Communications Leadership

Everyone experiences pressure this time of year: completing year-end projects; projecting next year’s budget; finalizing the 2011 business plan. But before you place the finishing touches on next year’s strategy, ask yourself if you have communicated sufficiently about your anticipated work flow with your colleagues.
Rushing to complete the department’s business plan can mean it was developed using the “silo” approach. The result is that the plan may appear to make sense on paper but encounters multiple issues when it is time to execute the strategy and tactics. Why? Because an adequate exchange of information did not occur during the developmental stage.

I advocate taking time to confer with colleagues before finalizing your 2011 business plan. There are several benefits to communicating cross-functionally while designing your department’s upcoming activities. For example, by sharing your proposed plan with others, you may become aware of timing issues or barriers that could impact the success of your work. Learning what others anticipate doing can reveal opportunities your team can leverage and provide new ideas that inspire creativity, both of which could be integrated into your strategy before finalizing it.
Soliciting input during the formulation stage enables you to gain allies and to identify relationship issues that require improvement or problems that need to be solved. To gain such insight prior to introducing your strategy to the executive team or initiating a tactic is invaluable because you are able to refine your approach and make the necessary “course corrections” before experiencing major hurdles that would cause your plan to fall short or, worse yet, fail to produce the promised results.

Instead, you are able to implement your strategy and tactics smoothly and appear to be organized and in control of your functional area. Plus, if there is the likelihood that you will be asked to scale back your 2011 proposed budget, it can be extremely helpful to have “champions” who are aware of the benefits of your plan and would attest to the importance of your work.

Measurement component
Because measurement is critical to business, it is necessary you have a well-designed scorecard, which will help you report on the activities you intend to perform throughout the year. By conferring in advance with your colleagues, you may uncover critical areas where your course of action will impact these other areas.
Consequently, you may be able to develop methodology that incorporates supplemental information into your quarterly, monthly and weekly reports. Your ability to show how your work is inter-related to the goals and objectives of other departments demonstrates the further value of your efforts.

Positioning you as a leader
In addition to having a stronger business plan, this type of advance communication with your co-workers positions you as a collaborator and an effective manager willing to listen to multiple points of view and possessing the ability to understand how your area fits into the overall picture of the business. Such attributes help to brand you as a leader.
Once your 2011 plan is completed, including feedback from colleagues, don’t hesitate to showcase your efforts to other business partners when networking opportunities arise. This will permit you to “advertise” your plan, so others in the company become aware of the upcoming work of your department. This, in turn, will prepare them when you or members of your team call upon them to enlist help or to request information throughout the year.
Sharing your intentions and business targets also can open doors for you with members of the management team, as you are able to compliment the ideas suggested by their staff and prove your willingness to be a team player.
In fact, you may want to distribute highlights or an executive summary of your plan to key executive team members and share the relevancy or your goals and work to helping the company successfully achieve its 2011 business objectives.

Continue the communication flow
Once your department’s business plan has been approved, don’t stop communicating. Your business plan is a tool as well as a road map. You should share your plan with employees new to your area, so they have a clear understanding of the focus and anticipated performance of the department.
Be sure to introduce existing and new vendors to appropriate portions of the plan, so they can accompany you on your “journey to achievement” as you pursue your strategy and undertake key tactics in which they, too, have a vested interest in your success.

Finally, as you achieve your goals throughout the year, be sure to celebrate these accomplishments with your team, explain how these successes support the corporate mission and business goals as well as the department objectives. This educational endeavor can help employees better understand the role they play within the organization and the importance of their individual contribution to creating a winning team and a successful company.

Ruth Ellen Kinzey, The Kinzey Company is a corporate reputation strategist, consultant, and professional speaker. Want to hear more about a specific topic? She can be reached at (704) 763-0754 or http://www.kinzeycompany.com.

This week, I was leafing through Ad Age. Four stories grabbed me. There was enough content for me to pontificate on for a whole year. Beside the stories they told, the articles also revealed interesting themes. They all support the idea that our industry is in transition, and that ad agencies, PR agencies, marketing consulting firms and clients need a new way of thinking. Let me share with you some of what I read.

• Nike CEO William Perez (former CEO of SC Johnson) was fired after only thirteen months on the job. The headline read: “The CEO forgot: Ads Rule at Nike.” The subhead explained:”…behind the scenes: Perez viewed ads as expense, and it cost him his job.”

