23 September 2008
Send employees snail mail to make an impact
Melcrum event explores ways to target different employee groups for maximum effect.
"To make an impact in our technology-immersed working environment, try a novel suggestion," says Chris Gay of Bridge Consulting (and also the Hub’s editorial board), “why not send a snail mail?”
In working environments where email and IM-ing, and snatched conversations in transit have become many people's primary communication methods, a handwritten letter can make a massive impact on the effectiveness of a communication, Gay (pictured in Figure 1, below) advised during her workshop on day 1 of Melcrum's annual Strategic Communication Management summit 2008 in Chicago this week.
Figure 1. Chris Gay says generation Y don't hang around if they're unhappy at work
Typical employee groups
Looking at how to build a high-performing culture with multiple employee audiences, delegates in Gay's workshop were introduced to 4 types and generations of employee that form part of the typical workforce.
- George – the middle manager who has a global team and is frustrated trying to manage people who are located all over the world.
- Clara – the baby boomer executive who finds it difficult to understand the younger generation’s work habits. Characteristics that really jar with Clara include that younger employees are unwilling to put in extra effort on top of their mandatory working hours. They also have a strong sense of entitlement, she says. Their communication is generally informal, which can sometimes come across as disrespectful. Someone has to make the decisions and as she’s worked hard and built up experience to get where she is today, so Clara resents the younger generation questioning her decisions so often.
- Lynette – A professional who works from home but feels really disconnected from her team, many of whom are located together in the company headquarters.
- Jason – The millennial who decides during his first six months whether he will stay or go.
What are the major challenges in engaging generation Y?
In Gay’s discussion, she defines generation Y as those born between 1977–1994 (other sources cite slightly later years as the starting point between generations Y and X).
Generation Y, Gay says, have “never experienced life without a computer”. They’re very purpose driven. They need to ask questions and be involved. They want their communication to be highly personalized. They’re also experts at multitasking. “There are a lot of things you can leverage there,” Gay says. “Their attitude at work? Lifestyle comes first”.
In contrast, says Gay, those in generation X seek work-life balance, but work is still important to them.
How to communicate with younger employees
So what are the implications for communicators in dealing with both generations and what things can they do well to remember?
For Generation Y, Gay says:
- Challenge them at every opportunity.
- Personalize messaging.
- Leverage affinity groups/ create communities.
- Be authentic, straight and untarnished.
- Use humor to create a fun learning environment.
- Show how they make a difference.
- Facilitate work within teams.
- Communicate clear expectations.
- Give lots of recognition.
- Ask for their opinion and input.
- Tell them “why” – it’s more important than “what”.
Generation X:
- Use email as a primary communications tool.
- Require regular feedback.
- Need to be kept in the loop.
- Use more informal comms styles.
- Want work-life balance.
- Resent unnecessary meetings.
- Notice if people "Walk the talk" – “they’ll be the first to complain if they don't see this happening,” says Gay.
- Want access to lots of information.
Alcohol helps the bond grow stronger
When exploring strategies for getting each of these generations and types of employees to connect and communicate, perhaps unsurprisingly, delegates came to a unanimous decision that alcohol played a big role in their organizations.
Combining alcohol with another effective engagement strategy – storytelling – was suggested by some as having a proven positive effect on engaging different generations.
One delegate told of her company’s event which offers employees all they can eat and drink over a five-hour period. "Granted, it’s an expensive exercise, but employees appreciate it, and it’s also a valuable chance for them to bond with other generations and teams, and connect informally and raise questions with the senior executives who attend," she said.
Work needed on explaining the "why" of communication
“I’ve often had the feeling that we’re great at talking about the ‘what’ but we stink at talking about the ‘why’," said Roger D’Aprix about communicators, during his workshop with Michelle Glover of ROI Communication consultancy, discussing “improving employee engagement through effective leadership communication” (see Figure 2, below).
Figure 2. Break out groups consider options for dealing with a hypothetical scenario
In small groups, delegates tackled a selection of questions surrounding the hypothetical scenario that their CEO had blurted out via the company blog plans for redundancies.
Working with the CEO to improve communication
Delegates explored how communicators could work with the CEO and other leaders to exercise damage control and calm employee fears and generally try to improve the situation.
