Best Practices for Helping Managers Become More Consistent Communicators
By Elizabeth C. Castro
One of the best bosses I ever had was a great communicator. He would take the time to sit down with his team and share important organizational news. Looking back, he seemed to understand that we needed to better understand the strategic focus of the company, his expectations and some of the changes we would see in the coming months. To say the least, I pretty much always knew where I stood, whether the information was positive or difficult for him to share.
His approach to leadership laid a strong foundation for me on how to communicate to employees, and in fact, under his leadership I had the opportunity to establish a formal employee communications program for the organization. This included better using our communications channels such as the intranet and email, but our biggest success came with empowering managers to share formal organizational news with their teams.
Our goal was to get employees to starting looking at their managers as a source of information and ensure that managers were “in the know” so they could deliver those messages and answer the tough questions. We thought it was important to get people to talk to each other in order to forge stronger personal relationships.
When it came time to transition my career and become a counselor to clients who also sought to help their managers become better communicators – I looked to him for some inspiration. Here are the best practices for building internal communications infrastructures and helping direct managers and supervisors become better, more consistent communicators.
Understand Your Culture
Before you can begin to communicate, it’s important to understand your organization’s culture so you know the challenges and opportunities. An internal communications audit is a great way to find out what information matters most to your workforce and the best ways to deliver those messages.
When conducting an internal communications audit, I like to use a combination of electronic surveys like Survey Monkey as well as in-person discussions across locations, departments and levels to gain a more realistic understanding of what people want to hear. As I’ve audited organizations across various industries, there are some common themes of what employees want to know:
- The health of the organization (the good and the bad)
- What you are doing to ensure the health of the organization
- The organization’s goals
- How they can help you achieve success
By and large, employees have a strong interest in the success of your organization and are willing partners to help you. In return, they want honesty and regular updates that guide how they approach their daily activities on the job.
Build the Infrastructure
Today’s complex global organizations create a unique challenge for internal communicators because their workforces are spread out across multiple geographies. Having a communications infrastructure in place – or the channels to communicate – is critically important for getting the right messages in the hands of employees. Of course this includes tools like an intranet or employee newsletter, but I’m really talking about something as simple as email lists. This is a list or lists of manager groups where you send information and materials to be cascaded down to employees. Once you have this in place, you have the foundation for creating opportunities for dialogue.
Provide the Necessary Tools
If you talk to most managers, you will find they would like to become better communicators with their teams but often don’t have the time or know-how. This is a fair argument given that managers already have busy jobs and that certain organizations don’t always have the discipline to develop key messages around each organizational initiative along with the materials to share with managers. But this can be achieved by standardizing how organizational information is shared and seeking the assistance of an agency partner for implementation if there is no designated internal communications function.
Standardization could include creating the following for each company initiative:
- A key messages template
- Materials such as a Q&A, handouts, flyers, emails and intranet content
- Instructions for managers on how to share the information with employees at existing team meetings
Cascading: Make it Top-of-Mind
Helping managers share information down to employees, verbally and at regular team meetings is one of the most important communications channels you have available within your organization. By and large, managers have a lot on their plates and may view communications as another added pressure. But if you offer them the right information in the right form with instructions on how to share it, their communications efforts can literally add just a few minutes to their existing team meetings.
Another opportunity available is to enlist the help of your organization’s Human Resources function, some of which may already offer manager training programs. We’ve seen success by giving managers training in employee communications and public speaking for added confidence.
Elizabeth Castro is a senior vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC implements internal and external corporate communications plans and social media campaigns for big brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.
Written by Elizabeth C. Castro
I think back on my incredibly fun 15-year communications career and there were several difficult job experiences that stand out to me. I recall certain positions where I was distracted, stressed and sometimes in tears at the hands of ineffective leaders who gave me some good reasons to seek better and more lucrative job opportunities. While some of these examples were difficult at the time, they ultimately allowed me to become a better overall professional and leader for my current staff.
I’m sure you have many lessons of your own, but here are some of mine that I think are valuable.
LESSON 1: Failure to address bad behavior will make you lose credibility in the eyes of your team:
The Situation – Imagine that a colleague of yours, who is technically a superior, comes to the office intoxicated and decides to sleep it off on the floor of his office, or attempts to bill a month’s worth of lunches to a client. Then imagine there are no repercussions. How you feel about the head of your department or company?
My Take Away – Take immediate steps to stop the behavior or terminate the employee. Failure to do so will make you lose credibility in the eyes of your staff. This one is so important because leadership’s inability to deal with unethical and unprofessional behavior destroys morale, distracts staff from their jobs and creates a culture of low performance and hostility.