Here’s my translation of this event…culture is everything. Perez failed to understand that ads had built the aura and the brand which Nike stands for. Phil Knight was not about to allow someone to play with his passion. This wasn’t about money savings or efficiencies: At Nike it’s about “doing it”. Perez underestimated both the nature of the Nike culture and its power when he made his cost-cutting moves. At Nike, management is a team sport, and consensus, buy-in and enrollment are imperative if change is to happen.

The Second Story…

• “Ford Motor Company engaged the consulting firm Accenture to conduct a far reaching media optimization and media measurement program that could greatly influence its ad launches, spending and media mix. The program could potentially affect the type of work Ford’s agencies do.” (As it happens, I used to be the Director of Worldwide Marketing at Anderson Consulting, Accenture’s predecessor).

I can see it now…Ford’s ad agency staffers at Y&R, JWT and Ogilvy are probably panicking, running through their hallways shouting, “That isn’t fair…we should be doing that work!” The fact is, they are right. Perhaps the ad agencies should get the work. But there’s a good reason why they didn’t. They just don’t provide the same rigor and the same process methodology that a consulting firm does. Agencies should be asking themselves why they aren’t getting opportunities like this. WPP’s CEO, Martin Sorrell’s nightmare, of agencies losing ground to consulting firms, is coming true and picking up momentum. I think it can only get worse for the agencies–unless they rethink what they do, what type of talent they hire and where they add value beyond creating advertising.

Now for the next story…

• “Jim Heekin, newly installed CEO of Grey Advertising, is dismantling Grey’s old systems. He’s installing critical account planning to be on par with creative and account management. This represents a marked change for Grey.” Good for Jim! The article goes on to tell us how Grey’s strategy had little clarity, how they would often waste the time of creative teams hunting for a creative strategy insight. Guess who paid for that wasted time?

I have always endorsed the idea that creatives should be focused on creative ideas not on the message or the strategy. Creatives just don’t have the training for that; after all, they are art directors, writers and designers, not strategists, analysts or researchers. McDonald’s calls it a “Framework for Freedom.” They say, let the client management, researchers, and strategists come up with the key messages, target audiences and buyer motivators. Then let the creative teams get on with their job-creating the design, sound and motion around the idea. That way the creative output is more focused and compelling.

I would go one step further. I say that the agency should take the leadership role. Agencies need to become facilitators, working side by side with the client’s management, marketing and sales teams, together with the ad agency’s team of media, account management, creative, planning and production departments. Everyone should be collaborating, all together at one time at one table. This saves time, ensures buy-in and produces better ideas.

Nice going Jim. Keep stirring up the pot…change in the ad agency world is good. One caveat, one piece of advice…move the culture along with you…don’t let it bite you in the rear the way it did Bill Perez at Nike. Win over the clients, and win over the internal agency staff. If you don’t believe me just look what happened to your counterpart Ann Fudge at sister WPP agency Young & Rubicam. Internal politics, a strong insular culture, fear of change and being an agency outsider prevented her from being successful in the job.

• The last piece…”Ford is putting the consumer at the center of their rebirthing marketing program with hopes of turning around the company fortunes.” Ford had no choice, we’re told, but to change to meet the demands of the market rather than the other way around.

This is news? Where have they been for the last twenty years? The Ford Motor Company I knew and worked for from 1981-1991 (when I was a senior ad executive at Y&R) always put the customer first. It was about Quality is Job #1; Lincoln – What a Luxury Car Should Be; and Have You Driven a Ford Lately?Those were consumer insight campaigns. They answered consumer questions and they helped satisfy the buyers’ needs and wants with products that they wanted to drive. Remember the Mark VI, the XR4Ti Merkur from Germany and the Mercury Sable and Ford Escort? Wonderful cars, terrific insights and great market successes. I’m glad to hear Ford is finding its way back to the insights that contributed to its most recent glory days. But, as the company has said, Ford must also win over its own people in order to lead the market. Ford’s employees need to become educated, motivated, inspired, and enrolled to recognize what the pursuit of a consumer driven strategy can yield in the way of success and market leadership. I hope they get it straight. I want them to succeed.

So what’s the common thread to these stories?? What key messages can we learn from them? I see many lessons here.

Sharing Strategic Marketing Responsibilities. The ad industry (and some clients) still doesn’t recognize that marketing should not be centered just on the creative product. Focus should be the shared collective responsibility of the client, the agency, the sales channel and the customers. Together they can create products, marketing strategies and award winning advertising that will meet the needs and wants of the market and present the right message and image. No one group should abdicate its role to the other. This work needs to be done together.

