Increasing employee satisfaction has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and operating margins. Empower managers to become effective communicators as they are the most trusted channel in your organisation and a vital listening post. Use SharePoint intranet and webcasts to enable multi-way communication and collaboration.

1. Internal communications
What matters most…
November 2013
@HelenMcI
uk.linkedin.com/in/helenmcinnes

2. Agenda

Why does internal communications matter?

What does good look like?

How can you improve line manager
communications?

All-hands meeting best practices

Intranet best practices

Key take-aways
Inspiration
Credibility
Timing
2

3. Why does it matter?
The employee-customer-profit chain
Sears [1]
Towers Watson
+0.5
Revenue
+1.3
Customer satisfaction
+5
Employee satisfaction
[2]
Same-year operating margin (%):
Study of 50 global companies 2012
[1] Rucci, Jirm, Quinn, "The Employee-Customer-Profit-Chain at Sears", HBR, 1998
[2] Work environment that more fully energizes employees by promoting their physical, emotional and social well-being
3

4. What does good look like?
Traditional
engagement
Enablement
Belief in company goals &
objectives
Freedom from obstacles to
success at work
at work (work-life balance)
Emotional connection (pride,
would recommend employer)
Availability of resources to
perform well
Supportive social
environment (stress-free)
Willingness to give extra
effort to support success
Ability to meet work
challenges effectively
Feelings of
enthusiasm/accomplishment
at work
Unsupported
Energy
Ability to maintain energy
Detached
Highly engaged
Disengaged: Low score on on all measures
4

5. What does good look like?
Those who score high on all
three aspects of sustainable
engagement
Those who are traditionally
engaged, but lack enablement
and/or energy
Those who feel enabled and/or
energised, but lack a sense of
traditional engagement
Those who score low on all
three aspects of sustainable
engagement
Source: Towers Watson Global Workforce Survey 2012 of 32,000 employees in 29 markets globally
5

6. Employee engagement survey
 Fairly
consistent with Gallup’s research:
120%
18%
100%
7%
80%
26%
Engaged
49%
Not engaged
60%
40%
Actively disengaged
67%
53%
Highly engaged & engaged but
unsupported/unenergised
20%
0%
World-class
Average
Gallup 2007
6

7. The importance of managers

The quality of employees’ relationship with their managers, their trust in
senior leadership matters more than any other factor for employee
engagement
Towers Watson Global Workforce Survey 2012 of 32,000 employees in 29 markets globally
7

8. The importance of line managers
Key actions:

Define what “good” looks like (within
the manager competencies framework)

Educate managers about what drives
engagement

Set the expectation that the line
manager is the preferred
communication channel

Build manager communication
capability and support them with
content packs
8

9. The 8 competencies of managers
1. Leadership and motivation
2. Planning and organising
3. Commercial awareness
4. Customer focus
5. Continuous improvement
6. Communicating and influencing
7. The ability to develop yourself and others
8. Teamwork and collaboration
9

10. The importance of managers
Regular two-way
communication about
company strategy, the
team/individuals’ roles in
executing it and progress
against plan is critical
10

11. Huddles

Research by Aviva showed managers felt overwhelmed
by the information they needed to share

They now provide a brief for managers each week

Managers can
they use
on what’s
at a local level
customise what
depending
relevant
Quick, regular huddles managed by line managers are
the most effective internal comms channel
11

12. Encourage people to share their views
Two-way communication is critical – get feedback from
employees and pass it on at a corporate level
Weigh-in
Buy-in
Outline what you are taking action on
Explain why you might not do what they suggest


12

13. Company reputation matters



Internal branding: communication of strategy, vision and
values is essential
A brand is more than just a logo -> it’s your gut feeling
about a company
You need to connect the “WHAT” we stand for, “WHY”
we do it with the “HOW” we’re successful (relative to
the competition):
 “Merchandise” media coverage + positive
social media comments internally
 Share customer satisfaction survey results
 Recognise the efforts of individuals in bringing the
brand values to live
13

14. All-hands meetings


Format should be decided from a:
a) Communication effectiveness
b) Cost &
c) CEO availability perspective
Simultaneous global
communication should be the aim
Conference call + online presentation (Lines on mute -> Q&A by
IM + podcast replay)
2.
Live all-hands meeting at one site + streamed live video on the
intranet + VOD replay (roving mike for Q&A + questions by
email/IM)
3.
Recorded video streamed on the intranet (may be preferable for
very global companies that are unable to find a suitable time to
hold the meeting to span the key timezones)
Keep it short (20-30 mins max + 10 mins Q&A)
Check live + recorded media viewing number to determine audience
reach
1.


