You Can`t Kiss A JPEG

Scott MacKenzie done a sterling job chairing the CIPR Inside annual conference on Internal Communications on Monday, check his blog here for a summary. I came away with a sense of optimism and confidence about the future for employee engagement. Comparing the day with the first CIPR Inside conference seven years ago the shift was notable .

From ‘Old Hack’ to ‘Cutting Edge’
Niall Cook impressed the audience with a consultants view of how social media can improve the Efficiency, Effectiveness and Efficacy of internal communications, especially with a workforce that is part of a mobile society. You might be surprised that his presentation doesn’t appear on his blog but you wont be dissapointed to learn that he posted the above photo of Scott opening the conference here on Twitpic.

From ‘Silo Thinking’ to ‘Thought Leadership’
Great to see Sharon Saxton and Leona Deakin representing HR and OD and making the link between effective communications and employee engagement. They gave specific insights on managing survivor syndrome and maintaining business performance in organisations during difficult times.

From ‘Plaudits’ to ‘Audits’
The subject of measurement was well discussed during the interactive session showing the increasing pressure on operational budgets and demonstrating return on investment.  Paul Inglefield showed us all how he has deployed best practice communications on a modest budget at Camden Council. Residents of Camden can rest assured that their council tax is being put to good use.

From ‘Mailing Lists’ to ‘Audience Insights’
Audience segmentation is a passion of mine. So it was great to hear Niall talk about the future potential of social network analysis as a tool to help understand employee behaviour.

However, the greatest insight on segmentation came earlier in the day.  In my 24 years in industry I had never appreciated the fact that all engineers are bearded, sandal wearing people who are just like their colleagues in finance  - thrive on data, have small right brains and don’t understand the value or art of communications!

I wonder why I had failed to see this.
Is it because I graduated from the dark side of arts – engineering – and cannot see the wood for the trees?
Is it because engineers like me who studied control and system theory are different to those other engineers who do boring things like design rockets?
Is it because I am the exception to the rule?

Whatever,  it just goes to show…you should always try and understand a little bit about your audience before you communicate with them or you might just end up putting your foot in it.

It’s not rocket science!

Recent research by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) shows senior management need to do more to win the trust of their employees.

The Index of Leadership Trust 2009 report suggests that employees have far more confidence in their line managers than chief executives. Interestingly, it suggests that CEOs need to demonstrate more integrity whilst line managers need to demonstrate more empathy to win the trust of their workforce.

Penny De Valk, ILM’s chief executive, said: “Teams are more effective in a trusting environment, and people work better and harder if they trust their leaders.

“For leaders, being good at their job is simply not enough anymore. The more senior you are, the more gap between what you say and what you do… is amplified.”

Listen to what Penny has to say in her interview with BNet.

Closing the gap. That’s what we help organisations do; helping them build trust between employees and leadership and management at all levels.

We know from experience that employees are influenced more by leadership actions than words. It’s all about Leadership; Leadership by example.

The contents of the MacLeod report saved as a word cloud.

Here are 2 other perspectives of MyCloud, which I suppose proves that it doesn’t matter which way you look at it, it says the same thing.

While Ross Brawn was preparing to lead the Brawn GP team to victory at the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend, Gordon Brown was polishing his leadership speech to the Parliamentary LP to avert political rebellion.  Facing very different dilemmas, they share the challenge of seeking unity and engagement of their teams around a central organising thought.  This challenge is only too familiar outside the worlds of politics and is part of life in the day of leaders of businesses and brands.  All leaders who seek to engage with their audience could learn from Aristotle’s Rhetoric: The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.

Brown’s supporters would argue that Monday’s rallying cry would satisfy two of the three important divisions of rhetoric: Logos (consistency and logic) and Ethos (good character, good sense and good will). He has been consistent on his message about creating stability and no one could argue the logic and good sense of stability when you are on a cliff edge. Reminiscent of the closing scene on the Italian Job, we are all left wondering whether he will pull it off. Gordon Brown may lack the affable qualities of the main character, loveable rogue Charlie Croker, but he has consistently demonstrated good character and good intent.