Rigor, Process and Methodology. In a world of investment bankers, strategy consultants, and greater value accountability to shareholders, agencies have to step up to the plate and incorporate new rigor, methodology and process into their planning and accept their responsibility for results. The old way just doesn’t work, and neither will moaning about the loss of consulting assignments and revenue. Agencies must go way beyond planning the new ad campaign and refashion themselves to gain deep analytical understanding of their client’s business operations and challenges. They need to get themselves invited to the board room table out of respect for their strategic insights and counsel and the confidence they convey, not just to get approval for their new ad campaign.

Abundant Mentality. Marketing people on both sides of the table need to embrace the notion that a great idea can come from anywhere. What’s more, when everyone adds to an idea, it can only get better, brighter, more compelling. Every great idea is a shared responsibility based on an abundant mentality about solving consumer problems with compelling solutions that grab people’s imagination and attention.

Leadership. Current advertising models fashioned back in the sixties and seventies are not relevant today. The marketing industry needs fresh ideas, new approaches and leadership to recognize that. The industry needs leadership that recognizes a need for new, outside-the-box business models. Marketing people need to rethink old management structures–incorporate new media, the internet, buzz marketing and 1to1 marketing–and establish new metrics and accountabilities so clients will value what they do. Leadership should come from both the clients and their agencies, both immersed in freshness and innovation, not stuck on a single idea. Leadership needs to re-examine everything: compensation, accountability, media optimization, market research methods and integrated strategies and costs.

So. What I garnered from reading my four Ad Age articles can be summed up this way: Our business is changing. We can react and let it change us, or we can take the lead and we can change it.

Culture. Everyone involved in marketing has to recognize the power of culture and the power of the employees when it comes to embracing a new strategy or marketing initiative. Company culture does matter. Respect it, and make it work in your favor by helping the internal constituencies become educated and informed. Help them become motivated and inspired and–eventually–enrolled and engaged. This will take time, patience and process, and the knowledge to do it right. Don’t leave this important task to chance. Deploy change management experts who have methodologies and processes that can help. 

Robert Holland, writing in his Communication At Work column for Richmond.com, takes the CEOs of the big three American automakers to task for … insensitivity. He’s so on target:

“In the best of times, actions speak louder than words. In difficult times, actions practically scream. Just ask the CEOs of the big three American automakers.

“…these CEOs furrow their brows and talk to anyone who will listen about how their company must survive or there will be grave consequences, then they drive away in their luxury cars or fly to an executive retreat on a private jet – after depositing their latest bonuses, of course.

“How can business leaders avoid this problem? Here are some suggestions:

• Examine every word and action with the same scrutiny employees will give it. Are employees maybe a bit too sensitive these days? Yes, but for understandable reasons. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, unable to make their house payments or facing personal challenges unseen in decades. Forgive them if they’re not in the mood to hear about another executive bonus.
• Offer specific plans and ideas. This is no time for vague generalities about what the company is doing to cope with difficult financial times. It’s time to bring employees – the engine that keeps companies going even when things are tough – into the fold. Treat them like grown-ups. Tell them the truth. Listen to them.
• Seek balance. Maybe this year’s company holiday party shouldn’t be as opulent as it was last year, but it’s probably OK to still have one. Employees need some sense of normalcy amid the chaos.”

Read the entire article

And for another good take on communicating with employees during a downturn, read Holland’s article: Most business leaders aren’t talking with employees about financial crisis.

By Robert Holland

Communications people need to take a hard look in the mirror and give an honest answer to an important question – Are employees getting weary of the routine drill of management speeches that we’re trying to pass off as a “town hall meeting?” 

If you go back a couple hundred years, you’ll find at least one striking difference between colonial days when town meetings were the real thing and the feeble attempts of companies today trying to duplicate the effect.  When they opened the floor for discussion in the old days, it created true dialogue.  Sure, employees are usually invited to ask questions at company meetings, but few people step up to the microphone to ask anything probing or provocative because they don’t feel comfortable talking in front of a crowd.  It’s just not the same.

Here’s one way to make town hall meetings more energizing and meaningful for employees:

1. Start with the goal to create substantive engagement, understanding that acceptance and behavior change occur more from conversations than presentations.
2. Break everyone into groups of 8-10 people.
3. Pose a question for small groups to discuss for 10-15 minutes, and ask them to come up with a list of responses; if you have multiple topics and limited time, assign different questions to different groups.
4. Ask a spokesperson from each group to give a 90-second report on their top three ideas. 
5. Have the person facilitating the process give a brief response, acknowledging input from each group.
6. If the group is too big for everyone to do a report, select a manageable number, and request that remaining groups submit their answers in writing for later review and response. 

