tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110563112024-03-07T06:41:09.182+00:00The leap insideLeapfrog Corporate Communications changes the way organisations think about communication. We create the right outcomes through communication rather than simply creating glossy output.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.comBlogger487125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-33615898802976622272013-07-31T12:31:00.001+01:002013-07-31T12:31:32.836+01:00Time for Considered CommunicationI am rapidly assuming the status of a dinosaur - with a bit of King Canute wrapped in. I go to communication meetings and challenge the wisdom that all that is new must be good (and the implied, but rarely expressed, view that everything conceived before 2008 is bad). When the agencies I meet talk social, I talk business impact. When they press the benefits of Infographics, I question the outcome they're trying to achieve. When they press for digital solutions, I fight for the quality of content.<br />
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Unlike the dinosaur, I've seen at least two revolutions in my IC career and have survived. Almost 20 years ago we were told email would take over the communication world - it did - and we've fought against it ever since. A decade later came the rise of the intranet and the supposed thrust for collaborative working. Until very recently, most intranets became hungry beasts demanding huge time commitment to keep them fresh, but offering questionable organisational benefit. The move towards social communication is bringing new life into these beasts - but young, equally fresh, innovative communicators appear set to dump the PC-planned platform and drag their organisations (sometimes kicking and screaming) into a mobile age where all we need to grow our businesses and collaborate with the world is the latest social communication app and a smart device to run it on.<br />
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It's great in that Millennial world and I'm absolutely all for innovation in the platforms, the speed and the connectivity that bring people together in business. But I'm also more than aware that just 35% of the workforce is Gen Y (that's born after 1980) and only around half of those are true Millennials (that's digital natives who have joined the workforce since 2008). Today's workforce is still dominated in numerical terms by Baby Boomers and Generation X, while around 80% of the UK's workforce work in small and mediums sized enterprises where great communication matters greatly - but where enterprise social networks are not at the top of the business agenda. Should they be? <br />
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Perhaps social needs to be more important to many more organisations, but the reality is that unless you happen to work in a start-up technology or marketing business, Boardrooms will continue to be dominated by the Boomers and Gen X until at least 2025. Consequently, in order to inspire these business leaders to adopt social communication to drive effective stakeholder engagement, communicators need to work <em>with</em> them and appreciate their needs and behaviours rather than merely impose solutions that appeal to only that part of any workforce that has grown up with a smart device grafted to their arm.<br />
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I am frankly getting fed up with being told that social answers every comms issue I have. It doesn't. I get more than a little bile in my throat when some bright spark tells me 'a picture's worth a thousand words and here's out latest infographic tool - it's cutting edge.' Infographics new? So what was Leonardo da Vinci doing more than 500 years ago? I get thoroughly pee'd off when I'm told we're all too time poor to read anything, or listen to anything or watch anything or, God forbid, actually meet anyone. All we have time to do is tweet or yammer away or contribute to the latest chatter. Surely the purpose of all these digital channels is to save us time - so why aren't we using it effectively?<br />
We are not time-poor, but attention-poor. It would seem our Millennials have all the time in the world to indulge in the latest learn-your-business-though-an-online-game (which, having not been brought up with fat thumb syndrome, I find tedious and a waste of my time), but have no appetite for a face-to-face event.<br />
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Yet in running head-long into applying social/digital to every communication issue, are we not in danger of imposing solutions that actually run counter to many stakeholders' desires and appeal only to the comms innovators in the same way that the first wave of intranets met only the needs of IT developers a decade ago?<br />
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<strong>Fast v Slow Food</strong><br />
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For me, today's digital comms are the fast food of the comms menu - exciting to look at, sold with a lot of razzmatazz, but ultimately not very fulfilling. There's absolutely a place for them in communication and as the business demographic change and social comms gains a degree of maturity, they will develop into the staples of our future menu. <br />
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But I have a huge amount of respect for the slow food movement. The principle behind slow food is to reconnect people with where their food comes from and how it is produced so they can understand the implications of the choices they make about the food they put on their plates. We encourage people to choose nutritious food, from sustainable, local sources which tastes great.<br />
What on earth does that have to do with communication? The Slow Food movement started in Italy in 1989 when people began to realise that all that was good in the history, tradition and indeed culinary genius of their food was being lost to the relentless rise of homogenous, cheap, internationalised, soul-less invaders - from pizza to burgers industrialised tacos and the rest that had no connection with the locality in which it was sold.<br />
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I commend something similar for IC. For the past 20 years, we've built great skills in face-to-face communication; in authentic leadership communication; in developing the roles of managers and supervisors and in putting great effort into creating content that's timely, relevant, audience-tailored and where its impact on business performance can be measured and acted on. We've developed process that has enabled IC to move from being remote and top-down to being embedded in business and recognised as a crucial business function. We've become exemplars for high quality work - enabling others to learn from our expertise.<br />
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But there's a push to change that role. To move from being creators to curators - no longer setting the standard for quality, but merely providing the frames in which anyone can use any social tool to 'communicate' any kind of content - regardless of its quality, worth to the organisation or impact on stakeholders is wrong. To me, that's an abdication of all that has been good in IC since the 90s. Some IC pros 'get' that to curate effectively, they still need to manage content - but with true socialisation, is that actually possible?<br />
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Despite the extreme fascination with the technology of social media, I'm still told that content is king. Yet there's a paradox here, since socialisation seems to be letting anyone share any old tat. The emphasis on good quality communication that actually connects with its intended audiences seems to have been lost. We're rather stuck in that myth that 'anyone can write; anyone can take a picture'. So, by the same token, I can count, so will Finance let me loose on the accounts?<br />
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I am old school when it comes to effective writing; to good storytelling and to ensuring the imagery I use actually is fit for purpose with a particular audience group - that's where I add expertise. I'm equally old school in fitting the right medium to the need - and still believe that face to face communication - and the in-person connection of teams, leaders and the rest is what we should aim for. That's real social communication.<br />
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Of course, in the globalised world of major organisations that's often an ideal we aspire to - but digital comms should be used to enhance and support the need for face to face - not replace it.<br />
Equally, while I have no intention to clamp down on social as a great means of collaboration, I'm still keen to push IC's role as exemplar of all that's good in comms. We cannot abdicate our responsibility for producing great content. While we have a role in bringing up the standards of the rest of our organisation, we're not just the coach. IC teams need to include inspiring creative talent too (or at least access to talent who really understand the organisation). The IC-pro as manager and curator appears to me to be a backwards step.<br />
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So am I advocating a 'Slow Communication' movement? Far from it. What I am advocating is Considered Communication: a blend of all we've learned that's good from the past 20 years with what's new and emerging, managed and delivered by a team of all the talents.<br />
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I may be a movement of one. I hope not. I may just be the last dinosaur caught in the death throws of a dying style of internal comms. If that's so, it saddens me.<br />
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I've already been called King Canute. But that doesn't worry me. Canute did not believe he could hold back the sea, but sat at the water's edge to prove to his followers that he was not all powerful. I am all for progress and all for the evolution of IC. What I don't believe is that everything social and everything digital actually equates to progress.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-26483279851291919982013-07-19T13:44:00.000+01:002013-07-19T13:44:17.604+01:00Summertime - and your living could be easier if you had an experienced comms pro to cover for you...It looks like I'm well set up from September. Nice stuff in the pipeline to look forward to. But, as sometimes happens around these hot summer months, the pipeline’s more a dribble than a deluge at the moment.<br />
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So, if anyone’s looking for some IC or B2B comms cover over the summer – please do get in touch. You’ll be guaranteed speedy service, experienced, effective communication and the odd thrust of witty banter.<br />
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All projects and proposals considered – while the jam tomorrow will be nice, a bit of bread and butter today wouldn’t go amiss.</div>
Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-3267317546597766032013-07-15T14:50:00.001+01:002013-07-15T14:50:28.806+01:00Great facilitation doesn't mean being nice to everyone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I keep saying I'm going to stop cross-posting from <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog.com</a> - and then I do it again...<br />
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I’ve been talking facilitation over the weekend and realise that the advice I gave to my contact might have a wider appeal. He’s organising an away day to bring together the management, workers, trustees and volunteers of an organisation going through some painful times, with a view of building a collective vision for the future, and an action plan to turn them all around towards the right direction.<br />
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It’s a tough challenge for one day! But here’s what I told him:<br />
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<em><b>“To make your away day effective, you need your facilitator to be challenging – to be independent of the issues and ask the idiotic or awkward questions that need to be answered but that no-one tied to the organisation would think or dare to raise</b>. There is absolutely no point in everyone turning up and taking on their usual roles and delivering the responses they perceive are expected of them. From long experience of doing this kind of thing, the definition of madness is to do the same things over and over, yet expect to achieve a different result.</em><br />
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<em>“I’m sure your facilitator will be perfectly aware of that and won’t fall into the trap of letting everyone get a little too comfortable. From what you told me it sounds as though your organisation faces some significant issues. Your away day looks like a fantastic opportunity to face up to those issues, shake out people’s worries, gripes and prejudices and start moving forward with a common vision. The best way to reach that common vision will be to enable everyone attending to leave their ‘role’ within the organisational structure at the door and to work together as equals with an equal stake in XXX’s future success. You need to get your facilitator to enable that right up front, otherwise the danger is that you’ll all end up being terribly nice to each other…. and actually achieve nothing.”</em><br />
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Often, facilitators see their role as jollying people along and keeping the peace, remaining ‘outside’ the discussion. My perception is that the best facilitators are far more active: agreeing objectives and desired outcomes up front, and managing the conversations so that the right questions are asked; the right debates entered and the right issues aired to enable the participants to act rather than just talk.<br />
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I’m looking forward to the feedback from my contact’s upcoming event.<br />
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Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-9913310744555690422013-07-02T15:24:00.001+01:002013-07-02T15:24:36.412+01:00Jam tomorrow, but a bit of bread and butter today would be handy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday was the first working day in almost three years that I've not been on a retainer or working to an open PO. In once sense it felt good. One client's work had moved from 'project' to 'business-as-usual', while with the other, I'd fulfilled the brief of training up someone on the inside of the organisation to take up the reins for IC. In most other senses it felt bad as I'd communicated myself out of two jobs. <br />
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In the great scheme of things I'd be slipping seamlessly into other work without even breaking stride. I wish I could say that was the case. I had the opportunity to take up a contract role this summer, but passed on it. As I found out more about it, I realised I was less and less suited to it - after 13 years of doing my own thing, I've found I'm exceedingly reluctant to work in-house for someone else. <br />
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I passed up the chance in part because a couple of other opportunities were out there for interesting projects that played to my consultancy/tactical strengths - both give me the chance to get in to a business, work with their IC people to set clear objectives, build a plan and work on some of the tactical stuff (and then hand the work back in house once my part's delivered). Both opportunities are still there, both will happen...but not quite yet. <br />
