Keep a finger on the pulse of best practice

I love that social communications has opened up the world to sharing knowledge across time-zones and specialities. Not that it's a panacea for networking but it's a great addition to the mix.

Sure Twitter and Linked In can harbour plenty of pretention, self-promotion, hidden sales pitches, and, my old favourite, 'stating-the-bloody-obvious'-as-if-it-was-original-thought.'

So too can face-to-face events and conferences.

But you can get some golden nuggets of wisdom and good practice tips in the blink of a cursor or tap on the keypad from employee comms people who really know what they're talking about or from those in associated fields.

It doesn't matter if you work for a big utility, a global bank or a company that puts widgets on widgets. Don't get hung up on the sector you work in.

People are people - with a few variations on humanity - whatever the business they work for. And as we IC folk are largely focusing on the people aspects of business performance you can still pick up ideas and advice from your fellow practitioners working in a diverse range of organisations, large and small.

In the hurly burly of corporate life, it's sometimes tricky to find time to gauge whether you're unnecessarily reinventing the wheel or could be learning a new way of doing things for greater business benefit.

Even in the thick of action and a meaty challenge or two I have always tried to keep an active and enquiring mind about what others have tried and tested and, in return, shared my own experiences of the job. Social communication really helps with all that good stuff and you can make 'real' connections that stay online or transcend that.

Indeed for today's practitioner it's essential to be connected in one way or another or both. Keeping your finger on the pulse of good practice is what your CEO will expect and it's good for your career (which you take with you wherever you go).

Be interested to know what others think.

Industry events: the good, the bad and the ugly

To go or not to go to an industry conference - that is the question.

With the growth of Linked In, Twitter and other social media, sharing knowledge in this business is easier than ever. Some of my virtual worlds often meet up face to face to network and swap war stories. It got me wondering how the world of the practitioner conference is faring and reminded me of a big online debate had with colleagues and peers this time last year about the value and ethics of the large conferences which used to be the only way to connect with people doing what you do every day.

I think conferences are like any comms channel. They are only as good as the content - whether it’s going to really add value to me or someone who works for me, whether it’s going to provoke fresh thinking and sharing of best practice, and whether I will make new connections or catch up with people I already know.

I have worked both in house and agency/consultancy side and been to some absolutely shocking events repackaging common sense and charging people the equivalent of an oligarch's annual expenses - with nothing to take away.

Equally I have happily paid to attend or send a colleague to events run by individual practitioners, agencies and membership bodies such as IoIC, CIPR and IABC. Usually these offer a healthy mix of strategy and tactics leaving my sometimes jaded outlook well and truly refreshed and giving team members food for thought to help their professional development. Freebies (again with the most pertinent content) are always welcome when budgets are tight or non existent and there are more and more of these.

But beware one of two that look 'no strings attached' but can be financially ruthless. A few years ago I was almost thrown out at a 'free' annual conference for senior practitioners when they ‘unmasked’ me as an interim head of internal comms – apparently a heinous crime because “suppliers only want to speak to budget holders.” I thought I was – trust me I was in that job for a very long time, had signed more than enough supplier invoices and helped a lot of change happen.

Their short sightedness (call it ignorance) and, frankly, rude dealings with me means they never get my personal recommendation and I always give colleagues a health warning if they get tempted. It’s a small world and we are so connected that events charlatans be warned. We know who you are!

Top tips for IC people - please add yours!

People who know me know how much I loathe all the hot air around internal comms, engagement, call it what you will. It's usually coming from the sort of people who have never actually got their hands dirty and wouldn't be tempted out of bed for less than £2k a day.

Still I guess you gotta earn a living. Yesterday, in my bid to make my office a clutter-free zone, I found a copy of an article I'd written in an industry mag which connected with some of the comments I have seen on Linked In and Twitter recently from new IC people looking for tips and advice on the job.

I wrote the article for Melcrum last year with the key points I felt were worth sharing with other comms practitioners about the role of internal comms and the people helping to make it effective.

They asked me to write it (and no, sadly it didn't involve chocolate or cash incentives) because I have been doing this stuff for a wee while and happened to have a particularly challenging role at the time heading internal communications for Royal Mail in the UK.

What was interesting about the exercise was having to hone down what I felt were the most relevant points bearing in mind the job has changed so much in recent years as have business leaders' expectations. And, naturally, I had a bit to say. 

Thank goodness for all those years as a journo and the invention of the bullet point. Yes, the resulting piece had a bit of an 'IC manifesto' look about it, but it is a true reflection of what I believe are the key ingredients for good IC and great IC people.

For this post, there are a couple of points from my 'Ban the fluff in your function' IC manifesto (!!)  which I always keep top of mind. Please feel free to have a look at the full post and add your own.

• Don’t be afraid to say what you are thinking and challenge the status quo. Big organisations have a tendency to say they tried your suggestion in August 1985 and it didn’t work. 

•  Get back to basics – don’t overlook simple ways of communicating for something fancy with bells on it. Conversation is best so do what you can with that in mind.

