work environment, such as office dcor, provision of
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facilities and improving social amenities, it seemed to galvanize the departments whose responsibility those issues should have been. This fostered a better collaboration between the different silos in the organization, creating better awareness and understanding of the key issues. In addition, by implementing small changes and fixing some of those little niggling problems in the work environment, the location teams removed some of the barriers to staff engagement. Whereas previously, the workforce had often been unable to see past the need to rectify small problems, they were now able to focus on the bigger picture.
important quick wins that drove further inclusion and engagement.
Conclusion
At a recent Melcrum Change Communication conference in London, my presentation made the point that it doesnt matter how articulate, precise or impressive your communication messages are; it doesnt matter how well aligned they are with the business strategy, the company brand and values; it doesnt matter how well you segment and target your intended audiences and the channels you choose to reach them. None of this matters at all, if the people with whom you are communicating arent engaged with your organization. If theyre not engaged, then they wont want to listen and indeed wont listen. The program at iPSL built a foundation of engagement and positivity. The communication during the course of the merger and building of the internal brand were based on clear and consistent messages, two-way discussions, honest and open communications from the leadership team and were above all employee focused. As a result, the initiative provided a firm basis for a robust internal values system and brand, and thereby enabled the cultural change to allow iPSL to grow business in the UK profitably. This program was the medium to build and strengthen the company identity from the inside out. Sustained profitable growth needs to focus on being both an employer and a supplier of choice and building the external brand and reputation from the internal values and behaviors. However, its only by creating the right conditions to engage employees and motivate them to do their best that the company can achieve sustained success in the market with its customers. Best of all, such initiatives dont have to be based on a big budget change management program. Instead, this type of approach favors little cultural nudges modest initiatives that have the potential when added together to cause disproportionate positive change in the company and its brand perception. scm 1. TUPE is the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. These preserve employees terms and conditions when transferred to a new employer.
Communications
The whole program rollout was underpinned with regular and consistent communication, using the same vocabulary, advising on progress and inviting and sharing feedback. The communication team met regularly with the location teams to provide support and guidance, and we established quarterly communication meetings across all sites and with senior management team involvement. Face-to-face delivery was a critical element of the communication mix, given the lack of email and internet access, and the fact that iPSL was running a 24-hour operation. Regular drop in clinics were held on all shifts, where managers made themselves available for interactive and open discussions and fed back on company performance, transformation progress and business strategy.
Outcomes and benefits

Having a consistent communication and values framework across all sites and legacy groups allowed us to create a central definition for the internal branding but ensure that delivery had genuine local context and delivery. This in turn supported the effort to build a unique iPSL identity and brand internally, but to ensure it was aligned closely to the majority shareholder values system and culture. Over the 18 months following the launch of the initiative, all employees moved seamlessly and painlessly from their legacy cultures to a new, all inclusive iPSL internal brand, culture and identity. This was further assisted by the migration of staff between sites, mixing up of legacy groups, common objectives and a desire to deliver customer service excellence. Leveraging proven Unisys initiatives and processes to begin with drove confidence and ensured success for the new branding. The location teams in particular were an integral part of improving morale and motivation, demonstrating concern and empathy, taking tangible action on employee issues and creating the small but so
CONTACT DETAILS
Helen Love Intuitive brands helen@intuitivebrands.co.uk
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Building external relationships through employee engagement
BY SARA MOOREHEAD AND STEVEN MCGRORY
hen global banking giant Barclays set out to change the way it did business by putting impeccable customer service at the heart of its business plan, it needed to rely on its people to deliver the promises made to customers. Here, Sara Moorehead and Steven McGrory explain how they achieved engagement among employees to do exactly that.
In 2007, Barclays set out to create a retail banking experience unrivalled on the high street: one that was based on close and genuine relationships with customers. As a result, the concept of Real Retail was born, revolving around the idea of customer-centricity. The question was: how would the external customer value proposition leap from a smart boardroom idea into something that 32,000 colleagues delivered every day?
the basis of our customer value proposition. As a result, we took a different look at our then business model and re-engineered it so that the answer to any question concerning how we ran our branch network began with establishing a clear benefit to our customer. If we couldnt find the benefits, it was back to the drawing board. We align our products, policies, channels and structure around the customers, then give our frontline staff the power to do whats right. This was the principle on which Real Retail was based. Its a model radically different from our competition, in that its based less on the old command and control and more on the initiative, knowledge, commercial and common sense of branch managers and the infrastructure that supports them. Barclays the organization was to become the matchmaker, if you like, between the branch employee and his or her individual customer. It was a model that demanded a lot from our people, but also offered a lot.
Meeting customers needs

There was a time before the recession when ordinary men and women wanted something very straightforward from their bank. They wanted us the get the basics right; they wanted us to make it easy for them to manage their own money; they wanted us to prove to them that we knew them; and finally, they wanted our help in giving them control over their own finances. Barclays realized that these four requests were far more than merely nice to haves: they were fundamental to customer satisfaction and business success. Answering the four customer demands became
Building internal awareness