But that’s just the beginning.  What happens next is just as important.  Nothing worth talking about can be sustained from one quarterly meeting to another.  Without a systematic follow-up processes to imbed the conversations deeper, the impact will quickly fade.  So make sure that departments continue discussions on topics from the meeting to ensure they are assessed and addressed throughout the organization on an ongoing basis.  

Les Landes, Landes & Associates

Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

Employees are smart, aren’t we? We know a lot about our jobs, the people we work for and with, and have ideas about how things can be done differently or better.

We’re also really powerful: Our neighbors are asking us what our companies are like. We’re sharing information on our Facebook pages. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, ‘people like us’ are more respected than CEOs and VPs of communications.

In these difficult economic times, making our workplaces more efficient, cutting costs, and innovating can be keys to survival.

It all starts with LISTENING. What are employees saying? Have you asked them how they think you can save costs, or how they think things should be done differently?

• Build into every employee communication a means for employees to give input and share their views. Don’t judge — be appreciative of what they have to say. Respond appropriately. If there is difficulty with an idea, say so and ask them how it might be addressed.
• If you hear a great idea and decide to implement it, reward the person(s) who suggested it. Celebrate it!
• Get out and talk with your people more. We’re too digital these days, but we’re hard-wired as a species to look each other in the eye and communicate. Great — and better — ideas come from discussing.

A place to start listening is with an employee survey. We work with the Great Place to Work Institute, which does the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list and a small and mid-sized company list as well. The FORTUNE nominations are free (and due March 31, 2009) at greatplacetowork-100best.com. It’s a great tool to hear what your employees think of your workplace, and you get to see how you compare to the 100 Best Companies.

Best of all, you’ll have an opportunity to RESPOND. To make changes to improve your workplace and business.

Lee Weinstein

 In the last issue of Inside Out (Proof for the profitability of engagement), I talked about what it takes to get employees engaged in systematic continuous improvement.  I also cited recent research that proves the huge bottom line impact you can produce from doing it effectively.

After 15 years of benchmarking and refining a process that’s been used by several Baldrige Award winning companies, we’ve found that some of the “tried-and-true” principles for accomplishing that goal aren’t really so true after all.  In fact, what actually works – what makes an improvement process a fully integrated system instead of a one-off activity – is somewhat counterintuitive.

“Bigger” isn’t always “better.”
One classic flaw in most suggestion programs is the emphasis on hitting “home runs.”  It seems like it makes sense to focus on the big wins at first glance, but there are two problems with that notion.  First, big things are hard to plan and implement, and not many employees are equipped to take them on.  So it limits participation.  Second, when employees get bigger incentives for bigger improvements, that’s where they tend to focus their attention – and they wind up walking right past hundreds of smaller ideas – the “base hits” – along the way.

The counterintuitive key is to set up the incentive structure to value every idea equally regardless of its size and impact.  In our “Un-Suggestion System,” we use a random drawing to accomplish that goal.  For every approved improvement that an employee implements (not just suggests), his or her name is entered once into a bi-weekly drawing.   Depending on the size of the organization, approximately 10%-20% of the names are pulled each time.  Importantly, the value of the awards is very modest – usually no more than $50 – regardless of whether the idea saved $100 or $10,000.  The value of the award has absolutely nothing to do with the value of the improvement.

That approach works for several reasons:

1. People aren’t wasting time trying to cost-justify a lot of small improvements that any well-trained supervisor can see right away will make things work better, faster, cheaper, cleaner, easier or safer.

2. It keeps employees focused on the little things that they have control over.
   
3. It emphasizes the intrinsic merits of the improvements and the inherent motivation that everyone has to make things work better rather than the “prize money.”

4. In the end, the most motivating factor for employees is that someone is actually taking their ideas seriously, helping them get those ideas implemented, and thanking them for their contributions.

Committees aren’t close enough to the action.
If you want to make sure that employee suggestions get evaluated and implemented, set up a suggestion committee to review and approve everything – right?  Wrong!  Dilbert would have a field day with that notion.  Setting aside all the jokes about committees in general, let’s look at how that process typically works.

An employee comes up with an improvement idea and submits a suggestion.  After going to the supervisor and probably to a manager, the idea eventually works its way to the suggestion committee.  That “team” gets together maybe once every month or so to review a slug of suggestions.  Of course, they’re doing double-duty.  Not only do they have their own jobs to do, now they have to take on another load.  What’s more, they often don’t know much about the improvements that are being proposed, so they have to do some research.  By the time they finally make a decision, it’s been weeks or even months.  Employees lose interest, and they aren’t very motivated to submit additional ideas.