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I'm doing some summer school teaching for the next five weeks, and also bits and pieces of tactical IC stuff - plus starting to work on a b2b White Paper. But I've got time on my hands now and that makes me uneasy. While there's plenty of jam tomorrow, I need a bit more bread and butter today. <br />
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So, if anyone's in need of an additional pair of hands on IC projects over the next seven weeks, please do get in touch at <a href="mailto:mark.shanahan@leapfrogcomms.com">mark.shanahan@leapfrogcomms.com</a>. I'm good at what I do; bad at marketing myself; and completely rubbish at thumb twiddling. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-34415907886294268642013-07-01T17:14:00.000+01:002013-07-01T17:14:09.448+01:00The answer's social media - now what's the question?Another cross-post from <a href="http://www.insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog</a>.com<br />
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Last week I read a request for help on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=10567473&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile"><span style="color: #507811;">LinkedIn</span></a> that so vexed me that I’m still thinking about it a week on.<br />
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A member of an IC interest group wrote: <em>“I’m struggling to engage a specific group of employees who are reluctant to embrace social media any suggestions on some new innovative ways?”</em><br />
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My response was: <em>“Do they have to embrace social media? It would seem that whatever the question is for IC pros at the moment, the answer is ‘social media’. Sometimes, in its many and various forms, it is the answer – but not always. </em><br />
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<em>"We seem to be losing the art of face to face communication and the appetite for traditional comms. In the rush to embrace the electronically-driven social world, that could be a very costly error. Have you talked to this group? What’s their take on comms? Are there channels and media that they appreciate and respect? What’s worked for them in the past – do you know the reasons why they’re not embracing social media?”</em><br />
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<em>“Without knowing that side of the story, it’s tricky to suggest a way forward. But, the newest, sexiest, shiniest forms of comms aren’t always the best for any particular group, and the worst mistake we can make is to impose what we like onto a group with a different (and perhaps just as valuable) perspective.”</em><br />
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The debate has gathered almost two dozen comments, with a group suggesting various options to draw this non-specified audience into social media, while others have either supported me, or in the case of <a href="http://jimshaffergroup.com/"><span style="color: #507811;">Jim Shaffer</span></a>, moved the debate on a little. Jim’s point is that we shouldn’t be arguing about traditional v social, but, as he said: “The question and a lot of the responses here are about process versus results or outcomes. What results are you trying to change? What outcomes do you want from “embracing social media?” It would seem that if people 1) had access to a solution that would improve a business outcome, 2) if it was in their best interests to make the improvement and 3) it was their idea to adopt that solution, they would. Or that’s what usually happens. Asking people to embrace social media is like asking them to embrace posters.”<br />
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For me, Jim’s hit on an issue that’s worrying me more and more as I engage with comms pros here in the UK. There’s a distinct band-waggoning on social with the result that any discussion of strategy or tactics that doesn’t involve the latest application of digital wizardry is kicked out the door in double-quick fashion. There’s an assumption that social is some kind of magic bullet – and that the likes of Jim or me advocating an approach that looks at audience needs, business outcomes and the best way for comms to enable such an outcome must be something akin to walking with dinosaurs.<br />
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It’s worrying to me in that we seem to be knocking back a good decade of internal comms evolution – the decade that took us from output to outcome and brought leaders across organisations out from behind their emails. To me, there’s a real danger that too much emphasis on social will push our leaders back behind their electronic walls – while too much emphasis on social media will over-dignify the technology, while underplaying the need for solid comms that brings people together in the right way to achieve the right outcomes. Too many people are getting a little too excited about the outputs again – without considering if they’re achieving the right results.<br />
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There’s so much talk of social media democratising business – but do you know what? Businesses aren’t democracies. And unless the principles of capitalism are about to fail, they’re not about to become democracies. I am immensely in favour of social’s ability to enable collaboration; to break down the barriers of geography and time zones. But it’s not a panacea. Surely it will enhance our communication offering, not replace all that has gone before?<br />
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Not according to Gartner, apparently. Last Thursday I headed up to Milton Keynes to listen to the very excellent <a href="http://www.allthingsic.com/mkicomms/"><span style="color: #507811;">Rachel Miller </span></a>talking about ‘putting the social into communications’. In a really informative and entertaining presentation, she raised many points I agree with – and a few I’d take issue with.<br />
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Of course, the first slide above is Gartner’s interpretation. But really? 80% in two-and-a-half years? That may well be true in the largest organisations or ones that are staffed largely by Millennials. But it most certainly won’t apply to the pick and pack barns I work with, or the leave-your-own-device-in-your-locker call centres; or even among the care workers who regard their phones as something to use voice to voice. We’re getting a little too carried away by the social wave – and I’m not sure enough people are holding it up to scrutiny.</div>
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To be fair to Rachel, she absolutely is – and was at pains in her talk to balance social media with other tools in our comms toolkit. She emphasised strongly that social is a state of mind – it’s fit for purpose for some, but not all, and should be dialled up and down depending on need.</div>
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She raised another point though that I don’t want to agree with. It’s about the changing role of comms professionals.</div>
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Okay. I’m still with those dinosaurs. I’ve gone through the stage where IC ‘owned’ comms. We were the creators, shapers, packagers, and postmen; measurers, reporters and crank-the-wheel-againers. Rachel suggests that time has passed. The role of IC pros now should be to manage the display to ensure it’s as effective as it can be. The new tools and channels are placing comms in the hands of everyone in the organisation, and our role is to ensure everyone has a voice.</div>
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I’m not so sure for two reasons. First, that rapid evolution hasn’t reached most businesses yet. Even the largest organisations I work with are still operating in an old paradigm. Take up of the new-comms mantle is patchy, and the demand for good creative content from the comms team remains strong. Second, the curatorial model could invoke anarchy. Could you apply it to other functions? Should we all do a bit of accountancy or a bit of IT. Shall we just use HR for a bit of window dressing while we do all our hiring and firing and people management team by team? I like the idea in principle, but IC must do more than curate. We still need to take the lead. As much as the accountants are the experts (and not to be messed with) in Finance, we have to be seen to be the experts in comms. Yes, it’s more about facilitating, enabling and coaching than packaging – but this is not the time to abdicate responsibility.</div>
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I’m wondering if some IC pros are leaping towards that abdication because they don’t actually have the solid grounding in content creation?</div>
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As Rachel said last Thursday night: “Content is king, Queen and Jack.” Sure, we can’t own it all and nor can any IC Pro be an expert across all content fields. But actually, some of the old-paradigm dinosaurs have that expertise in bucket loads.</div>
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Perhaps the holy grail is about breaking the false divide. Social should not be separate from traditional. Everyone in IC should be focused on enabling the right business outcome – the process of how you get there is important – but what matters most is asking the right questions in the first place.</div>
Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-53814905174700409682013-06-21T15:21:00.001+01:002013-06-21T15:21:21.778+01:00Don't chase the folly of the Emperor's New Clothes: make great content your communication King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every day as I work, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leapfrogmark"><span style="color: #507811;">Twitter</span></a> provides a back-beat to my activity. I’ll delve into YouTube for information I can use, and probably will check out Facebook and LinkedIn at least a couple of times a day. I’m a regular on the <a href="http://bbc.co.uk/news"><span style="color: #507811;">BBC News </span></a>site, and a number of other sports, business and news sites that augment the daily paper I read and the radio that wakes me up - and also accompanies my transition from work to rest late in the day. A large chunk of my week is spent working on my own, but I never feel disconnected – my social set-up accompanies me through the day, wherever I happen to be working from.<br />
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I love the fact that we’re now so much more connected than in the past – whether it be purely socially or through the socialising of business communication. Every day my twitter feed is filled with the latest chat about instagram and its new video, the rise of infographics, the latest webinar, who has storified what and the best pinterest boards to check out. In fact, almost every day there appears to be a new application on the rise that could be fantastic for the businesses I work with. There’s a whole generation of social entrepreneurs out there evangelising. Some organisations are making fantastic strides in democratising the communication process and many, many stakeholders are joining in a rapid evolution of organisational communication – sweeping the old, top-down, elite-led communication paradigm away, and replacing it with a whole new era of connectivity, blurring the boundaries of work/non-work and enabling anyone who wants to be a collaborator, contributor and communicator across their organisation to assume that power.<br />
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Across a swathe of Gen-Y dominated organisations, often marketing-led and highly technology-attuned, we’re approaching communication anarchy. Not in a bad way of bombs and extremists, but in the sense of collectivism without rulers.<br />
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But then I come back to my working world: a world that in the last couple of months has seen me spending time with care workers employed by a charity (as far from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22913873"><span style="color: #507811;">BBC reports </span></a>of 15 minute care appointments as you’d possibly get); in a supply chain company’s ‘pick and pack’ operation; with sub-contracted engineers working for a power provider and in a small call centre that’s a very long way from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018vlpy"><span style="color: #507811;">third largest operation in Swansea</span></a>. None of the people I worked with was in a conventional office environment. In three out of four operations, people felt somewhat cut-off from their organisation’s leaders. All were proud of what they did, but few understood their contribution to the organisation or how they made a difference in achieving its aims. None in the three felt particularly part of any engagement revolution – not through an absence of tools and channels to get involved through, but much more so through a lack of high quality content that really connected with them. There was a consensus that their organisations were missing a trick: going all out to make the best use of technology, but not putting equal focus on the lifeblood of effective organisational communication: great content that’s timely, relevant, involving and delivers the right action.<br />
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At the call centre, staff leave their own devices in their locker. Throughout their shift, their machines display customer contact information, scripts and some very basic product information. There’s some social and admin material posted on noticeboards, and there are end-of-shift handovers where a little business information is shared – but people are, by then, very keen to get off the floor and away. It’s a hard-grind sales environment. staff turnover is high and loyalty is low. Managers and staff are rewarded on short-term sales goals – and the big picture plan is out of sight for all but the most senior. We’re now working on some simple information shared well. It’s not all about new tools – staff told us the last thing they wanted was company messaging popping up on their phones and tablets out of hours. So we’re bringing in some lunch and learns; regular team huddles; a suggestion and recognition process and much more management by walking about from a previously largely invisible senior team. At the most basic level, people want to know why they should get out of bed and what’s in it for them if they do. For the senior team, they want to know how they can keep their best people longest. In both cases, there’s a demand for up to date information, shared in a way relevant to the people involved. At this stage, it’s far from the technology-led, collaborative engagement revolution. It’s real back to basics stuff based on giving managers the confidence of a good story to share, and staff the confidence that responding and participating is actually worthwhile.<br />
