Naturally, I only had a few minutes to skim it (who has time to read these days, after all?) but even a quick scan spoke volumes about how quickly communication moves these days—in the presidential campaign, for sure, but on nearly every topic. Consider these snippets:
“It took a mere one hour and 24 minutes for Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom to mount a Twitter offensive against Hilary Rosen after the Democratic strategist’s incendiary remarks on CNN last month about Romney’s wife Ann never having worked “a day in her life.” And, as writer Charlie Warzel puts it, 84 minutes may be too slow as the campaign moves forward.
“Part of the reason for Twitter’s accelerated importance in the zeitgeist of political coverage stems from its stunning growth over the past three years. Last March, the company announced that it had achieved 140 million active users, up from 100 million last fall. Every day, Twitter hosts roughly 340 million new tweets.”
While it took Twitter “three years, two months and one day to serve up 1 billion tweets; it now does that volume every three days.”
As Charlie Warzel puts it: “Welcome to the digital democracy, where Twitter has become a veritable particle accelerator for news cycles and political battles. The social media platform has given way to a ceaseless torrent of inside-baseball minutiae and partisan nitpickery. It is the home of meaningless scooplets and high-profile dustups. It is, for better or worse, the center of the political conversation, and it is transforming the way political campaigns and those who cover them do business.”
You can bet this “particle accelerator” (I love that term) is already influencing employee expectations about internal communication. If you ask employees in most organizations, they’ll say that internal communication is too slow, too late and too long. “Why can’t communication be more timely and accessible?” complain employees—like Twitter, like political coverage, like external media.
The question for you: How can you pick up the pace of your communication?
I found what I needed (plus some colorful pens I had to have), then checked out. As the sales associate handed me the receipt, she circled the section that read, “Your opinion counts . . .” and encouraged me to take the survey because “you can win $5,000.”
(Separate topic: Does anyone ever win the $5,000?)
So yesterday afternoon I took the survey. And discovered that Staples uses a really odd multiple-choice scale.
For each statement question (like this: “An associate showed me where to find what I needed),” the choices are these: Extremely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, Satisfied, Somewhat dissatisfied, extremely dissatisfied, not applicable.
Here’s the problem: “somewhat satisfied” seems so much worse than “extremely satisfied.” Come to think of it, extreme satisfaction is a state that would be very difficult to achieve in an office supplies store. Actually, it’s barely attainable in any retail store. Maybe Nordstrom? Tiffany, if you had an unlimited budget?
So I answered “somewhat satisfied” because the associate did answer my question but he didn’t knock my socks off. But here’s the annoying part. My response triggered a follow-up question: “You answered ‘somewhat satisfied.’ What improvements could we have made to make you ‘extremely satisfied?”
Such a straight line. If Staples hired George Clooney to help me with my supplies—that would be extreme satisfaction. Anything less, and my satisfaction is merely “somewhat.”
My point, of course, is that in measurement, the words you use to define your scale really matter. And “extreme” can be appropriate to describe bungee-jumping, but it’s probably not appropriate for most other experiences.
It could have been a Sarah Palin moment (“Newspapers? No, wait . . . I’m sure I can think of one.”) but luckily my brain became unstuck and I began to list some of my go-to sources for inspiration. Beyond the usual suspects (IABC and PRSA continue to have valuable content), I realized that my most valuable information comes from experts in marketing and external media.
Why external media? Because, unlike Las Vegas, what happens in external media doesn’t stay there. Instead, the challenges and successes that occur in media and, even more importantly, the way that people experience media, all have an impact on internal communication. After all, employees bring their expectations to work.
That’s why this post on online media site GigaOM resonated with me. According to author Matthew Ingram, the future of media equals “many small pieces, loosely joined.”
What’s happening in media today, writes Ingram, is that the old concept of a media bundle—all the news and information in one package, like The New York Times or CNN—is eroding. Ingram quotes Meinolf Ellers, the managing director of German multimedia agency dpa-infocom: “The more we see the bundle losing market share and reaching the end of its lifecycle, the more we have to work on smaller, fragmented products that, not each by each, but overall, can compensate. That’s the strategy.”