So what’s the alternative?  Keep it local – focusing most decision-making where the improvements will be implemented.  You make it the job of every supervisor to review, evaluate and approve or decline the vast majority of improvement ideas.  You also make it the responsibility of employees to get their ideas implemented.  If they need help from their supervisor or someone else, they can get it – but they “own” it.

Here’s another benefit of that approach.  It bolsters the role of the supervisor as a coach.  To optimize that role, supervisors need the right kind of skills, of course.  They have to learn how to evaluate improvement ideas, lead process improvement meetings, encourage employee participation, help people get their ideas implemented and acknowledge them for their contributions.  Those duties also need to be included in the supervisor’s job description and assessed as part of their performance reviews.

While the principles are basic, making the shift from a “suggestion program” to a more viable and vital “improvement system” is not easy or “intuitive” for most people.  But when that system produces dramatically more implemented improvements than a traditional program, the rewards far outweigh the effort.

Les Landes, Landes & Associates

Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

When I was a kid, I really wanted to learn to play the piano.  Weird, huh?  Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford it, and the apartment was too small for one anyway.  So when my youngest daughter decided she wanted to take lessons, I was thrilled.  I couldn’t wait for her to become good enough to enjoy the music more than she dreaded the practice.  That was three years ago when she was 10.  Luckily, she was persistent – and I was patient.  Now when she sits down to play, I stop whatever I’m doing to listen.

What Do You Mean, Dad?
The other day, she was playing something very moving, and I told her that when she plays, it makes my heart soar.  She looked surprised and asked me, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”  I couldn’t believe the question, and I quickly assured her it was very good.  “Then why does it hurt your heart?” she asked.  That’s when I realized she thought I said her playing made my heart “sore.”

It was a vivid reminder of a lesson I learned years ago from my communication mentor, David Berlo – Meanings are in people, not in words or symbols.  That lesson is obvious when it comes to homonyms like “sore” and “soar,” but it’s more subtle and complex in other forms of communication, and professional communicators need to be highly sensitive to all of its nuances in everything we do.

Align People’s Meanings – Inside and Out
That sensitivity is especially vital when it comes to aligning the meanings that people inside and outside the organization have for the words and symbols that organizations use to communicate.  It’s common practice to do focus groups with customers to test promotional messages for interpretation and impact before rolling out a big advertising campaign.  However, you rarely see the same attention given to assessing how employees inside the organization interpret those promotional words and symbols. What’s more, the implications are seldom considered for how employees need to perform in order to deliver on the promises being made in the marketplace.

Inside or out, with one person or many, here are some guidelines to help you avoid the “meanings trap”. . .

• Don’t ask what a word means – because IT doesn’t mean anything.  Instead, ask what people mean by the words they use.

• Don’t assume people know what you mean when you tell them something or send out a message.  Check to make sure they’ve interpreted it the way it was intended.

• Don’t ask people if they understand what you mean if you want to make sure they understand something important.  Ask them to repeat what you’ve said until you’re satisfied you share the same meaning.

• Don’t expect to find common ground in a debate about the meaning of a word, but rather in a conversation committed to a common understanding of what is meant by the people using it.  As the famed communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan, once said, “Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.”
• Les Landes, Landes & Associates

  Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

  

My friend and colleague, Richard Barrett, wrote a book several years ago called “Liberating the Corporate Soul.”  It’s exceptional on many levels, as I wrote in a review that is posted on Amazon.com.  One remarkable quality about Richard’s book is how it is both wonderfully inspiring and technically rigorous.  Marcello Palazzi, Co-Founder and Chair of the Progessio Foundation said that “Liberating the Corporate Soul achieves the impossible: it integrates the intangibles of ethics, vision, and consciousness into a tangible measurement system.”Much of Richard’s work is rooted in his experiences from when he worked at the World Bank.  During his years there, he developed a strong conviction that the institution needed to focus more of its attention on the issue of human rights in its monetary policies and decision-making.  Since he was a mid-level manager with limited influence, he decided that he would need to take a less conventional approach if he wanted to reach the ears – and hearts – of senior management.  

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that one of the surest ways to raise suspicion about someone’s motives is for the person to say, “Trust me on this?”  That’s certainly true when it comes to employees and customers.

In the workplace, few challenges have obsessed and perplexed the business world more than the issue of employee trust.  The reason is obvious.  With it, virtually any obstacle can be overcome in an organization.  Without it, every day is filled with uncertainty and anxiety, no matter what else the organization does right.