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Elsewhere, my care workers, several of whom seem to manage at least two phones while serving lunches to the elderly and chatting to me with ease, want to know what’s going on in their organisation; some recognition for the extra miles they go for the people they care for; and the reassurance that the charity won’t be losing its care contracts. They exist in a vacuum, directed by weekly visit sheets that are updated by SMS. They’re low paid, almost exclusively female and generally older. But they’re open to technology – and every one I met had a smartphone. What they want is a regular channel that keeps them updated on their employer and makes them feel part of what, in the charity’s head office, is a crusade for great elderly care carried out with missionary zeal. Somehow, the link from the office to the care workers has been lost – the crumbs of communication shared are watered-down, late and poorly put together (all recognised by the charity’s trustees).<br />
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Meanwhile, my pickers and packers are much further along their journey. They’ve had three years of major change, and there’s no sense of the pace of change slowing. But they’ve been taken through every step of the change in a thoughtful, purposeful way. The change and comms manager showed me their business plan, the communications process that was helping to deliver the outcomes; the compelling narrative that provided the parameters for their communication; the stakeholder mapping that helped define who needed what, when and how; their feedback loops and speak up channels; their communication development interventions for anyone with a people management responsibility and the fairly simple, low-tech tools they’d used to involve people in the change. <br />
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In a very busy warehouse, I spent some time with a team who pick and pack components for airline engineering workshops. I asked a guy what he did: “I keep planes in the air,” he responded. For me, this was a breakthrough moment. His employer had got the content/technology balance right. This guy was connected to his company’s business aspirations and had made the connection between what he did and the benefit it brings to his end customer – a customer he never sees. But, in the breakout room, customer pictures and testimonials adorn the walls; infographics showing the supply chain stars get the narrative across quickly and effectively – and video case studies, updated monthly, detail different aspects of the business; its interaction with customers and how the products it supplies are used in aviation engineering. There was a real focus on telling great stories; using the company’s own people; and sharing just the right information (not all good news!) not just to inform the people who worked in a fairly soulless environment lifting and shifting components, but to really involve them in all aspects of the business.<br />
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The next day, I was out with a boiler engineer. Sub-contracted to a sub-contractor of one of the big six, he wasn’t actually sure at first which of the major players he was representing on our calls. He had a smart CRM device detailing calls, his schedule and enabling him to update each time he’d finished a job. But it had no other applications. About every half hour he was on the phone to ‘Dave in the office’ asking questions about obscure boiler parts, giving advice and bellyaching about his lodgings. While he was pleasant and polite with customers, there was no sense of representing his employer’s employer. He knew nothing about the power company and was unable to respond on at least two occasions when there was an open door to upsell to the customer. No-one had though to include my engineer in any kind of company communication. This was a failing of process, but also a failure to give him the right content not just to do the immediate job, but to represent effectively the company ultimately paying his wages. For him, better use of smart technology would help – but that better use has to be based on strong content that will engage his interest in the business he represents. <br />
We can have connectivity a la mode until it comes out of our ears, but if it’s not backed with the right content, it’s worthless. As internal communicators, we can’t abandon our role in creating great content or helping others in our organisation to do so. And we mustn’t forget that while the fashion among evangelists is for newer, shinier, faster and flashier all the time, most of the workforces we represent aren’t Hoxton hipsters with the latest I-pad living their lives through apps, but are much more likely to be my Polish care worker with a passion for loud phone conversations while changing beds; my call centre mums, knackered at the end of an evening shift; my picker and packer fed up of the four warehouse walls, or my engineer, sat in his van, making another call to Dave.<br />
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We need to engage these people, and while the social media revolution may help us reach them more easily, we won’t grab and keep their interest – and provoke them into really giving their all – unless we can give them content that intrigues, inspires, educates and involves.</div>
Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-22409356896628090432013-06-12T15:33:00.001+01:002013-06-12T15:52:41.409+01:00Cross-posting from insideleapfrog.com - The virtues of progressive pedantry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIioouY0fY9GFY4mTyWHpUuTg0V83dbqP14s1D8WIvnu1wiDhLH4pSTvBtIbjRif4Q9tM5sl2qQoHVXfIDXnco47rtuhyphenhyphen8h-iBVCADI123b9f5ZH5wTdGO2wC2gUupmjMbVa5T/s1600/grammar+nazi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIioouY0fY9GFY4mTyWHpUuTg0V83dbqP14s1D8WIvnu1wiDhLH4pSTvBtIbjRif4Q9tM5sl2qQoHVXfIDXnco47rtuhyphenhyphen8h-iBVCADI123b9f5ZH5wTdGO2wC2gUupmjMbVa5T/s320/grammar+nazi.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
Does grammar matter? Does the way we adorn our language with spelling, punctuation, the right constructions and even, sometimes, standard vocabulary add to the clarity of our expression? Or does it just hinder the reader’s understanding of what we’re trying to say? The world has moved on a long way from the days when a government mandarin might write:<br />
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<em>“This is offensive impertinence, up with which I will not put.”</em><br />
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Wrongly attributed to Churchill, it’s the kind of grammar pedantry that would not allow the writer to conclude a sentence with a preposition. Thankfully, the world has moved on. But, in much more recent times, I’ve noticed distinct slippage in the way we use grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. To some, that simply doesn’t matter. Oxford University’s Simon Horobin, speaking at the Hay Festival, asked grammar pedants to relax over such things as the use of the apostrophe; the spelling of words such as through (thru) and, more generally, the consistency of written English. He has a point. English is dynamic and ever changing. In fact, I’m rather surprised that he didn’t ask his audience to “chillax.” However, when it comes to business writing, the objective is to create a shared understanding, and you’ll only achieve that through consistency.<br />
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In the past couple of months, I’ve been bouncing between the usual round of client copy editing; assessing award entries, and marking undergraduate essays and dissertations. It has been illuminating in understanding just where we stand in grammar wars. From my perspective, written English is in a state of flux. There’s an age divide that seems to split those aged 35 and upwards from their younger peers, while we also have a divide between native speakers and those for whom English is a second (at least) written language.<br />
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Older writers are more structured, more formal in their use of grammar – but (huge generalisation) also more passive in their sentence construction and prone to 70 word + sentences. Late Gen Xers and the Ys and Zs following are consistent only in their inconsistency. They have a fleeting relationship with the rules of grammar, and such tools as apostrophes are sprinkled without rhyme or an awful lot of reason through their direct, active and often sparkling copy. They’ve slipped back, though, into the world of ‘amongst’, and ‘whilst’ for among and while. My students tells me it gives more gravitas to their copy. I simply repeat what my English Language tutor at Manchester University, Dr. David Denison, told me back in 1982: “It’s archaic, and a waste of ink.” That was 30+ years ago, but what was archaic then is creeping back now (and adds no gravitas!)<br />
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We’re far from txt spk taking over (another myth), but the business and essay writing of the young reflects a complete neglect of lessons around the process of written English in UK schools through the 90s and 00s.<br />
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And then there’s the rise of ‘International English’ – this new concept of English written for a global audience by non-native speakers that adopts the grammar rules of their native language. I’ll give you an example. I received some copy from a Dutch client that started: “Since today, we are rolling out a new way of working across the business.” I pointed out that this use of ‘Since’ was not something we’d say. In British English, ‘since’ always implies the past. My Dutch colleague simply didn’t get it – not entirely surprising as the construction is common in Dutch and German and used as we might use ‘from’. There are more and more examples of these internationalisms creeping in. Perhaps they’re a natural evolution, but the more crass intrusions should still be picked up with a view to helping the writer understand the nuances of British English.<br />
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Of course, the other battle is against that bastard son of American English, corporate babble. If I see another “leveraging the synergies” in my life, it will be several lifetimes too soon. Every organisation has its own language style, but the continual verbalising of nouns and use of meaningless phrases simply does the language no favours at all.<br />
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I used to think of myself as a grammar Nazi – but that has a distinctly pejorative tone. Today, I’m happier as a progressive pedant. Language – and our use of it – evolves. I’m comfortable about starting a sentence with ‘And’ and ending it with a preposition. I pepper my copy with contractions, the occasional elision – and the odd flourished dash.<br />
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And now I preach what I practice. Whether through my business grammar training module, through marking and grading undergraduate essays, or simply through editing client copy for publication, I’m striving for that balance that makes the written word clear, and technically as correct as it should be.<br />
We can’t be stuffy about the development of language, but nor should we encourage creeping language anarchy. The goal has to be about creating understanding. For that, some simple rules, and their consistent implementation, is key.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-67363073443363903642013-06-11T16:23:00.000+01:002013-06-12T15:51:35.017+01:00Oi - I'm over there!It's weird that my new blog has been up and running for quite a while now, but this one still seems to get the majority of the hits - I suppose, just because it has been around for quite a while.<br />
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Anyway, if you want to know what I'm up to in terms of internal comms and engagement, pop on over to <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog</a>.<br />
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There's stuff on there on the training modules I'm currently offering, while I'm also working up a coaching piece specifically by those who are forced to communicate in business - but really don't want to. <br />
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So far, I've run it with a group of Finance and technology (and a combination of both) professionals - and it went down exceedingly well. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-73996464833398928282013-01-15T10:23:00.003+00:002013-01-15T10:23:53.990+00:00EC in EE 2013 - updateResponses to the 2013 EC in EE Survey are coming in steadily - though we're probably a shade down on the same stage in 2011. It would be great to get numbers up!<br /><br />What's gratifying is the geographic spread - plenty from the UK/North America as expected, but new responders from continental Europe, New Zealand and most recently, India - surely set to be the next IC/EC powerhouse.<br /><br />Some of what the early responders have to say is interesting - but perhaps pointing to employee engagement - and employee communications' role in it - not having moved very far in the last two years. Of course, more survey responses could change the picture entirely...<br /><br />However, as of yesterday:<br /><br />•40% of organisations still don’t have an engagement strategy, while<br />•over a quarter of organisations responding don’t differentiate between EC and EE.<br /><br />HR ‘owns’ employee engagement in almost half the organisations responding so far, with the HR Director most likely to be responsible for managing the day to day engagement agenda.<br /><br />•While intranets are all-pervasive, one in ten responders no longer use email as part of their communication mix in support of engagement.<br /><br />• Almost three quarters of respondents are using social media in their comms mix, with blogs, yammer/chatter being the most popular tools.<br /><br />•Twitter is coming up fast with over a quarter of respondents using it within their internal comms mix.<br /><br />Early responders sees the key challenges for the next 12 months as two-fold: getting management buy-in to social media and more generally, having to do more with less.<br /><br />Interested in contributing to the 2013 picture? You'll find the survey at <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esurveymonkey%2Ecom%2Fs%2Fecinee2013&urlhash=5WAl&_t=tracking_disc" rel="nofollow" target="blank">https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecinee2013</a>Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-65522188187663248542013-01-10T15:16:00.001+00:002013-01-10T15:16:13.508+00:00A cautionary tale of engagementI'm still cross-posting but will stop doing so at the end of this month. So if you like what I write, please check out the new Leapfrog blog at <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com./">insideleapfrog.com.</a><br />
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Meanwhile, here's a cautionary tale for those who perhaps don't pay enough attention to their 'net rep'. <br />
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However strong your brand; however motivated your people, your organisation’s reputation ultimately rests on the weakest link in the ambassadorial chain. A single employee bad-mouthing your business or your customers can stoke up a furore that can spiral well beyond any offence caused by the employee’s original action.<br />
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Such reputational time bombs are magnified hugely in an age where social media is fast becoming the prime feeding ground for traditional journalists who find themselves having to compete ever more vigorously for consumers’ interest in a news marketplace where you lose if you blink – never mind snooze.<br />
