Feature Articles
Communicating
Internally – Achieving Your Balance
by Rebecca Voss Employees are inundated with
mass information and messages. It is their responsibility
to digest all this information in appropriate ways so
that they can be effective in their roles, partner with
others and help their company be profitable and competitive.
Technology—e-newsletters, web mail, instant messaging—has
greatly accelerated this environment of mass-transit
communications, and while this saves time, it creates
a bigger challenge: connecting and managing internal
information clearly to align employees and maximize
productivity.
You
Can't E-mail Face Time—Employees Want Bosses Up
Close and Personal
Report submitted by Randstad Face time. According to the
fourth annual survey of the North American workplace,
from Netherlands-based staffing organization Randstad,
those two words best describe the most preferred way
for employers to communicate with employees. The 2003
Employee Review is based on findings from 2,826 telephone
interviews conducted by RoperASW, making it one of the
most extensive employee attitude surveys conducted in
the U.S. “E-mail is far behind face-to-face meetings
as the means of communication most preferred by employees,”
said Joanne Reichardt, vice president of corporate communications
and public affairs for Randstad North America. “In
short, everyone wants face time.”
Targeted
Investment: The Key to Employee Portal Improvement
by Michael Rudnick In many organizations,
when economic conditions improve, funding becomes available
for investment in internal communication technologies.
While the potential expansion of budgets is welcome
news to communicators around the globe, capitalizing
on it requires careful, thoughtful prioritization of
still-precious resources. So what type of focused investments
should communicators consider? Intranet and employee
portal improvements should be high on the list.
Make
Your Internal Communications Memorable with Strategic
Storytelling
by Doug Stevenson Jean-Paul Sartre said, “We
understand everything in human life through stories.”
I believe that is true. We comprehend better when a
message is related in story form, and we also feel a
stronger rapport with the person telling the story.
Why not use these memorable stories in your internal
communications? When you cram too much information into
a communication, training session or presentation, you’re
doing a data dump on your listener. Nothing sticks.
Yet, if you’ve ever had a supervisor tell a story
to illustrate a point, you learned the lesson and probably
enjoyed the learning process, too.
Columns Visually
Speaking
by Suzanne Salvo Seeing IS Believing
Looking for impact and value from your ever-shrinking
communication budget? You can improve your publication’s
image by improving its images. Pixel for pixel, photos
pack a one-two punch of info and emotion into any message.
A dynamic image will draw readers into the copy, making
them want to read and learn more. Use photos to document
company events and lend credibility in a way that words
can’t. All it takes is getting the right photographer
armed with the right information—information
you supply. 
Communication
in the News Interview
with Russell Grossman, Head of Internal Communication,
BBC
by Natasha Spring
It’s better to do organizational change ‘with’
employees rather than ‘to’ them. Over the
last four years, the BBC has changed a complex internal
culture by listening to where its people wanted to take
it. The result: measurable business performance achieved
without tears...and without consultants!
Related
Links All communication is important,
but perhaps the most vital to the health and well-being
of any company is internal communication. As this month's
feature articles demonstrate, increasing the effectiveness
of internal communication can take many forms, from
increasing face-to-face communication to improving employee
intranets or portals. The following links provide additional
tips and resources to supplement these articles.
Case
Studies Industry
News
- Connecting Organizational Communication to Financial
Performance
- Good Communications Keep Employees on Board
- Internal Communication Key Tool for Bottom-Line
Results
- Internal Communications in Professional Firms
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