Leaders must communicate with depth and care, says new report

The Employee Engagement Report 2011, which explores global workplace attitudes, revealed that trust in executives has a stronger correlation to employee engagement than trust in immediate managers. Half of employees who trust senior leaders are engaged compared to 40% of those who trust their direct boss and 33% of the North American workforce overall.

These findings are consistent with pre-recession findings. Highlighting that trust in leadership is an important factor in achieving high levels of engagement.

It’s harder to build trust with people who you rarely see or have never met, explained Christopher Rice, CEO of BlessingWhite, the consultancy responsible for the survey. “Most immediate supervisors and managers can demonstrate trustworthiness in their daily actions and become known beyond their titles. Executives don’t have that luxury. The workforce scrutinizes what they do see and hear – and will draw the most unexpected, unfortunate conclusions if leaders do not communicate carefully.”

The authors of the report, urge business leaders to demonstrate consistency in words and actions, communicate often and with depth, and create a culture that drives results and engagement.

For more information, download a copy of the report >

Melitta

 

 

By | February 24th, 2011|Other resources|0 Comments

CEOs misunderstand employee engagement

As in this blog we have spoken a lot about Employee Engagement in the past, I found a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit on the subject most enlightening. It clearly signposts a disconnect between the boardroom and the rest of the organisation when it comes to understanding and acting on engagement issues.

According to the report, more than 80% of top executives across Europe and the Middle East view disengagement as one of the three biggest threats to their business. Yet, during the survey, almost half of these executives (47%) admitted that they do not discuss staff engagement issues in the boardroom.

Perhaps even more worrying was the report’s finding that many senior executives appear to have a fundamentally flawed view of what – and who – influences the levels of engagement within their organisations. For example, just 13% of C-suite executives believe that line managers and middle managers are chiefly responsible for staff engagement – this despite the raft of evidence pointing to line managers as being the key to morale and productivity.

Perhaps the most enlightening statistic to emerge from the report is the fact that nearly half (47%) of the senior executives surveyed believe that they are personally responsible for generating the levels of employee engagement in their firm – a view that is shared by only 16% of senior directors outside the C-suite.

Paul Lewis from the EIU, who edited the report, said: “this research strongly suggests that many, though certainly not all, CEOs retain an unrealistic and over-optimistic view about their own impact when it comes to staff engagement.”

An important point to bear in mind when building a business case for engagement related campaigns.

Melitta

By | December 10th, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

Free Live Engagement Webinar

On 30 November, Simply Communicate are offering you the chance to participate in a free webinar and learn more about Employee Engagement from three experts:

  • Marc Wright, who created the British Airways Putting People First Again programme that helped lift sales by 40% and double the share price
  • Brad Jennings, the former Head of Brand Experience at Vodafone UK, and
  • Gerard Brown, the creative director of simply experience, the engagement agency behind the hugely successful LiVE Tetra Pak campaign that went around the world.

The one hour webinar starts at 14:00 CET and is the latest in a series of virtual ‘lunch hour’ conferences that aim to bring prominant experts in internal communications directly to your desktop.

Register to take part in the webinar >

Melitta

 

By | November 11th, 2010|Other events|0 Comments

What motivates us?

As communicators, we know the importance of understanding our audience – but how well do we really understand what motivates people?

A video called The surprising truth about what motivates us, blows away much conventional thinking about what motivates employees, with some interesting implications – especially for internal communications.

In addition, the video is a wonderful example of engaging communication in itself. Enjoy!

Melitta

By | June 8th, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

Capitalizing on Effective Communication – Study

Companies that communicate with courage, innovation and discipline, especially during times of economic challenge and change, are more effective at engaging employees and achieving desired business results.

That is according to research by Towers Watson which has consistently found the firms that communicate effectively with employees are also the best financial performers.

In their 2009/2010 report titled: Capitalizing on Effective Communication, Towers Watson summarizes the findings of their 2009/2010 multiregional study and identify what companies with highly effective communication practices are doing to inform and engage their employees in challenging economic times, and shows how these practices vary around the world.