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Take the case of Holleh Nowrouz. Up until the end of December she was Sale Sharks Rugby Club’s social media executive. As such, her name appeared all over the club’s website; in its printed match programmes and, on behalf of the club, through a wealth of social media feeds.<br />
Sale have recently moved from their Cheshire homeland to the new <a href="http://www.salfordcitystadium.com/"><span style="color: #507811;">Salford City Stadium</span></a> and their media team have gone into overdrive promoting the club to a potential new fanbase while trying to ensure the traditional supporters continue to follow the club at its new location. Their job clearly hasn’t been helped by the fact the Sharks are rock bottom of Rugby’s Premiership, with a revolving door on the coaches’ office and marquee signings not performing to anywhere near expectations.<br />
That said, it was hardly bright of Nowrouz to post the following status update on her personal Facebook page at the end of October:<br />
<a href="http://insideleapfrog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/sale-media-furore.jpg"><img alt="Sale media furore" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-277" height="222" originalh="222" originalw="391" scale="1.5" src-orig="http://insideleapfrog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/sale-media-furore.jpg?w=391&h=222" src="http://insideleapfrog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/sale-media-furore.jpg?w=644&h=222" style="height: 243px; width: 429px;" width="391" /></a><br />
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It’s a bit blurry (and sweary) but I hope you get the gist – Nowrouz vented her frustration on an element of supporters who seemingly weren’t differentiating the efforts of the media team from those of the coaching staff. By addressing Sale Sharks fans directly and expressing her opinion of some of them through a particularly poor choice of words, Nowrouz crossed an invisible boundary. Sure, this was posted on her personal Facebook page, but her name’s well-known, and any views she expressed through social media were bound to be linked to her role as a media spokesperson for her employer.<br />
Had this been a ‘dear diary’ entry scribbled down before the age of Facebook, no-one would have been any the wiser, and Nowrouz would still be tweeting away on behalf of the Sale empire. But on December 21, the image above became rather more widely read in the public eye when it was posted on the Sharks’ unofficial fans <a href="http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read/s101.htm?104,13707748"><span style="color: #507811;">forum </span></a>. It was soon picked up across the network of rugby message boards and before the day’s end, had been picked up by the media. From the Mail Online through the Telegraph to Fox in Australia to the BBC, most stories shorthanded the issue focusing in on Nowrouz calling fans f*******.<br />
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Actually, before the end of the day on which her frustrated post was shared on the Sharks’ forum, very many fans were in agreement with what she said – but registered their recognition of her stupidity in how she chose to express her opinion. However, through their association with Nowrouz, Sale were taking a pummeling in the media. A club already seen to be close to crisis was now seemingly having its reputation trodden through the mud by the thoughtless actions of one of its own employees.<br />
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At first, the club sought to quell the furore (much of it based on Middle-England ‘righteous indignation’ rather than fact) by posting an apology:<br />
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<em>Holleh Nowrouz deeply regrets the posting she made on her personal facebook page at the end of October. Disciplinary action has been taken and the matter has been dealt with internally and both Sale Sharks and Holleh Nowrouz would like to apologise to supporters of Sale Sharks for causing unnecessary distress.</em><br />
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Unfortunately for both parties, the story had gone viral by then with almost every commentator focusing on that last three word sentence. It took three days, but by December 24th, Nowrouz’s position was clearly untenable. She clearly regretted what she’d said and even more clearly had no intention of her words of frustration spreading around the world. But she’d made the cardinal error of committing private thoughts to a public space. One Facebook update, uncovered by a disgruntled fan trawling through her net rep had damaged brand-Sharks significantly – and more so, had provided an entry point for any media entity looking to have a dig at all the other travails afflicting the club. Two hours before close of business on Christmas Eve, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20839250"><span style="color: #507811;">BBC</span></a> reported:<br />
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<strong>Sale sack club official for Facebook comments about supporters</strong></div>
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<em>Sale Sharks have sacked their social media executive for posting derogatory comments about the club’s supporters on her Facebook page. Holleh Nowrouz was dismissed by Sale’s chief executive Steve Diamond following a “stringent disciplinary review”. Sale…are bottom of the Premiership table with one victory from 11 matches. “At this crucial time for the club Holleh’s comments, though private, just overstepped the mark,” said Diamond.</em><br />
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As social media executive, Nowrouz should have been more aware than just about anyone else at Sharks of the club’s social media policy and code of conduct for employees regarding talking about any aspect of the club through social media platforms. That’s if Sharks actually have such a policy – one suspects they certainly didn’t have before December 21st!<br />
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A core aspect of engaging employees has to be in helping them understand the benefit or damage they can do to their organisation through the way they talk about that organisation with their friends and family, suppliers and customers – and anyone who might be reading something they post on a social network. Clearly this is a two-way street. Employers should create and instill clear social media policies and pay extra special attention to anyone who’s seen as a spokesperson for the employer in the normal course of their job. Such people need special help and support to ensure they’re clear on where the boundaries lie. Equally, employers can’t expect to treat employees badly and steer clear of justifiable criticism. However, by working with staff to define and codify the boundaries, employers can steer clear of the kind of issue faced by Sale Sharks through Ms. Nowrouz’s action.<br />
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We all have to recognise that anyone in our organisation is a potential communicator and the tools of communication extend far beyond traditional corporate outreach and are now visible all over the world, all day, every day. Are you confident that you have the tools in place to ensure none of your employees, however inadvertently, does a Nowrouz on you?Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-31473626344427471182013-01-07T14:24:00.000+00:002013-01-07T14:24:24.794+00:00Leapfrog's 2013 Employee Comms in Employee Engagement survey is now openThis is another cross-posting from <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog.com</a>, my relatively new business blog. However, I still get traffic to this site, so it's worthwhile posting the information here too. However, the results/follow-up will be posted on insideleapfrog.com. <br />
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Two years ago I ran Leapfrog's first survey for Employee Communicators looking at their role in Employee Engagement. Now it's well nigh time to run the survey again to see what, if anything, has changed. So, if you're involved in employee communications, why not grab a coffee and fill in this year's <a data-mce-href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecinee2013" href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecinee2013" title="Employee Comms in Employee Engagement 2013. ">survey</a>.<br />
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The last survey drew responses from the UK, US, Canada, Australia and much of continental Europe. Can we spread the EC in EE word wider this time round?<br />
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The survey will run for the next two weeks and I'll publish the results before the end of the month.<br />
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The key findings from 2011 were:<br />
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<strong>Over 40% of respondents told us their organisation still had no engagement strategy</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> 11% of respondents stated that Employee Communications was solely responsible for engagement in their organisation while a further 72.2% said they had a defined role in their engagement strategy/process and/or activities<br />
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<strong>More than a third of respondents' organisations really didn't see a difference between communication and engagement, while a further 25% were firmly on the fence</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> HR was still the primary owner of 'engagement' and the most popular home for the day-to-day management and delivery of the engagement agenda<br />
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<strong>Employee communications was playing a leading role as a contributor to the development of the engagement strategy in organisations</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> Just over half of all respondents considered their workforces to be relatively engaged (scoring 7+); but 36% stated their workforces remained largely disengaged with their employer<br />
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<strong>Electronic tools dominated the employee communicator's toolkit; with email and intranets virtually ubiquitous. Face to face communication was regarded as vital - but print appeared in decline</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> Social media was a planned part of the communication mix in more than 70% of respondents' organisations<br />
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<strong>The most effective employee communication tools in delivering the engagement agenda ranked as:</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> <strong>1. Face to face meetings (four times more popular than any other suggestion)</strong><br /> <strong>2. Communication Champions</strong><br /> <strong>3. Line managers</strong><br /> <strong>4. Intranet</strong><br /> <strong>5. Annual engagement survey</strong><br /> <strong></strong><br /> The top three factors that would make the greatest beneficial difference to the role of Employee Communication in organisations' employee engagement came out as:<br />
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1. A joined-up approach across functions<br /> 2. Effective line management support<br /> 3. Active buy-in from the CEO/Top Team<br />
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So, have we evolved in the past two years? Are we still locked in the world of email? Has print finally disappeared? Fill in the <a data-mce-href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecinee2013" href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecinee2013" title="EC in EE 2013">survey</a> and make sure your voice is heard.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-45251307397842608112012-12-06T11:48:00.000+00:002013-01-04T14:22:23.900+00:00Consulting on a project? Know when it's time to let go. I've just published this on <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog.com</a> But as there's still traffic coming through this site, I thought it was worth cross-posting here. <br />
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All good things must come to an end. As I write this, I’m printing out a final project report on something I’ve been involved in for the best part of two years now. Later today I’ll also make the call to end my paid relationship with a start-up that began in January. It’s time to move on from both pieces of work – but the parting in each case is actually quite emotional.<br />
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In the case of the start-up, it’s a simple decision to make. I’ve been on a very small retainer from the time a friendship group decided they may have a business idea through all the travails of setting up the business to the early months of its operation. Over the months I’ve been one of a number of sounding boards for them – occasionally taking a more active role as they’ve articulated their business plan and marketing plan within it. But now the business is up and running well. At this stage I have nothing of real value to bring to the operation. When it grows, I’d be delighted to get back on board, but at the moment, I’m a cost the founders can do without. It’s time for me to step back and watch this baby fly.<br />
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The other project is very different: a big corporate change programme in a division of a multi-national. I can well remember going to the first pre-planning meeting. ostensibly as a facilitator primed to ensure those attending filled all those blank pieces of paper stuck to the walls. Within weeks my role had changed from neutral facilitation to being part of the start-up team. Those 60-hour+ weeks flew by but we soon had a brilliant PM on board and a structure that ensured communication was an enabler working across all the activity streams – not an additional stream merely publicising decisions after the event. Engagement became the bedrock of the programme. The initial person leading this didn’t work out and I briefly stepped in to hold the fort. Our second engagement lead has been brilliant and much of my role has been as her back-up, coach and critical friend. But now the roll-out is complete. While there are a few months of sweep-up still to complete, the core project team is moving on. My time is done, and while this one will hit in the wallet, I want to go out with those involved thinking well of me.<br />
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I learned that lesson while working with Orange several years ago. After seven months of an intense project setting up a new b2b division, I sat down with the PM. The management team was in place. The nine countries involved were all on board; ways of working were nailed; we had our comms framework and activity plan and I’d helped them recruit a very able comms manager. For several weeks she’d been calling the shots, but I was still giving three days a week to the project. The PM asked me to carry out one simple task: to chart my perception of my cost v value. He did the same. For the first five months for both of us, value far outweighed cost – after two to three months my value to the project was at a real high. It had plateaued in months three to five, and then as the change settled down, I had it gradually tailing off. For the PM that tail off was much sharper and had reached a point for him where cost had overtaken value. I couldn’t argue with him: it was time to move on.<br />
