Special focus: Establishing the internal communication function in Germany
For a country that has long been the world’s leading exporter and home to numerous global corporations, Germany has never been seen as a source of leading-edge internal communication thinking or a treasure trove of best practice. Mike Klein details the country's journey from late bloomers to soon-to-be leaders of the function.
by Mike Klein, independent communications consultant. 
For a country that has long been the world’s leading exporter and home to numerous global corporations, Germany has never been visible as a source of leading-edge internal communication thinking or a treasure trove of best practice.“Up until now, things haven’t been very sophisticated,” said Anja Beckmann, a Cologne-based consultant specializing both in internal and external communication. Beckmann, now an independent consultant following stints with the German divisions of Kraft and Starbucks, says that external communications has, until recently, dominated the debate and has also viewed internal communication as the “step-child” of the communications profession.
Despite Germany’s GDP being the fifth largest in the world, one reason for this could be that the majority of Germany’s businesses are family-owned, industrial firms, otherwise known as the "mittelstand". They have limited communication resources and often have no dedicated internal communication function. One area that has been the catalyst for change here however, is social media. Gunther Mittmann-Gano of dvh communication, a Munich-based firm specializing in IT-related communication, recently spearheaded the launch of Interne Kommunikation/Internal Communication on the Xing social networking platform.“We now have more than 1,000 members, almost all of them from the German-speaking world,” he says noting the language barrier that has largely insulated the German market from the influence of English speaking experts.
“It’s only recently that we’ve had much contact with outside influences in internal communication,” continues Gunther. “Traditionally, the term 'internal communication' in Germany only meant producing newsletters or posters, an age old skill in more established markets such as the UK and the US, while change communication is seen as almost a separate discipline altogether,” he says. “Also, very little energy is put into “inspirational talks” with managers, who are instead expected to be self-sufficient as communicators and receive very little attention from internal communicators here,” adds Gunther.
Twitter forms the bridge
One area where German internal communicators have become active in the last two years is on the microblogging platform Twitter. “Twitter has really become our bridge to the English-speaking communication world, allowing us to access good and generally free content and to start to build relationships with practitioners elsewhere,” says Gunther.
A Bonn-based practitioner uniquely poised to assess this phenomenon is Felix Escribano. Escribano works for theblueballroom, one of the only UK-based internal communication consultancies with a permanent presence in Germany. He has developed a strong following for his Twitter feed (@felmundo) in Germany, the UK and elsewhere. “We’re fortunate in that our main client is a large international business and has a lot going on—so they see the value beyond what’s normally seen in the market here,” he says. “Historically, internal communication is seen as a cost, an afterthought, and something not requiring specialized support, but the combination of some good case studies (which are being shared within the country for the first time) and the initial awareness of both the internal and external communication potential of social media are starting to open up discussions with potential clients as well as between practitioners.”
Twitter has really become our bridge to the English-speaking communication world
Straight to 3.0
The German internal communication industry’s level of interest in the application of social media to the function could, however, shift its position from laggard to leader within the next two years, says Dr. Georg Kolb, business director at direktzu (http://www.direktzu.de/ “straight to” in English), a software firm that has crafted solutions for “many-to-one-communication” allowing for a direct exchange between large numbers of participants and one addressee. Direktzu was pioneered with Chancellor Angela Merkel communicating with German citizens, and is now being used to connect employees from large companies such as Siemens and Deutsche Telekom with their chief executives.
“Direktzu has excited employees and executives alike. Employees enjoy getting access to the top of their organization,” says Kolb. “They can raise issues and decide by their own vote which ones have to be addressed by their chiefs. Executives on the other hand appreciate this new kind of unfiltered feedback system covering the whole workforce 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “They can use it as an opinion radar or ask for feedback on specific strategic agendas. It's worth noting, though, that not only technology, but also a culture of dialogue and transparency is needed to make our platforms successful,” he adds. Direktzu is currently seeking to roll out in large German and English-speaking companies in 2010, with an eye towards launching an off-the-shelf program for smaller enterprises and large teams towards the end of the year. But new software is not the only social media approach being embraced in German internal communication circles. Gunther cites an insurance company that is incorporating the basics of community management into its normal workflows in order to “think and talk like customers as well as to ensure strong technical processes”. Gunther continues: “German companies will embrace these tools and technologies when they see the benefit and can understand how they work.”
Taking a steady approach
Ronna Porter, the Scottish-born director of specialist technology communications agency OnPR, based in Munich, also sees German technology and homegrown experts providing an opening, however she remains cautions. “With all of these social media technologies, it’s important to note that a small number of participants post and the majority of users simply lurk and listen.” This point was not lost on Kolb: “Social scientist Jakob Nielsen pointed out that there is a ratio of 1-9-90, where 1% generate most of the content, 9% generate the remainder, and 90% lurk. Successful tools will have to lower the barrier to meaningful participation well below what it takes to inject in one’s own comments.” But the ratios of participation belie the real impact of social media on internal communication, says Ralf Langen, head of Ketchum Pleon Change, the only Germany-based internal and change communication player with a global footprint. “Social media stimulates real conversations and it’s those that provide the real power in organizational communication today. Indeed, we see the shift not only around the acceptance of social media tools, but centring on the idea that conversations among staff and other stakeholders form the fundamental core of organizational communication. Combine this with a time when organizational credibility is under siege from investors, consumers and activists alike, and one can easily see some power from engaging employees more actively as reputational assets as well as sources of internal productivity.”
Executives appreciate this new kind of unfiltered feedback system covering the whole workforce 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Ulrich Gartner, former Frankfurt chief of US PR firm MS&L, also remains cautious. “Marketing and HR here have long been used to what’s appeared to them to be a totally controlled environment – you created your advertising or your policy, you arranged the space and time for it to be communicated in and the message appeared as you wanted it.
“The big shift that’s happening now in internal comms is that by using social media, your employees will be empowered and encouraged to share their own opinions, and you’re never going be sure, as management, whether or not this opinion is exactly what you’d like it to be,” he explains.“The biggest challenge will be for communications people – who understand that in reality there’s a lot more uncertainty than meets the eye – to persuade the HR and marketing community to yield their illusion of control, which will not be easy until becomes obviously necessary.”
The power of sponsorship
Michael Kucht, a Bonn based communications professional, who describes himself as a “change communicator”, is equally optimistic about recent trends: “The real need here is to find sponsorship from senior management. There aren’t consistent expectations about communication here and what we’re discussing is not the kind of basic work that is described in Germany by the term internal communication. “Managers and change managers require a different, customized way of thinking that focuses specifically on their objectives,” he says. “Germany is more likely to adapt these tools later rather than adopt them first,” adds Kucht. “German business is under a lot of pressure at the moment – financially, politically, and internally. Indeed, as much as German business and our personal lives revolve around security, we need to become better about being secure in the face of insecurity, particularly in the change arena. In terms of change in a broader sense, there will be the 5% of firms that are willing to drive 95% of the innovation.”
Kucht believes Germany will “always be behind the Anglo-Americans”. “German managers have always been a tougher sell and have never had the kind of interest in ‘softer’ issues that Anglo-Saxon managers have.” Langen and Kolb, however suggest the game has changed sufficiently to give German innovators a chance to surpass the competition. “Integrating communication, change and reputation and building in strong elements of social media will reposition and redefine internal communication quickly and comprehensively,” says Langen. Opinion may be divided among communication professionals here, but the key issue is that IC is at last being recognized.
Have your say
Do you use social media to build relationships with other internal communication practitioners? How is your organization creating dialogue between employees and executives? Would you consider embracing a tool like directzu?
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