LESSON 2: Mentoring and teaching junior staff to be great professionals is part of your job and builds a stronger organization:
The Situation – You’ve been given a task that you’ve never done before and the person who gave you the task claims to be too busy to give any direction, and complains when said deliverable is not correct. Talk about being set up for failure by someone who should know better.
My Take Away – Teaching and mentoring should be part of your job. If you want something done right the first time, and consistently right moving forward, spend the time on the front end to clearly explain the context of the assignment and expected results. It will be time well spent. This doesn’t just stop at specific projects, it also extends to professional conduct and career paths. Teach your junior staff how to act in a meeting, how to answer the phone, what to wear and how to interact – if they need it.
LESSON 3: Giving clarity about roles and expectations eliminates confusion and improves work quality:
The Situation – This one is slightly different from being a good mentor but just as important to young professionals who are not in a position of leadership. I’m sure that some of us have been in professional situations early in our careers where no one on your team had a clear role— and in the worst case scenario key pieces of a project didn’t get done correctly. I clearly recall getting sloppy directional emails from a supervisor to our team with no solid assignments and no project lead in place to delegate the tasks. The boss was unwilling to step up and be that critical mid-level manager, and the results showed.
My Take Away – Situational leadership is wildly important. Your team’s experience level will dictate how much you need to delegate and what expectations you have. Simply put: ensure that members of your team know what pieces of a project they own. And when they own it, it means they are moving it forward, know the status and can report on the progress at any given time.
LESSON 4: Getting out of the way and letting talented staff “show you their stuff” builds trust:
The Situation – Micromanagers. We’ve probably all worked for one at some point in our career. They not only want to give you the assignment, they want you to tell you how to complete the project—Every. Painful. Step. Of the way. To me as a mid-level staffer it made me think two things: this person has no trust, and likes to work 70 hours a week because they can’t effectively delegate. I almost felt sorry for this person.
My Take Away – Give clear direction and a deadline, then back off. (Or insert yourself when you need to). This is the number one positive feedback I’ve received from my team. I’ve been told by staff that they value how much I allow them to spread their wings and grow because I’ve challenged them to make decisions and find solutions. It’s what makes works fun.
Do you have other lessons to share? Post a comment.
Elizabeth Castro is a senior vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC has developed social media strategies and manages Facebook communities for national brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.
5 Best Practices to Grow Your Company’s Twitter Audience
Written by Mike Barbre, contributing writer, Intermedia
So you’ve set up a Twitter account for your company. Now what? In this post, you will learn how to network and engage with your audiences effectively in order to grow your Twitter following and hopefully your customer base. By following these 5 simple tips, you can use Twitter to its full potential.
1) Be responsive
The easiest and most vital step in growing your audience is to communicate quickly and cheerfully. If someone shows an interest in your company, let them know you’ve heard them. Your Twitter feed may offer the first impression future clients have of your company. You want customers to perceive you as approachable, customer-centric and professional. Answering questions and responding to comments is the best way to do that.
2) Stay positive and avoid the critical (Sometimes, there’s a fine line)
The informal nature of Twitter lends itself well to tweets of all types. Remember that your company’s feed becomes a public face and make a conscious effort to stay positive. While a few off-the-cuff remarks can endear you to your followers by making your company seem friendly and outgoing, watch your tone. There is a world of difference between “Beautiful day in #CityName! Wonder if #CompanyName can work outside today?” and “Beautiful day in #CityName! Wish I was outside instead!” The former implies that your company values both work and enjoyment; the latter sounds like you would rather be outside than working. It’s a subtle difference that can have a big impact on your audience.
3) Give people something to invest in
Asking your followers to invest a small amount of their time and creativity can forge tighter relations between you and your customer base. For example, first look for the products or services that you offer and find one that appeals most to your existing followers, then base your promotion around it. Then consider how you execute the promotion. While a simple “retweet to enter!” strategy can be fast-moving and widespread, it won’t convey any useful information to potential customers. Instead, consider asking your followers to tweet about your products using a specialized hashtag for entry. Not only will you get responses, but likely more positive and unique feedback that you may not get otherwise.
4) Gain followers through shared, common interests with your brand
The best way to accomplish this is to create a unique and memorable hashtag and use it often. It should reference either your company name or your most popular and recognizable product, and be short so that it doesn’t take up too much of the 140-character limit. Hashtags create a page which stores every recent tweet using it; potential customers who click on your company hashtag can be provided with a wealth of information. Be sure to also use situational hashtags, like the hashtag for a trade show you’re attending, or one for your city. These can draw in new followers who are monitoring those tags or use them regularly.
5) Engage with popular “influencers” in your industry— their followers could become yours
Be sure to tweet at and strike up conversations with influential individuals and companies in your field. If you can offer on-topic, interesting tidbits for their followers, you may receive a share of the wealth. You may also attract the attention of other big names. Soon you may find yourself in an inner circle of industry experts, and the benefits for your company could be enormous.
Remember that the public nature of Twitter requires you to be warm, approachable and responsive while remaining professional with your peers. Implement these tips and listen to your current followers, and your company could become the next big trending topic.
Mike Barbre is a contributing writer for Intermedia’s Exchange Hosting, a full-service web hosting company. Coming from the public relations industry, Mike is now a social media community manager. When not on the web, you can find him rooting furiously for his Seattle-area sports teams. You can follow him on Twitter @MikeBarbre.
Ensuring Your Corporate Employee Newsletter is Relevant by Turning Business Concepts into Tangible Stories of Success
Written by Elizabeth C. Castro and Marsha Burton
One of the things I try to do as a communicator is keep up with the latest techniques and improve upon existing ones that are still relevant. So I often like to look back at old work to see whether it stands the test of time or how I might approach the same piece years later.
The other day I was looking at my archives of past work samples and came across some old employee newsletters from 2004. At the time I oversaw employee communications for a Chicago energy company and the newsletter was a big deal for employees.
Internal Communications Best Practices: Reaching Employees Who Do Not Have Email Access
Written by Elizabeth Castro
Throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to implement internal communications programs for a variety of corporations that have large numbers of employees who do not have email access. While many of us in internal communications have moved towards relying on digital channels in order to reach more people, faster, for less cost and across geographies, there is still a need for corporations to connect with large groups of employees the old fashioned way— verbally through their supervisors and on paper. The biggest internal communications challenge for legacy companies or newly formed parent companies with satellite locations is to ensure corporate messages reach, and are meaningful to, employees who are in the field.
Blogging 101: Getting Started
Written by Mandy Boyle
Surveys by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that the blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults, or about 8% of adult internet users. The number of blog readers has also jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39% of the online population. That’s huge.
“The act of telling your story and sharing part of your life with somebody is alive and well — even more so than at the dawn of blogging,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project in a recent New York Times article.
So what if you’re ready to tell your story and share part of your life? How can you get started? What’s the best way to break into blogging?
Four Best Practices for Partnering with a Local Celebrity to Garner Media Coverage and Drive Audience Awareness
Written by Elizabeth C. Castro
If you’re a life-long Chicagoan like me, you know the 1985 Bears were – and still are – a big deal. They were the talent behind the Super Bowl Shuffle and the inspiration for a Saturday Night Live skit featuring big mustaches and “sout side” (the “h” purposely left off) accents.
So when we had the opportunity to conduct a consumer education program about an energy efficiency rebate program (www.chicagolandrebates.com) here in Chicago, we looked for a local celebrity that had a natural connection to the program – and was revered by Chicagoans. Our search led us to the legendary former Chicago Bear, Richard Dent.
Ten Rules of Engagement for Managing Unhappy Consumers on Facebook
By Elizabeth C. Castro
Earlier this month I ordered something from RueLaLa.com, the private shopping site that features upscale fashion and accessories at significantly reduced prices. The item I purchased was part of a blowout sale, meaning the prices were crazy low and the sales were final. I thought I had totally scored an amazing deal. But when the package arrived via UPS, I realized they had sent the wrong item. And of course there was no return UPS label because it was a final sale, after all.
So I started fantasizing: I’d call customer service, get into an argument with the rep and be forced to….not boycott their website, not threaten a lawsuit but….wreak havoc on their Facebook page. Get public. Find out who else had experienced the same problem and get them to wreak havoc too. We’d take it over, just like the famed Nestle case study over the sourcing of its palm oil. But alas, the scenario never happened thanks to the great customer service at Rue La La. But it got me thinking even more and more about the way that two-way dialogue via social media channels has shifted the relationship between brands and consumers.
Want to Change Your Brand’s Identity and Platform? Do it Thoughtfully
By Elizabeth C. Castro, vice president, O’Malley Hansen Communications
Give the people what they want. It’s the most basic of marketing strategies to ensure sales and success of your brands’ products. But what if your product isn’t catching on, despite what the early research indicated? You might start to consider that it’s time to change gears — everything from your brand platform, marketing and creative concepts and core messages. But what about the promises you made, the audiences you’ve already connected with and all of media spends? Well, it surely isn’t a decision that should be made lightly. Brands should consider the implications and create a thoughtful transition strategy. Here’s how:
Online Reputation is Currency for Young Professionals
Written by Mandy Boyle
We all know how important it is to build and grow your personal brand, but when you’re just starting out, it can be tough to figure out just what you should be doing to establish a solid reputation in the industry. So, to help out young professionals who need to start building a brand, here is the first in a series of posts on personal branding and what it means for you as you go through college, internships, and eventually, that first job in the industry.
Where do you begin? Well, let’s start with one of the most important facets of personal branding: your online reputation.
