I could go on and on… I’m just eternally grateful for the multitueds of people I managed when I was still working out the basics like the first one you mention above.

When I was at Melcrum, we produced some interesting research on ‘hard-to-reach’ employees — ‘hard-to-reach’ either because (1) they have access to technology but work in different offices or (2) because of the nature of their job and/or they’re ‘unwired’ — eg factory/restaurant/shop floor, delivering on the road, working on a train/plane, etc.

A couple of things come to mind about this second group — hoping they reinforce/illustrate rather than just repeat your, Christopher’s and Siva’s points!

1. Face-to-face is the gold standard
Email often isn’t an effective channel anyway, particularly for key strategic/change messages. It’s cold and impersonal. Dense information. Too much information. No opportunities for feedback. And so on.

There is also an extra value from face-to-face — engagement through attention given. As an employee, if my manager or even someone from head office takes extensive time to explain the company’s strategy and how my work makes a difference, I would feel really valued and all the more engaged.

Rolls-Royce has a history of using storyboards to communicate business strategy to managers. It also has a senior employee representative group and when this group experienced a storyboard session explaining strategic issues, they suggested rolling it out right across the whole company. They did so — two-hour sessions of 10-12 people for 37,000 employees…!

Face-to-face requires dedication and buy-in from leadership/managers. And it costs a lot, particularly in terms of time and production down-time. But it’s unbeatable really and the Rolls-Royce example is a very extreme one.

2. Start with the question, “When and where do employees want to be communicated with?”
Comms departments need to start with their audiences and work backwards — I suppose the old cliché of ‘outside-in’ talked about in marketing. It’s not about, “What channel do we want to use?” but “What channel do the employees want us to use?”

Get into the mindset of the employees — think about how and where they work, the cycle of their day, etc. Perhaps they’re not getting time to read the bulletin boards. Perhaps the boards are in the wrong place relative to their primary work ‘station’. Perhaps they’re part-time workers who don’t ever go to the canteen or staff restroom. Perhaps they just want to get straight home after a day’s work, rather than lingering in the staff restroom. Etc.

So, why not try a short meeting or site visits at particular times when all employees are around?

Marks & Spencer, like many retailers, use 10-minute meetings at the start of each shift. KFC have short ‘huddles’ focused around particular actions that need to be completed. Meanwhile, Rentokil-Initial organised a ‘roadshow’ to ensure key managers were visiting employees on the ground at all its UK sites.

3. Also, “How do the employees like their communications?”
What content? What style/language?

So, they sit in the staff restroom every day but never read the bulletin boards – why not Perhaps the posters are just too densely laid out (without images that bring the text to life, for example). Perhaps the language is just inaccessible to them – packed with ‘management speak’ or far too long-winded given English is a second language to many of the employees. And so on.

Once again, it comes back to being all about the audience first and foremost. And don’t make assumptions. Just because they’re getting bored in the half-yearly PowerPoint presentation, don’t assume it’s the complexity of the strategic information you’re trying to communicate that’s bringing on the yawns — don’t be tempted to dumb it down.

Rolls-Royce subtracted very little from their original storyboards when they talked them through on the factory floor. They found that, with the opportunity to explore it with the facilitators, the employees grasped it all no problem, and really appreciated not being patronised. This content was important to them as they had great interest in the future of their company and the part they were going to play in it.

And the reverse at KFC. Don’t assume that employees need/want to know the ins and outs of large-scale strategic plans. The KFC comms department did some initial research and employees fed back things like, ‘I want to be told what to do’ and ‘I want to be told what you expect of me.’ They wanted action-oriented communication “without the flowery stuff”. The comms department produced action-oriented posters that could be displayed prominently in the employees’ work areas and also could be used by managers to support their communications in those huddle meetings.

4. Employees need opportunities to provide feedback
‘Cascade’ is a tricky word because it implies trickle down to employees, rather than (iterations of) ‘communicating with employees’.

Again, developing communications tactics (including language style, delivery, feedback mechanisms, measurement systems, etc) without the involvement of employees (surveys and employee representative groups at least, or action groups in more sophisticated processes) is like developing a product in a vacuum without reference to customers.

And the communications can’t just stop after the particular delivery — there are employee responses, reactions, next phases, etc. Communication departments need to engage employees and keep them engaged, and this can only be achieved in partnership with them.

5. Technology is cheaper than you think
IBM, Sun Microsystems, BT… they have phenomenal, integrated tech platforms, with all the bells and whistles, for vertical and horizontal communication. Okay, you’d kind of expect that from a tech company.

But you don’t have to be a tech pioneer to have broader e-platforms for communicating with your employees.

For example, like British Airways many companies have installed computer kiosks in crew rooms, so anyone can log on and access the company intranet.

Also, organizations have been using SMS for years to keep remote groups up to date with urgent announcements or important news. And now that employees have smart phones, they can access their companies’ employee sites and sign up for all sorts of pull comms.

That is, if they’re incentivised to do so – the content doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to be relevant, interesting and engaging (employee generated comments, CEO’s down-to-earth blog, competitions, etc)

Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that networks and social media aren’t as expensive as you might think. There are loads of IT developers and service providers out there and competition makes for quality tools at cheap prices.

For High Priority Works ( eg : A project requirement ) — Here the manager conveys the message over a presentation (status meeting) highlighting the requirements or requesting for a prototype from one of his employs . By verifying the prototype , the manager can succeed in achieving his requirements .

For Low Priority Works ( eg : Requirement of 10 employees from Designing department with 10% extra payment for the night shift ) — This can be sent in the form of a circular or a form and the employees in the design department who are willing can sign up for the job.. This again becomes a 2-Way Communication .