Every customer value proposition needs its employee value proposition (EVP) to bring it to life. Within six months of Real Retail being introduced into Barclays not as an initiative but as a sustainable way of going about our business it became clear from research that Real Retail had been internalized as a way of helping Barclays to work better rather than standing for what it really means: delivering customer value and, through delivering customer value, creating growth. We needed something more to help our people understand what it was we were asking
Barclays UK Retail Banking is the UK consumer and local business division of Barclays Bank PLC. UK Retail Banking has approximately 32,000 employees and 1,700 branches across the UK, serving over 15 million customers.
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them to do. We needed an employee/employer value proposition. Realizing that we needed external specialist help, we put the project out to tender and employee communication specialists WMW won it, bringing with them a simple methodology and some very smart thinking.
of the EVP formula (what we expect) as: Put each individual customers needs at the center of everything you do, every day. Be accountable and take responsibility. Actively help transform Barclays. Live our values. Our most important insight, however, wasnt the list itself but what had to underpin the list if we were to see any change of behavior. This wasnt something we could demand of our people but something we could only hope to inspire our people to do. The ethos we were trying to embed was one of do all of the above because you want to, not because youre told to. The question was, how could we inspire this kind of thinking? In keeping with the basic principle of Real Retail, the answer lay not inside Barclays but in establishing a clear benefit to our customer. By making the transition to named, known customers who we were helping to manage their own money in an easier way and allowing them control over their own finances, we were asking our people not only to work on numbers and targets but to work with the real life trials and tribulations of their customers. Theres a very simple, very profound satisfaction that can be gained from helping others and its this human instinct that we were tapping into. The first half of our EVP formula crystallized into the statement, Help your customer get the best out of Barclays. This was and is what we expect of everyone who works here, from the most senior executive to the newest recruit on the first rung of the ladder.
Creating a clear line of sight

One of the holy grails in business is to reduce complexity. We believe that even the most complex of business problems can be reduced to a simple statement or formula, and this was the way that Barclays approached the EVP project. From the outset, we defined what it was that we were looking to prove in order to create a robust EVP. We were able to reduce what we were looking for into a simple formula: An EVP = what we expect + what we give in return There were no fancy twenty page presentations or complicated graphs to grapple with, just a rugged formula to work to and to keep us on the straight and narrow. We were working in real time. Customers werent going to thank us for spending six months pondering how best to persuade our employees to put them at the heart of their days. The procedural methodology we established was designed with this in mind as follows: We set up a culture group consisting of retail banking executives with sign-off responsibilities to guide the project at pace through the business. The culture group was itself used as a research resource to set out the framework for the project. With this framework established, we went out into the whole company to take its pulse concerning Real Retail. We narrowed our focus, to look at the insights from the research and to agree a way forward. We delivered the output into the branch network and its back-office counterparts.
Sara Moorehead is Director of UK corporate affairs, managing internal and external communications for retail and business banking in the UK. Her career leading to Barclays spanned marketing, research, and strategic communications.
Steven McGrory is HR Director for UK retail banking, responsible for all aspects of human resources. Prior to Barclays, Steven held senior HR positions in the consumer products, telecommunications and manufacturing industries.
Engaging employees with the initiative

Real Retail roots us. We had the first half of our EVP statement; what we didnt have was verification that it held true and could be used every day. Was it a statement that our people recognized as a 3
KEY POINTS
In 2007, Barclays devised Real Retail, an experience for its customers that aimed to achieve unprecedented levels of customer service. To ensure this was a success, it was necessary to gain full acceptance, understanding and involvement from all employees. As well as a new customer value proposition, a new employee value proposition was created, which comprised a simple but smart formula that was communicated across the organization. The new employee value proposition informs not only the Real Retail way of doing business, but all internal communications that are sent. 29
Establishing the first half of the formula

You can look at a job description and sometimes barely think that an individual is capable of achieving every part of it. KPIs can be equally intimidating. Both are absolutely necessary, yet without the overview provided by an EVP its frequently possible to get very confused. The culture group, through some innovative and enjoyable research sessions, arrived at a statement of what it was that we had a legitimate right to expect of our employees over and above the job description. We expressed our meta-job description or, rather more simply, the first half
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THE DEAL WE MAKE WITH OUR EMPLOYEES COULDNT BE CLEARER: MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER THE CENTER OF WHAT YOU DO AND REWARDS WILL FOLLOW.
7 description of our core priority? Was it an aspiration never to be reached? Was it something that would get in the way of the day job? To test it, we conducted a number of focus groups. We turned the annual HR conference into a giant test bed; we conducted in-depth one-toone interviews at all levels; we re-visited our employee opinion survey and other recently published research; we even conducted external research to see how the outside world viewed us. We discovered that the ingredients of our EVP were the right ones, in the right amount.
Establishing the second half of the formula

We had half of our EVP, and we were working towards the other half: what our employees can expect of us. The tangible benefits were relatively easy to track down, although in any company the size of Barclays, its surprising how much of the reward package is relatively unknown by the employees. To dig into the detail of what we offered in terms that could be converted into hard currency, one of the sessions we conducted at the HR conference was entitled, Bring Barclays Benefits from Beneath the Bushel. We asked the HR team to rank our benefits (under broad headings such as training and flexible working) in terms of how well each was communicated, from In the bright sunshine right through to under a darkened bushel. While the range of benefits is broadly consistent across most of our competitors (as our research showed), its the detail of those benefits and how well theyre communicated that differentiates us as an employer. Its with the intangible benefits, however, that real differentiation lies. Its frequently cited that the reason people move employer is rarely pay, even if thats what they say at the exit interview. Its usually for some other reason and that reason is connected to the intangible, or perceived, benefits of working with your current employer. If these are broadly in the black, people will stay. If they go into the red, and an employer asks too much without giving its fair share in return, people may leave. One of the exercises we conducted to get a handle on the intangible benefits of working at Barclays was an exercise entitled Me and My
Barclays. We asked employees to bring in an object that to them summed up their relationship with their employer. The resulting objects fell generally into six representative categories, including I can be me, A tough, exciting business and, Its the people and the environment. Barclays people like other Barclays people and at times of trouble, most seemed safe in the knowledge that their colleagues would help them out of difficulty. Making sense of the intangible benefits, linking them to the tangible ones, and then reducing the result into the second half of our EVP formula was a challenge but it gave the kind of deeply satisfying result you get when you know something is right. The answer, as with many farreaching insights, was very simple. The first half of our EVP was Help your customer get the best out of Barclays. The rejoinder, what we offer in return is Youll get the best out of Barclays. The best of Barclays is a strong offer. Were not saying that its the best there is, and we know that like every other organization out there, the best we offer now can be improved. Nonetheless, the best of Barclays is a great offer.
Making the venture appealing to employees