Key Findings:

  • Effective employee communication is a leading indicator of financial performance and a driver of employee engagement. Companies that are highly effective communicators had 47% higher total returns to shareholders over the last five years compared with firms that are the least effective communicators.
  • The best invest in helping leaders and managers communicate with employees. While only three out of 10 organizations are training managers to deal openly with resistance to change, highly effective communicators are more than three times as likely to do this as the least effective communicators.
  • Companies are struggling to measure the return on their investment in social media tools. Highly effective communicators are more likely than the least effective communicators to report their social media tools are cost-effective (37% vs. 14%).
  • Measurement is critical. Companies that are less-effective communicators are three times as likely as highly effective communicators to report having no formal measurements of communication effectiveness.

Download the full report via the Towers Watson website >

Melitta

By | May 1st, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

Guide to Green Communications

With companies becoming increasingly keen to create and promote their green credentials, changing people’s towards sustainability and CSR is an important challenge for corporate communicators. Not sure where to start? Then help is at hand in the form of a free guide explaining ways to approach green communications, which includes a great employee engagement case study for Jaguar Land Rover.

Download Green Communications guide >

Melitta

By | October 24th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Employee engagement, the key to Britain’s future

A new British Government review has highlighted the importance of effective engagement to successful business performance, showing that high levels of employee engagement are inextricably linked to the successful achievement of commercial and other organisational objectives. 

The MacLeod Review, commissioned by the British Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, also states that British firms need to improve engagement levels. It cites a number of impeding factors ranging from leaders not really understanding what employee engagement is or recognising its importance, to not knowing where to go for assistance, and the poor people skills of many line managers.

David MacLeod, who lead the review with Nita Clarke, said: “This is about unleashing the potential of people at work and enabling them to be the best they can be. Whether we are in a downturn or in better economic times, engagement is a key to innovation and competitiveness.”

Nita Clarke said:  “By respecting the contribution employees can make and ensuring they are fully involved in developing their organisation’s future, employers can help unlock their full potential. When done well, employee engagement is a win for the organisation, a win for the individual and therefore a win for the country as a whole.” 

Read more about the review’s findings >

Melitta

By | August 30th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Communicating to boost morale and performance in a downturn

Only 40% of full-time UK employees feel their company has a clear plan to withstand the recession, according to a new study by Threshold Communications, specialists in communication and behaviour change.

These figures are particularly important to business leaders as the research also shows that a link with productivity and morale. Of those who feel strongly that their company has a clear plan to withstand the recession 82% have considerably more enthusiasm in their day-to-day jobs and 86% feel committed to their organizations long-term success.

The research also stresses the importance of good manager/employee communications, stating that: “People don’t leave companies – they leave managers”. Key in this relationship is the managers ability to listen and respond to staff. 

Other key findings:

  • The extent to which employees beleive their company has a plan to withstand recession, correlates directly with their motivation and long- term commitment.
  • Most employees are not confident that their organization has a plan to withstand recession.
  • Employees are considerably more likely to trust their direct line managers than senior leaders.
  • Only 32% of employees feel that the way in which their line manager communicates with them supports their motivation.
  • Where line managers talk through company plans and aims employees are  significantly more likely to feel motivated and committed.
  • Where line managers genuinely listen and seek input and ideas, employees are significantly more likely to feel motivated and committed.

For more information about the survey and its findings, see the full report >

Melitta

By | May 20th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Engagement: YouGov survey results

Sharing power, not ‘communicating at’ people, is the most effective way of engaging employees to improve business performance. This is one of the major findings of the largest ever survey of employee engagement in the UK. YouGov and the Engage Group surveyed 23,585 people across Great Britain in October 2008, including 2,500 board-level executives – 2,000 of them from FTSE 500 companies.

The study’s findings establish a direct relationship between an organisation’s financial performance and the extent to which employees are engaged to perform. It also unearths a set of ‘new world’ elements of successful engagement, which define a radical new approach to getting the best out of employees.

“We now have definitive data that say people become more engaged when they are more closely involved with decision-making – both every day and at the point of change,” says John Smythe, deputy chairman of Engage Group. “Performance is better when they are engaged and change is better managed.”

Read FT article on the survey findings >

Download the full report here >

Melitta

By | March 20th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments