THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION INDUSTRY TODAY
iC SURVEY 2006
CONDUCTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE VMA GROUP
SECTION 2
SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY
SECTION 2
iC SURVEY 2006 The iC Survey 2006 is conducted by Karian and Box in association with VMA Group, one of the UK’s leading specialist search and selection consultancies in corporate communications recruitment. Communicators in Business (CiB) also supported the survey and encouraged their members to participate.
KARIAN AND BOX is a communication and campaigns agency with the experience and creativity to help organisations:
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YEES BEHIN O L P M E E IS IL MOB
D CHANGE
ENGAGE EMPLOYEES WITH THEIR BRAND
BUILD AND DEFEND THEIR REPUTAT
ION DEVELOP THEIR CO MMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, INFRAST RUC TURE AND CAPA BILITIES
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CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................ Executive Summary ........................................................... Section 1: Research Overview ..................................... Section 2: Survey respondents – demography ......... Section 3: Survey respondents – role ......................... Section 4: Internal Communication resources – team and budget size ............................. Section 5: Communicating organisational strategy Section 6: Measuring the effectiveness of communications and engagement ......... Section 7: Communication planning ....................... Section 8: Communication Channels ...................... Section 9: Leadership - and their role in communication ......................................... Section 10: Conclusion ................................................... Section 11: Footnotes .....................................................
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4 5 6 7 13 21 25 27 30 33 38 41 45
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INTRODUCTION iC SURVEY 2006
I ARIAN GHASnSKarAiaNn anKd Box Director
S COMMUNICATOR ED SHOULD BE EXCIT NITIES BY T H E O P P O R T U EM AT AVAILABLE TO TH CH A TIME WHEN MU D OF INDUSTRY AN R THE PUBLIC SEC TO UGH ARE GOING THRO ND MA JOR CHANGE A N TRANSFORMATIO
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nternal communication is often seen as the poorer cousin within the wider communications industry. Fewer resources and less credibility are just two of the problems facing those working in internal communication. Yet the industry has grown, matured and professionlised. We have seen a significant rise in the numbers working in industry. Budgets have, on the whole, steadily grown. Senior internal communication professionals have increasingly grappled with organisational strategy and helped their employers achieve their corporate goals. Many senior leaders are turning to internal communicators to help them engage and mobilise their employees. Some of those leaders have gone away disappointed – and some have been impressed by their communicator’s business savvy, creativity and dedication. It is an exciting time to be a communicator – and, in particular, an internal communicator. Lawyers and financiers welcome mergers and acquisition activity. Similarly, communicators should be excited by the opportunities available to them at a time when much of industry and the public sector are going through major change and transformation. Our organisations are changing. The economies, markets and environments in which we work are changing. Globalisation, deregulation, outsourcing, privatisation, rationalisation – we are living at time of permanent and complex change. That is both the challenge and opportunity we face as communicators. We can become downhearted at the difficulties that these changes inevitably bring. Or we can see them as a chance for us to help our organisations survive the range of corporate ‘traumas’ that come with change. By so doing, we can raise further our credibility as a profession. But this requires 3 changes of our own. Professionalisation, representation and demonstration. We have to further professionalise who
we are and what we do – raising our game by raising our skills and the quality of the communications infrastructure we use. We have to talk as a profession. Given the scope and responsibilities we have, there is no single effective professional body that speaks on our behalf. Too often, we are hangers on at someone else’s party – mainly the PR one. We need a voice of our own. We also need a ‘space’ in which we can talk, share and learn. We need to demonstrate to the organisations we work for that we mean business; that we can make a difference. Ultimately, that requires us to demonstrate the tangible links between what we do in our day jobs and the value added to the organisations we work for. It is true to say that the industry is still young (and, as this survey shows, many of the people working in it are ‘young’). There is much that has changed in our industry and there is much changing still. That is why we conducted the iC Survey 2006 and why it is important to ask the questions we have asked. What does our profession look like and who works in it? What do we do in our day job? What are the issues we face? What are our perceptions of the organisations we work for and the communications we are ultimately responsible for? How effective are our organisations at communicating with their employees? All these questions and more are the foundations of an understanding of where the profession is today. We need to know the answers to those questions to see where our industry’s strengths are and where we still have to do more work. Where the benchmarks are today will help us define the effectiveness of our own organisation’s communications in the future. We hope that this report contributes to the provision of those answers and helps set some of those benchmarks. Ultimately, we hope the report gives you insight into the issues you need to address in your organisations – together with those where you are already ahead of the game.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Change One of the most consistent themes to emerge throughout the survey was that of change. Organisations, in whichever sector, are being overwhelmed by change – structural, organisational and cultural. Sadly, though, internal communication is not, in many cases, having the necessary impact on shaping employee thinking and behaviour to help them respond to that change. Furthermore, internal communicators are primarily focused on supporting their organisations through the challenges of structural change – with far less focus on corresponding cultural and behavioural change. This is particularly an issue for the public sector – where change is an increasingly significant factor. Value The survey highlighted the ambiguous view that communicators have of whether, and to what extent, they are valued by their organisational leadership. One third of communicators are not satisfied in their roles, with a similar third of respondents feeling that development opportunities are limited. Leadership Leaders are committed to engaging their workforces, but do not always have the will, the time or the wherewithal to deliver on that commitment.