The EVP needed something in addition, an and: Help your customer get the best out of Barclays and youll get the best out of Barclays. The strength of this statement lies in its deceptive simplicity. The deal we make with our employees couldnt be made clearer: make your customer the center of what you do and rewards will follow. Real Retail has found its expression in a career promise to every employee. The external customer promise now had its internal soul mate. Customer satisfaction was now linked with employees career satisfaction, so both would enjoy and experience the benefits of Barclays. The statement Help your customer get the best out of Barclays and youll get the best out of Barclays needed to be explained so that everyone who communicates inside the business understands how to use the EVP. So our first move was to define every word in the statement so that there could be no doubt about what was meant by it. Only in this way can it be used consistently and for the express purpose for which it was designed, i.e, helping deliver our customer value proposition and driving growth based on customer-centricity. Here are three of the definitions: Customer: Not an homogenous, faceless block of faceless people who drift in and out of your life but individuals with stories to tell and hopes and worries. Just like you. Reach out to them by being more, well, more you.
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And: Do that and youll get this. Its a simple, transparent deal. Well bend over backwards to help you if you in turn bend over backwards to help the customer and therefore help us. Or, alternatively, dont do that and you wont get this. The choice is yours. Get the best out of Barclays: We offer a great deal not perfect but weve identified areas where were not great and were working on them. The benefits that you feel in your pocket are many in number, highly attractive and to a large degree the level of what you can earn is now matched directly to your effort and achievement. The intangible best of Barclays the benefits you feel but cant count in pounds, shillings and pence - are equally attractive. Were consciously moving towards ensuring that were attending to the whole you, not just the part that expects good pay for a hard days work.
Everyday use
The line, Help your customer get the best out of Barclays and youll get the best out of Barclays will never be used in regular, everyday conversation; its an organizing thought, no more. However, the thought can be made to act as an attraction and engagement proposition, and we developed it into Careers Built Around Customers for our recruitment advertising and for some of our HR communications.
Final thoughts
The EVP has given us a grounding and focus when putting together any internal communication, particularly those relating to careers and the whole area of HR. Help your customer get the best out of Barclays and youll get the best out of Barclays is the test for whether a piece of employee communication is ready to be sent or not. Theres a simple equation at the heart of the statement expressing both sides of the deal. No communication at Barclays relating to peoples careers is sent without that deal being expressed. Furthermore, no communication goes out without being linked expressly to the needs of our customers which, after all, is the only reason that any of us are here. In our experience, business is a very simple game. The trick is not to complicate it. scm
CONTACT DETAILS
Steven McGrory Barclays UK Retail Banking steven.mcgrory@barclays.com
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Building capacity and re-energizing an organization
BY JANE SPARROW
n these stressful times of recruitment freezes, employees are having to take on a greater number of tasks. To help employees at Sony Europe work more effectively, as well as keep a balanced perspective on work and personal life, an initiative called Firing on all Cylinders was introduced. Here, Jane Sparrow explains how it resulted in improved overall engagement levels, as well as contributing to culture change throughout the organization.
The current economic crisis is testing leadership teams with the extremes of acute threat or overwhelming opportunity. Many organizations have reacted by cutting budgets and reducing investment in communication and people. Leaders hide behind their office doors and communicate only when they have positive news. The crisis has pushed leaders and their people into survival mode where their instinctive response is fear based, reactive and expedient. These behaviors drain their energy and lead to shortsightedness, short-term decision making and frustration. But there are companies, like Sony Europe, that have reacted differently and with a more strategic and optimistic approach.
The attitude from the top

Sony is a global manufacturer of audio, video, communications and information technology products for consumer and professional markets. Operating with over 13,000 employees in over 20 countries, the organization has always believed effective communication and leadership development are important. Thats why Fujio Nishida, President of Sony Europe, is actively communicating with employees through face-to-face
sessions complemented by electronic forums to reignite the passion of his people to live their purpose of amazing, delighting and enriching the lives of its customers. Everyones talking about the importance of remaining positively challenged and to increase usage of the right hemisphere of the brain to develop the creative ideas that will see Sony leapfrog into an even stronger brand in the future. Nishida is engaging his people in various conversations via a roadshow in all European countries, as well as live broadcasts using the @sony suite of electronic channels comprising intranet, e-newsletters and screensavers. He also conducts regular breakfast sessions with between 12-15 employees and personally attends all leadership development programs to support the executives of the future. He travels across Europe and finds time to see both customers and employees of all levels in the local organzations. Nishida is an emotionally intelligent leader who passionately believes his role is to motivate people. His aim is to leave a legacy of a business and culture of which Sony employees children and grandchildren can be proud. This belief that people make the difference in a business is also reflected by a program that started over two years ago to build capacity and re-energize the organization. At a time when many leaders stop investing in talent, Sony continue to see people development as critical.
The Energy Project