<br />
I had built an emotional attachment to the business and would have been happy to continue with them, but my client took a totally pragmatic view. While I offered something they couldn’t do internally, I was welcome and settling the monthly invoice was no problem. But when they’d built that capability in-house, there was no need for an outsider.<br />
<br />
Now, on every project where I’m involved, I keep a mental chart of that cost v value – and when I feel the lines are going to cross, I know it’s time to ease away.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-52355693681720312892012-12-03T11:41:00.004+00:002012-12-03T11:41:46.142+00:00New monday Musing on insideleapfrog.comMy professional alter-ego has just blogged on insideleapfrog.com about the importance of alignment to engagement. Check it out <a href="http://insideleapfrog.com/">here</a> .Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-69920169278472286382012-11-30T16:02:00.000+00:002012-11-30T16:02:07.658+00:00Time for a professional migrationSince I first started blogging in 2005, this site has been home for everything from my professional insights; gripes about the world of work and the ups and downs of running a microbusiness to bits about my family, my sporting interests, my academic sidelines and even my 15 minutes of fame as a TV quiz contestant.<br />
<br />
That's not exactly a great deal of focus...<br />
<br />
While I'm sure I'll continue to blog here, I'm moving my professional presence to my new site <a href="http://www.insideleapfrog.com/">insideleapfrog</a>. The idea behind insideleapfrog is to create a community site around organisational engagement, sharing insights and opinion and generally keeping a stronger work-focus than the occasional ramblings on here. <br />
<br />
If you like the new site (or if you don't) please let me know. You can also follow my new business-related tweets at @leapfroginsider. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-72911446658578890422012-11-20T10:34:00.000+00:002012-11-20T10:34:16.822+00:00Business development is not a process of instant gratificationMy hunt for new projects has started reasonably well. One new client meeting this week and discussions with two existing clients on new work: all good, all positive - but nothing yet that will make up for this month's shortfall in income. What's great though is that people want to talk to me about applying some of my wider skills - not just what they've engaged me to tackle in the past. If I can provide a wider offering, it even opens up the opportunity to bring in other people from my network - and one bit of back scratching has, from past experience, led to others. <br />
<br />
A few years ago when work for all microbusinesses was really hard to find and doubly painful to lose, I would have been more than a tad panicky by now with projects finishing and no clear pipeline to replace them. In fact, post-credit crunch, I remember being in precisely that situation and wondering where my next mortgage payment was going to come from.<br />
<br />
But that's the nature of operating near the end of the food chain. At least now I have a little bit of contingency in the bank and I have some ongoing work although it's a bit linear. . What I don't have right at this moment though is the buzz of three or four on-going projects that I can move on piece by piece, day by day and week by week. <br />
<br />
<strong>Famine or Feast</strong><br />
<br />
Operating at this level, you will only succeed if you recognise that this is a world of famine and feast. I've been really fortunate to have three flat out months and seven reasonable ones this year - so one flat one doesn't hurt too much other than making me twitchy. But the key to a flat month is getting out and making sure that future months are more positive. December's always tricky as client focus can get lost in the run up to Christmas - but my last two Festive periods have actually been busy. With January, it's important to get on the front foot and tie up the work before Christmas. That's what I'm doing now: setting dates in the diary and nudging the talks about talks into firm decisions. <br />
<br />
It's a game of patience - it's not my style to be too pushy, but nor can I wait in hope. Meanwhile, I've started work on the new version of my web presence - nothing as flash as the new <a href="http://www.arthaus.co.uk/">ArtHaus</a> site for which I've provided the content - but something a bit more professional than this ramble through my last seven years of business. Not too many organisational communicators have blogged for seven years - I have, but it's time for a refresh. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-1244589032933116152012-11-14T12:34:00.002+00:002012-11-14T13:24:36.832+00:00Available now - and open to offers.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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</a><br />
It's that time of year when marketing, corporate communication and HR teams start reining in their budgets. That's not good for me as I'm reaching the end of a couple of projects that have kept me very well occupied through much of the year. As my billable time has dropped off I've filled up large chunks of the last fortnight pushing the PhD forward - interesting research and fun to do...but it doesn't pay the mortgage.<br />
<br />
<strong>I'm in the market for new projects now</strong> - and while in the past I've been lucky enough to have a steady flow of clients heading in my direction, the fact that many of my long-term clients have moved out of in-house roles coupled with an influx of new talent into the market in which I operate mean I have to get out there and get my face and talents known again. <br />
<br />
With budgets tight and a clamp-down on putting out work externally at two of my regular clients, I realise it's high time I started marketing myself again - and alsohave become painfully aware from a couple of recent conversations that it's an area I've been pretty lax on over the past few years.<br />
<br />
The result is that few clients or contacts know me for the range of skills I offer - some know me as a trainer; others as a writer and editor; others still as primarily a facilitator and one is convinced I'm just a high-cost strategist without the skills to carry my plans through to implementation (how VERY far from the truth!!).<br />
<br />
So, I've started writing my personal pitch again - just one step in a process that will also see me relaunch my online presence over the coming weeks, separating out my 'Leapfrog' presence from all those other areas of my life - children, sport and university in particular that have probably diluted my net rep and obscured my talents. <br />
<br />
I'd almost prefer that someone else wrote my profile - I suppose that's what recommendations on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=10567473&trk=tab_pro">LinkedIn</a> are for - but even there, the recommendations I have tend to be for shades of my work, not the full rainbow. I actually find it uncomfortable shouting about myself, but realise that if I don't, the best work will simply pass me by.<br />
<br />
So, step one as suggested by a long-term former colleague and client who said: "Sum yourself up in a page - but write in the third person as if you were describing someone else".<br />
<br />
It reads:
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 20pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Mark Shanahan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Background<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Mark has built a wealth of
engagement experience through senior agency and in-house roles in the
financial, hotels, telecoms, FMCG and manufacturing sectors. He has two decades of experience in driving engagement in major change programmes in both private and
public environment. His career includes a number of appointments and projects with
an international remit and has been focused on building communication as an enabler
of engagement from an add-on to a core skill in major organisations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Strategic and tactical<strong> experience</strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Mark has been involved in
a wide range of assignments. In recent years he has:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Designed and implemented a
world-wide engagement strategy to support major change in one of the world’s
leading hotel groups<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Introduced and implemented an engagement
framework into a new division of a leading telecommunications company –
aligning Europe-wide communication to the direct needs of the business;
building relationships with other business divisions and recruiting a manager
to take up the reins in-house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Devised and implemented an
engagement strategy to enable the seamless integration of a new acquisition
into a major banking group<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Facilitated the
introduction of performance management into a major broadcaster<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Managed communication, on
an interim basis, for a major brewer as it was integrated into a larger drinks
business<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Audited communication in a
large NHS Trust and then built a change plan to help unite a diverse and
disparate workforce<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Managed employee communication
around a major job creation and relocation programme<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Researched and produced a
major national report for a recruitment group on workforce issues in the
economic downturn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Facilitated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘state of the industry’ workshops nationally
and internationally for senior finance and IT audiences<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Devised and delivered
bespoke training programmes for both new-entry and senior organisational
communicators</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">- Produced a social media toolkit for an organisation moving from a top-down channel approach to employee communications to a matrix view harnessing the possibilities of SharePoint 2010.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Management experience</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Mark has wide experience
of managing in-house and virtual communication teams, but has a particular
strength in working with existing teams (from the front line to the Board)
across a wide range of industries to build their communication expertise and
confidence. His ‘can-do’ attitude and willingness to muck in and make things
happen regularly marks him out as a seamless addition to clients’ management
team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Other qualifications and experience<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Mark holds an MA in
International Relations and a BA (Hons) in English. He is a Fellow of the
Institute of Internal Communication and currently is working towards a PhD. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:Mark.Shanahan@Leapfrogcomms.com"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="color: blue;">Mark.Shanahan@Leapfrogcomms.com</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-tab-count: 4;">It's a work in progress and I'd welcome feedback, but it's intended to move the perception of me away from being just a copywriter and editor. I love editorial work and have written more than 200 published corporate pieces this year - but it's just one string to my bow! I hope that highlighting my wider experience will open up one or two discussions that may lead to interesting projects where I can use different aspects of the knowledge and expertise I've gained working with some fantastic people in great (and not so great) organisations over the years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-tab-count: 4;">The next step is to launch my new website, working with my son Rory who's a true digital native. With a bit of prodding, that will go live by the end of the month. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-tab-count: 4;">Over two decades I've built up probably as much organisational engagement knowledge as anyone in the field right now - but have shared it person to person and group to group. That has to change: and I guess the change starts now. </span></span></div>
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<br />Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-46788989511618380472012-10-22T14:04:00.001+01:002012-10-23T08:08:19.589+01:00Warning: Christmas is cancelledBack in the late 90s I worked for a major hotel company. It had its good aspects, but one of the deciding factors in making me realise I was in the wrong place was the CEO's decision to cancel Christmas.<br />
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'What? Cancel Christmas in a hotel company? Surely that way madness lies!' I hear you say. Of course, our CEO didn't cancel the customers' Christmas - just the one for staff which happens, traditionally, in the darkest days of January, when hotels are at their quietest. <br />
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Working in a hotel in the run-up to Christmas is punishing. Head Office staff were expected to pitch in, so while my efforts out in the hotel estate were brief and less than impressive, I did get to see the routine that saw staff regularly starting their days at 5.30am and finishing by pouring the last of the night's party goers into taxis at 3am the following morning. <br />
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Throughout December, staff worked regular 14-16 hour days with departmental and duty managers in particular often working near round the clock for three or four days at a stretch with probably no more than three days off across the whole month. It's a grinding schedule, but hotel folk are used to it.<br />
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There's quite a bit of pleasure to be derived from seeing other people enjoy themselves. But more so, there was always the knowledge of a decent bonus to be had at the end of the year, and the opportunity to plan and deliver one heck of a staff party once the tinsel and trimmings had been taken down at the end of the festive period. <br />
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Staff Christmases were the talk of the business. These often two-day blow-outs were legendary. In many locations the hotel would close to the public while the staff let off steam at parties that had been planned for months and dreamt of all year - and would be delivered thanks to the generosity of the corporate pocket. <br />
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But in my second year running internal comms for this 250-hotel strong group, there was no chance to 'party like it's 1999' (even though it was!) because, in mid December, the CEO decided we all needed to tighten our belts. <br />
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The Millennium had seemed the perfect opportunity for the business to make money. Lavish events were planned across the business to tempt in punters - and the sales team, optimistic to a fault, pitched these parties at pretty precipitous prices. The revenue forecast looked impressive - but the actual conversion of glossy brochures into hard cash was rather less so. 1998-99 had been quite a tough year economically. Corporates seemed less prepared to shell out on Millennium parties than our Sales Director anticipated, and many people seemed undecided on whether to celebrate Christmas or New Year in their local hotel (or indeed one of the flagship venues). Too many were opting for neither. <br />