ATORS MANY COMMUNIC HAVE THE BASIC IN INFRASTRUC TURE ’S AS PLACE BUT THAT FAR AS IT GOES KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
Translating organisational strategy Most organisations have a communication strategy that is aligned with that of their organisations. Nonetheless, there remains a huge gap between communicators understanding an organisation’s strategy and being able to translate and communicate it into practical meaning which employees can relate to. The basic infrastructure is in place Many communicators have the basic infrastructure in place which enables them to plan, measure and deliver communications. In each of these areas, however, there are some major limitations on the reach and effectiveness of this infrastructure. For example, communication plans are not fully integrated across most organisations, while measurement is often limited to annual temperature checks (with limited follow-up activity). In the specific area of measurement, many organisations are still unable to have a definitive and regular view of what their employees think and do. The lack of regular checks on employee awareness, understanding and opinion is limiting organisations’ abilities to tailor and update communications as audience responses shift. The internal communicator’s profile If you are an internal communicator, you are on the whole likely to be young, female and university educated. 70% of internal communication respondents are women, 75% are under 40 and 60% have a degree. Furthermore, a third started their career in internal communication by migrating from PR.
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SECTION 1
RESEARCH OVERVIEW RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research project identified 5 core areas of study:
1 2 3 4 5
Communicating organisation strategy Measuring the impact of communications Communications planning Communication channels including the role of Line Managers in communication The role of organisational leaders in communication
Three further areas of focus were:
1 2 3
The demographic make-up of the internal communication industry The role carried out by internal communication professionals The resources allocated to internal communication
HOW THE RESEARCH WAS CONDUCTED? n We ran a quantitative online survey of com-
munication professionals between 10 January and 10 February 2006. Email invitations were sent to 4,370 communicators by Karian and Box, the VMA Group and the CiB (Communicators in Business). We received 639 responses, representing a response rate of 14.6%. Once the quantitative report was compiled, qualitative input was sought from a range of professionals across the communications industry. A sample of Directors of Communication and Heads of Employee Communication
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participated in telephone and face–to–face interviews as part of this process. The data from this survey has been analysed and cross-tabulated and is presented with accompanying commentary throughout this report.
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SECTION 2
SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY
This section analyses responses to the survey by function, sector, geography, gender, age and educational background.
Function Of those responding to the survey, nearly two thirds have roles solely focused on internal communication, with the remaining third responsible for internal communication in addition to wider corporate communications activities such as media relations (Figure 2.0). Sector – overview A relatively high proportion of responses came from public sector organisations, with two in five respondents working in this sector. This is much higher than the proportion of UK employees working in this sector (20.4% as at 2005 – Source: Office of National Statistics). Nonetheless, much of the data from the survey is analysed by sector – with details of responses in the private, public and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) sectors. The data was broken down into three key sectors with the largest percentage of respondents coming from the private sector (Figure 2.1). A more detailed breakdown of respondents by sector groups is provided in Figure 2.2.