The future of media, then, is not a collection of neat bundles, carefully tied with string. Instead, Ingram predicts that media will be more like a phrase that David Weinberger, co-author of the book The Cluetrain Manifesto, came up with to describe how the Web works: He called it “small pieces, loosely joined.”
“This is the idea that the Web allows for individuals and small groups or entities to have almost as much power as—and in some cases more power than— established players,” Ingram writes. The future for media, then, might resemble more of a community: “a membership approach, where new features or ways of packaging content or experiences related to that content are offered to readers. So live events, for example, which both the Texas Tribune and the Atlantic have been using to their advantage, or e-books, which are a different way of packaging content, can be remarkably profitable, even if that content has already appeared on the Web for free.”
How does this affect internal communication? Consider these three concepts: individual channels are losing importance, the value of unique and useful content continues to grow, and what will matter most in the future is community and the opportunity to connect and collaborate.
Intriguing, isn’t it?
It was relatively easy to address some of the message’s defects (eliminating duplication, choosing simpler words), but one problem was tough even to articulate, much less correct. The problem? The tone of voice was strained and tense.
While I was thinking about how to describe the difficulty, a metaphor popped into my head. Pretend that you’re a 10-year-old named Thomas, but whom everyone calls “Tom.” One day you do something naughty, and your Mom discovers your dastardly deed.
“Thomas!” she yells out the back door as you try to hide behind the swing set. “Come here immediately!”
You know from the fact that Mom called you “Thomas” that you’re in big, big trouble. And as you approach the house, the words Mom chooses and the way she says them lets you know that being grounded is in your future. “Thomas!” she shouts again. “Just wait until your father gets home!”
Bad news is always difficult to communicate. And it’s even tougher in a written message, without body language and give-and-take to soften the sting.
But a challenging task is made worse by the wrong tone. In the CEO message, sentences were long and convoluted. Words were college- or graduate school- reading level. Nothing was conversational or informal. “Thomas!” the message shouted. “You’re in trouble now, young man!”
My client and I worked to bring “Tom” back into the message. It was difficult to be completely successful, but by the time we were done, the CEO’s personality was back. Instead of yelling, the tone was now human and genuine. As a result, the message read like this: “Tom, we need to talk.”
Before I started my session, I asked participants to complete a quick survey that included this question: “List 1 to 3 things you’d like to accomplish in your current role.”
The responses had some interesting themes. Here’s the question for you: How does this relate to your aspirations?
The most common response: reaching a diverse global employee audience. “Globalizing our employee communications.” “Communicate more effectively with employees at all levels of the organization.”
Engagement: “Improve the engagement of our employee population.”
Becoming more strategic. “Improve strategic thinking around channel selection.” “Approach all communications more strategically.”
Social media. “To identify ways to expand of social media.”
Collaboration. “Create more collaboration among leaders vs. competition for attention for their individual communication agenda.”
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I don’t mean all the content was depressing (I’m hoping it wasn’t!); I mean that the way the session was structured brought employees’ energy level down, rather than pumping it up.
As I’ll explain in tomorrow’s web workshop, the problem is the way town hall agendas are usually set up:
This type of town hall exists to provide information on a variety of topics (which is, in terms of energy level, a downer) rather than engage employees in a compelling topic. Plus, the way the leader’s content is constructed is flat (as in flat line) rather than built like a story, with a dramatic arc.
A “story arc” is a term that fiction writers, Broadway playwrights and Hollywood screenwriters use to describe the ups and downs of a narrative. For a quick overview about story arcs, read this Daily Writing Tips blog by Ali Hale.
The story arc idea can be applied to any type of session in which the objective is to involve and motivate people, and encourage them to take action. Think about a campaign rally, for instance. If the speech is well-constructed and enthusiastically delivered, participants will cheer and leave determined to help their candidate succeed. If the session is dull and factual, without drama or energy, participants will clap politely and leave without being committed to take action.
A town hall isn’t an information-delivery channel; it’s a key tool in the campaign to win the hearts and minds of employees. So you need to think differently about the way you create your agenda and help the leader develop his/her content. Ask yourself: How can you put this town hall together to raise employees’ energy and leave them feeling more motivated than when they came in?
