State of the Internal Communications Sector Report 2015

The latest State of the Sector report has just been published, providing an industry-wide census on the challenges internal communicators are facing – and where their focus will be over the coming months.

Now in its sixth year, ‘State of the Sector’ investigates core processes and practices, including channel use, and explores the impact of new and emerging technologies like Enterprise Social Networks and apps. This year’s report also includes 10 recommendations for those in the profession.

Download the report >

By | January 20th, 2015|Other resources|0 Comments

New Report shows the current state of the Internal Communications sector

Each year Gatehouse, an internal communication and employee engagement consultancy, publishes the results of its annual industry–wide survey of internal comms professionals in a report it called ‘The State of the Sector’.
This week it released its 2013 findings, revealing the current challenges internal communicators are facing and where their focus will be over the coming months. It also looks at channel use and explores the impact of new and emerging technologies like Enterprise Social Networks and Apps.
As well as being an insightful snapshot of internal communications today, the report is a useful way to:
  • See how you measure up against other organisations
  • Win support for new projects, and
  • Help you decide what to focus on

To download your copy of the free report, visit the Gatehouse website.

By | March 14th, 2014|Other resources|0 Comments

What it takes to succeed in Internal Communications

The third annual ‘Professional Development in Internal Communications’ study by the VMA Group, highlights the core skills and qualities that managers look for when recruiting IC professionals today.

According to the report, the top five skills are:

  1. Influencing
  2. Coaching Senior Leaders
  3. Strategy Setting
  4. Writing – Specific Corporate Messages
  5. Writing – Online/Publications

Interestingly, the first three points highlight the continuing evolution of internal communications from a function that churns out news, to one that has a real impact on the success of a company. While the last two points highlight that traditional communication skills still have an important place in the function.

By contrast, the top five skills as perceived by the IC community are:

  1. Coaching Senior Leaders
  2. Social Media Development
  3. Influencing
  4. Public Affairs
  5. External Communications

While survey respondents felt that they are an integral part of the senior leadership team, disappointingly the results showed that advocacy for internal communications amonsgst senior leaders remained unchanged from 2010.

On a more encouraging note, the results did testify to the resilience of the discipline despite the economic climate, with 74% of internal communications functions remaining the same or increased in size over the last year.

You can download a copy of the full report via the VMA website >

Melitta

By | February 8th, 2012|Other resources|0 Comments

Survey reveals how to master video conferencing

A recent global survey by Australia’s 1080 Group that asked close to 1,200 professionals key questions about how they use video conferencing, has given some surprising insights. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Productivity is the top reason for using Video Conferencing, with money saving coming second.
  • Value depends on your own communication or organisation needs, with Europeans valuing the ability to communicate more regularly with peers, while industries such as Financial Services value it as a ‘green’ alternative to physical travel.
  • Cultural issues are the biggest barrier to video conferencing usage, with an “Inability or unwillingness to use new technology” and “entrenchment of the current way we do things” taking the top two spots by a wide margin.
  • The need for good examples to learn from. A number of insights pointed to the experiential nature of meeting and collaborating virtually. Sadly, some people disparage the communication medium because they see others using it unsuccessfully. The main gripe was presenters that “have distracting mannerisms or gestures.”
  • It’s growing fast! Despite the issues respondents predicted that video conferencing will grow by 211% in 2012!
To read more about the lessons learned from the survey, follow the below link to download the resulting white Paper, which includes a useful checklist.

 

Melitta

By | October 19th, 2011|Other resources|0 Comments

How to generate Facebook activity

Facebook has released the results of a study it conducted looking into which types of posts draw the most most engagement—“likes,” comments and sharing. The company looked specifically at journalists’ pages and the activity they prompted from readers.

Some of the results are as you might expect, with posts that include questions or photographs attracting the most comments, but there were also some interesting results that can help other companies and bloggers to boost activity relating to their own posts.

For example, the study found that comments posted later in the week, between Thursday and Sunday, those including personal reflections and comments with four to five lines sparked the most interest and feedback from readers.

For more highlights from the study, visit www.facebook.com

Melitta

By | July 18th, 2011|Other resources|0 Comments

How can you make the complex clear?

The question of  how to make corporate communication messages clear in a systematic, managed manner is currently being tackled in a new study by the Global Alliance and the University of St. Gallen.

Through case studies, literature reviews, best practices and a survey, the partners aim to shed some light on how organisations can move from complicated, overloaded and messy messages to communication that has a clear context, a logical structure, essential elements and creates resonance with audiences.

Communicators who fill out the 10 minute survey on ‘Clarity in Communication’ can participate in a free 45-minute webinar on how to communicate clearly or can get a copy of the final study.

If you would like to take part in the survey click here >

Melitta

By | June 20th, 2011|Other resources|0 Comments

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

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

Report stresses the need for better communications in the banking sector

Authors of a new report warn financial services communications professionals that they cannot rely on regulation alone to restore trust in the sector.

The ‘In Banks We Trust?’ report reveals how the UK financial services sector believes it needs to further re-build the confidence of the general public and evaluates the role of communications and the media in achieving this goal. To investigate the issue, 164 people in the sector were surveyed and a number of high profile financial sector professionals interviewed.

The results show 60% of respondents believe that regulation will not be enough to restore confidence and pride in the UK banking industry, demonstrating the need for financial institutions to take a proactive approach to turning around negative sentiment.

Despite a lack of certainty around the value of transparency, 58% feel that corporate communications is key to improving the reputation of the sector. Only 3% believe financial services companies have done a good job in communicating their dual responsibilities to shareholders and customers to date. The research also revealed that the majority of respondents (65%) feel the media plays an active role in fuelling and encouraging negative sentiment towards the sector.

If you would like more information or a copy of the report, you can send you request to: alysha.smith@hotwirepr.com

Melitta

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