In the marketplace, few things are treasured more passionately than loyal customers – those people who come back time and again, and even refer new customers to enjoy the same experience.

When you get them both right, it’s business paradise.  The crucial thing to understand is that the two go hand-in-hand.  Without employee trust, customer trust suffers, as well.

Management Credibility Factors
One reason organizations fail to foster a culture of trust is because they focus mainly on interpersonal factors.  They’re important, to be sure, and here are key behaviors that managers have to exhibit to gain employee trust:

• Caring – Genuine concern about employee wellbeing is where it has to start.
• Honesty and Openness – Dance around the truth or hide important information, and people tune out and turn away.
• Responsiveness – Listening and taking action on what you hear tells people you’re sincere.
• Competence – If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s hard to win a following.
• Reliability – Can people count on you to do what you say?
• Apology – If you can admit mistakes and apologize sincerely, trust goes way up.

In a recent article I wrote for Communication World called “Cracking the Culture Code,” the communication VPs for Southwest Airlines and Enterprise Rent-A-Car talk about how their companies observe those behaviors in their extraordinarily successful cultures.

People-First Systems
But…that’s only half of the equation.  You also have to design the systems, policies, and processes in a way that tells employees unequivocally that they are trusted.  We call those People-First Systems, and they fall into five main categories:

• Measurement
• Rewards and recognition
• Communication
• Learning and development
• Continuous improvement

Of course, many organizations have some type of mechanism in place for all of those areas.  But do they really demonstrate to employees that they are trusted?  Do they truly reinforce the oft-heard mantra that people are our most important asset?  Fact is, systems in most organizations are designed to protect against the miniscule number of irresponsible people, and those constraints wind up stifling the vast majority of employees you can count on like clockwork.

Bottom line, you can’t have performance excellence without sincere trust and belief in people.  If you have doubts about the merits of that philosophy, consider the wisdom of renowned statesman, Henry Stimson, who said, “The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.”

Les Landes, Landes & Associates

Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

• Create an incentive structure that places equal value on small and large improvements
• Place the responsibility for approving and implementing smaller improvements with front-line supervisors, not a suggestion committee
• Respond to the majority of employee ideas within 24 hours
• Focus employees on small improvements within their own areas of responsibility, and give them responsibility for implementation, seeking assistance as needed from their supervisors

Whether you directly report to your CEO or not, the CEO is typically an internal communicator’s customer. So how well do you know this customer? Do you know his/her goals, outside interests, or what’s challenging him/her?  If not, time to do some audience analysis.

A quick review of hard research and informal information gathering will provide insight into the minds of CEOs. Consider this data from the IBM study, Capitalizing on Complexity: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer. Findings state that enterprises today are not equipped to cope effectively with the rapid escalation of “complexity” in the global environment, which is named as the biggest challenge confronting CEOs. How can communicators use their knowledge to help CEOs with this challenge?

Other studies include the Strategic Planning CEO survey (Financial Dynamics, Forbes Insights, Association for Strategic Planning and the Council of PR Firms) which states that CEO’s believe that lack of understanding/communication is a leading factor of why business strategies fail.  This presents a great opportunity for communicators. So, when was the last time you talked to your CEO about business strategy?

Informal information gathering is a way to gain an even better understanding of your CEO. Try and schedule regular meetings, even if they are brief, to get to know both business and personal sides of your CEO. What’s his/her family situation, top priority each day, who he/she admires, and outside interests? What does he/she read that you might also read to create a source for you to make conversation with your CEO.

Rate your CEO on his/her communication level so you have a better understanding of how much and what type of work you are in for when working with this customer. Does he/she have an excellent or poor level of communication understanding (impact, process, complexity)?  Does he or she have a good but could use some coaching or poor and doesn’t care level of communication ability?

While communicators are constantly conducting audience analysis on different segments of their employee audience/customers, they often overlook the CEO. Take time out to get to know this key audience. Doing so will allow you to build a stronger and more effective working relationship with your CEO.

Julie Baron, COMMUNICATION WORKS

I was recently introduced to http://www.LetGoandLead.com, an online community that explores the ideas of leadership and transformation. The site got me thinking about my leaders — from all walks of life — and why I admire them. I quickly realized communication skill and the ability to engage others are common denominators. My list includes my mother, a former co-worker, several clients but one in particular, a few U.S. presidents, a colleague, and a fitness class teacher. They are all people with a passion and the ability to lead others to believe, create and excel.