]]>Yet when it came time for Q&A, an eerie stillness filled the room. Employees didn’t speak. They didn’t even move. And they certainly didn’t make eye contact with the CEO. Finally, the employee communicator stood up and asked a question that had been secretly written by the head of HR. That broke the ice a little bit and eventually a few more questions were asked, but the Q&A never really caught fire. In fact, the town hall meeting ended 30 minutes early.
What went wrong? Actually, a lot of things. (Sign up for my January 24 town hall workshop to learn more). For now, I’d like to focus on the simplest one: The way the room was arranged discouraged employee participation.
Those responsible for organizing this town hall asked the hotel to arrange the room in theater style: semicircular rows of chairs facing a stage.
Here’s the problem: A theater-style set up sends a signal to people that their role is to observe and listen. We think of concerts, plays, movies, sporting events—all experiences where we’re not participants, but audience members.
Theater-style seating is one of the two worst room arrangements for participation. The other terrible setup is classroom style, where employees sit facing the stage behind a desk-like table. Classroom-style seating reminds us of being third-graders: We’re there to absorb information, and all power is at the front of the room (where the leader/teacher stands).
So, back to our original town hall scenario. What advice did I give about changing the room arrangement? I suggested that the room be set up with round tables, with employees sitting in a semi-circle around one side of each table, facing the CEO.
Changing the chairs (and using a few other techniques to encourage participation) dramatically improved the dynamic of the session. Employees interacted with each other more before the CEO began speaking. More importantly, when it came time for the Q&A, they actually asked questions. Some even made comments.
The upshot? Next time you conduct a town hall, consider the chairs.
]]>The book’s premise is that information overload is making it difficult for business people to focus and take action. “In our information-driven global economy,” the authors write, “the real challenge lies in keeping your head above the flood of data, learning how to separate information from facts, and acquiring the judgment to use what you find to inspire others to act.”
To deal with the deluge, Mr. Frank and Mr. Magnone recommend a number of strategies. One has particular relevance for those of us who communicate with employees—it’s so useful, in fact, that I’ve included it on my list of professional resolutions.
The idea is simple: Before you start any project, first identify your “essential question.” (The authors call this an “essential business question” but I’ve simplified it to cover a variety of situations.) The problem with being overloaded (with work, as well as information) is that we often plunge into situations without stepping back and asking what the issue is really about.
But asking the essential question provides perspective and “leads to an orderly, informed process of discovery and, ultimately, to success.”
The essential question “should be prescriptive. It should be written so that it has to be answered by a business action (target, explore, go, no-go, continue, etc.). Essential Questions do not have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler question is usually the better question: What business am I in? What am I providing of value to the customer? Which customers will pay for it?”
For example, let’s say you’re rolling out a new product or service. “The Essential Question should lead you to the one piece of information you need to make that rollout successful. That question might be: How do we identify our most promising prospects?”
What’s the payoff? Mr. Frank and Mr. Magnone promise that if you develop the habit of asking essential questions, “not only will your insight into business solutions, grow, but your personal brand will shift to consultant. And when you are also able to deliver the answer, your reputation will be that of a trusted advisor,” not just an order-taker.
Hope this helps you have a great year!
]]>Front-line employees I spoke to don’t have their own computers, but the company provides computers in common areas—training rooms and employee lounge/eating areas—for employees to use when they have free time. Employees can grab an open computer to complete online training courses, visit the intranet or email their colleagues.
Sounds good, right? But most employees told me that they only occasionally go online. “Usually, I’m too tired after I finish work to check out the intranet,” said one employee, in what was a typical comment. “And if I’m taking training, when I’m done, I don’t hang around—just get up and move on to the next thing.”
As a result, these employees are only “semi-wired” because, while they have access, getting online is not very convenient. Being online is not part of their work routine, as it would be with headquarters or office employees. So “semi-wired” employees at this company don’t rely on the intranet as one of their primary ways to receive information.
This experience is played out at many companies around the world—maybe yours. And it relates to a phenomenon described in a recent New York Times opinion piece The New Digital Divide.