• Prioritise your priorities or you will soon find there are not enough hours in the day. If you match your comms strategy to business priorities that’s a good start.

Align leaders' actions and words

Actions speak louder than words is a phrase that is never more true than in a corporate context. Carol Kinsey Goman speaks wisely about the importance of leaders matching their behaviour with the words coming out of their mouth if they really want people to believe in them, what they have to say, and act on it.

As communicators I think we are in a unique position to observe this more than many folk in the business, particularly when coaching managers on how to have the most fruitful and inspiring conversations with their teams.

There's no doubt it can be very hard work.

I recall many instances, my own and gleaned from colleagues, about leaders with a genuine want to engage people but who failed to realise that their own behaviour was going to be the main barrier.

• The financial services company whose executive team wanted more 'openness' including open plan offices but who swiftly installed glass cubicles and wooden doors so you could see them but couldn't hear them.

• The bankers who did get rid of their private dining room but carried on having their lunch delivered to their offices on silver domed platters - a daily ritual watched with incredulity by employees who had just seen 25% of their colleagues axed in the name of cost-cutting.

• Or the very genuine but nervous boss who turned up for a factory team building event dressed in a very expensive Italian suit and Rolex and couldn't understand why no-one could relax.

An important part of our role is to help leaders at all levels avoid the pitfalls of non-verbal communication which is just as important, if not more, as the verbal kind. But to have that conversation in the first place you need to be in a position of trust. To get there means understanding what you need to do to add the most value to the business and getting on with it.

Recounting these sorts of anecdotes also helps and I welcome more for the collection plus tips on how you've addressed it.

Yes, but, no, but

‘No’ is a lake in the south central region of the Sudan. It’s also a great word to put people totally straight on what you will or won’t do. And I love ‘computer says no’ in Little Britain.

But I don’t feel it’s a word internal comms people should use too much if they want to be successful in a business.

Nor should the word 'yes'.

Too many internal comms professionals suffer from Corporate Client Afflictions and always say 'yes' particularly with demanding stakeholders who are 'doing the most important things in the business which everyone needs to know about right NOW!' The result is a comms team drowning in workload, rapidly losing their resilience and the ability to consult properly. Knee-jerk, non-integrated and ah-hoc communication might keep the client happy but it sure as hell will confuse everyone else in the organisation.

The best advice for dealing with tricky stakeholders is to take a deep breath and remember someone has come to you for your friendly professionalism, expertise and guidance. Some may be up against a deadline themselves or been given strict instructions by their boss to ‘get that comms out!’

Avoid 'no' and too much 'yes' by simply adopting a positive stance on any request for comms assistance and couple this with further explanation and context to qualify how best you can help. Try to show you understand their point of view. Empathy is very, very productive in this situation.

If you strongly disagree over a particular issue, a firm, fair, diplomatic approach is entirely within most people’s capabilities coupled with constructive suggestions of a way round it.

Once in a while you may get someone totally obnoxious – ‘a unique individual’, which I feel is a brilliant euphemism, wielding their job title around like a great big sword. They can make you feel personally affronted, raise your hackles high and make it difficult to think on your feet. A good tip is to say something like: “I understand what you are saying and it is obviously important so give me a bit of time to think about the best solution and I will get back to you shortly.”

Thinking about the best solution and taking time out like this will give people a very good impression of a professional who cares a lot about getting it right and will strengthen how you work together now and in the future.

If you still can’t work it out, there is always gin!

Top tips from Scott Eblin on dealing with rude people: http://tinyurl.com/6k6glj2

Why strategy schmatters

It's that 'chicken and egg' scenario over what comes first - a business strategy or a comms plan. A comms plan is not a business strategy but sometimes in lieu of the latter (and yes it does happen, dear reader) you can pull together a framework for communicating what the business should be sharing and start the dialogue. 

The inexperience of youth had me waiting around in one organisation for the leaders to neatly explain where the hell we were going as a business so I could wrap a lovely bit of comms activity around it. In hindsight I would have been waiting for at least 18 months and possibly lost my job for twiddling those thumbs. 

After six weeks of much umming, aahing, sucking of teeth (their own) and mysterious meetings between the great and the good in the leadership team there was still no sign of clarity much less action. What's a gal to do? All I could do was grab the situation by the corporate throat and get on with deciphering a lot of Powerpoint slides discarded on photocopiers, ditto random speeches lurking in publications and emails, uncover content hidden in the intranet's dusty bits of cyberspace and invite myself to meetings about meetings in a bid to piece it all together. The result? A draft narrative and a first tranche of activity signed off by the Board who were more than happy after that to get involved in bringing the strategy to life and develop it further with employees. 

Interestingly another company I worked for had a business strategy to help them achieve their goals over the next five years. Sadly my initial delight faded fast. The strategy team hadn't really tested their theory and plans though their Powerpoint skills were up there with the best SlideShare has to offer - truly out of this world. Presenting us with 35 slides, filled to bursting with gorgeous figures, pointy arrows and creative Venn diagrams is all well and good but when the comms team tried those old fashioned 'who', 'what', 'why', 'when' and 'how' words, the strategy turned to dust.