But what of the third, and most important, division of rhetoric, Pathos (the ability to relate to audience needs and give emotional appeal)? Brown’s apparent lack of passion is something that distances him from Brawn (see previous post). The final episode of The BBC’s Apprentice demonstrated the importance of Pathos with the polished, pitch-perfect Kate losing out to the passion and gritty determination of Yasmina; clearly something that Sir Alan Sugar values. Perhaps he can offer some counsel to Gordon when he joins the cabinet as Enterprise Czar.

Sir Alan praises the prime minister for being “resolute in his position”. Brown is deliberate and exhibits political rhetoric by remaining focused on the future and seeking expediency of a forward looking agenda, rather than being drawn into legal rhetoric which focuses on the past. He doesn’t dwell on accusation or justification of legacy issues but instead chooses to deal with the issues of the day, tackling the current issues head on and addressing the need for reform. A challenge he shares with most business leaders that uncover misdemeanours of previous management while they are at the helm illustrates the need for transparency and accountability.

So, while Brown and Brawn can declare victory this week, there is probably less confidence in the Brown camp of ultimate victory this season. But in an attempt to build public confidence and trust he is setting out proposals for improving levels of public engagement: engaging citizens with their local communities, engaging MPs with their constituencies and engaging young people with politics. Reaching out and relating to the emotional needs of the wider population cannot be addressed by policy alone.  Yet how many leaders are measured on the number of skip-level tours or briefing sessions in an attempt to improve engagement?

I suspect team engagement is an area where Brawn trumps Brown, but it is always easier to empathise with people when you have stood in their shoes. Brown’s attempt to demonstrate he is in touch with the public mood by publicising his private phone calls to Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle as she was in recovery in the Priory appears rather futile. I’m not suggesting our Prime Minister should apply to appear on Britain’s Got Talent next year, but it has got me wondering if there was an ulterior motive for his call to SuBo!

There may be lessons from Number 10’s use of media in engagement. Their dedicated YouTube site has the Comments field disabled and on average each video receives about 6,ooo views.  In contrast, Brown’s most popular video is his “Ask the PM” video which has attracted 30 times the number of viewings. And the relevance for business leaders? How effective are scripted blogs, podcasts and corporate videos in engaging with employees? The lesson is clear – true leadership and engagement is about creating dialogue.

‘Quality, not Quantity’ probably sums up the contributions to this year’s more intimate Marcus Evans conference, held in Amsterdam last week.

The Brand Union co-sponsored the event, so I had the privilege of chairing day 1: eight inspiring speakers across a wide spectrum of sectors from Healthcare to Hospitality and from Food to Finance, with one thing in common; their passion for Employee Engagement. 

So, inspired by the thoughts, views and opinions stimulated by the sessions,  we’ve created a blog called “You can’t Kiss a JPEG” – an expression that’s “borrowed with pride” from HP’s Rupal Purohit Ulrich when she used it effectively to make the case for face-to-face engagement. Because, despite all the powerpoint presentations in the world, social media and Flash wizzardry, you can’t replace the power of face-to-face.Three key takeouts for me were:

1. Daniel Vannier from hospitality service provider Sodexo tapping into his 350,000 (yes that is 4 x zeros!) colleagues across the world to understand cultural differences and validating the often criticised work of Geert Hofstede.

2. Kraft’s Annica Johansson introduced a third dimension to engagement’s Hearts and Minds – Clean Hands; thereby making the strong link between employee brand engagement & employer brand with CSR. 

3. Building on all the compelling reasons that the speakers gave for investment in engagement and employer brand (especially in tough times), Joao Duarte from Italian energy giant Enel presented the highly emotive argument that “Engagement saves lives”. Who said engagement was fluffy stuff?

Our very own Pete Bell argued the case for not downing tools during a down turn, learning lessons from recent case studies. See it here: 

Peter Bell: No Time to Down Tools

Two great days concluded with table discussions on emerging topics – Measurement,  Channels and Engaging line Managers. The richness of these discussions made it apparent that the dialogue needs to continue. So, while you can’t kiss a jpeg, you can post a blog.

So join the debate. We welcome any points, posts and pixels you care to share. To stimulate your thoughts have a look at the following thought pieces:

 1. Measurement              2. Channels                 3. Engaging Line Managers