As Susan P. Crawford writes, “Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest—the poor and the working class—either cannot afford access or use restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, millions are at risk of being left behind.”
To illustrate the problem, Ms. Crawford cites statistics released last month by the Department of Commerce: “A mere 4 out of every 10 households with annual household incomes below $25,000 in 2010 reported having wired Internet access at home, compared with the vast majority—93 percent—of households with incomes exceeding $100,000. Only slightly more than half of all African-American and Hispanic households (55 percent and 57 percent, respectively) have wired Internet access at home, compared with 72 percent of whites.”
The upshot is that the same employees at your company who don’t have online access at work may not have it at home, either. In short, your communication program may be suffering from a digital divide—between the well-connected, well-paid, well-informed people in offices and the rest of employees (call them the 99 percent), working in factories, stores, transportation, warehouses and other places.
Your first step? Understand the challenge, through demographic and IT data and qualitative research like focus groups. Only by doing so, can you work on ways to bridge the gap between technology haves and have-nots.
]]>Usually, Casey uses email to communicate what he’s working on. On Friday, he sent us a typical note giving a heads up about an upgrade he was going to install over the weekend.
I’m sharing Casey’s email with you because it’s a best practice of how to communicate about technology. It’s simple, clear and personal. The message is not geeky or technical.
Can you say the same about your company’s IT communication?
(BTW, none of us so-called professional communicators help Casey write his messages. I wish I were as good at technology as Casey is at writing!)
Here it is:
I'll be upgrading two of our network switches tomorrow at 8am. The upgrade will take roughly 1–2 hours.
What does this upgrade do?
This upgrade will make our Ethernet/LAN network fully operate at 1,000/Mbps speed. It is a welcome change from many of our computers capping at 100/Mbps due to the network switch that they currently run through. This will relate to faster connectivity to our internal servers. (This will not affect web/internet speed.)
Will this affect me from doing work?
Well, hopefully you'll be sleeping or mowing your lawn during this timeframe. If you happen to be working, please keep in mind that the STU/Cumulus server may not be accessible. However, the email and Davis consulting/graphics server will be accessible. If you plan to come in to the office, let me know.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
The study used both quantitative data and qualitative research to conclude that users searching on the Internet exhibit three distinct human behavior search patterns:
Why is this important? Employees are also seeking information in different ways, depending on their interest in a topic. So About.com’s advice for marketers is also relevant to how we provide communication internally:
As always, one size does not fit all, and the more we understand employees’ preferences, the better we can design communication that meets their needs.
]]>I’m so busy that I don’t have time to think.
A million deadlines are driving me to drink.
And my boss’s latest request has brought me to the brink.
If I had a second, maybe I’d find time to think.
What can I do? Murder will just land me in the klink.
But these clients are impossible—they want everything, including the kitchen sink.
It’s enough to send me searching for the nearest shrink.
Counseling’s nice, but I don’t even have time to think.
This job’s insane; everything is out of sync.
What’s urgent is not important, but I can’t make a stink.
I’ve got bills to pay, so I won’t let them see me blink.
Gotta go now; I simply don’t have time to think.
Check it out: Abstract Sunday from last Sunday's New York Times.
Cool, right?
]]>If you’re trying to improve your employee communication writing, you’ll find this book useful—even if you’re not Canadian. (However, when it comes to editorial style, the book is uniquely Canadian. I’m still trying to figure out why, in Maple Leaf Land, “colour” is spelled with a “u” and “superior” is not.)
The book is about so much more than editorial style—it’s a guide for anyone who needs to organize, research and write content. For example, here is a random sampling of tips that apply to so much of what we write about in employee communication. I hope you find these as useful as I do:
But what you don’t know about email may limit its effectiveness. For example, did you know that sending email at certain times of day increases the likelihood that employees will open a message? And that some days of the week generate more “opens” than others?
To improve email performance, take a page from marketers and pay attention to how and when you send email, not just what the message is. To get you started, here some key facts from MailerMailer's latest Email Marketing Metrics Report as reported in MediaPost’s Research Brief: