ask the expert
Lately there has been a break down in respect and communication and I am looking into ways to redress that. Generally attitudes to things like 'away days' have been pretty cynical, any thoughts?
This is a tough one to deal with as a communicator as the last thing that such teams don't want is to listen to advice from a communicator!
The key here is to find the WIIFM - the What's In It For Me - of the individuals or parties involved. There will be something in their scores, be they KPIs or the results of employee engagement surveys. Find out who is running the surveys and and see if you can get any information about what staff or other stakeholders are saying about the unit in question.
Often it is the IT unit who present these problems and this is because in the past they may not have been recruited for, and do not value, communication skills. They can develop a 'bunker mentality' that makes their lives miserable and screw things up for the rest of the organisation.
If you go in saying that respect and communication are low, then you will make little headway. If however, you say that you can help them with improving their Line Manager Index, or their turnround of cases, or reduce churn, then they are more likely to listen to you. Particularly when you can point to similar successes in other departments or units.
Sometimes it can be helpful to get the endorsement of the senior person the unit reports into, but treat this with caution as you may tread on toes. But if the rest of the organisation is getting fed up with their attitude, then you can use that - provided you present yourself as bringing solutions and not criticism.
Offer to do some one-on-one coaching with a the most reasonable member of the unit; or help them improve their intranet pages or a brochure. Focus on improving a piece of communication and then gently give them advice to improve their own communicaiton skills.
That's easy to answer. All articles, toolkits, webinars and templates that you find on the site are free. All we ask is that you register your details.
It's only our seminars, conferences and books that we ask you to pay for.
Hi. Having recently improved the company's external communications and am turning my attention to the internal relationships. The company still operates in a silo mentality and I want to stimulate inter department working and communication without upsetting the old guard. Any tips?
Euan Semple argues that it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission and his establishment of an early successful intranet at the BBC was done without the knowledge of senior executives. It was then too big and popular to stop.
But many prefer to find one sponsor at senior level and start some pilot programme in their area. The other fuedal barons will soon come round to the virtues of your departmenet and work when they see success coming from good comms. Just don't put any senior executive in a position where they have to say 'no' to your communications inititative. Once they have turned you down it's hard for them to say yes later.
So start with those senior people who are ,ost enthusiastic about communications. Then do a pilot among a part of the organisation that is enthusiastic but less powerful. When you have siome success there, move on to the other silos and only tackle the Old Guard when they invite you in.
Another useful model is Malcolm Gladwelll's Tipping Point which shows how to cultivate mavens (subject experts) connectors and salesmen to push ideas and collaboration aroundan organisation.
