21 July 2008
Using video diaries to create overnight celebrities
Forthcoming event promotes the power of peer-to-peer communication.
How can you tap into the power of peer-to-peer communication or at least be aware of its impact on employee opinions and behavior?
Members of Melcrum's Internal Comms Hub and subscribers to Strategic Communication Management are invited to find out, at a member-exclusive breakfast event taking place on September 9.
Viral communication research
A launchpad for Melcrum's latest research on Viral communication in the workplace, the event will feature an overview of the latest research findings on:
- Who do people trust inside the organization?
- How do messages and behaviors spread through networks?
- What are the implications for internal communicators?
- How can we tap into the power of peer influencing?
You can launch a million roadshows and you can stick up a million post-it notes but that doesn't necessarily mean that change has happened.
Do people trust corporate channels?
When it comes to change communication, much effort goes into managing the corporate channels and coaching leaders – i.e., top-down communication. But are those tactics really working? Do people trust corporate channels? Are communicators genuinely shaping attitudes and opinions?
Discussing those questions and presenting the results of the viral communication research at the member-exclusive event, will be Kieron Shaw, independent researcher and specialist in internal communication.
Thinking outside the box
"The networks of formal communication don't necessarily reflect the networks of informal communication – people talk to each other across units, people talk to the security guard, the receptionist, the guy downstairs in the post room. There are actually loads of communication networks that exist outside the organizational shell," Shaw (pictured), told the Hub this week.
The forthcoming Viral communication in the workplace report, which Shaw co-produced, looks at ways organizations can capitalize on the communication networks that exist outside the formal channels – either by identifying social networks within the organization, or by trying to spread a specific message or behavior virally through those social networks.
One example of how companies can get their message across informally includes "finding somebody who's very influential, giving them a message and trying to get that message to spread or that behavior to spread," Shaw says.
Video diary celebrities
"Pfizer," Shaw says, "asked a dozen of its field sales force to make video diaries. They were asked to talk to the camera about how they were feeling as they went through Pfizer's change program, about how they were feeling about the business, about their job."
Pfizer then distributed on DVD the completed video diaries to the rest of the field staff. "These people became celebrities overnight," says Shaw. "People really connected with them. All the formal communication kind of fell by the wayside. Internal comms handing them the cameras and asking them to tell their stories was the most powerful thing they could have done."
There are actually loads of communication networks that exist outside the organizational shell.
"That really was the benchmark for us," says Shaw. The research asked: How can other organizations tap into that? How can you get peers to influence peers in a very natural way and get away from those very formal structures and strictures of internal communication departments?
The power of influencial employees
"Leadership isn't represented by the organizational chart and there's all kinds of influence, advice and gossip," Shaw continues.
"This stuff exists and it happens all the time and it's where real influence and engagement lies. You can launch a million roadshows and you can stick up a million post-it notes but that doesn't necessarily mean that change has happened. Change only happens when people believe it and when they see the people around them changing," Shaw says.
Shaw discusses the viral and peer-to-peer communication report in a full podcast interview with Sona Hathi, assistant editor at Melcrum.
Event information
Stuart McDonald, internal communication manager, BAA; and Nigel Edwards, head of internal communication at Pfizer will also speak at the member-only event.
“Peer influence” philosophy behind the viral campaign, and the impact it had on changing behavior and engaging employees in a more human and authentic way will be the subject of Edwards' presentation about Pfizer.
McDonald will talk about why and how an informal approach is now at the heart of BAA's internal communication strategies, and the role it played during a potentially explosive change program in 2007.
To find out more about the event and for details on how to register, visit the Networking page of the Hub.
Have your say
In a company with more traditional communication methods, how can you help drive peer-to-peer and viral communication techniques? Will this approach meet resistance from managers or the executive board?
What informal communication do you already use to your company's benefit? Do you measure the success of peer-to-peer communication?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other recommendations:
Melcrum report: Viral communication in the workplace
How healthy is your company’s communication?
Building a global culture in a matrixed organization
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