The top trend of 2012 is getting employees engaged with
their company!
Companies are realizing how valuable their employees are.
Employees who understand and emulate a company’s vision as well as engage with
the brand create a loyal customer base by delivering a better customer
experience. Studies show on average that companies with engaged employees are
20% more profitable. Engaged employees are more productive and act as brand
ambassadors. Companies with effective employee communication have also reported
a reduction in employee absenteeism and higher employee performance reviews.
However, employee engagement is easier said than done. Internal communications has historically been
viewed as a key challenge for companies.
It is time for companies to shift that view from challenge to
opportunity.
I am studying the many aspects of internal communication and
change management as it applies to corporate settings at Northwestern's Medill School of IMC. One of the first realizations I had is that the
corporate culture of the organization deeply affects how communications are both disseminated
and received.
To successfully leverage your employee base you need to
communicate the value of the brand to them.
This needs to be done in a way that will reach them. Think about the
culture of the organization, but also put yourself in your employees’
shoes. Ask yourself how do they prefer
to receive communications from the company?
What about the communication is relevant to them? What as the business leader am I asking of
them?
Communicating the value of the brand is the first step, but
now you must reinforce brand behavior in the organization. This starts with good leadership. Managers must be trained to understand their
job responsibility entails communications. This may seem obvious, but often it
is found that day-to-day work functions take priority over communicating to
staff. Effective leadership supports a
cascading effect of continuous communication to all employees. This becomes very important in large
organizations. It is also important to
celebrate small wins along the way so employees see the behavior rewarded.
Engaged employees are more knowledgeable and have positive
sentiments about the brands they serve.
This will drive them to deliver a better customer experience, leading to
loyal customers and increased profits.
These profits can be used towards benefits that further engage
employees. It’s a solid cyclical investment.
Your framework to follow is simple.
1.
Understand your corporate culture. What is your history as a company? As a
brand? What are the shared norms of behavior? What are the values?
2. Now leverage this understanding to tailor
communications to the different segments of employees in your organization.
3.
When tailoring your communications try to approach employees on both a rationale and
emotional level. Find out what employees care about. Surprisingly it is not just money that
motivates employees. Mostly employees’
want choice, they want autonomy. They
want the freedom to use their iPhone over the company issued blackberry or to work from home once a week.
4.
Open up channels that encourage two-way
communication. You can’t learn what they
want if you aren’t listening. And it is not just what employees want that employers can learn, front line
employees have business and customer insights leadership will never have.
Jamie Kavanagh is a
graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Integrated Marketing Communications. Prior
to Northwestern Jamie spent eight years working with General Motors handing a
variety of roles from purchasing to experiential marketing. Jamie is passionate
about corporate communications, especially the importance of employee
communication. Jamie will be graduating in December 2012.
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