14

15. All-hands meetings
 Video communication
success factors:
• Outlook invite + request
for questions in advance
• Reminder email on the
day
• Showcase on your intranet
homepage
• The ability to watch
simultaneously regardless
of where you are in the
world is important
• Let people know what
they missed.
“Trail/preview” key points
on the intranet
Kontiki/Melcrum Survey: Jan 2013
15

16. Intranets…
…are a facilitator of:
 Multi-way, multi-level, multi-channel communications (topdown, bottom-up and peer-to-peer; mobile, online + in-person)
 Enabler of business processes (e.g. travel/holiday
bookings, invoicing, team collaboration)
…and reinforce company culture and values
16

17. Intranets
Great intranets must:
 Enable people to short-cut their way to their most used tools
 Communicate something valuable as they pass through
 Increase productivity, improve knowledge-sharing and employee
engagement
17

18. Intranet structure
- Corporate comms
- Enterprise search &
browse
- Short-cuts to most
commonly used tools
Central
portal
Divisional areas
- Publishing/project
workspaces
- Calendars
- Wikis
- Blogs
- Polling
- Document
libraries
- Business
processes
- Forms
- Workflows
- Scorecards
- Group reporting
Team sites
My site
-Bios with “hidden” interests/skills (e.g. CSR volunteering
- Blogs
18

19. Applying a branded visual template
My site
Team site

20. Metadata

Makes search easy
(relevancy, faceted search –
refinements, filtering/sorting
in lists etc.)

Think globally, act locally:

Establish a layer of
standardization across the
enterprise (e.g. top-level
metadata values)

Ask your user community to
add no more than one or two
metadata tags to each
document

Add synonyms for preferred
terms


A “folksonomy” will emerge
(taxonomies controlled by end
users)
Use inheritance to pre-populate
one or more of these:
In a library called ‘Contracts’ on
the German sales team
site, you could pre-populate the
Business Function ‘Legal’, the
Country ‘German’, Region
‘Europe’ and Activity ‘Sales’
20

21. Key take-aways

Effective employee engagement through
great communication has an immediate
impact on the bottom line

Face-to-face communication is best (esp.
line manager “huddles”)

Create a platform for, and culture of, employee involvement. Enabling
people to “weigh-in” leads to “buy-in”

Help all employees connect with the external brand. Show how their job
relates to it

Use intranets and webcasts to encourage multi-way communications
and collaboration
21

22. Stay in touch
Find more useful tips at:
www.slideshare.net/HelenMcI2
www.scribd.com/HelenMcI
Connect with me at:
uk.linkedin.com/in/helenmcinnes
@HelenMcI
Thanks for your time…
22

23. Resources
Intranets:
- Nielson Norman Netratings best practice guide
- Melcrum
- Ragan Communications
- Brightstarr
- Creative Sharepoint
Webcasts:
- Kontiki + Cisco Systems(used and recommended)
- Ignite Technologies, Kaltura, Polycom, Qumu, Sonic Foundry &
VBrick Systems (other options)
Internal comms management (incl. email newsletters)
- Newsweaver
23

24. Resources
Employee engagement - Gallup’s 12 questions:
Do you know what is expected of me at work?
 Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do my work right?
 At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
 In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing
good work?
 Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about you as a
person?
 Is there is someone at work who encourages my development?
 At work, do your opinions seem to count?
 Does the mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is
important?
 Are your associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work?
 Do you have friends at work?
 In the last six months, has someone at work has talked to me about your
progress?
 In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

24

25. Internal communications
What matters most…
November 2013
@HelenMcI
uk.linkedin.com/in/helenmcinnes