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Almost unheard of, but many of our hotels decided to close for New Year - the demand simply wasn't there. Instead of the expected boost to revenue, most hotels were failing to hit their targets. True, they were just as busy in the run-up to Christmas with party nights, office 'do's and the regular Christmas lunch trade. Most were also steady over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but their expected revenue delivery was about 20% above 1998 - and the lack of New Year bookings over the Millennium meant that such forecasting was way too optimistic. <br />
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The decision to premium-price Millennium events was seen as coming from senior management, yet the CEO's decision was that everyone in the business would take a hit. Bonuses were cancelled for everyone at management level, while the planned staff events due for mid-January were cut completely. It was an irony that the decisions were conveyed to me by my boss from a management 'away weekend' at the Forte Village in Sardinia.<br />
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I had to go away and write a message for hotel managers to cascade to their teams explaining that due to us missing our targets, it wasn't feasible to hold staff parties in January 2000. This was an across-the-board decision despite the fact that a number of hotels across the organisation had met their targets and some indeed had waiting lists for events - including top-priced Millennium celebrations. <br />
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I was one of many middle-ranking employees who fed back reservations to the top team over the next 24 hours. Post-New year celebrations were a tradition in the business - it was wrong to cancel them. Staff out in the hotels were working as hard as ever in the run-up to Christmas and this announcement could even damage business further. This was hitting those people who generated revenue for the business excessively, especially as it had been Head Office dogmatism that had led to the relative failure to sell the Millennium effectively. And, one size fits all would go down especially badly with the venues and teams that were operating successfully. <br />
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But, the message went out and was received every bit as badly as we anticipated. For all my wordsmithery, and days spent preparing General Managers for what was due to hit, this really was polishing a turd. Hotel management teams - the people who really drive success in any hotel business - were massively demotivated. The end of year bonus really mattered to them and all felt they'd been tarnished by the faults of a few (and the 'few' were generally in the Head Office sales operation). More junior staff felt cheated. Their bargain with management included the big January blow-out. Just two weeks before Christmas, a very remote management had reneged. <br />
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From a senior management perspective, this probably seemed like a quick and efficient means of reducing costs and emphasising the 'we're all in this together' impact of missing sales targets. But it came across as an ill-thought-out move: a knee-jerk reaction which simply didn't consider the consequences of lowered morale and lost engagement. <br />
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Could I and my colleagues have done more to change the senior management decision? Even now, more than a decade on, I think not. The top team had physically and metally taken themselves away from the business and were focused much more on managing upwards - militating their failure in the eyes of the conglomerate board above them, than turning a failed sales strategy around through the efforts of the 45,000 people who felt penalised across the business. <br />
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Mentally at that point I was in the departure lounge. I no longer felt enthused to give my discretionary effort for a management team I felt to be wholly out of touch with the core of the business. I also felt more than ever that IC was merely a tactical tool for this particular business rather than at the heart of its engagement strategy. In fact, I failed to see any engagement strategy.<br />
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Two days before Christmas, my boss, a board director, took us for lunch at the Waldorf. The reception from the hotel team was professional but frosty. I often wondered if they'd taken the opportunity to spit in the soup. My boss was oblivious. Her complete lack of empathy simply highlighted the class structure which operated in the Boardroom. They could do what they liked - somehow they saw themselves as being above the busines, while the rest of the business had to pay the price. Indeed, for my boss there was a complete disconnect between cancelling all our hotels' staff celebrations and splashing out on her platinum corporate card for a slap-up lunch for her own team. <br />
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Over the coming months, those who could get out of the business did. The knee-jerk reaction to the Millennium sales failure was the biggest own-goal this business managed over a two-year period of mismanagement. Shortly afterwards it was broken up and sold off. Most of the hotels remain, but under different brands. Doubtless, many shrewd and successful hotel GMs still remember the catastrophic consequence of a CEO cancelling Christmas. <br />
<br />Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-5894370876138206602012-10-05T10:33:00.000+01:002012-10-05T10:35:01.042+01:00The Freelance Rules #15 - Stay on top of your gameI'm not sure whether this entry counts as a warm-up to the writing I need to complete today or just a displacement activity. I'll tell myself it's the former but it's probably the latter. In fact, my last 90 minutes since I turned on the PC has largely been displacement. I've chased a couple of late payments (when am I not chasing money?); I've set up a meeting in London on Monday to make my day there more valuable and I've done some pretty basic but necessary admin. And all the time, what I should really be doing remains looming on the side of the desk - a 16 page brief for training materials that need to be completed today.<br />
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Think about that: a 16-page brief (with five supporting documents) for an e-learning script that will probably come out around 2000 words.<br />
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Much of my time, I'm really engaged by the projects I get involved in. Working to discover the barriers to youth employment has been fascinating; a series of recent case studies around sustainable cultivation in Asia and Africa has opened my eyes to the issues facing small farmers in the developing world; and even helping two very different organisations relaunch their intranets on the SharePoint 2010 platform has been something I've been really able to get my teeth into. <br />
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<strong>Capability</strong><br />
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But one of the first things any half-decent freelancer must become acutely aware of is that not every piece of work will be quite so fascinating. Some will present no challenge; others may be on the edges of your skill-set and you might wonder why some other projects have come your way at all. But, as long as the piece of work is within your capability to deliver, you will succeed as a freelancer only if you pay the same care and attention to the piece as something you're passionate about.<br />
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You will only get the repeat business that's the lifeblood of freelancing, and only see your name spread positively beyond your direct clients if you bring the same professionalism to the most mundane and boring project as you do to those that really make your heart sing. <br />
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I spent much of Wednesday on my particular elephant in the room. My client knows I was reluctant to take it on (I consider creating e-learning materials a very particular skill and it's an area I don't usually get involved in.). But she convinced me that this particular scripting piece within a far bigger project was actually both within my skillset and that she considered me the best person for the job. Flattery really <strong><em>can</em></strong> work. <br />
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So, on Wednesday I got my head around the brief and read through all the source material. While I'm fairly neutral on the subject matter, it was frankly hard to get enthused by a series of dry, academic, analytical reports that provide my base material. <br />
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Still, I got my material in order, started prioritising what my client sees as the key points and began constructing my argument - essentially my script narrative. I'm about two fifths in now and the job so far is competent, workmanlike and solid. It hasn't yet come to life.<br />
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<strong>Inspiration</strong><br />
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At some point today, drafting the remaining script sections I hope it will come to life. I hope that something clicks and I suddenly get the inspiration that will draw this together as a cohesive whole rather than a series of separate sub-arguments. I can feel the links bubbling just under the surface, but that sustaining narrative hasn't yet percolated to the front of my mind. Often when I'm writing, be it a plan or a script or a piece of editorial, that idea will be there from the start - that makes the end product so much quicker and easier to produce. But sometimes, as with this piece, it's a bit of a grind. It may well be that in three or four hours when I have all the components assembled, I'll look at it and see what I've missed so far. <br />
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What I do know is that I have to get a piece that I'm proud of over to my client by end of play today. Anything less lets me down, lets her down and will not fulfil the brief for her internal clients. This may not be my favourite piece of work this month, but it has to stand tall alongside everything else I'm involved in. <br />
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I've actually written myself into a better mood for completing the assignment. Now to ensure that the mood lifts a dry subject into a cohesive script - better still if I find that spark that will make it compelling. <br />
<br />Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-42388859060865375182012-09-18T10:27:00.001+01:002012-09-18T10:27:54.598+01:00Anatomy of a migraineLast night, about 8pm, I'd just finished dinner, filled the dishwasher and walked into the living room. My daughters were washing the evening's pots and they just sounded abnormally loud. I flicked on the lamp and turned on the TV. As the screen filled with the Sky menu, my eyes started flickering. Within seconds, bright colours started dancing in front of right eye and my ears started to ache. For what I reckon is about the eighth time in my life, I was heading into a migraine.<br />
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The lights that signify my 'aura' the stage before my head really begins to throb are beautiful and strange. I can only describe it as the equivalent to having a blob of Vaseline over my right eyeball. Directly in front of me is opaque, but the right edge is a slightly jagged curve of thin lines of beautiful bright colours - red, blue and yellow. It lasts anything up to an hour and I can still see a shadow of it this morning. <br />
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With experience of past episodes I knew what works for me to make dealing with a migraine bearable. While the pain never really hits until the 'colours' die down, I knew that within minutes I'd be hardly able to string a sentence together, and shortly afterwards would not be able to unscramble my brain to read, write or even cope with bright lights or sounds. We had just one migraine relief tablet in the house. I took it, knowing it wouldn't make the pain go away, but would take the edge off it. <br />
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I headed for bed, and turned the radio on quietly understanding I wouldn't sleep while I worked through the worst of the pain phase. That kicked in after half an hour or so. It's difficult to describe to anyone who doesn't suffer from migraines but it builds up almost like a wave - in my case, generally over my right eye. I remember hearing Everton score a goal and, while the radio remained on and untouched, the next thing I heard was the summing-up at the end of the game. For something over an hour, my brain had not been able to cope with anything more than the pain. <br />
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In the past, I've tried to work through a migraine and once, in one of the most stupid decisions of my life, decided to drive home from Swindon to Oxford when I experienced the first flickers that presage an episode. Needless to say, half way up the A420 I wasn't really seeing anything much. God knows how I got home without killing myself or anyone else. <br />
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By about 11pm last night, the worst of the pain was passing. I was able to tolerate both light and to make sense (or what passes for sense for me normally) when talking to Jacquie. I got a drink and fell exhausted into bed. I didn't sleep well, and the dull ache in my head coupled with a stiff and achy neck saw me through the night. <br />
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This morning, the migraine's still playing around the edges of my senses. Light still hurts a bit; everything smells a bit funny (I can only describe it as: smells a bit 'more'); reading's tough and my head and neck still ache. My balance is a bit off, as if I've recently been on a ship, and I wouldn't say my cognitive skills are completely back in line as yet. It has taken rather longer than usual to write this, and I'm sure spell-check will have a field day when I run through what I've written. <br />
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Migraines are horribly debilitating. I'm very glad mine are very few and generally quite short. They're very different to the headache you get from driving all day or staring at a computer screen for too long. I can now deal with mine reasonably well, but know I'll be sluggish for the rest of today. <br />
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I have every sympathy for others who have to deal with this condition - when the migraine's real, it totally takes over. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-81257633213443056482012-08-21T13:06:00.000+01:002013-06-19T19:58:28.300+01:00Happy Monkey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of my early jobs when Leapfrog kicked off was to support the roll-out of a SAP upgrade for an FMCG company. All that stakeholders wanted to know was:<br />
