IABCSeattle's Communications Management in the 2010s - Ethan Yarbrough, Allyis presentation

1. From Pronouncements to Conversations: Internal Communications in the Age of Social Computing Ethan Yarbrough Allyis

3. Knowledge Management

4. Business Insights

5. Business Processtwitter: @allyis www.allyis.com

6. What’s social computing’srole in internal communications? What’s internal communication’s responsibility in the age of social computing?

7. Internal Communications :: Strategic Objectives You want people to: Understand the mission Know their role in achieving the mission Willingly contribute to mission success Inspire others to contribute

8. Internal Communications: Strategic Objectives In short, you want them to … ENGAGE!

9. Internal Communications: Strategic Objectives Why Engagement? Productivity  Revenue Retention  Lower Costs Real Benefits Highly engaged employees outperform unengaged 20-28% Companies with high engagement saw operating margin rise by 3.74% over 3 years Real Costs Disengaged workers cost money: $243-270B lost annually due to low productivity Net Profit down 1.38% over 3 years U.S. Department of Labor survey found annualcost to U.S. Businesses from employee turnover is $5 Trillion! ($5,000,000,000,000) Sources: Serota Consulting, The WOW Workplace, Mike Byam (@TerryberryCo) & “Creating a Culture of Engagement” Katherine Esty & Mindy Gerwitz, Boston.com

10. Internal Communications: Strategic Objectives Engagement is … An Organizational Stabilizer

11. Internal Communications: Strategic Objectives Better individual productivity Increased job satisfaction Increased employee engagement Greater organizational stability Better bottom line performance

12. Transformational internal communications combines: People Process Technology Culture

13. The tools we select, reflect the values we hold. The values we project directly impact our success.

14. What makes people engage? RESPECT “Sometimes it’s not the job that burns you out, it’s the organization”

15. IABC :: On Social Computing “This social hunger is one we can’t ignore and it’s one that business can’t ignore” -Mark Schumann, IABC Chair “Everyone doesn’t need to tweet. But every organization does need to ask itself: In our efforts to engage people, what is the role of conversations and when we look at the kinds of conversations that people want to have, what is the role of social media in supporting and facilitating those conversations?” - Mark Schumann, IABC Chair “Maybe people need to be thinking through the power of these conversations and the power of these tools to empower these conversations” -Julie Freeman, IABC President “People want immediate connection, conversation and sense of community” -Mark Schumann, IABC Chair

16. IABC :: On Social Computing “We as communicators need to look ahead to a time when we’re as focused on the experience employees have in the conversations as we are in the messages we might convey” -Mark Schumann, IABC Chair

17. Conversation Experience IABC :: On Social Computing

18. The experience in the conversation People won’t hear you if the experience is wrong.

19. The experience in the conversation People don’t hear you if you’re not listening

20. How We Organize

21. How We Organize

22. How We Organize Relative volume of different types of ties for a prototypical knowledge worker-- Source Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges, Andrew McAfee None Potential Weak Strong ties

23. How We Communicate

24. Resonance/Believability/Trust

25. Resonance/Believability/Trust Distance from the message origin negatively impacts trust Physical distance Emotional/Relationship distance

26. Resonance/Believability/Trust Town Halls and “You Ask, We Answer” 2x yearly Town Hall meetings YA/WA Forum Hosted on Intranet Anonymous Post Option 24 Hour Turn Around Commitment Ask Anything … Management Has to Answer Deeper Understanding of Company Direction Shared Decision Making Two Way Conversation

27. Resonance/Believability/Trust In the absence of outlet, employees stew on their anxieties and aggravations. Take the lid off the stew pot…

28. The Groundswell Josh Bernoff, Charlene Li People want to get the information they need from each other, not from official sources Engage the groundswell Let people carry your message for you

29. How do you engage the groundswell Transparency No longer an option Not do you or don’t you tell them, but when and how Don’t have to be open about everything, but you do have to be open about the things that matter to the group Technology choice: Blog

30. How do you engage the groundswell Harness the power of uncertainty No surprises The “idea-in-process” approach Technology choice: Microblogging

31. How do you engage the groundswell Be Present “Presence is the new dial tone” – Jeff Pulver Be part of the groundswell Build real relationships Can approximate the trust building of close physical proximity Technology Choice: Social Networking Software

32. How do you engage the groundswell Peer-to-peer training Opportunity to shine Demonstrates your respect for their knowledge Learn-by-teaching phenomenon increases competence Technology choice: Video, Podcast, Wiki

33. Which tools should you use? P S O T

34. Which tools should you use? People Who are they? What is their relationship with technology? What are they likely to use? Objective What’s the problem you’re trying to solve? It’s not about bringing social computing to your organization, it’s about using social computing to address problems you couldn’t address in the past Strategy Which tools advance your strategy? What is your plan for training and achieving adoption? Tools Which tools best fit given your answers to the questions above?

35. Trust You can use these tools to get your employees to trust you. But can you trust these employees to use these tools?

36. Internal Communications: The Future Two-way communication spaces Social business communities Collaborative corporate communications “We don’t call it ‘internal communications’ we call it employee enablement”

37. Internal Communications: The Future Seek to understand, not just to be understood

39. Twitter: @ethany