The program, known as Firing on All Cylinders and run by The Energy Project, helps individuals sustain high performance through being happier,
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healthier and more engaged in all aspects of their lives. The Energy Project is a consultancy that helps organizations build sustainable highperformance cultures by introducing people to new areas of value creation and building capacity by teaching individuals how to manage their energy rather than their time. While time is finite, energy can be expanded; resulting in increased personal and organizational capacity. The Energy Projects work has been delivered to many of the worlds largest brands such as American Express, Ford, Sony Pictures, Microsoft, Ernst & Young, Nokia-Siemens and Toyota. It has also worked with the UK police force, the National Health Service and the Princes Trust.
humans feel profoundly influences how they perform. The module began by introducing Sony leaders to a simple and powerful way to understand the four energy states they move between, and what accounts for each one. They were then introduced to a series of actionable strategies to help people gain more control over their emotions, and specifically to learn how to cultivate the positive emotions that best serve sustainable performance. This was one of the most powerful pieces of learning for the Sony team and influenced their individual behavior and how they worked together after the initial program.
Mental energy and the human spirit

When the leadership team reconvened one month later for two days, they addressed mental energy and the energy of the human spirit. For example, have you ever had one of those days when you get to 3pm and realize the piece of work or thinking that would create the most long-term value has still not been touched? Email, telephone calls and a full mind seem to take over. Thats everyday for most people but what are the costs of working in this way? During the program, Sony leaders looked at the power of absorbed focus at a time when peoples attention is under siege. They saw first hand the costs of multitasking and then discussed how to take control of the primary source of interruption email. They left with clearer mechanisms to move from reacting automatically to any demand that arises, to one where they are more intentional about prioritizing their work so that they focus on what will deliver the highest value and is of strategic importance. Its this, and their new knowledge about how to use the whole brain (both right and left hemispheres) to best effect that has supported the drive for a more creative culture within the organization. The energy of the human spirit is the uniquely powerful energy derived from a clear sense of
How the program works

Based on extensive experience, practical and experiential approaches it explores the four sources of energy needed to optimize performance (body, emotions, mind and purpose). The result is an ability for employees to be open to each others value and ideas thus coming up with the creative breakthroughs needed currently in every business. Its a program that Roy White, Sonys HR vice president, and other leaders, believe will pay particular dividends in the economic storm. Indeed, Nishida himself encourages people to take recovery and remain open to positive challenge in much of his communication and behavior. The Energy Project work with Sony started when a pilot group of leaders attended its Firing on All Cylinders curriculum. This was a group comprising key executives of Sony Europe from a variety of disciplines, countries and cultures. They explored the energy of physical (body), emotional, mental and the human spirit (purpose and meaning) needed to sustain high performance over a four-day program spilt into 2 x 2 day sessions two modules in each. During the first of four modules, Sony leaders explored the concept of managing energy versus time; the fact that human beings are designed to be rhythmic and the evidence that optimal performance depends on balancing the expenditure of energy with intermittent energy renewal. They worked with the four key components of physical energy nutrition, fitness, sleep and daytime recovery and learnt how to manage each one more efficiently and effectively. Each leader had oneto-one fitness and nutrition assessments and attended exercise classes at the beginning of each morning to help them experience the benefits of physical energy and how it boosts mental concentration for the day ahead.
Jane Sparrow is director of employee communication and engagement at Sony Europe and a senior leader with The Energy Project. From the outset she has worked closely with people of all levels to help them maximize their potential, build capacity, implement behavioral change programs, increase understanding about the value of communication and culture within a changing business environment.
KEY POINTS
The president of Sony Europe is a firm believer in strong leadership and communication being the backbone of a successful organization. In line with this, employees took part in a program run by The Energy Project called Firing on all cylinders. This focused on all areas of employees lives including nutrition, fitness and sleep. Around 90 percent of participants reported an improvement in their work/life balance and 75 percent said it had improved their business relationships. 33
Gaining control over peoples emotions

In the second module people learnt more about emotional energy and recognized how the way
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THE RESULT OF THE PILOT WAS ENERGIZED LEADERS WHO WERE ABLE TO GET MORE DONE, TO A HIGHER QUALITY, IN LESS TIME.
7 purpose and an alignment between what we say we value and how we actually live. During this portion of the program, the Sony leaders explored the alignment between what each of them stood for and what they really want. They also each received personal fitness programs and nutrition recommendations to help sustain the foundation of physical energy.
The results and effects

The result of the pilot was energized leaders who were able to get more done, to a higher quality, in less time. One leader talks of writing his divisional business plan using the new techniques he learnt on the program. Being able to recognize where he is physically and mentally when he gets his best ideas, he spent time thinking about the different elements in various environments. He then captured his thinking in a series of focused sessions that he booked in his diary from 9.00am to 10:30am. He asked not to be distracted and turned his telephone and email off. The result was a high quality and more differentiated business plan than he and his team had ever created before. It was a higher quality piece of work and took less time to complete. The time saved was used for a variety of strategic work and keeping a commitment hed made after participating in the program: to have lunch with a member of his 100+ team each week. The pilot group of leaders experienced such a high personal impact from the program that they extended a three-day version to their teams. Now over 3000 people have attended one of these three-day versions. Many are now organizing their own refresher events and group coaching to keep the work going and benefits alive. There are new restaurant menus aligned to the nutrition knowledge gained in the program. The gym has been made larger, new classes are busier than ever and membership has increased significantly.
messages that were highly focused, strategic and relevant to the audience. Attendees reported higher retention of information than previous conferences and saw how the principles from Firing on All Cylinders were resulting in a positive cultural shift and an environment that fostered a higher performance. As a result, theres a new language of positive energy and reduced conflict. People can speak to each other about how their emotions are clouding decisions and resolve tensions as a consequence. During high-concern situations, managers are encouraged to be more aware of how their emotional energy can be better used to manage situations in the fairest and most positive way to benefit both themselves and their people. More strategic thinking and better collaboration is abundant. Renewal for performance is valued and has become the way we do things around here. The culture has, and continues to change.
Two case studies

