2 April 2008
Communicators connect over croissants at free event
"Communication has never been more important from a strategic standpoint than it is now," says Hub speaker.
Last Friday, a group of senior communications professionals from the Illinois region came together in Chicago to network with their local peers, share and receive career-climbing advice, and hear 3 presentations (see Figure 1, below).
Figure 1. Delegates at the first North American Hub networking event
Delegates from organizations including Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing, PepsiCo, Verizon Wireless, Allstate Insurance and Edelman gathered at this, Melcrum's first North American Internal Comms Hub and Strategic Communication Management member breakfast briefing.
Communicating with a virtual team
Beth Miller (pictured, below left), communications manager at Unilever Foodsolutions Americas, responsible for communications to all its employees in North and South America, spoke about “Creating communications harmony when singing solo”.
A journalism major, and previously employee communications manager at retailer Sears-Roebuck, Miller spoke frankly about the communication challenges she faces in her current role.
Heading up communications efforts across the Americas obviously requires that Miller communicate with and call upon the expert knowledge of a vast range of people, in order to get her job done.
In Miller's experience, there are 8 key groups to consider when creating such a virtual team (see Figure 2, below). She asked delegates for suggestions for additions to the key groups: "Facilities", one delegate suggested, and another, "IT".
Figure 2. Who to consider when working in a virtual team
Miller also proposed that some of the green-minded practices organizations are starting to follow can be applied to the communications function.
Using "Reduce, reuse, recycle" as a mantra, Miller explained how she's streamlined communication systems at Unilever Foodsolutions Americas. “People have to hear something 17 times before it sinks in, so it’s a good idea to use the same language over again,” she said.
“Communications sage” speaks out
Consultant Ann Adams (pictured, right), a former VP of internal communication and marketing at Motorola, followed Miller with her take on ways to scramble up the communications career ladder.
Adams drew on her 25 years' communication experience at a range of Fortune 500 companies, saying "To be a good communicator you need to broaden your field of thought and vision beyond the communication profession."
Adams provided her candid perspective on communications skills and challenges:
- On writing: “Keep it tight, bright, simple and active voice. Don’t just string adjectives together because they all sound so pretty. Instead, rely on powerful verbs.”
- On strategy: “How many of you have been amazed that some company leaders can’t describe their business strategy?" Adams says, "Sometimes, you have to make it up from bits and pieces of information and turn it into something that employees can understand and embrace.”
- On global communications: "Be aware of cultural events. For example, you don't want to schedule a meeting with your employees in China during Chinese New Year."
Don’t just string adjectives together because they all sound so pretty!
- On coping with change: "Do a good communication plan and save it – the next time a similar issue or project comes around you'll be prepared. And it will come around."
- On building a "web of influence": "Find out who the 'key influentials' are in your organization and know the people who are liked, trusted and respected, along with the people never to trust."
- On the C-suite: "Communication has never been more important from a strategic standpoint than it is now. If senior leaders don’t engage in their communication strategy and execution, they cannot succeed."
How to be a great manager
Adams' advice for management success? "The key thing is to keep your team informed. Tell your people everything you can, unless it’s absolutely confidential. That way, they can make better, more informed business decisions. She advised that a good manager:
- recognizes that he or she has 2 ears but just 1 mouth (so listen twice as much as you talk);
- has an open-door policy;
- gives credit when and where it's due;
- celebrates wins;
- rewards appropriately;
- coaches and mentors; and
- serves as the quality monitor for the team's efforts.
Set the stage for strike
Kyle Rose (pictured below left), manager of communications and reputation at manufacturing company Navistar’s Truck Group and Lisa Hartenberger (below, right), communications director for Navistar’s Engine Group, reflected on Navistar's 8-week union strike in 2007.
Providing some insights into the effective techniques they used to communicate with employees about the developments, Rose explained 
"Being able to be patient helps our role in this type of situation."
Speaking about the range of communication channels Navistar used to get key messages and information to employees in advance of and during the strike:
"We worked on a lot of communications prior to decisions actually being made, so we were better prepared for the many possible scenarios," Rose said.
Maintaining morale on the shop floor
During the labor negotiations, non-striking workers took on roles on the front line of the manufacturing plant (including Hartenberger herself, see below left).
So what role does communication play at this time? According to Hartenberger, it was to "create a sense of community, along with opportunities for dialogue, free flow of information, and maintain the morale among contingency workers."
By holding contingency kick-off meetings, daily production meetings and handing out strike “survival kits,” among other things, Navistar generated high performance and high employee morale during the strike period – both of which have continued since strikers returned to work.
Communication challenges for 2008
The Hub's global editor, Annie Waite, also took the opportunity at the event to showcase some key findings from the latest online Hub member survey, conducted earlier this year.
More than 400 of you answered questions about your biggest challenges for 2008. Aside from the evergreen communication issues covered by the 6 main Hub topics, issues voted most important include:
- Overhauling your intranet (46%)
- Communicating with hard-to-reach and non-wired employees (45%)
- Blending internal and external communications (43%)
Those of you who’ve not yet joined the Hub, call 866 MELCRUM or e-mail Rich Ricchio for further details. (In addition to free entry to all Hub networking events such as the above, new Hub members also qualify to attend a free webinar on April 22nd with leadership guru and regular Hub contributor Jim Shaffer).
Have your say
What's been your best move so far in your communications career? What tips can you suggest to other Hub members about building up valuable communication skills?
Do you need assistance communicating with employees during union negotiations?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other recommendations:
Q&A: What's the most effective way to communicate to improve morale?
Successful communication in virtual teams
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