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May 25, 2005

So many choices, such high expectations

As I remind clients all the time, employees’ expectations about internal communication are influenced by their experiences with external media.

We’re living in an era where information choices abound. If, for instance, I want to find out what the weather is going to be like for Memorial Day weekend, I can: Visit any number of Internet sites. Listen to a news radio station (weather “on the 8s”). Turn on the TV. Look at the map in the newspaper. And, unfortunately, all the predictions are the same: In the Northeast, we’re going to have a lousy weekend. Sigh.

This experience of choice—and the feeling of control that accompanies it—was dramatized recently by a media strategist named Dave DeSocio, who spoke at a gathering of cable sales executives in Chicago. Mr. DeSocio, who works for an agency named OMD, attempted to quantify the phenomenon of choice by sharing the following fun facts about TV:

• The average TV viewer changes channels 8,000 times a week.

• There are only 18 TV shows with an average Nielsen rating of 5.0 or higher. By contrast, 1,723 shows deliver less than a 1.0 rating.

• The No. 1 show for kids is not “SpongeBob SquarePants” or, in fact, any other kids-oriented show you could think of—it’s the Super Bowl, the same TV event that’s No. 1 for virtually every other demographic. In fact, the Super Bowl is now one of the few television experiences that are universal across ages, genders and ethnic groups.

Interesting stuff to amuse (or bore) your friends, but what does it all mean? “According to Mr. DeSocio, these facts demonstrate the increasing personalization of media. “People don’t watch TV. They don’t listen to radio. And they don’t read magazines. What do they do? They make personal choices,” he said, that transcend media vehicles.

How is this relevant to employee communication? I’ll answer a question with three of my own: Are you giving employees a sense of choice? Can they choose among different vehicles, for example, or is there only one way to get information? Can employees decide how in-depth to go to learn about a certain subject, or do they have to slog through a thicket of information to get what they need?

If you don’t give employees control over communication, they may choose with their feet, deciding not to participate in communication that doesn’t meet their needs.

It’s your choice.

Posted by Alison Davis at 02:20 PM

May 17, 2005

Jive talkin’

Language is a serious subject. What words you choose, how you construct your messages, whether you translate into other languages—these are all issues that merit your full attention.

That’s why every once in a while, you just need to relax and have fun with it. Which is why I invite you to visit http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/jbc/home/chef.html.

This valuable and unique tool helps you translate your messages into four completely useless but hysterical dialects: Jive. Pig Latin. Valley Girl. And Swedish Chef (that famous Muppet character).

It’s really easy to do. You simply take a passage of writing, put it into the text box, and choose the language you want to translate it into.

For example, let’s say you’re working on articulating the company strategy and have developed the following:

Our new strategy will center on providing distinctive, consumer-oriented products and services to members in targeted markets. By focusing more sharply on the customer segments that align with our strengths and offer the best profit potential, we will be better able to provide consumers with a wider range of product choices, including more open access products. And we can add value by providing customers with information that helps them improve the quality of health care.

Pretty dry and corporate, isn’t it? You’re worried that, like other high-level messages you’ve written, it will be sent to employees and then disappear into the ether, never to be seen again.

You need to inject some life into this writing. Maybe it would be more compelling in Jive? Let’s give it a try:

Our new strategy gots'ta centa' on providin' distinctive, consumer-o'iented products and services t'members in targeted markets. By focusin' mo'e sharply on de customa' segments dat align wid our strengds and offa' de best profit potential, we gots'ta be betta' able t'provide consumers wid some wida' range uh product choices, includin' mo'e jimmey access products. And we kin add value by providin' customers wid info'mashun dat helps dem improve da damn quality uh heald care. What it is, Mama!

Much, much better. Would it be even more effective in Swedish Chef? Let’s give that first sentence a whirl:

Ooor noo stretegy veell center oon prufeeding deestinctife-a, cunsoomer-ooreeented prudoocts und serfeeces tu members in tergeted merkets.

Hmm, maybe not. And although Pig Latin has some appeal—after all, don’t a lot of corporate messages seem like they’re written to obscure instead of explain?—and Valley Girl is, like, tempting, you feel that Jive has exactly the tone you seek.

So, go ahead. Visit the webpage. Do the translation. Hit the send button. Wait for the feedback that’s sure to follow. Then start job-hunting.

Have a good day, everybody! (Or, as the Swedish chef would say, "Hefe-a a guud dey, iferybudy! Bork Bork Bork!")

Posted by Alison Davis at 03:52 PM

May 03, 2005

Please go now

Here’s an urgent message for every communicator whose organization has multiple locations with employees who do a variety of jobs: Leave your office now. Get out into the field. Go quickly.

You may not think your workspace is fancy—it may just be a cubicle. But if you’re located in corporate headquarters or even a branch office, your environment is limiting your perspective. As my friend Steve Church says, “Unless you’ve spent a hot August day on a production line in an unairconditioned factory, you don’t understand what real life is like for your workforce.”

Maybe your organization doesn’t do manufacturing. You may have employees who wear headsets in customer service. Or those who spend their days in a store. Or folks who drive trucks or forklifts. Or employees who wear goggles and work in a lab.

The point is, life is different outside the rarified atmosphere of corporate headquarters. Communication is different, too. Employees may have no access to e-mail. They may have to stand in line in a kiosk to view the intranet. Face-to-face time may be limited to 20 minutes at the start of their shifts. Their job requirements may limit the amount of time they spend reading on the job.

If you don’t get this—and I mean, really get it—you could develop a syndrome we call “Corporate Head.” It’s like a severe head cold. Your vision is affected. You can’t hear (or listen) very well. Your sense of reality is skewed. You actually begin to believe that every employee is like the Senior Vice President of Whatever: a guy in a nice suit, college-educated, highly paid, who likes communication to be well-crafted and polished.

When you find yourself creating communication that only meets the needs of the Senior VP and others like him, it’s time to get help for your case of Corporate Head. Luckily, the treatment is simple and relatively painless: Get the heck out of your office.

Book a flight to a remote facility where employees have never laid eyes on the CEO and only rarely see their divisional VP. Drive down the Interstate to a manufacturing plant running three shifts and be there at the start and end of each shift (even graveyard). Pay a visit to a distribution center where the forklifts and trucks make so much noise that you can’t hear yourself think.

Then go back to your office and ask yourself, “Is our communication program truly meeting the needs of every employee in our organization?”

Gotta go now . . .

Posted by Alison Davis at 01:58 PM | Comments (2)