John, a general manager at Sony Europe is a great example of the impact across the organization. Hes lost two stone in weight, and trained for a UK relay race spanning 65 miles across rough terrain, shared between six people. The group raised just under 3000 for charity. Hes physically fitter and feels able to deal with much more in all walks of life. Like many, he didnt know before that he wasnt dealing emotionally and mentally as well as he would with more physical energy and awareness. Johns changed his daily work routine too. He now starts work at home at 6.15am, scanning all emails, replying to quick ones, and setting due dates on all actions. When he gets to work he has reserved blocks of time for non-email activities, that arent interrupted, mainly project work, one-to-one staff meetings and other high value activities. The result is less multi-tasking, he gets more done, and feels more in control. In fact, he has taken back control of the way he conducts his life. Pam is another general manager in Sony. She took part in the program 18 months ago and joined her local gym within a week of completing it. She contacted a personal trainer that shed worked with in the past and has been training with him twice a week ever since. Shes physically fitter than she has ever been, pays much more attention to her nutrition and now notices how both nutrition and exercise affect her emotional energy and focus when shes slips into bad habits. During a period of high pressure and stress recently she used boxing classes and spinning to help keep emotionally positive. She also uses the practical frameworks and tools given to her on the program on a daily basis. Within two months
The European Management Conference

At the 2008 European Management Conference where Sony Europe assembled their top 150 people, the agenda was designed around the key principles of energy management to ensure the performance of those attending was maximized. Renewal breaks were taken every 90-120 minutes and presentations were structured around key
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shed overcome challenges with a colleague (that had existed for some time) by recognizing her value wasnt being questioned and realizing the physical and emotional impact the situation was having upon her. She took control and stopped being placed in what The Energy Project calls the survival zone. The result is a highly effective relationship with the individual and much more time in a highly positive and productive state. She was a top performer before the program but is now able to sustain that performance with less cost to her and others in the process.
to do more with less, to cope with increasing demand and diminishing resources, The Firing on All Cylinders approach has given Sony employees a new way of working, thinking and being. scm
Encouraging employees to stay in touch

Stories like those of John and Pam are captured on the dedicated intranet portal that has been set up to help sustain the new ways of working. Employees are encouraged to tell their stories about success (and failure) on the site and to visit it regularly for the latest thinking in each energy zone. There are helpful hints/tips, book lists and useful resources. Sony has also used other communication media to remind people of the key principles and help support them to make ongoing change. Daily desk diaries have been produced that are packed full of energy management tips and stimulus to keep momentum. Employees speak at internal events about their personal success and how its made such a difference to their professional performance and personal lives. Large versions of the emotional map introduced in the program are used in meetings to help articulate the emotional impact of discussions and debate.
EMPLOYEES SPEAK AT INTERNAL EVENTS ABOUT THEIR PERSONAL SUCCESS AND HOW ITS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE TO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE AND PERSONAL LIVES.
Improving performance across the organization

Thousands of people have personal examples of how theyre able to sustain their performance across all aspects of life as a result of the program. But the story doesnt stop there. Sony employees expressed higher engagement levels through its employee annual survey and 75 percent reported that the program had a positive impact on their business relationships. Some 90 percent of participants say increasing renewal breaks has increased their energy and performance significantly. Around 80 percent say their work/life balance has improved. Sony has implemented a new program of volunteer days, and introduced more sabbaticals. At its heart, The Firing on All Cylinders curriculum helps individuals take back control of the way they live their lives. It gives an opportunity for people to look at the costs of the way they currently live and explore new ways of working that give them a better return personally and professionally. Sony has recognized that this is a key part of building a sustainable high performing business for the future and its people have already seen the benefits. In a world where increasingly were being asked
CONTACT DETAILS
Jane Sparrow Sony Europe jane.sparrow@eu.sony.com
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MELCRUM TRAINING & EVENTS
CALENDAR 2009
UK/EUROPE
THE 5TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
3 3
SOUTH AFRICA
2009
3
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT SUMMIT

3 3
13-14 May, 2009 New Connaught Rooms, London Todays economic environment is putting pressure on every organization to improve performance. Employees are certainly feeling the pressure and are nervous about how it will impact them personally. How are you responding to this uneasiness in your organization? Are you still engaging the hearts and minds of your employees and harnessing the increasingly influential force that is employee engagement? Your challenge is to deliver powerfully motivating communication and HR practices that connect with employees and lift performance. Only strategies that achieve this dual objective will develop your organization through the downturn and prepare it for fast recovery in the eventual upturn. Attend Melcrums 5th Annual Conference on Employee Engagement and learn how to inspire your workforce, focus people on a common mission, help them reach new performance levels and ultimately maintain their level of contribution to the business through these turbulent times and beyond. Hear from the worlds leading organizations, including five companies listed by The Sunday Times and Fortune Magazine as the best companies to work for.
3-4 June, 2009 The Rosebank - a Protea Hotel, Johannesburg This locally produced event will provide delegates with an exceptional opportunity to learn about global trends and developments in corporate and internal communications; get the inside track on key findings from current international and South African corporate communication research; hear world-class international speakers talk on leadership communication; share top traits for communicators in the 21st century; and listen to best practice case studies from some of South Africas leading brand companies on how they: Develop effective communication strategies to tackle change and transformation Improve management communication through employee feedback and measurement Create an employee-based values system to achieve business competitiveness Tackle employee communication and stakeholder relations in a negative business climate Implement sustainable corporate responsibility programmes as a core of business philosophy
Black Belt 3 19-20 November, 2009 Designed for senior internal communicators who are responsible for formulating, writing and presenting the overarching communication strategy for their organization or division. In this final phase, youll have the opportunity to review your existing internal communication strategy and leave with comments, suggestions and new ideas for the next 18 months. You'll also be given the tools to benchmark your strategy against industry best practice.
MELCRUMS SKILLS TRAINING COURSES UK