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FIGURE 2.0
RESPONDENTS BY FUNCTION
n Corporate communicators (with internal
communication responsibility)
FIGURE 2.1
OVERVIEW OF RESPONSES BY SECTOR
n NGO sector
n Private sector
5%
65%
n Internal communicators
35%
40%
55%
n Public sector
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY Sector – details The largest private sector groupings came from Financial Services (e.g. Royal Bank of Scotland and Royal & Sun Alliance), Professional Services (e.g. legal or accountancy firms such as Clifford Chance, KPMG and a range of design/ communications agencies), Manufacturing and Utilities – making up 196 or 58% of private sector respondents (Figure 2.2). n The largest single response group in the private sector was from Financial Services (77 people or 12% of all respondents). n Over a third of public sector respondents came from local government, whereas respondents working in national
FIGURE 2.2
SECTION 2
government departments constituted – 39 people or 13% of public sector respondents. n The 53 respondents from ‘other’ public sector organisations included communicators working in local police forces, housing associations and regional development agencies. n 59 people (9% of all respondents) work in the health sector – with 46 working in the NHS and the remaining 13 employed in the private health care sector. n A similar public-private sector split exists with organisations responding from the defence (10 respondents) and broadcasting (8 respondents) sectors.
NUMBERS OF RESPONDENTS BY SECTOR GROUPS
Call centre industry/customer service
5
Engineering and risk management
3
Environmental
3 24
Construction/building/support services Publishing
4 18
IT/Telecommunication
5
FMCG
3
Leisure/Travel
18
Logistics/transport
24
Pharmaceuticals
50
Professional services
27
Utilities
33
Financial services Retail
77
13
Manufacturing
42
NGO/research organisation
42 8
Broadcasting & media
10
Defence industry NHS/health services
59
Education (University)
14
Other public sector
53
National government department
39
Local government 0
n Private sector
n NGO
107
20 20
n Mix public/private sector
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40
60
80
100
120
n Public sector
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY FIGURE 2.3
SECTION 2
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS BY GEOGRAPHIC AREA IN THE UK
Australia
2.63
1.57
America
EU
3.06
3.86
West Midlands
5.10
East Midlands
3.94
North East
North West
8.08
6.89
South West
Wales
1.56%
Scotland
7.22
15.54
South East
40.55
Greater London 0%
Geography Of the total 639 respondents, over 56% are based in London or the South East (Figure 2.3). Geographical variation by sector shows that 43% (see Table 2.0) of private sector respondents are based in London. This compares with 36.3% of public sector respondents who are based in London. To some extent, this reects the relatively high proportion of locally based communicators in the public sector. These include those working in councils, the NHS, police forces and housing associations who responded to the survey and provided a broader regional variation from across the UK. With the survey predominantly focused on UK-based companies, it is unsurprising that only 8% of respondents are based outside the UK (3% in Australia, 2% in USA and 3% in the EU).
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10%
TABLE 2.0
20%
30%
40%
50%
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS BY UK GEOGRAPHIC AREA AND BY SECTOR
Public
Private
NGO
Scotland
7.5%
6.6%
12.0%
Wales
1.3%
1.9%
0.0%
Greater London
36.3%
43.0%
46.7%
South East
16.3%
15.0%
16.0%
South West
7.9%
5.6%
13.3%
North West
8.8%
8.31%
0.00%
North East
5.4%
2.73%
6.00%
East Midlands
6.2%
4.75%
0.00%
West Midlands
3.8%
3.69%
6.00%
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY Gender
FIGURE 2.4
The data highlights the strong representation of women in the communications industry – with only a third of total respondents being men (Figure 2.4). It could be argued that the high level of female respondents to the survey is not necessarily representative of the industry. However, these results mirror results from previous industry surveys. This survey is also the largest of its kind in the UK – with the largest sample size in the industry. As such, it provides a fairly strong representation of the industry. Figure 2.5 below shows that there is an even higher proportion of women working in internal communication than communications generally. Indeed, 70% (Figure 2.5) of respondents whose roles are solely focused on internal communication are women – compared with 59% (Figure 2.6) who work in corporate communications (i.e. those who have responsibility for internal communication in addition to other functional activities such as media relations).
SECTION 2
RESPONDENTS BY AGE TOTAL COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY
n Male
34% 66% n Female
FIGURE 2.5 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION RESPONDENTS BY AGE
FIGURE 2.6 CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS RESPONDENTS BY AGE n Male
n Male
30%
70%
n Female
41%
59%
n Female
OUR OWN FINDINGS BY ED OR IRR M H UC M RY VE “THE DATA ON GENDER IS NDIDATES ARE FEMALE, CA N IO AT IC UN M M CO AL RN 73% OF OUR INTE .” OF WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRY N TIO OR OP PR GH HI E TH G REFLECTIN DAVID BROOME, VMA KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY FIGURE 2.7
SECTION 2
RESPONDENTS BY AGE
8.78% Over 50
4.42%
26.34% 40 – 50
Age groups
15.77%
42.44% 30 – 40
42.32%
19.51% 25 – 30
33.65% n Corporate
communicators
2.93% 18 – 25
n Internal
3.84%
0%
communicators
10%
EST THE SINGLE LARG OF AGE GROUPING IS WEEN T H O S E AG E D B E T 30 AND 40.
