Upstairs Communications Ltd » business benefit

Internal communication is vital but…

Rosie Fyles — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:40:52 +0000

Organisations seem to be facing the same challenges at the same time in internal communication right now: is it best to talk about what you (top level management) have decided and know now – or wait – until concensus is reached on communication? Agremeent is being sought not just on what is said, but on how it’s said, when it’s said, how many times it’s said, who says it, what languages it’s said in..we could go on.

While this process escalates – and is repeated, probably – employees (not top level management) will have their own assumptions about what is happening, some will have already picked up on aspects of what is happening too. Theories about what is about to be done (to them, not with them or by them) will be discussed and engagement, productivity and time will inevitably be lost. Such delays – or perceived silences – often attack trust. And while internal communication is rightly at the top of the senior management agenda, this focus is not actually getting the job done.

Times have changed – the right people are discussing how to communicate and realising the importance of communication within the organisation. It’s just that in some cases, it’s not these people that are doing the communicating, they’re talking about doing it…

Rosie Fyles — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:08:20 +0000

To Infinity and beyond….

Rosie Fyles — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:32:53 +0000

New client Infinity are all about recognising that every one of us learns differently and that all organisations have expectations when they fund training for their employees i.e. it does actually have to deliver some proven business benefit. Infinity ‘always start with the end result in mind’, which is not a bad maxim for any of us. We’ve worked with Infinity on their new branding and presence at the upcoming World of Learning event in November. It’s made us think about a) what infinity means, b) school (for many of us, what learning shouldn’t be) and c) e-learning/blended learning. So working with them, we have learnt things…

The intranet high flyers

Rosie Fyles — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:31:14 +0000

The Nielsen Norman 10 best intranets of 2008 voted British Airways’ intranet ‘Employee Self Service’ the only UK place in its recent listing. Citing cost savings and communcation improvements, it’s an interesting vote given recent PR and customer relationship calamaties for BA and the current difficult times in the aviation industry. A case of the external image being very far from what is going on internally, perhaps.

The Nielsen Norman 10 best intranets of 2007 voted the RSPB’s intranet the only intranet in the UK worthy of a global top ten ranking. The comment in the summary report that ‘beautiful bird photos illustrate top stories’ is in the context of discussions about an average intranet containing 6 million pages.

The RSPB’s success is a welcome reminder that sometimes something plain lovely says it all. And perhaps more usefully for those a bit content-heavy amongst us, that a picture does tell a 1000 words, or pages more.

No.1 in internal communication

Rosie Fyles — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:27:45 +0000

We were asked by a client to speak at an internal communication workshop for 21 communications managers held in Hong Kong last week. With an eye on our carbon footprint – and our client’s 2 eyes on budget – we had the pleasure of presenting to the group via a fantastic video conferencing suite. Our enjoyment of the technology and attention to detail of the facility were marred only slightly by our attendance at 5.30am…

Our topic ‘New frontiers in internal communication’ was an interesting one… We looked at lots of internal communications tools that were growing in usefulness and prominence (the role of web 2.0 internally, wikis, podcasts, every picture telling a story, feedback, feedback and more feedback) and also talked about the key drivers in employee engagement. Take a look at the presentation which is packed full of budget-proof statistics that prove internal communication matters. And what large conclusions global surveys of communication professionals drew.

What were our conclusions?

Leadership communication is the number 1 in internal engagement. Formal media are weak in impact compared to the words and actions – informal and formal – of the people at the top. Our leaders are judged on how they communicate, their reputation is vital and face to face is where they really make the most impact…

The future for internal communications is an interesting one – we’ll be ‘holding the space’ for the communication tools that allow unfettered interactivity. And we’ll be the personal brand managers of the leaders that count.

Are there really ‘new frontiers’? Probably not. The tools are different and we have more choice in what we use and how we use it. However, the business imperative and proving the business benefit are still – and always will be – the keys. There is nothing new there.

New Frontiers presentation (PowerPoint)