3 3 3
18 May, 2009: Storytelling for audience engagement 19 May, 2009: Mastering brand engagement 20 May, 2009: Engaging business writing Held at Melcrums London offices in Hammersmith, these new courses are designed to address your key challenges and are facilitated by industry experts to be highly practical and interactive. Youll gain techniques to improve the performance of your team and return to the office with an action plan tailored to your companys needs.
WEBINARS
3
TRAINING
THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION BLACK BELT PROGRAMME UK
3
28 May, 2009: Melcrums Change Communication Survival Package Melcrum tackles your change challenges head-on with a 90-minute webinar and an 80-page toolkit. Melcrum has convened the best in the industry to help. On May 28, 2009 at 11 am ET, dial in and learn from Terry McKenzie, Karen Horn and Andy Szpekman - three seasoned practitioners who will give you the straight story on managing change in your organization.
FOR MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about Melcrum events: Website: www.melcrum.com Email: events@melcrum.com US/Canada Tel: 866 MELCRUM or 312.379.6500 Other: +44 (0)20 8600 4670
Black Belt 1 4-5 June & 25-26 June, 2009 15-16 Sept & 6-7 Oct, 2009 Led by Sue Dewhurst and Sally Hinder, the Internal Communication Black Belt Program is a high impact four-day residential course located in the purpose-built facilities of Cranfield School of Management. Black Belt 2 2-3 September & 22-23 Oct, 2009 Black Belt 2 is for internal communicators who are competent at developing and implementing communication plans to support a range of business scenarios and want to become trusted advisors, spending a greater proportion of their time consulting and coaching rather than doing.
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LEADING CONTACTS IN THE COMMUNICATION INDUSTRY
DIRECTORY OF SERVICES
NEED HELP IN COMMUNICATIONS? THIS DIRECTORY OFFERS YOU LEADING INDUSTRY CONTACTS.
CONSULTANCY AND INTERIMS DESIGN
COMMA
Comma is a specialist internal communications consultancy. Our difference lies in our highly focused and practical problem-solving approach. We help clients use communication to drive change, motivate and engage their people, embed strategy and improve organisational performance. We do this by: Helping leaders be effective communicators Supporting the clear communication of company vision and strategy Helping organisations to speak with one voice Managing through a crisis providing practical advice and support Enabling companies to take their people with them through change Improving the capability of internal communications teams and Providing high calibre interims simply and quickly. Contact: Tel: Email: Colette Dorward (consultancy)/Virginia Hicks (interims) +44 (0)207 487 1120 team@commaconsulting.com
BLUE GOOSE
blue goose specialize in visual communications. We make communications work faster and better. We will link what we do back to your objectives but we dont talk (or charge for) strategy when you simply want tactical implementation. We use design and creativity to: differentiate products and services; develop and manage corporate and brand identity; align external communications with agreed values; internalize corporate and brand identity; align internal communications with agreed values; support organizational change; and help organizations better understand and define who they are. We work for clients as diverse as: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ford Europe, Centrica plc, Greene King, City of London Police, and Le Mridien. blue goose is for any organization more interested in designing their future than watching it happen. Contact: Email: Tel: Website: Chris Barrington thinking@bluegoose.co.uk +44 (0)20 8869 8500 www.bluegoose.co.uk
CONSULTANCY
EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION & SURVEYS PTY LTD

CONSULTANCY
Employee Communication & Surveys Pty Ltd is a boutique consultancy based in Sydney, Australia. It specializes in employee communication strategies, systems, research and employee surveys of all kinds. Principal Rodney Gray has been involved in organizational consulting for over 20 years following a 15-year career as a corporate human resources executive. Services include: Employee communication audits and surveys by questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. Employee communication systems, strategies and processes. Employee communication training workshops and talks. Employee culture, climate and opinion surveys. Qualitative organizational diagnosis (focus groups and interviews). Internal service quality research (qualitative and quantitative). Contact: Tel: Fax: Email: Website: Rodney Gray +61 (0)2 9909 2900 +61 (0)2 9909 2911 rodney@rodneygray.com.au www.employee-communication.com.au
HEDRON
comma (n), punctuation mark (,), a discrete intervention that creates meaning
Internal and change communication that helps teams and individuals to develop strategies, relationships, processes and skills to engage stakeholders, support high performance and deliver change. Sharp strategic thinking, quality execution, effective interpersonally Creativity, drive, resourcefulness, results, great fun, say clients. Our clients are happy to tell you what its like working with us Barratt Developments, Cadbury Schweppes, Celerant, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Department for Children, Schools & Families, Healthcare Commission, Help the Aged, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, SABMiller, Siemens, Southern Rail, Unilever.
CONSULTANCY
Contact: Tel: Fax: Email: Website:
Helena Memory + 44 (0) 20 7493 0735 + 44 (0) 20 7493 0743 helena-m@hedron.com www.hedron.com
Employee Communication & Surveys Pty Ltd
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CONSULTANCY VIDEO COMMUNICATION
THE FIFTH BUSINESS

Passion. Innovation. Team work and good listening. Delivered fast, with a heavy dose of imagination, good humour and reliability. This is how we work at The Fifth Business, where our people create inspiring solutions that engage your people to deliver success. So what exactly is it that we do? Whether you need to communicate a new corporate initiative, successfully manage an IT rollout, or develop an engagement campaign that enrols your people in change we can help. We will work with you to develop the right messages, at the right times, using the right channels, to create the right impact to capture value for your business. Contact: Tel: Website: Gavin Aldrich +44 (0)20 75349099 www.fifthbusiness.com
TILLING PRODUCTIONS
Our passion is targeted video communication. We design, package and deliver your message to be effective, impactful and engaging. Our services are video production and webcasting. We deliver these via events, web TV, DVDs, and interactive presentations. Our clients are some of the UKs most successful companies including BP, Castrol, BSkyB, E.ON and Lloyds TSB, as well as public sector bodies including The Treasury. Our company is innovative and cutting edge in its approach. Our team is passionate, knowledgeable and driven to produce results. Our pledge is to exceed your expectations with our level of service, creativity and the value we add. Our reputation: Tillings are an outstanding partner on all aspects of video production. Not only is their technical and creative approach to video production world class, their dedication and commitment to a high quality product, relentless focus on meeting deadlines and professional approach to client relations sets them apart. (Communications Director - BP Refining and Marketing) Email or call to find out more, receive a brochure or gain access to our online video showcase of recent work. Contact: Email: Tel: Website: Bart Bailey bart.bailey@tillingproductions.com +44 (0)1895 824022/+44 (0)7810 867540 www.tillingproductions.com
CONSULTANCY AND COMMUNICATIONS
WMW
WMW is a business to people communications agency made up of thinkers, writers, artists, organisers and dreamers. What we communicate from businesses to their people are persuasive reasons why they should put their all into their work; persuasive because they are both in the interests of the organisation and in the self-interest of the individual employee. We call this happy marriage of interests The Deal. We use this deal to drive engagement, recruitment and change through all kinds of creative comms including:
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR NAME HERE? A listing in our Directory of Services will give you a chance to reach communication professionals at some of the worlds largest and most admired companies, and to tap into decision-making practitioners. Contact: Laura Hassan Tel: +44 (0)20 8600 4670 Email: laura.hassan@melcrum.com
press ads; radio ads; brochures; leaflets; posters; outdoor; exhibition stands; desk drops; direct mail; websites; microsites; banners; HTML emails; Web 2.0; interactive presentations; Flash games; videos; cascade packs; logos and icons; events; speechwriting; building branding; comms training; employee research; employer brand consultancywell, you get the gist. Put simply, WMW helps interesting and influential organisations power their business by empowering their people. We do this for AIG, Atkins, Barclays, British Gas, InBev, Lloyds Register, M&S, O2, PepsiCo and Premier Foods. Perhaps we can help you too? Contact: Email: Tel: Website: Cristina Harvey cristina.harvey@wmwuk.net +44 (0)20 7579 1250 www.wmwuk.net
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INCLUDE YOUR COMPANY BY CONTACTING US ON +44(0)20 8600 4670, OR AT: INFO@MELCRUM.COM
CONSULTANCY
CONSULTANCY
COACHING
JFL SEARCH & SELECTION

JFL is the specialist search and selection recruitment consultancy for the communications industry, placing candidates with leading brands and agencies across a wide range of sectors. With over 35 years industry knowledge and experience, we understand our clients needs and the increasingly important role communication plays in business. Our consultants are passionate about people so whoever you are seeking graduate entry-level, Managing Director, permanent, interim or freelance we are committed to finding the right candidate for the job. Contact us to find the perfect communications professional for your business. Contact: Lucy Hepton or Edwina Rankin Tel: +44 (0)20 7009 3500 Website: www.jflrecruit.com
HARKNESSKENNETT
Making a real difference to how organisations communicate HarknessKennett is a different kind of internal communications consultancy. Our consultants have all held senior positions on the client side. We pride ourselves on hitting the ground running and working in partnership to develop straightforward internal communication solutions. 82% of our clients have requested repeat work. We also support clients with their interim placements, whether its strategy or implementation, we can provide an interim consultant to help. Our clients include Abbey, Allianz, Arup, The Cabinet Office, Centrica, EON UK, Leonard Cheshire, M&S Money, Procter & Gamble, Shell and South West Trains. Our vision is simple we want to be the first call you make. Contact: Tel: Email: Website: James Harkness +44 (0)1483 222730 james.harkness@harknesskennett.com www.harknesskennett.com
INTERACT TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Do you want to develop your effectiveness as a communications professional? Do you want to improve the performance and potential of your business? We provide coaching services for internal communications specialists, including; Coaching for Communicators seminars developing powerful coaching techniques you can use with your key stakeholders. Personal coaching helping you achieve your full potential, resolve issues holding you back, and transforming your career. Team Coaching empowering your team to achieve outstanding results. Sign up for our next seminar to receive a complimentary coaching session (value 100). Visit our website for more details and to receive your FREE report A Guide to Coaching for Communicators. Contact: Julie Blunt Tel: 01525 713686 Email: julie.blunt@interacttraining.co.uk Website: www.interacttraining.co.uk
CONSULTANCY
SYNOPSIS
Founded by change and communication authority Bill Quirke, Synopsis is one of Europes leading internal communication consultancies. Our clients include such companies as AstraZeneca, BBC, BP, British Airways, Diageo, Ericsson, HP, Lloyds TSB, Roche, Shell and Vodafone. We help clients use internal communication to engage their employees in delivering business strategy, and get most value from their internal communication. We can help you: Develop communication strategies that support your business strategy Coach leaders Develop line managers communication skills Develop your internal communicators and get more value from the internal communication function Plan and coordinate your communication with our online planning tool Check the health of your communication channels and improve return on investment Build and develop the communication function Measure and track employee engagement, attitudes and opinions To take a tour of our online planning tool go to: www.synopsisonline.com/product/planningtool.asp Contact: Email: Tel: Website: Jane Lebeau jane.lebeau@synopsisonline.com +44 (0) 20 7490 2900 www.synopsisonline.com
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CONSULTANCY CONSULTANCY RECRUITMENT
IBIS COMMUNICATION
Engaging employees is one of the most fundamental challenges facing todays organisations. Why? Because in a competitive world, engaged people deliver superior performance and help achieve better business results. To help understand levels of engagement in organisations, weve developed a methodology called the State of Engagement and wed love to tell you more about it. Go to www.ibiscommunication.co.uk and click on State of Engagement to see our UK benchmarks. And as well as surveys we also Conduct qualitative research Undertake communication audits Prepare communication strategies and plans Shape company messages Implement communication campaigns Deliver manager training to make face-to-face channels work Facilitate management workshops and conferences Measure communication impact With heaps of experience, an impressive list of happy clients and a real passion for what we do, wed love to be working with you! Contact: Tel: Email: Website: Paul Roberts +44 (0)1494 616 043 paul@ibiscommunication.co.uk www.ibiscommunication.co.uk
HILL & KNOWLTON