Instead of immediately placing the “blame” on the CEO, delegates were advised to work directly with the individual to identify what exactly they were trying to communicate and why they set about informing people without prior discussion, and on such a forum.
One delegate reminded the group that “During a crisis like this, we have to remember to lock ourselves in a 'war room'. We have to identify our advocates for change and also the ‘Darth Vaders’. We have to take time to step back from the discussion to help formulate a well thought-out action plan.”
Inspiring exceptional performance
In the conference's keynote presentation, Dr. Bob Nelson of Nelson Motivation Inc. (sees Figure 3 and 4, below), author of 1,001 Ways to Reward Employees, noted the following communication challenges of today:
- Increasing speed of business.
- Dramatic impact of technology.
- Ongoing impact of change.
- Multi-generational workforce.
- Information overload.
Citing recent research, Nelson said that:
- 40% of employees say their job is extremely stressful.
- 60% say they're pressured to work too much.
- 85% say they're overworked and underappreciated.
So how do you go about addressing these figures, and their effects on performance in the workplace? “When you get serious about performance, you have to get serious about recognition," says Nelson.
Figure 3. Dr. Bob Nelson's opening keynote presentation
How to reward and recognize your employees
Nelson's own research data reveals that 99.4% of today’s employees expect to be recognized when they do good work, and relatively fast.
To help delegates and communicators with ideas about how they can improve reward and recognition in their organizations, Nelson cited a vast array of case study examples – here's a selection:
- Busch Gardens uses recognition tokens. When managers see any employees demonstrating their core values – safety, teamwork or customer service – they give them a token. The employee can turn it into payroll if they wish, but many choose to retain the token as a reminder of how they've been rewarded for good work.
- Disney has "WOW! cards", for employees to award to each other if they notice exceptional behavior. It's a very simple program and other companies have adapted the idea for people to accumulate points.
- Apple puts its core values as words on t-shirts. Employees that personify a value (for example, integrity) are then given a t-shirt as a reward. Many employees strive to get all the t-shirts in the set.
- KFC has a list of employees who play a musical instrument. If someone has done well in the company or reflected their core values, they are serenaded by the crew of instrument players. The idea has been so successful that a second band of musically minded employees – a string quartet – has been created to serenade people.
- Fel-Pro runs an annual suggestion lottery, whereby good ideas are rewarded with random fun, redeemable coupons.
- Grumman Corp. issues on-the-spot gift coupons.
- Intel asks for intellectual honesty. It expects employees to speak up if they disagree with decisions or during discussions. It believes it gets a better result than having people grumbling or unhappy about decisions.
Interrupt a meeting with good news! You can pack a lot of punch with a little thanks.
"Pack a lot of punch" with a small gesture
Suggesting an idea that not many managers use to make a positive impact on their employees' morale, Nelson says "Interrupt a meeting with good news! You can pack a lot of punch with a little thanks.”
“Good praise has an emotional charge that leaves a mark," he says " and it has a residual effect that stays with the person for a long time”.
Create a culture of recognition
“Is recognition like heroin, where you need more and more to get the same effect?” asked one delegate.
"There’s a whole list of reasons why managers don’t use recognition," replied Nelson. "The number one reason is that they don’t know how. Further down the list of reasons is 'If I start doing it, I'm gonna have to keep doing it',” he says.
Another delegate commented that as communicators we can help by giving our leaders the support and recognition they need. "They don’t get that kind of recognition and they really appreciate it,” she said.
Figure 4. How recognition (among other things) leads to improved performance
Check back on the Hub throughout the week for further updates on hot topics explored during the conference.
Have your say
How do you motivate and engage your different employee groups? Have you encountered conflict between different generations that you don't know how to handle? Perhaps you've successfully mediated through such an issue?
Looking at Nelson's list of ways to reward and recognize employees, what could you be doing better at your organization? During this time when budgets are slim and cost-cutting abounds, do you expect your leaders to agree to spending money on employee rewards, even if they're minimal? How will you persuade senior execs that the return on investment could be worthwhile to the business? Share your thoughts with us below.
Recommended resources:
New Melcrum report: How to create, manage and engage a virtual team
A communicator's guide to Generation Y
PODCAST: Ways to engage generation Y
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