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20%
30%
Age A large majority of communicators are under the age of 40 (Figure 2.7). Three in four of internal communicators and three in five corporate communicators are younger than 40. The single largest age grouping is of those aged between 30 and 40. Both these facts are generally indicative of a younger industry. Furthermore, there are disparities between corporate communicators – those who have responsibility for both internal and external communications – and those working purely in internal communication. Those with ‘corporate’ communications responsibilities tend, on the whole, to be older. A larger segment of ‘internal’ communication respondents were in the 25-30 age range than ‘corporate’ communication respondents. Conversely, there were nearly double the number of 40-50 year olds who work as corporate communicators compared to those working as pure ‘internal’ communicators. When looking at individual responses, we find that the corporate
40%
50%
communications category is made up of more senior people – with many being ‘Heads’ or ‘Directors’ of communication. The seniority of role is clearly linked to seniority or age. Nonetheless, it can also be argued that internal communication is a less wellestablished function in the wider communications industry. Compared to media relations and investor relations, internal communication is a relative newcomer. As a more junior function, it tends to employ younger people with less professional experience. Therefore, the number of ‘younger’ internal communicators far outweighed those in a similar age range who had both internal and external communications responsibilities.
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS DEMOGRAPHY Education The survey data in Figure 2.8 demonstrates the predominance of graduate requirement in both the corporate and internal communication functions. Over 58% have university degrees. Whilst this figure may be interpreted as a reflection of the higher number of graduates in the job market, it is true to say that many communications teams now make having a degree a pre-requisite for joining. It is also intriguing that there is such a
FIGURE 2.8
SECTION 2
high proportion of respondents (24.6%) with postgraduate educational experience (including an MBA, MA, MSc or PhD qualifications). Possible explanations for this may include vocational post-graduate study focused on communications, marketing or business. It may also highlight the changing nature or ‘worth’ of graduate degrees and the increasing number of those undertaking postgraduate studies to distinguish themselves in the job market.
COMMUNICATORS BY HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Other
3.80
GCSE/O Level
2.63
24.64
Postgraduate degree
58.14
University degree
BTech/diploma
4.34
A level
6.45
0%
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10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
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SECTION 3
SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLES
THREE IN FIVE ORS COMMUNICAT ED ROLES HAVE CHANG HREE IN THE LAST T YE A R S.
TABLE 3.0
Length of time in role Overall, turnover in the industry seems somewhat high – with just over three in five communicators having changed roles in the last three years (62.3% - Table 3.0). The data also highlights some interesting differences between the private and NGO sectors compared with the public sector. Whilst about 43% of communicators in the private and NGO sectors have been in their current role for between 1 and 3 years, 26% of public sector respondents say they have been in their current role for the same length of time. Furthermore, public sector communicators are more likely to have been in post for either less than one year or for between 3 to 6 years. This highlights differences in recruitment trends. It may be reflective of a recent slowdown in private sector recruitment and turnover in the last 12 months. A slowdown in public sector turnover has been in place for much of the last three years. This mirrors the slowdown in public sector employment growth since 2003. According to the National Statistics Office, Public Sector employment grew quite considerably from 1999 and peaked in 2003. Since then, it has begun a marginal decline.
The figures below (Table 3.0) also indicate that private sector recruitment and turnover was likely to have been high between 2002 and 2005. “Internal Communicators tend to move on average every 3-4 years which seems to be the natural lifespan of many internal communication roles which are highly change focused.” David Broome, VMA. Recruitment experiences There are also some interesting differences in the experiences of those applying for roles across the different sectors (Table 3.1). An individual applying for a role in the public sector is more likely to complete an application form, undertake a general interview and be required to give a presentation. The proportion of those in the public sector required to undertake an in-tray exercise or give a presentation is double that of respondents in the private sector. The number of private sector respondents saying they had to complete an application form was surprisingly low. This could be explained by the more prevalent use of CVs in the private sector – particularly amongst small to medium sized firms where application forms are not common practice. Private sector applicants are significantly less likely to be required to complete an application form than those in the public sector. But they are twice as likely as public or NGO sector applicants to be required to sit psychometric tests. Again, the number of those taking psychometric tests was a surprisingly high.