Change is inevitable, suffering is optional... We know change and internal communication but, importantly, weve been in your shoes. Together the team has over 20 years of in-house experience and expertise. We understand the challenges and the complications you face. Weve worked in financial services, technology, professional services, pharmaceuticals and retail. We understand the cultures. We THINK and DO. Weve been at the forefront of thought leadership for the last 10 years but we are also equally passionate about delivery. Whether it is a leadership programme, delivering communication training to managers, supporting integration during mergers and acquisitions or, more topically, restructures and redundancy programmes. Contact: EMEA: USA: Canada: Asia:
VMA GROUP
VMA Group is one of the UKs leading executive search and selection consultancies specializing in internal and corporate communication recruitment. For over 25 years, VMA Group has provided the highest level of service to some of the most demanding global organizations, developing a strong track record for the quality and professionalism of our search and selection work. We have in-depth specialist knowledge of the internal communication market and can provide high-quality permanent and interim candidates with expertise across internal communication, change management and wider corporate communication. We understand the needs of our clients intrinsically and strive to develop long-term relationships with clients and candidates alike. Please call to discuss how we can help you find the ideal candidate, or if you wish to make a career move. Contact: Tel: Email: Website: David Broome +44 (0)20 7436 4243 dbroome@vmagroup.co.uk www.vmagroup.co.uk
Jonathon.Scott@hillandknowlton.com Barbara.Edler@hillandknowlton.com Amanda.Brewer@hillandknowlton.com Glen.Schloss@hillandknowlton.com
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR NAME HERE? A listing in our Directory of Services will give you a chance to reach communication professionals at some of the worlds largest and most admired companies, and to tap into decision-making practitioners. Contact: Laura Hassan Tel: +44 (0)20 8600 4670 Email: laura.hassan@melcrum.com
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Strategic Communication Management

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STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

BEST PRACTICES, CASE STUDIES AND STRATEGY FOR COMMUNICATORS

Reconnecting employees with the internal brand

Editor: Kelly Dyer

Assistant Editor: Sona Hathi

Head of Content: Mandy Thatcher

Marketing Executive: Coralie Thomson

Subscriptions Manager: Tracy Greves

Ruth Weber Kelley

Art Direction: Wesley Corbett

MARKETING, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:

BILLING AND SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES:

How to contact our editors

Kelly Dyer Editor kelly.dyer@melcrum.com

scm is printed on paper thats obtained from

Melcrum Publishing Limited 2009

FROM THE EDITOR

Helping to build the internal brand

Growing the brand at Standard Chartered Bank

Building a new culture and brand at iPSL

How Barclays employees keep the customer promise

Helping employees do more with less at Sony Europe

The Communicators Network

Research & Measurement

Volume 13, Issue 3

A ROUND-UP OF USEFUL RESOURCES FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATORS

EMPLOYEES UNCONVINCED ON COMPANYS CSR PERFORMANCE

The full article can be found at www.internalcommshub.com/open/news/threshhol dresearch.shtml

The full study can be downloaded at: www.krauthammer.com

Volume 13, Issue 3

BOOKS EVENTS RESEARCH REPORTS BLOGS SURVEYS URLS

Rodney Gray Employee Communication & Surveys Rodney@rodneygray.com.au

BLOGS & URLS

BLOG: ASK MISS MANAGEMENT

Volume 13, Issue 3

A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST HOT DEBATES AND SHARED ADVICE

JOIN THE COMMUNICATORS NETWORK NOW

Volume 13, Issue 3

BRINGING THE BRAND TO LIFE AT FIRST DIRECT

Volume 13, Issue 3

UP FOR DEBATE: WHAT OUR LANGUAGE ACTUALLY CONVEYS

Volume 13, Issue 3

Making the intranet accessible and appealing to a varied employee base

CREATING A NEW INTRANET AT WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL

Volume 13, Issue 3

MCDONALDS SERVES UP MORE BLOGS FOR EMPLOYEES

To download the full report visit: www.nngroup.com/reports/donations/

To read the full blog visit: www.melcrumblog.com

Volume 13, Issue 3

RESEARCH & MEASUREMENT

THREE STAGES TO MEASURING CHANGE COMMUNICATION

Figure One: Change communication gap analysis

Figure Two: The change communication measurement matrix

Volume 13, Issue 3

RESEARCH & MEASUREMENT

Where do employees want to get their information from?

EMPLOYEES TRUSTED ROLE IN BUILDING REPUTATION

Volume 13, Issue 3

Creating guidelines for standardized leadership communication BARBARA MASSURY

HELPING LEADERS ACHIEVE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

Volume 13, Issue 3

GUIDING THE COMMUNICATION EFFORTS OF A RELUCTANT CEO

Volume 13, Issue 3

HOW TO REGAIN YOUR MOTIVATION FOR WORK