Facilitate leader communications for engaged employees

Imagine every manager in your organization fully understanding the communication role they play within the organization? And now imagine those managers with all the necessary tools and process at hand to be highly effective communicators?

My friend and client, Susan, who heads up internal communication for a financial institution, is doing just that and creating communication leaders within her company.

Susan has documented all the communication processes from the point of view of the manager. In addition she has developed a series of simple tools to help leaders take control of those processes in their areas. She is sharing this material in management meetings throughout the organization, and empowering managers to take control of the communication process.

Twenty years ago communicators produced the goods. Today we facilitate the discussion and it’s an exciting place to be.

Saying thank you still the best way to engage

I am in the process of developing a Webinar on leadership communications. There are a number of cool things about the technology, such as being able to hold random polls at any point during the presentation, share multiple documents, work on a whiteboard as a group and surf the web. But my favourite is the thumbs up button. How wonderful to be able to give on the spot praise, something we are short on in our culture. We spend vast fortunes on reward and recognition programs when the most effective and well received strategy is to say “well done” right there and then. Cost to the organization: $0, payback: priceless!

Engage employees by being present in your communications

Great excitement yesterday in our home. My 16 year old, a keen student of the social sciences, went off to the Provincial Legislature to observe democracy in action. She said it was hilarious. “Why?” I asked. “Were the members of the house at one another’s throats.”

Apparently not; one was having a nap, most were busy on their Blackberries – though many were just playing games. My daughter was somewhat indignant – not because of her concern for tax dollar misuse - but rather because the person who was speaking did not have the attention of the house. And she is quite right to be outraged. When we do not pay attention to humans we dismiss them – which may well have been the intent at yesterday’s session.

I remember once sitting with a senior leadership team and one of the leaders was working away on his Blackberry while the CEO was speaking. Apparently he does this with his own staff. The engagement scores within his group are abysmal.

Technology is wonderful it allows us to connect in many more and exciting ways. But we should remember to present in all our connections. If we try and be everywhere at once, we end up being nowhere and sending the message that we do not care.

Employee passion - is it being directed toward work?

On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending a multi-cultural choral performance featuring choirs from the Italian, Chinese and Jewish communities here in Vancouver. The finale involved all 160 voices singing songs from the three traditions.

It was a remarkable performance – and of a quality that one would expect from internationally acclaimed groups. And yet it was put together and performed by volunteers, ordinary folk; possibly the man or woman in the cubicle next door to yours. These people gave up their free time to give something astonishing back to their communities. Sometimes the effort was considerable - I know because my husband was one of the organizers.

I can’t help but wonder if the organizations these people work for understand the fabulous talent they employ – and I’m not talking about the ability to sing. What if these people gave just some of the passion they put into their singing, to their work?

It’s a question I can’t fully answer. But given what I saw over the weekend it would seem that a little bit of effort on the part of organizations to involve and enthuse employees would probably be more then worth its weight in gold. Performance improvement is in our people!

Search optimazation: Engaging clients through your web stories

National Post journalist, Brianna Goldberg, writes amusingly about her competition to gain ascendance over her “googlegänger” – the other Brianna Goldberg - a pagan who worships the Invisible Pink Unicorn, and who consistently rated above her in Google searches.

There’s a secret need in all of us to be number one. As children we’re pretty straightforward about demanding attention. At school the popular kids have everyone talking about them – they get their stories out there. As we grow older our tactics become more subtle – but the aim is still to get people thinking and talking about us.

Brianna Goldberg #1 (our journalist) had some stiff competition from Brianna Goldberg # 2 (unicorn worshiper) – who had a story line to knock your socks off. Brianna # 1’s strategy involved a significant amount of social networking, including an article about her in Wikipedia. In other words she got people talking about Brianna the journalist. Brianna # 1 triumphed – first among Brianna Goldberg’s in Google-world.

If you are a business – being number one has very serious implications. Search-engine optimization is an expanding niche in online marketing.
Search-engine optimization is important, but it can only work if you have a genuine story to tell that connects with your audience. Brianna # 1 worked hard to tell her story. She told the story of Brianna the writer and musician. A story that allowed her to hook up with people interested in her world – as opposed to invisible pink unicorns.

Likewise if we are to engage prospective clients and customers, we must start with the real organizational story. The story of our pride and the journey our organization is on – and we must make it accessible. In other words find the emotional connection so people can relate to the organization. Most often this will be the stories of your customers, the stories of your staff – people stories that illustrate your service values.
With a real story to tell you are ready to connect with clients and customers and that’s where search-engine optimization can make a difference and get you noticed for what you are. I know some people say any publicity is good publicity, but I’d far prefer people come to me because of what I am, rather then what they think I might be – because that’s bound to lead to disappointment and recriminations.

Employee engagement and marketing - closely connected

There is quite a bit of buzz out there about a recent session entitled "Storyteller Marketing - How the Art of Storytelling Matches Up With the Business of Marketing". The session was moderated by Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor of ClickZ. Speakers included Gary Stein, Director of Strategy, Ammo Marketing , Sally Falkow, President, Expansion Plus Inc. and Larry Lawfer, Founder/President, yourstorys.com: .

Charlene Jaszewski does a great job of summarizing what was said. Check out her blog.

In her blog Charlene cites Larry Fowler who defines engagement marketing as "when your DATE says you are a good date", as opposed ot PR "Your mom says you had a good date."

I'm not a marketer. I use stories to engage and align employees. But what could be more powerful for employees to fully understand the impact they make - then the stories of their customers. Employees are the people who live brand every day - if your organization wants employees to be a "great date" then connect them to the stories of the customers.

When engaging employees blurs the lines between the inside and the outside

Check out http://www.mystarbucksidea.com/ . Starbucks – a masterful marketing organization is going back to the root of its success – people looking for a unique coffee experience. Their "mystarbucks idea" web site, asks for direct customer input – and they’re getting it in bucket loads. Fabulous idea – but there’s more! A lot of the suggestions and comments are from Starbucks employees.

There’s significant power in connecting employees and customers. Several months ago in our newsletter I mentioned Farm Credit Canada showing videos of customers to their staff. Other strategies include sending employees to work for the customers, bringing customers into meetings and telling customer stories. Starbucks has found the solution that works for their youthful, dispersed and coffee-connected part-time workforce and customers.

I read a column about mystarbucksidea that expressed some annoyance that customers weren’t being reimbursed for Research and Development. I’d say the writer (who looks to be about my age) is missing the point.

There’s a whole generation out there that expects and demands a more integrated relationships with their suppliers. They’ve had five years of MySpace and Facebook and they know that they can connect with anyone – anywhere. They know they don’t need to be part of the corporate structure – or the pay packet – to make a difference and influence. And they are doing just that – they’re getting the coffee they want, the clothes they need and generally managing their life experiences far more intimately then my generation ever imagined. That is power. It’s also a generation savvy enough to understand that a good idea is just that and needs to be tested and refined before it’s put into practice – and that is the job of the Starbucks corporation.

Pretty neat when the line between employee and customer blurs to the extent that they are all working toward a common goal – with little concern about which side of the counter you’re on.