Organizational communication is centered on
inspiring and managing change, so it makes sense that communication
professionals are seeing a more critical role for research
in understanding and reaching their most important stakeholder
relationships (employees, customers, suppliers, dealers, etc.).
When a company is undergoing significant changes (i.e., a
merger, acquisition, slumping sales, a product launch), research
can pinpoint exactly where the issues and communication needs
are. Oftentimes, such information is considered and then only
used in limited ways. So how does a company proceed in bringing
research results to life? It’s important to review how
the research and tactical elements of communication vehicles
are matched up.
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Marketer Online
Found that 82 percent of U.S. corporations are
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Communicators need to better understand where
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Bring Results to Life
First, it would seem that any communication is better than no
communication, but is that really true? Are there messages that
are better avoided? Is there a better way to say them? Are there
sensitivities or timing issues involved in communicating appropriately?
What are the consequences for a company that neglects communicating
key messages altogether? These are some of the questions that
should be taken into consideration as the research is evaluated
and converted into tactical communication elements.
Second, gathering research is often a communication precursor
to the process itself, and there are many ways and degrees to
uncover stakeholder attitudes and satisfaction levels. On a
simple level, managers or executives just asking stakeholders how they feel or what they think can be motivating.
Inviting certain stakeholders to participate in a focus group
about a particular matter affecting them can also be an empowering
experience. However, investing the time to gather data without
any action or follow-up can just as easily have a negative and
de-motivating effect. Therefore, based on the time investment
that both the company and the individual stakeholders have made,
it’s important to reinforce that the results are being
brought to life in some fashion.
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 There
are many ways organizations communicate to employees, and oftentimes,
the most common and effective means is through face-to-face
events. Creating a dynamic experience that resonates with the
intended audience helps deliver consistent messages to a group
and brings research results to life. According to Event
Marketer Magazine, 82 percent of U.S. corporations are
now implementing events to communicate among multiple audiences
internally and externally. The following examples will focus
on the internal audience and how companies have designed event
research with their audiences’ needs in mind from the
start.
Research Scenario #1– A national transportation
firm was doing extensive internal restructuring and decided
to hold a first-ever national meeting for executives and managers.
The research gathered consisted of executive feedback regarding
top challenges and issues facing the company, and a web-based
survey submitted to attenders asking about their goals, challenges
and perceptions about recent company changes. Ultimately, company
executives found themselves limited by time and budget to incorporate
the survey information in all of the ways originally envisioned.
However, the results were used as a strategic planning tool
for the top executives and speakers attending the conference—how
they would prepare to field audience questions and how they
would shape their own key messages. In this case, while real-world
constraints forced them to operate pragmatically, the results
were used to create an event that was targeted, meaningful and
a resounding success.
Research Scenario #2 – A Fortune 500
company that prided itself on strong, constant communication
with employees was holding their annual managers meeting to
motivate and educate their team. The executive team determined
that in order to effectively achieve the goal of powerful
and lasting results from their meeting, they needed to understand
the expectations of the employees before creating
the agenda. Surveying came in the form of phone interviews,
online surveys and face-to-face interviews. While the employees
were generally content with the company and leadership, they
felt the corporate office was “over-communicating”
with them, requesting compliance on multiple initiatives at
the same time, which prevented them from doing their jobs
effectively.
 All
of these initiatives were created to support the employees
in the field, however corporate leadership failed to communicate
with one another before sending out new information, resulting
in multiple simultaneous projects and an inundation of e-mail.
This information not only surprised leadership but also motivated
them to make considerable changes, using the information to
build content for their meeting and address concerns. After
the event, the change in employee confidence and satisfaction
was measured and the results were phenomenally positive, as
they felt they had been heard and were already witnessing
changes at the top. Leadership began discussing new initiatives
internally with specific strategic goals before they were
sent out to employees to be executed.
Research Scenario #3 – A Fortune 1000
company was holding a 2,000-person annual leadership conference.
During the planning phases, a pre-conference survey questionnaire
was designed and implemented to determine the content of the
conference and maximize its value for all attenders. Questionnaire
results revealed many key, unresolved communications that
company leadership had to first address before executing a
large leadership conference. The findings of the survey were
considered and a decision to cancel their annual leadership
conference altogether was made, resulting in hard-cost savings
of 1.5 million for the company, and, more importantly, in
the soft-cost savings in terms of employees’ time and
loss of productivity due to negative perceptions and misinformation.
In this case, research helped the company understand that
the most effective conclusion was to shift the timing of their
communications.
These are only a few examples of how research can be used
to bring meaning and purpose to an organization’s communication.
This information could also serve as a powerful tool and be
used in different ways to “bring its results to life,”
both for immediate communication issues and to address broader,
cross-departmental situations—the true communication
continuum for using research and measurement. Either way,
each communication warrants gathering and applying research
in unique ways for communicating at the right time, in the
right way and through the right vehicles to effectively bring
results to life.
Nancy Powell is a Senior Account Consultant for ProActive,
Inc. (www.proactiveinc.com),
a Chicago-based firm delivering integrated event communication
solutions. For more information, please contact Nancy at npowell@proactiveinc.com
or 312.224.1104.
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