http://www.davisandco.com/blog/ Alison Davis shares her unique and sometimes provocative perspectives on communicating with employees in these challenging times. Join the discussion, pose questions and make comments. en-us Copyright 2012 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:40:14 -0500 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:11:33 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Here’s a key reason your recent employee town hall meeting may not have been successful: It was a downer. I don’t mean all the content was depressing (I’m hoping it wasn’t!); I mean that the way the session was structured... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/give_town_halls_1.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/give_town_halls_1.html Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:40:14 -0500 The town hall should have been a stunning success. The CEO was warm, funny and engaging. He spoke in a relaxed way—no PowerPoint!—focusing on a few topics employees cared about: company performance, key initiatives, the competition. Yet when it came... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/town_hall_tip_c_1.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/town_hall_tip_c_1.html Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:23:55 -0500 I did a lot of reading over the holidays, as part of my annual get-a-jump-start-on-the-New-Year effort. And got some terrific inspiration from a book about analyzing data: Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning In Information by... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/one_smart_resol.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/01/one_smart_resol.html Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:26:43 -0500 A couple of weeks ago, I conducted focus groups for a company with a large percentage of what I would call “semi-wired employees.” Front-line employees I spoke to don’t have their own computers, but the company provides computers in common... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/12/how_wide_is_you.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/12/how_wide_is_you.html Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:02:55 -0500 Our technology guru, Casey Gatti, manages all Davis & Company’s IT needs (and, in his spare time, creates and edits video, programs web sites AND designs game apps!). So periodically he lets us know when he has to upgrade software,... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/11/ll_it_emails_sh.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/11/ll_it_emails_sh.html Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:37:51 -0500 I just came across this study by About.com, the online content provider, exploring the “three mindsets of search.” The purpose of the study was to promote the company, of course, but also to help marketers understand why and how Internet... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/11/search_helps_yo.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/11/search_helps_yo.html Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:10:32 -0500 A poem for all my pressured colleagues: 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... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/10/no_time_to_thin.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/10/no_time_to_thin.html Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:15:57 -0500 Simplicity is hard. And when there's a concept that's both simple and clever (maybe because it is so simple), I must share it. Check it out: Abstract Sunday from last Sunday's New York Times. Cool, right?... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/10/simple_clever_1.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/10/simple_clever_1.html Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:10:22 -0500 I’ve been spending time with my new favorite book: The Canadian Press Stylebook. 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... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/09/great_book_for.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/09/great_book_for.html Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:39:27 -0500 What’s your primary channel for communicating with employees? If you’re like most of us, the answer is, of course, email. But what you don’t know about email may limit its effectiveness. For example, did you know that sending email at... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/09/how_to_use_emai_1.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/09/how_to_use_emai_1.html Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:58:51 -0500 If you’ve been trying to come up with ways to introduce social media into your employee communication program, your best ally might be your Information Technology (IT) department. Even if you’ve struggled in the past with an overwhelmed and unresponsive... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/your_best_ally.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/your_best_ally.html Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:31:37 -0500 Last week, I sent an email to colleagues giving a heads up about my recent article for IABC’s CW Bulletin on 5 Ways to Help CEOs Make Town Halls More Interactive . One colleague responded as follows: “Thanks for a... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/3_ways_to_impro_2.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/3_ways_to_impro_2.html Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:09:30 -0500 No, I’m not serious: Arianna Huffington is not expanding her blogosphere empire by getting involved in employee communication. But the Huffington Post did announce two new platforms today: HuffPost Women and HuffPost Parents. And in Ms. Huffington’s interview with New... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/arianna_huffing.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/08/arianna_huffing.html Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:32:51 -0500 So many of my clients still haven’t made much progress introducing social media into their employee communication programs. They’re like Sisyphus, trying to move the social media rock uphill, but unsuccessful against the gravitational forces of senior management indifference and... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/07/why_you_should.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/07/why_you_should.html Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:34:53 -0500 Here’s a type of question you see all the time on employee communication surveys: “Check all that apply.” And here’s what I say about this approach: Don’t do it. It seems like a good idea. You want to know how... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/07/survey_question.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2011/07/survey_question.html Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:47:41 -0500