Communicating with employees is difficult. You send emails they don't read. You tell them things they don't remember. In this session we walk through the ways that you can improve communication -- and lower turnover.
You can download this presentation now by visiting https://www.thorprojects.com/connect/gifts/presentations/effective-internal-communication.
2. Introduction
14 Year Microsoft MVP
Author of 25 books including
The SharePoint Shepherd’s
Guide for End Users
25 Years of Industry
Experience
Numerous Microsoft,
CompTIA and other
Certifications
3. Agenda
• The Retention Problem
• Communication’s Role
• Good Communication
• Choosing a Channel
• Skills
10. Gallup has found that
consistent communication
– whether it occurs in
person, over the phone or
electronically – is
connected to higher
engagement.
11. One More Time:
How Do You
Motivate
Employees?
By Fredrick Herzberg
January-February 1968
18. You Can’t Make Me Read Your
Emails!
You Can’t Make Me Look at
Your Intranet!
You Can’t Make Me Pickup
Your Newsletter!
19. Where do we get our learning?
Active Passive
Directed Searching Monitoring
Undirected Browsing Being Aware
Being Aware
80%
Browsing
5%
Monitoring
14%
Searching
1%
Source: Marcia Bates Univ. Calif. LA,
“Toward an Integrated Model of Information
Seeking and Searching”
31. Digital Transformation
Atoms Electrons
Mail eMail
Bulletin Board
Digital Signage
Posters
Newsletter
Intranet
Procedures Manual
Meeting Web Conference
“While you were out…” Voice Mail
Location Tour Videocast
32. Comparing Atoms to Electrons
Printed
• Inexpensive infrastructure
• Expensive per-use/change cost
• Long change lead times
• Static
• One-way
Electronic
• Expensive Infrastructure
• Inexpensive per-use/change cost
• Instant change
• Dynamic
• One-Way / Two-Way
45. Tantalizing Teasers (Headlines)
• Our goal is to
engage – not
inform
• The keyword is
intrigue
Summary Teaser
Employee benefits
reenrollment due 5/1
Three things you must do to
keep your health insurance
benefits
Company Picnic 6/1 Who can eat the most pork?
Find out 6/1
Holiday Schedule 2018 What day will we celebrate
July 4th and other holidays
next year?
Free management training Get started on your next
promotion
46. Inverted Pyramid
• Most Newsworthy and broadest
reaching first
• Who, what, when, where, why,
and how – in as few words as
possible
• Ignores nuances and special
cases – until the end
47. Evoking Emotion
• We make decisions emotionally
– then rationalize them
• Write to the emotional elephant,
not the rational rider
• E.x. Flextime benefits
• Not doctor’s visits or errands
• Volunteering or spouse time
Don’t worry about the involuntary – that’s better hiring.
SHRM estimates range from 30%-150% … Mean 90%
What if you could save half?
Comparing high/low performance on factors including Turnover
RB: This report is from 2015
We’re talking about RELATIONSHIPS – Relationships are built on communication
Fredrick Herzberg
“Make ‘em do it.”
More are becoming a member of the creative class… they need different motivations…
Communications Satisfaction - Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (1977) Downs and Hazen
Employee Satisfaction – “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees” (1987) Herzberg
Employee Replacement – “Employee Replacement Costs” (2010) Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California, Berkeley
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. Dr. Daniel Levitin.
1976 - 9,000 products in the average grocery store. Today – more than 40,000.
The average family only buys 150 items.
Only send messages that are relevant.
Cake in the breakroom; lock down the “all users” group
We simply can’t “Make” them do it. They have to want it. You can force compliance – you can’t force engagement
We’re in an attention economy… we need to get interested -- we can’t communicate once and expect everyone got the message
Pilot chute to drag the main chute out. We have to make it interesting.
Maybe you’re upset… (not responding) … or maybe you’re just being passive-aggressive
Three Phone calls… you’re trying to get me to be Charlie Sheen (‘Roid Rage.)
Multiple contact attempts? Email, Lync/Skype, Drop by?
Postal – 1 Week
Email – 24-27 hrs
Text – 2-8 hours
Voice mail – 4-24 hours
Trying every communications method in sequence
Or … copying the entire world on an email.
Little Sable, MI
Things look different from the inside.
There are chips on the inside that don’t show…
SS: Roughly 50 years later – and this quote, his perspective, is still revolutionary - incredibly relevant.
He argues that –throughout history - ‘what’ has been communicated has been less important than the particular medium through which people communicate.
Most of this is really conversation – not elevated to dialogue – but that’s another story, for now let’s focus on the interpersonal nature…
+ Good for: emotional, relational topics
- Bad because: time consuming, not documented/remembered
We all have them … but do we really pay attention to them? Do they change enough that we seek them out?
+ Good: Cheap, messages are persistent
- Bad: Not interactive, feels emotionally flat
Big Idea: Transitioning to digital has a higher upfront cost – but a much lower operational cost.
The medium matters. How the information is delivered matters. Some – most? - messaging should be pushed to people. It should be dispersed so that people acquire the information serendipitously, passively, consistently, repeatedly.
When you need to go deeper and learn more about a story on digital signage … it’s time to go PULL the information from the Intranet
To dig deeper you read the full article. It’s more than a postcard or a page, it’s details about something that piqued your interest. What happens to those timely stories that get archived? They become timeless information…
Different from digital signage that is always about the “Now” – Current up to the date information … Intranet is the repository for timeless information as well. The timely articles and the important knowledge accumulate into a library
To navigate the inevitable problems of a mountain of information, your Intranet contains a powerful search (and retrieval) tools, designed to help you navigate your way through the archive.
Digital signage creates awareness… Intranets create understanding – when they’re aligned. When there’s a common message.
RB:
*** Note: Tell them to start entering questions
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RB: 1:n – One to Many. Few people sharing to others. Broadcast
One Direction