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 Tue, 08 May 2012 13:51:24 -0500 Tue, 08 May 2012 13:54:30 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss On Thursday I’m leading a workshop on “7 trends that will rock employee communication in the future” so, as you might expect, external communication trends that are affecting internal communication have been top of mind. That’s why this Adweek piece,... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/05/how_communicati.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/05/how_communicati.html Tue, 08 May 2012 13:51:24 -0500 On my way to a speaking engagement last week, I decided I needed markers and flipchart paper to make sure my interactive session was . . . well, interactive. So I ducked into a Staples store to snag the supplies.... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/05/somewhat_satisf_1.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/05/somewhat_satisf_1.html Wed, 02 May 2012 08:07:20 -0500 Last week I was a panelist at an IABC New Jersey program on the future of newsletters (in a social media era), and one participant asked the speakers this question: “What do you read to keep current on communication channels?”... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/04/why_trends_in_e.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/04/why_trends_in_e.html Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:48:36 -0500 I spent part of my morning helping a client with a CEO message announcing some tough decisions. Although the CEO is generally a supportive, straightforward guy, somewhere along the way (probably because many people weighed in on the draft), the... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/03/wait_til_your_f.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/03/wait_til_your_f.html Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:13:13 -0500 This morning I gave the keynote speech at the Conference Board Strategic Employee Communication Summit. My topic? How to become a strategic advisor. Before I started my session, I asked participants to complete a quick survey that included this question:... http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/03/what_are_your_a.html http://www.davisandco.com/blog/archives/2012/03/what_are_your_a.html Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:31:02 -0500 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