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<li>Why do we need it?</li>
<li>Will it work?</li>
<li>When will it affect what I do? </li>
<li>What will I need to do differently?</li>
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However, the project comms before I joined the team consisted of vast PowerPoint presentations detailing every aspect of the size of the drill - rather than the benefits of the hole in the wall.<br />
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When pitching for the work, I made it very clear how little value I saw in PowerPoint as a communication tool. From a communicators' viewpoint, it's a pig to edit and update, while from the receiver's viewpoint, it is too often densely packed with facts, charts and drawings that appeal to the project office but are as useful as a chocolate teapot to anyone else.<br />
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My heart rather dropped when on day 1 I was sent a 70-slide deck on the aims of the programme; 56 slides on the activity plan; a further 44 slides summarising the last week's activities and just four slides on stakeholder impacts. The balance was very wrong. My predecessor's practise was to send the weekly project update, unedited, to a vast stakeholder list. I could see there was next to no feedback, but a team meeting also made it clear that the workstream leaders were having a tough time getting any kind of traction with the directors and team leaders they needed to buy into the change. <br />
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My first task was to prepare the next weekly update: I spent the next two days receiving sub-decks from the workstream leaders, while moving from brief meeting to even briefer meeting with the stakeholder base to get their wish list for our comms. It was clear that the project was on track in terms of the technical stuff, but the business felt it was being done <em>to </em>them, not <em>with </em>them. <br />
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I sent the project director my first weekly comms deck. It was one slide: a picture of a happy monkey - ok; it was an orangutan, which isn't a monkey, but you get my drift. <br />
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I sort of expected a small explosion, but he appeared beside my desk with a smirk on his face. "Okay," he said. "I can't send this, but explain your reasoning." My response was simple. Too many people were getting too much data that was useless for them. At this stage, all most people needed to know was that the project was on track and everyone was happy. A smaller group needed much more engagement (and this was long before engagement was part of our common vocabulary). They didn't need a big fat deck, but did need personal contact; someone to listen to their needs, to understand their business challenges and to explain how this new implementation would make things better - and what they needed to do. <br />
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The five minute chat became a two-hour conversation with more and more project members joining in. By the end, I more or less had our comms strategy - I just needed to write it up: and not as a PowerPoint.<br />
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That week, we put out a two page comms update. Page one was a Happy Monkey. Page two, my compromise: six green traffic lights with a bullet under each on achievements and next steps. It was still too busy - but getting towards a workable dashboard. In addition, the workstream leads had a lot more meetings in their diaries.<br />
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Over the coming weeks, we moved from exclusively push-comms to an intranet site supported by far more targeted people-led proactive engagement. Our home page over the course of the project featured a selection of happy monkeys, a couple of sad ones and a couple best described as 'quizzical'. <br />
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The first question in every Monday's project round-up became "Happy Monkey?", and it also became a greeting every time team members were in meetings in the business. <br />
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It was a bit daft and a bit stupid but somehow made a pretty dry project more human. The roll-out happened on time and in budget - as it may well have done even if the comms had still been driven by gargantuan PowerPoints. However, the spirit around it seemed more buoyant - users fed in their own Happy Monkey stories and we definitely broke down barriers. Our comms were by no means perfect but at least we weren't continually having to feed the PowerPoint monster. The Happy Monkey helped. Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-53972020875960205052012-07-03T12:57:00.001+01:002012-07-03T13:05:23.573+01:00Master of the Universe crashes to earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bob Diamond joined Barclays in 1996: so did I. That's pretty much the only point where our careers coincided. He headed into Barclays de Zoete Wedd to add oomph to a rather moribund investment banking offering, while I spent two years in a change team reshaping Group Planning, Operations and Technology. By the end of 1998 he was heading up Barclays Capital, the streamlined successor to BZW, while I was packing my bags and heading to my next change project - Forte's 'Commitment to Excellence'. <br />
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Being in a completely different division to Bob Diamond, I had little exposure to him. I attended a couple of staff conferences that he spoke at; he came to one group communicators meeting that I was part of and he was a 'client' during a couple of our Y2K (remember that?) presentations. <br />
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He was smooth, incredibly assured - and the people I knew who'd inherited him as a boss were scared of him. He brought in a raft of new people, new methods and new ways of working. The slightly clubbable BZW disappeared; replaced by a harder edge. He made money for the bank: lots of it. And the investors loved him. <br />
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I next crossed Barclays' path in about 2005, when asked to work on a project in Barclaycard. I'd known the cards business quite well during my spell in the operations side of the bank. Barclaycard was the industry leader in the UK - first into many markets and with an enviable customer base. But it faced the problem that many pioneers have to live with: younger, nimbler competitors were coming into the market and chipping away at Barclaycard's dominance. Good customers were defecting and that presented a huge issue for Barclaycard. They were the cash cow for the Group and suddenly that cash wasn't quite so forthcoming. Barclaycard had prided itself on never having to take on risky business, but now they were having to trawl the murkier card waters, offering cards to customers who never before would have fitted the profile, and having to work harder to claw back bad debt and make money from interest on outstanding borrowings. <br />
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It was a time when the business had reissued its Values - the usual stuff: we put our customers at the heart of everything we do; we value our staff highly......it felt 'motherhood and apple pie'. I was brought in on the back of the staff survey as morale had dipped. The view of the HR team was that they needed some communication to get staff back on board and feeling more positive.<br />
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For me, the next few weeks were a culture shock. Barclaycard had changed a lot between 1998 and 2005. The management team was very different with a strong BarCap presence and even stronger BarCap mentality. What was most noticeable was the divide between the long-serving, generally more junior staff and those managers parachuted in from elsewhere in the business or recruited to fit the new mould. <br />
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Generalising, for those who'd grown up in the Northampton HQ, the values mattered; customers mattered; relationships across the business mattered. For the new breed, profit mattered. End of. <br />
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Having spent several weeks interviewing around three dozen people (on both sides of an increasingly obvious divide), for my diagnostic, I fed back my findings to HR as preparation for presenting a plan to the Barclaycard Board. My simple conclusion was that no amount of tactical communication would change anything at this stage. Quite simply, the management culture bore no relation to the espoused Values. All the nice words about customers and colleagues were just posters on the wall. <br />
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The real work needed to be about deep cultural change - to move management into a more truly customer and employee-focused mode of operation or, more likely, to move staff towards the emerging management model. <br />
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My 'killer' line was on values and had been given to me by a senior Barclaycard exec in the interviews. He'd said: "Those values on the wall mean nothing. If I was really to sum us up I'd say: 'We're short-termist; a bunch of hard-nosed bastards who are ruthless on costs and entirely focused on delivering our profit targets. No-one stands in our way."<br />
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I told my clients that there was no benefit whatsoever in running a series of events with supporting whistles and bells advocating a set of values that the senior management team clearly weren't living and had no intention of buying into. They'd be better off being honest and putting the 'short-termist bastards' message on the walls. <br />
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I never got to present to the Barclaycard Board (and was never invited to become a diplomat) but did get to send my report to the CEO - Gary Hoffman (who's currently being touted as a potential replacement for Bob Diamond.). I have no idea if he ever read it, since the comms project was quietly cancelled soon afterwards. <br />
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I've subsequently done work for the European retail banking business and enjoyed the experience much more. But what struck me most thinking back to my 2005 involvement was how BarCap's tentacles were stretching out, creating a culture where the ruthless pursuit of profit - no matter who was struck down along the way - had become endemic in large chunks of the bank.<br />
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Yesterday, Bob Diamond delivered a long and seemingly passionate <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18678731">promise of intent</a> to staff a triumph of corporate communication at odds with corporate actuality. But he was too late.<br />
<br />
The culture he has created in the bank has come back to bite him. There's a point where greed is no longer good - even to investors. Bob Diamond has gone because of one thing: shareholder value. Rather than boosting the share price, his association with Barclays caused it to plunge. However good an operator you are, as soon as that happens, you're out. End of. <br />
<br />
<br />Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-38083742408720565292012-07-02T14:42:00.001+01:002012-07-02T14:42:39.684+01:00The Freelance Rules #14 - keep jugglingLooking back on the actuality of my last few weeks against the 'plan' highlights the reality of freelance life - and shows why you need to be the consummate juggler to succeed in this game.<br />
<br />
Looking at my white board, I - theoretically - had three key projects on the go in June. One was a sensitive piece of change comms; one a piece of work around an intranet launch and the third was a series of magazine articles. Each had been costed, planned and scheduled - there would be crossovers, but no significant clashes.<br />
<br />
The reality of June was: the 'sensitive' piece happened pretty much to plan. It attracted no external coverage and landed as well as it could internally. I was then involved in a second change announcement for a different client. This time my unexpected involvement was sideways-on. I was called in late in the day and the brief was 'organic'. At first, I was about as helpful as a chocolate teapot. My second input was more useful and by the end of last week I felt I was providing something of value to the client. As ever, it would have been great to be in earlier - but that's not the way it works for freelancers. <br />
<br />
The intranet piece is suffering from classic delays. I've crafted my small cog in the wheel, but some of the bigger cogs have jammed. It's a great client who has allowed me to bill all my planned time up front, despite the larger project potentially having ground to a halt 'til the other side of the summer holidays. After a sustained few days of effort, I've been thumb twiddling on this one for a week or so. Not my fault; not my client's fault - but technical troubles further into the guts of the project means there's no point in us progressing further quite yet. In my early days as a freelancer I'd have got quite worked up about this. Now I try not to worry about things outside my control - and just work on the stuff in front of me. <br />
<br />
The magazine 'stuff' has worked as so many magazines do - interviews have been rescheduled; contacts have changed (or disappeared) and I've had to find new angles and new contributing voices. But that's the beauty of a magazine: it evolves and reshapes as it moves from an editorial plan to the finished product. So far, the client seems happy though we're still lacking a couple of pieces and the deadline is approaching at high speed. <br />
<br />
So what has actually happened over the past few weeks is some periods of intense focus - head down on one project and motoring full speed at it at the expense of everything (and everyone) around. Other times have been a juggle between clients and competing pieces of work - and other stretches - a day, two and even three days - have been barren with little opportunity to progress. Everything on my white board will be completed - plus a couple of other small but important tasks....and a client pitch; two proposals; invoicing and other admin - oh, and my annual review on my PhD.<br />
<br />
I'm not an elegant juggler - but the balls are still in the air. But, if you like regularity in your job, and struggle when deadlines compete and work lurches off piste, then freelancing - at least in my line of work - may not be for you. <br />
<br />Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-25688053292785098922012-05-15T16:49:00.000+01:002012-05-15T16:49:30.114+01:00Ripples on the industrial/academic nexusFor the past 27 years, after leaving university first time round, I've worked in
journalism and latterly, organisational communication. For the past five years
I've been back in academia; collecting an MA and working towards a PhD. For the
past two I've been teaching in a university history department - part-time and
on a short contract basis. This year in particular, my module has proved
popular. The feedback has been good and students have become very engaged in the
subject.<br /><br />I've been able to bring all my experience of corporate
communications to bear on designing and delivering my lectures and seminars.