So, to my mother whose passion to see the world and colorful stories of her travels led me from western NY to China and many destinations in between for unmatched adventure, learning and fun; to my colleague whose guts to take beyond measurable risk continues to enable me to take more; and to my client who inspires me to stretch and realize greater achievements through simple appreciation for what I do; thank you for your candor and your inspiration.

Which leaders are on your list and why? Are they encouraging an environment where open, honest communication can flourish? If not, what are you doing do to help them create this environment?

It’s that time of year again. Resolutions. Out with the old. In with the new. Stopping bad habits. Starting good ones. Bottom line: it’s time for change. But that simple little word conjures up lots of emotions and reactions among people.

Recently, I came across a little book with a clever title – “Change is Good. You Go First.” That phrase reflects the sentiment that many people have about organizational change. They realize they can’t survive without it. They know that everyone has to do their part. But they dig in their heels when it comes to taking the first step, and they have a hard time staying the course – at least that’s the conventional wisdom.

People Hate Change —

Or Do They?

Here’s an important question, though. Is resistance to change really inherent in human nature – or is something else going on? If you look around, you can see people changing all the time. Clothes. Foods. Channels. You name it. Like the old adage goes, variety is the spice of life, right? So how does that cherished maxim jive with the contention that people resist change?

Truth is, people don’t resist change as much as they resist being forced to change without their involvement. People actually relish change if they’ve got some control over it, and they think it’s going to be good for them. Human beings are imprinted at birth with an innate desire to make things better. We want today to be better than yesterday, and we want tomorrow to be better than today. Everyone knows that can’t happen without change.

People Embrace Change —

When They Have Some Control

So that’s where smart leaders will go when they want to foster employee engagement and get people on board with a change management plan:

• They start by giving employees a compelling vision, a riveting story of where they want to be “tomorrow.” And they explain why it’s important to embark on that journey in a way that speaks to the well-being of employees, not just the company.
• They continue to build on the allure of that vision in every communication they have with employees, and they provide the support employees need to reach it.
• They give continuous encouragement and express absolute confidence in the ability of employees to do the job.
• They make the change process manageable by not giving people too much to handle all at once, and by giving them clear, simple steps they can take successfully.
• They let employees see the performance numbers, and they allow people to take the initiative to make course corrections along the way.
• Finally, they let employees have a say in how to design and manage the change they’re expected to embrace

In the end, change is NOT necessarily good. But it IS absolutely necessary. Whether it’s good or not depends on what the change is – and, more importantly, how it’s handled. Change is also unavoidable. As the introduction says in the little book that inspired the title of this essay, the only choice we have is this: “… either we manage change, or it will manage us.”

People Will Change —

If They’re Led the Right Way

It’s true that change can be difficult. Even though it isn’t as onerous to employees as some people think, human beings often long for the familiar, and old habits die hard. But if you label the source of those behaviors as “resistance to change,” you’re probably going to be treating the wrong cause of the challenge – and take the wrong approach to overcoming it.

So along with your other resolutions this year, add one more. If you see your change efforts stalling out, don’t jump to the conclusion that employees are “resisting change” – and don’t assume that it’s just human nature. It could be that the so-called “resistance” is actually due to the methods you’re using – or the way you’re telling the story.

Les Landes, Landes & Associates

Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

Great communicators employ many different skills as they pursue success. Many of us focus on continual improvement in the tactical skills that carry our role — particularly true early in one’s career. Later, leadership, analysis and relationship skills help us become trusted advisors and strategic contributors.

One of the most important skills we can employ is giving unsought counsel – having difficult conversations with executives and clients where you disagree or offer an alternate view from theirs. I recently found myself in such a situation. The client is a new client and we don’t know each other well. She and her team are very interested in intranet governance and social media.

It is my practice to review current business and communication goals and objectives to better understand what drives the organization. The communication goals and objectives in place in this client organization are not strategic, not focused on behavior, and not likely to successfully position communication as the trusted advisor it should be. They also aren’t contributing to a strategic view of communication that drives the business.

Improving intranet governance and using social technologies may result in some successes, but couched in a flawed communication strategy, these things won’t have near the impact they could if the communication strategy itself were sound. Can you say “time for a tough conversation”?

What this requires most is courage – courage to think along a different line, to be observant of issues for which we’re not responsible, to speak up without prompting or expectation. Courage is in short supply in communication circles.

