internal communication – Page 2 – Geneva Communicators Network

Communicators need to enjoy Social Media, new report says

Last year communicators across Europe, including GCN members, took part in a survey to discover how Social Media is affecting our daily work and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

1383 professionals from 30 countries participated in the survey, jointly conducted by the European Association of Communication Directors and the University of St. Gallen.

And now the results are in, here is a summary:

Most communicators have some experience of working with Social Media as they are increasingly involved in tasks such as agenda setting, media monitoring or building stakeholder relationships.

A quarter of practitioners are very versed and engaged in Social Media.

While many practitioners find Social Media useful and relevant, it is often superiors who drive their use in the workplace.

Levels of engagement in Social Media reflect levels of confidence communicators have in using these new applications and platforms. With those with little engagement being the most skeptical. Those actively involved tend to be more satisfied with their jobs.

More than half of those surveyed showed signs that the pressure of adding Social Media to the communications mix is leading to overload and stress.

Most organizations lack relevant crisis and contingency plans.

The survey report concluded that learning to enjoy Social Media is a good coping strategy for the added stress it can bring and, with many organizations still experimenting with new media, now is a good time to take the leap and actively engage in the Social Web.

If you would like to know more, download the full survey results:
EACD Social Media Survey 2011.

Melitta

By GenevaCom| February 9th, 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 GenevaCom| December 10th, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

“We’re going mobile” – the future for Intranets

In a recent article, William Trout, director of internal communications at the U.S. bank BBVA Compass, raised some interesting questions about the future of the Corporate Intranet given the emergence of collaborative Web 2.0 technology and mobile ‘smartphone’ devices that enable the distribution of content remotely.

In the article, Trout suggests that to keep in touch with employees, organisations need to free the bulk of the Intranet from the desktop and work towards creating the exciting and engaging experience that corporate users deserve.

Lost in Translation, the challenge of multi-cultural communications

Ahead of tomorrow’s Round Table: Doing business in India, of which we are the media partner, I found an interesting entry on the Melcrum blog about communicating with a global workforce, with a focus on cultural differences between Asia and the West.

Read the full article here >

In another interesting article on the subject of multi-cultural communication, Domna Lazidou, visiting lecturer in culture and communication effectiveness at Cranfield School of Management, shares her recent research into the issue and highlights the importance of being able to identify cross-cultural issues in the workplace, especally for communicators.

Read Donna’s insights and advice for communicators >

Melitta

By GenevaCom| November 24th, 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 GenevaCom| November 11th, 2010|Other events|0 Comments

Tough times favour the underdog

That is the theme of a forthcoming article in the Journal of Consumer Research: ‘The Underdog Effect’.

In the article, HBS professor Anat Keinan and colleagues explain how and why a ‘brand biography’ about hard luck and fierce determination can boost the power of products in industries as diverse as food and beverages, technology, airlines, and automobiles.

Despite psychological research showing that people want to associate themselves with winners (and therefore with winning brands), Keinan was interested to see increasing numbers of brands trying to position themselves as an underdog, i.e. the one expected to lose.

It seems that when times are tough, people are more willing to relate to and support those who’s passion, determination and perseverance have helped them to overcome adversity.

This is an interesting concept that can be easily translated into external, corporate and internal communication to help show a new level of understanding and empathy with stakeholders, and help draw them closer to the leaders, products and organisations we represent.

To find out more, read an interview with Anat Keinan
in HBS’s Working Knowledge newsletter >

Melitta

By GenevaCom| September 14th, 2010|Other resources|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 GenevaCom| 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 GenevaCom| May 1st, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

FEIEA 2010 Grand Prix for Internal Communications

FEIEA, the Federation of European Business Communicators, is now accepting entries into its 2010 Grand Prix – a pan-European internal communication awards competition.

Until 10 June 2010, you can enter your communication projects in one of 15 classes covering internal events, printed publications, electronic communications and internal communication strategies.

Find out more about the competition via the FEIEA website >

Melitta

By GenevaCom| April 21st, 2010|Other events|0 Comments

Five trends in Internal Communication

Ahead of their Internal Communication Congress in Berlin later this month, Quadriga University of Applied Sciences has shared what it believes to be the top five trends in internal communication; a list that reflects the present office environment which is dominated by change and new technology:

Social Intranets
Crowdsourcing
Post Merger Integration
Knowledge Management
Integrated Internal Communication

More about these trends and the congress >

Melitta

By GenevaCom| April 8th, 2010|Other resources|0 Comments

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