There's a huge parallel with the kind of training I've done for years in
industry and the facilitation work I've done with corporate and industry leaders
over the last decade.<br /><br />It helps too that I'm the father to teenagers not
far short in age of the young adults I've been teaching. I'm beginning to
understand their on-line linked up world where the old style of lecturing from
my first university experience simply wouldn't cut it any more. <br /><br />So, my
lectures are bracketed with music chosen to have some relevance to the topic. I
use You Tube and other video sources extensively to bring to life the people and
events we're covering. Much of the seminar work is based around primary sources
- and generally I prefer the students to find and introduce at least some of
those sources. <br /><br />It's a first year group, and as well as getting a good
grounding in the subject, I want them to get enjoyment from our Thursday
afternoons together and come out feeling they want to learn more - to scrape
beneath the surface view. I don't claim that my sessions cover all the bases; I
don't claim that they give more than a partial view - and at times I'll
deliberately go out on an extreme to drive home a point. But I want the students
to leave the lecture room sufficiently engaged with the subject to go and find
out more: to read deeply and get the full story - if only to disprove the line
I've taken. <br /><br />In the UK system of little contact time and much space left
for private study, it's all I can do. I'm not yet a great teacher and still have
a huge amount to learn. But finally, I think I've found my metier. This student
engagement in subjects I'm passionate about is what I do best. I hope I can always work it alongside my engagement work.<br /><br />My
approach in attempting to connect the students to the subject matter through
some side-on angles isn't revolutionary - indeed I'm aping the best of my
experience through my Masters. Where I am perhaps hard wired slightly
differently is in bringing my experience of the world beyond academia to bear
from lecture one term one in making students think beyond their three or four
years of academic study to the harsh working world that will be waiting for them
in a couple of years' time. <br /><br />I want them to immerse themselves in their
subject: to begin to think as historians and to move beyond the narrative I can
share with them to question why things turned out as they did. But equally, I
want to help them develop good habits: to turn up on time; to participate in
class; to be generous in sharing views; to accept and deal with constructive
criticism; to organise their thoughts cogently and present them coherently, on
time and within the expected standards. That may sound like a no-brainer, but
it's not the case for a number of reasons.<br /><br />On the student side, they've
come through a school system designed to enable them to get the right grades in
exams. That means spoon-fed learning, narrow-cast around fulfilling exam
criteria. Having only 10 hours contact time with staff at university per week;
being asked to research subjects without a feeding spoon; and simply being away
from home for the first time is perhaps a bigger ask of students than ever
before. <br /><br />And on the staff side, frankly the system has become too lax and
simply doesn't demand sufficient discipline from students. We don't make
lectures and seminars compulsory and equally don't have enough support in place
to help those sinking students learn to swim. The latter point comes in part
from a lack of funding; the former is merely a hangover from more freewheeling
liberal approaches that first permeated campuses a generation ago. Yes, we have
to respect that our students are adults who choose to be on our course. But my
view is that many don't arrive from school with sufficient structure in place to
make the right decisions on their own. At first year level, I'd make contact
time compulsory. It builds good practice that won't just carry through their
study time, but will be invaluable in landing and keeping a job after
graduation.<br /><br />It's at this point that my 'day job' and academic life
collides most. For over a year I've been working on Adecco's <a href="http://www.unlockingbritainspotential.co.uk/"><span style="color: #29aae1;">Unlocking Britain's
Potential</span></a> initiative. This is looking at why Britain's workforce isn't as
effective as it could be - and one of the key findings is that young workers
simply aren't ready for the world of work, whether they emerge from education at
16, 18 or in the early 20s. Of course, it's a huge generalisation, but the
majority of the employers I spoke to during the research spoke about the issues
they have both with managing young people's expectations (the 'entitled'
generation was a recurring theme), and instilling the discipline and loyalty
necessary for that young person to be a productive and contributing member of
the organisation. <br /><br />Industry blames the education system for not producing
the 'finished work-ready goods', while the education sector bemoans the lack of
industry support - from shaping curricula to offering the work placements
through education that will open young people's eyes to the reality of work.
They're both right, and I hope UBP will help cement some of the links that are
clearly lacking. <br /><br />For me though, one of the most disconcerting aspects of
the past two years has been the disconnect in what academia is, and should be,
about. For me, teaching the next generation and opening their minds so that they
can make the bridge into a career is the vital aspect. I put everything of
myself into that part of university life - yet it actually counts for nothing on
my PhD.<br /><br />While internal student satisfaction and, increasingly the <a href="http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/"><span style="color: #29aae1;">National Student Survey</span></a> play a part
in grading the department and attracting students, our funding is based on the
quality of published research - written by academics for academics and largely
read by three old men and a dog. Teaching is secondary and lecturers are
recruited into the department on the basis of the the funding their research
will attract. There's a fundamental dichotomy here. True, some great researchers
are also great teachers but it's by no means always the case. At the moment,
great teaching doesn't attract funding and so there's little incentive for
departments to recruit staff members who will make the student experience truly
memorable. If it happens now, it's by luck not judgement.<br /><br />The next
generation is not attracted to study in our institutions by the scholarly
articles we publish (ok, I've only published <a href="http://www.49thparallel.bham.ac.uk/back/issue27/Shanahan.htm"><span style="color: #29aae1;">one</span></a>...and
a review) but will increasingly be attracted by the electronic word-of-mouth of
social media - the views of current students - <em>and</em> by tracking where
our graduates end up in their working lives. We are not an end in ourselves. For
the next generation of students, employability will be far more a pressing
reason to choose or reject a department than the research interests of the
faculty. <br /><br />So where am I heading with this? Well, I'm beginning to draw my
conclusions. In brief, they are:<br /><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li> Providing funding to departments only on the basis of research devalues the
teaching experience and is unsustainable in a new era of growing student choice
</li>
<li>Students want good teaching and more informed contact time - most don't give
a toss about the department's reputation for scholarly research
</li>
<li>The university experience has to add another layer: subject specialist
excellence has to remain at the forefront, but especially in non-vocational
subjects, there needs to be a far greater emphasis on supporting students across
the transition from school to university and then from university into work
</li>
<li>Industry/university partnerships are not a dirty concept - they will become
ever-more essential and need to break out of the narrow confines of law firm -
law department and 'big four' - business school and embrace all departments and
all types of industrial and commercial organisation
</li>
<li>Teaching experience and skill should be a measured and rewarded aspect of
PhD study for any researcher contemplating an academic career
</li>
<li>We need to instill greater discipline in students at university level - not
to do so is bad for everyone. </li>
</ul>
As liberal in thought and voting
practice, my views surprise even me. Cripes, I'll be advocating 'Victorian
Values' next....Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-80556649929443850882012-04-10T22:53:00.000+01:002012-04-10T22:53:09.998+01:00i/O, B&C Connections and moreI've written a lot of content for Adecco recently. Much of it has been for their revamped client magazine which is now being issued in a number of versions tailored to their brands. First off the deck is <a href="http://www.modis.co.uk/uploads/content/files/io-issue-one.pdf">i/O</a> - produced for the technology recruitment brand: Modis.<br />
<br />
The magazine is being produced in both a print format for those brands where people still like a physical publication and an e-version, while some brands are strictly electronic. I'll link to more versions as I get hold of them.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11056311.post-16164945663854045122012-02-29T11:38:00.000+00:002012-02-29T11:38:30.003+00:00Generation IT 2012The report I compiled for <a href="http://www.modis.co.uk/">Modis</a> on if and how the UK can become an instigator of future technological revolutions is now available to download <a href="http://www.modis.co.uk/report/">here</a>. I'm facilitating round-table events in London on March 8th; Manchester on March 20th and Edinburgh on March 27th for senior IT professionals to take the conversation forward. If you're interested in taking part, please let me know and I'll put you in touch with the organisers. <br />
<br />
Key points are:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>IT is moving ever more from back-office to the business driver</li>
<li>In some organisations, IT <em>is</em> the business</li>
<li>The CIO is increasingly a business role</li>
<li>Hybrid business/technical skills are most in demand</li>
<li>Technical specialisms still matter: but what makes the big difference is their marriage with analytical skills, a business understanding and great communication</li>
<li>IT is a great contributor to unlocking Britain's potential - the focus has to be on training, education and innovation. </li>
</ul>I'd welcome any feedback on the report.Mark Shanahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06582169025678103551noreply@blogger.com1