Keeping People Plugged In

It’s anybody’s guess how long the current economic malaise will be with us, or how deeply it will affect our employers and careers. Depending on whom you work for and your industry, you may either be feeling paranoid, secure, or something in between.

As noted previously here, these difficult times demand the best from everyone to help minimize the damage that this economy might visit upon an organization. Companies cannot afford to have employees distracted by fear of job loss, or by spending the workday looking for other opportunities.

Successful companies are those that keep employees engaged in the challenges at hand by communicating often and keeping them well apprised of the evolving situation. Conversely, when employees are kept in the dark, left to read the tealeaves and draw their own conclusions, they usually infer the worst and operate accordingly.

In this regard, I must remark on the communications of one senior manager in particular. An acquaintance of mine is on the sales team at this company and has shared a selection of email missives from his boss, the VP for North American sales. This man’s communiqués are effective, for a number of reasons.

It’s tough to stay in touch with a sales team spread across a large continent, so he relies on email, phone calls and an annual sales conference. He writes a weekly email update for his entire North American sales force, as well as miscellaneous notes now and then. In addition, there is a steady stream of timely personal emails and phone calls to individual salespeople. Collectively, this steady flow of communication keeps his team informed and plugged in – exactly what a manager should do, particularly during tough times.

Each weekly update highlights the recent sales “wins” and serves up ample helpings of plaudits for all those involved. It mentions current efforts to close a particular sale, or the on-going efforts of an individual rep to establish and build credibility at an account currently held by a competitor.

The updates also include year-over-year sales data, as well as mentions of sales people’s outside activities, especially those that give back to their local communities. Personal news is included, such as someone’s 25th anniversary with the company. And people are encouraged to submit ideas, evidenced by their frequent citations in the weekly emails.

But I was particularly impressed with a note this sales VP sent out last week about the state of the economy and how it is affecting the company and its future. Without coming right out and saying so, the VP was clearly answering a lot of unasked questions that are nagging at his sales force as they face diminished sales opportunities. No doubt he gleaned these through his regular interactions with them.

After writing initially about the economy’s effects on their industry, he went on to say that the company was, like most, facing significant challenges maintaining momentum in the face of a tough economy. It is making a number of cost cuts and difficult choices, he wrote. But, as he explained, each cut had been made intelligently, with a full appreciation of its impact. He also thanked the team for offering some very good suggestions for saving money and then cited those that had been selected by the executive team for enactment across the entire company.

He closed the note by reminding his team that they are best when they unite in a common effort, and expressed the opinion that they are, as a team, well positioned to ride out the storm and emerge stronger afterwards.

As an outside observer, reading these communiqués, the sense comes through clearly that there is a well-established avenue of communication between and among the head of sales and his team and, consequently, a lot of mutual trust. My friend’s positive attitude about the company and its long-term prospects reinforce my impression. He and the rest of the sales team are able to maintain the long view rather than focus on the negative of the moment.

There is a genuineness that comes through in these many communiqués, a real sense of empathy and understanding that is often missing in executive communications. I also know that the VP of sales is warmly regarded by his team and is very personable at the group’s annual sales conferences.

I regret I cannot reveal the company or the sales leader responsible for this quality communications. But I do feel I can cite it anonymously as an example of the kind of communications that need to be practiced – in good times and, especially, bad – to assure a common sense of purpose among employees and their management.

It’s not the only route out of a sour economy, but good communications sure go a long way toward keeping key people engaged in the task at hand, facing challenges head-on with their best talents. If more companies and managers operated as this gentleman does, I’m confident that fewer companies would be on the precipice, as there now seem to be.

Getting Full Value from Communications Counsel

A business is launched on a core vision, a driving purpose – likely the brainchild of its founder. Initial success comes with the founder’s ability to activate that vision.

As the business grows and adds employees, its continued success and growth is dependent on how well the founder is able to impart his/her vision to the new people so that they, too, share that founding vision and are able to act on it through effective implementation of the company’s strategy.

Regardless of whether the business is 10 years old, like Google, or is more than 100 years old, like General Electric, the same holds true: the continued success of that company is dependent on employees comprehending and acting on that vision.

Visions evolve and adapt to changing circumstances, such as recessionary economies, changing or expanding markets, shifts in customer needs and tastes, etc. And so, too, must the company help employees evolve and adapt. Even the 100-year-old company can stay as fresh, focused and competitive as the new start-up if it keeps its people engaged in the evolving vision.

This is a round-about way of getting to my point: the importance of also engaging employee communications consultants in the business’ core vision, as well as its strategy, the needs and desires of its customers, and the changing dynamics of its markets.

A consultant comes into an organization for a discrete period of time, provides advice and counsel, and then leaves. The ideal is where the outsider is able to be immersed fully in the business, gaining understanding of and a full appreciation for its products and services, markets, customers, and unique challenges.

From the perspective of a communications consultant, those are the best assignments, in terms of enjoying and gaining personal satisfaction from the work, and in terms of our ability to provide helpful counsel.

Regardless of the product or service a client company sells, the ability to appreciate the circumstances in which that company operates brings with it valuable insights into the struggles and challenges, risks, victories and mistakes that comprise the daily experience of employees. Our communications counsel is far more insightful and meaningful when we know that experience intimately as opposed to those cases where we do not have that advantage.

Kept at arms' length from the business and given little opportunity to immerse ourselves, the communications counsel provided is necessarily superficial. Most of the work in these cases tends to be rote, tactical and reactive. Further, there is little pleasure in the assignment. It's more of a struggle, where we’re not allowed to do our best work.

There’s often no way of knowing ahead of time into which category a new client will fall. But there might be some early tip-offs. When the new client talks about the need to “catch a speeding train,” employs a similar metaphor, or says there’s no time “for the luxury” of immersing ourselves in the business, it’s likely it will be a tactically intensive assignment with little chance to connect personally, or provide insightful strategic counsel.

Conversely, the client open to the notion of allowing the consultant a full engagement in the business, to talk with employees prior to commencing the assignment is going to get full value for the investment because the outside consultant will gain important awareness and understanding of the employees’ environment, challenges and personal connection to the business.

Most companies of any size employ full-time communications managers. Outside communications consultants are brought in not to replicate or supplement their work but rather to provide the outsider’s perspective that the insider cannot possibly have. That’s where the full value comes in: being able to understand fully the business’ vision, mission, strategy, challenges, markets, and customer demands, and then translate that into meaningful communications strategies and messages to keep employees engaged in the business.

In other words, the deeper, first-hand appreciation for the personal investments that each employee makes in the job is the key to engaging the employees in dialogue and discussion, and being better equipped to shape the right messages to assure that employees are getting the right information, insights and knowledge at the right time, through the right media for maximum effect.

And if that’s what the client is paying for, why erect barriers?