The best thing you can do is to prepare. Ask yourself the right questions first, and you’ll be better able to deliver clear messages and ask appropriate questions of the client. Consider:

1. What’s my relationship with the person and how might the conversation affect that relationship?

2. What would be the outcome if I never have the conversation? Bad enough to warrant intervention?

3. What are the two messages on which I can focus to get at the heart of the matter?

4. What is the balance to those two messages that helps to persuade and also lighten the negativity?

5. What examples can I offer in support of my concern?

6. What questions can I ask to get the client thinking along my lines of thought?

7. What solutions will I offer?

8. How will I wrap up the discussion in a positive and productive way?

What other tips do you have for giving unsought counsel? Share those and examples of a time when you worked through such a situation successfully.

Stacy Wilson, ABC, is president of Eloquor Consulting, Inc., in Lakewood, Colorado

Here at the IABC World Conference (Twitter tag #IABC09), much of the buzz is about “social media.” First of all, a lot of my clients wrinkle their noses at the term. I’ve started using “social technologies” which is not only more broad and approachable, but also less entertainment sounding. Let’s face it, being able to find the right subject matter expert because of a great internal profile, well, that’s not really “media” is it?

I continue to be amazed at the number of people who are talking about social technologies, but not actually using them. It’s some of these who whine: “my boss won’t let us do this or that.”
Some of these technologies have to be tried to comprehend and strategize, not to mention convince others of their value. So, how can you really do justice to the opportunity and potential if you aren’t playing in the space at all? Jump in and give it a try. Read, comment, blog, make friends – just get a feel for it all.

Once you understand what social technologies can do, ask yourself these questions:

1. What business problem(s) are we trying to solve? (from the perspective of the business or end user)
2. What business goal does this initiative support? How?
3. Who are our stakeholders?
4. What do we want to do with our stakeholders?
5. Do we have executive support?
6. How strong is that executive support?
7. How will executives and other leaders be involved?
8. Who needs to be involved, and can they participate enough from the start to ensure success?
9. Can this initiative start small?
10. Which superstars/rebels can be engaged in a lead role?
11. How well is the organization prepared for the impending cultural and organizational change?
12. What legal issues (e.g., privacy, discovery, retention) exist and how will we address these?

These questions will set you on your way to strategic use of social technologies that will deliver business results, as well as, great new communication channels. So, build some skill first, then get serious.

Stacy Wilson, ABC, is president of Eloquor Consulting, Inc., in Lakewood, Colorado

A colleague recently asked for dos and don’ts in partnering with IT. It is a crucial skill in today’s corporate environment. Partnering with all functions in the organization is important, but IT in particular.

We need IT: we need the technology they deploy, good security, openness to new approaches such as social technology, clear, user-centered choices in technology.

IT needs communication too. They need adoption of new technologies, a clear connection to the business, openness to business process change, help leveraging their great solutions into the culture of the business. They need to be seen as not just a consumer of resources, but also a driver of business. All things we can help them with.

The way we approach partnering with IT professionals can make or break it.

Respect their knowledge and capability. Don’t be dismissive or condescending. They know important information – stuff we don’t know – and their perspective is often a good balance with the communicator’s perspective. It’s not that they “don’t get it,” it’s that the lens they are looking through is a different color. We should, however, seek to enlighten them about the role and value of communication.

Be linear, process-oriented thinkers. To work with them, we must become a little more like them. We must be able to connect the dots in a linear process, see the process breaks and bottlenecks. If we move through processes with them we’ll all see the end game together.

Speak their language. Know the basics, terms and concepts. Be able to converse about these with confidence. Doesn’t mean you have to sit down and code an application. I like being the dumb blonde in the hardware store. Working with my IT partners is no time for the dumb blonde routine.

Define roles and responsibilities clearly. IT has specific responsibility for delivering solutions that meet business needs and requirements. Communication should take responsibility for clearly communicating strategy and requirements, helping IT connect to the business goals, ensuring good change communication during rollout, and securing the change in the culture. Use our different areas of expertise to divide, conquer and succeed.

Think of IT as a client. Collaborate and ensure their success. Make them shine – sometimes IT can serve as a pilot and example to the rest of the organization. Give them positive visibility. Seek solutions, don’t take or give orders.

Communicate ROI and drive the business. What every good IT and communication professional wants to do for their company. We are on the same team and we share many of the same challenges and frustrations. Not being viewed as a strategic business driver or trusted advisor, is just one of them. We can help each other here.

IT isn’t gender specific. IT is becoming increasingly diverse with many women joining the ranks. I’ve seen some of my colleagues refer to the “IT guys,” but it’s no longer just a guy space.

Stacy Wilson, ABC, is president of Eloquor Consulting, Inc., in Lakewood, Colorado