LENGTH OF TIME IN ROLE
How long respondents have been in their current role
Public
Private
NGO
All respondents
Under one year
27.61%
25.01%
23.00%
25.94%
1-3 years
26.09%
43.05%
44.44%
36.39%
3-6 years
44.13%
28.09%
32.56%
34.67%
Over 6 years
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2.17%
3.85%
0.00%
2.99%
100%
100%
100%
100%
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE TABLE 3.1
SECTION 3
APPLICATION EXPERIENCE
Public Application form General interview
Private
79.78% 71.91%
NGO
44.93% 63.84%
All respondents
68.75% 68.75%
59.94% 67.29%
Capability based interview
49.18%
52.17%
37.50%
50.25%
Psychometric testing
14.61%
27.46%
12.50%
21.61%
Role play simulation
7.87%
5.80%
0.00%
6.33%
In-tray exercise / simulation
33.60%
15.94%
18.75%
23.08%
Presentation
51.69%
25.99%
31.25%
36.45%
Headhunter interview
9.36%
13.14%
6.25%
11.30%
nications into internal communication is a significant one. While this is the case across all sectors, there are other interesting differences in background by sector. For example, looking at Figure 3.0, we can see that 16% of public sector respondents and 19% of those working in NGOs were previously journalists. This compares with barely 2% in the private sector – a surprisingly lower figure than expected. Conversely, HR is a route into internal communication for 11% of private sector respondents – double that of public sector ones. In addition,
ONE IN FIVE COMMUNICATORS ARE NOW REQUIRED TO SIT A PSYCHOME TRICS TEST. Background of current internal communication professionals It is clear from the data (Figure 3.0) that the crossover between PR / external commu-
FIGURE 3.0
11% of those working in the private sector started their internal communication career straight from education. “Competency based questioning is an interview technique that many internal communication candidates will face, particularly in any large corporates where HR is heavily involved in the interview process. Particularly for more tactical roles, written tests are very common and at a more strategic level, clients tend to test a candidate’s ability to present.”David Broome, VMA.
BACKGROUND OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATORS 50%
“CANDIDATES MOVING INTO INTERNAL COMMUNICATION COME FROM A WIDE RANGE OF BACKGROUNDS, THE MOST COMMON BEING BROADER CORPORATE OR EXTERNALLY FACING COMMUNICATIONS ROLES. HOWEVER, IT ALSO AT
40%
TRACTS CANDIDATES FROM WIDER HR ROLES OR THOSE THAT
36%
HAVE WORKED THEIR WAY UP A BUSINESS LINE BEFORE TAKING ON CHANGE RESPONSIBILITIES AND THEREFORE MAKING A MORE NATURAL TRANSITION.” 30%
DAVID BROOME, VMA
20%
16%
9%
8% 10%
9% 9%
8% 5%
4%
0% PR/External communication
HR
Marketing Operation communications
n Public
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n Private
Straight from school/college/ university n NGO
Journalism
Change/ programme management
Sales
Other
n All respondents
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE PRIMARY ISSUES OF FOCUS FOR COMMUNICATORS
Brand and culture focused communications
Organisation change communications
35.16
14.44
Communicating organisation strategy and goals
2.20
Communicating vision and direction
27.78
15.16
31.28
4.6
28.99
21.98
26.37
50.66
31.87
11.98
27.47
15.38
29.67
20%
40% n1
40.66
36.26
27.47
25.27
8.79
17.58
36.26
21.98
5.49
0%
27.47
24.18
26.67
5.21
2.20
Communicating HR related issues
7.69
2.22
Employee engagement activity
5.49
1.10
Operational delivery communications
3.30
FIGURE 3.1
SECTION 3
n2
60% n3
n4
80%
100%
n5
Primary issues communicators are currently focused on: Communicators were asked how regularly they focused on a particular set of organisational issues. Their responses ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (very regularly).
All change One overriding finding from Figure 3.1 is the significant focus on ‘organisational change’ by internal communicators – with over 50% of communicators spending a considerable amount of time on this activity. This reflects the current state of flux many organisations are in, with major structural change being used to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency and deliver improved service to customers. Also a high priority is the communication of organisational strategy and goals, with just over 40% of communicators reporting that this takes up a very regular amount of their time. “Nearly all internal communication roles have a strong element of change communications - endemic corporate change has resulted in very few internal communication roles being about day-to-day channel management.” David Broome, VMA
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“NEARLY ALL INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS ROLES HAVE A STRONG ELEMENT OF CHANGE COMMUNICATIONS ENDEMIC CORPORATE CHANGE HAS AL RESULTED IN VERY FEW INTERN COMMUNICATIONS R0LES BEING ABOUT DAYTODAY CHANNEL MANAGEMENT.” DAVID BROOME, VMA
Culture change: dichotomy between professional focus and organisational priority There is a relatively low focus on communications to change or embed culture, with
36.5% (Figure 3.1, statement 3) of communicators spending little or no time on this area of activity. Nonetheless, Figure 3.2 highlights that the biggest issue facing nearly 80% of organisations is change to their internal culture. This highlights an interesting dichotomy. It may indicate that internal communication professionals are not in the driving seat when it comes to internal culture change. Culture change may be a high priority for organisations, but it is likely they are turning to HR, marketing or operational teams to lead that change. Communicators could well play a supporting role – spending relatively less time on helping deliver culture change. Some will say that this is as it should be – communicators cannot deliver‘culture’on their own. Nor should they be trying. It is the organisation’s operational leadership and the people working in that organisation who should take centre stage in shaping and delivering culture change. Indeed, it is arguable that culture only changes when individual behaviours change in line with changes to organisational strategy and direction.
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SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE Nonetheless, the dichotomy still stands. Culture change is currently the highest priority for organisations (Figure 3.2), but it is an area of activity that communicators spend least time on (Figure 3.1). This draws attention to an area of potentially mismatched priorities. Even if communicators are not in the driving seat, culturefocused communications should be higher up the agenda for communicators.
FIGURE 3.2
MAJOR ISSUES FACING ORGANISATIONS IN THE NEAR FUTURE OVERVIEW
80%
76.91
70% n Introducing new
technology 60%
52.20
n Market industry
53.09
changes affecting your organisation
50%
41.49
n Focus on reducing
costs
40%
Culture-focused communications may not be prioritised for several reasons: n Communicators are spending a large proportion of their time on communicating organisation and process change. They are also focused on communicating their organisation’s vision, strategy and goals. With most internal communicators coming from a PR, journalist or marketing communications background, there may be a pre-disposition or bias towards ‘telling and selling’ the organisation’s vision and strategy. Given the professional skills set of these communicators, this may be an easier and more tangible task than trying to change behaviour and culture in an organisation. In other words, it is an area outside the comfort zone of many internal communicators – leading many to avoid it, consciously or otherwise. n Internal communicators may not recognise or know how to apply their communication skills to assist with the culture change process. Techniques aimed at identifying, shaping and changing behaviour require a degree of specialisation that may be outside the skills set of many communicators. n Organisational leaders may not, for the above reasons and due to commonly-held prejudices (where culture means people and thus equals HR or Organisational Development), turn to communications to play a significant role in culture change. The odd article in the staff newspaper focused on the organisation’s new values or ways of working may be all that is expected from the internal TABLE 3.2
n Drive to grow your
31.39 30%
organisations revenue/sales
20%
n Major changes to
your internal culture n Other (please specify)
10%
5.05
0%
3 OUT OF 4 COMMUNICATORS BELIEVE THAT CHANGE IN THEIR ORGANISATION’S INTERNAL CULTURE IS A MA JOR ISSUE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
MAJOR ISSUES FACING ORGANISATIONS IN THE NEAR FUTURE BY SECTOR
Public Introducing new technology
37.08%
Private 29.71%
NGO 5.00%
Market/ industry changes affecting your organisation
50.56%
56.52%
17.50%
Focus on reducing costs
37.19%
75.90%
37.50% 47.50%
Drive to grow your organisation’s revenue / sales
14.72%
60.14%
Major changes to your internal culture
83.78%
66.59%
82.50%
Market/ industry changes affecting your organisation
50.56%
56.52%
17.50%
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SECTION 3
communications function. Ironically, communications professionals have a unique and critical role in facilitating culture change. Whilst they cannot lead it, they should play a more significant part in facilitating it – one, which according to these figures, they currently do not. HR communications Another ‘supporting actor’ role many communicators feel they play is in the communication of HR related issues. Only 17.58% (Figure 3.1) saw this as being a current area of ‘very regular’ focus in their job. Nonetheless, 36.26%% said it was a ‘regular’ focus for them. This highlights that communicating HR issues constitutes a fairly significant part of a communicators ‘day-job’ – but may not be perceived by communicators as being core to their role. Key priorities facing organisations in the near future Communicators were asked what issues are currently facing their organisation. We have already discussed the issue of change to internal culture. Figure 3.3 also shows a picture of organisations struggling with the reality of structural, market or industry changes. Clearly there is a direct relationship between the two. Market and organisational change has an impact on culture. Change to one usually requires change to the other. Another derivative of the pressures for change on organisations is the requirement to cut costs. Figure 3.2 highlights this as the second highest priority many organisations are facing. However, as
16
SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE
nications in their organisations. Many organisations ‘talk a good talk’ when it comes to communicating change. That ‘talk’ rarely translates into effective action and may not be borne out by change that is well managed by the organisation’s leadership. Factors such as a lack of effective ‘symbolic communication’ (for example, where leaders preach the need to cut costs but are seen to be exempt from this need) play their part in reducing the impact of change communications. Furthermore, organisations may focus a lot of their communication team’s attention on the ‘harder’ elements of change – process, technology and structures – and less attention on the ‘softer’ elements – behaviour, ways of working and leadership action.
table 3.2 shows, there are some distinct differences across sector. Reducing costs is a current and major pre-occupation of private sector firms – the number of respondents citing this as a major issue for their organisation was more than double that for those in the public and NGO sectors (Table 3.2). Change – again… Over 70% of respondents say that change and uncertainty are major factors for organisations (Figure 3.3). Clearly this echoes the results displayed in Figure 3.2. However, nearly 50% of respondents also said that their organisations did not manage change communications well (Figure 3.3). This dissonance could reflect a frustration over their ability to more effectively shape or influence ‘change’ commu-
COMMUNICATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ORGANISATIONS AND ROLES OVERVIEW
We manage change communications well in my organisation
I am trusted and empowered to do my job by my organisations leadership
My organisations leadership get involved in shaping our communications plans
Internal communication is actively involved in shaping and planning the organisations key messages
6.84
3.33
My organisations leadership understand and support what I am doing
9.23
28.93
30.36
6.45
12.80
I am satisfied with the role I am in
12.09
0%
31.78
33.81
33.08
20%
40% n2
23.02
26.22
21.58
n3
24.10
34.63
19.49
n1
20.15
35.67
24.44
10.14
12.00
31.30
24.22
13.50
I receive the training and coaching I need to improve in my role
18.57
26.04
28.64
13.44
5.57
35.06
41.16
18.64
5.84
41.96
20.70
9.43
Internal communication is actively involved in shaping the organisations strategy
Internal communication is valued by my organisations leadership
18.94
23.46
22.00
32.19
12.27
2.88
Change and uncertainty are big factors in my organisation
3.74
16.51
24.50
60% n4
80%
6.24
FIGURE 3.3
SECTION 3
15.84
11.60
15.71
100%
n5
Organisations and roles: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding their role, the relationship between internal communication and their organisation’s leadership, and the perception of internal communication in their organisation. Their responses were on a scale of 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement) shown in Figure 3.3.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
17
SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE
SECTION 3
TABLE 3.3 PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ORGANISATIONS AND ROLES AVERAGE SCORES BY SECTOR WITH THE RANGE OF SCORES FROM 1 TO 5, 1 BEING A STATEMENT STRONGLY DISAGREED WITH AND 5 A STATEMENT STRONGLY AGREED WITH.
Public
Private
NGO
1
Statement I am satisfied with the role I am in
3.02
2.98
4.06
All respondents 3
2
I receive the training and coaching I need to improve in my role
3.07
3.03
3.5
3.07
3
Internal communication is valued by my organisation’s leadership
3.51
3.42
3.81
3.47
4
Internal communication is actively involved in shaping the organisations strategy
3
2.78
2.5
2.84
5
Internal communication is actively involved in shaping and planning the organisation’s key messages
3.43
3.58
3.13
3.49
6
My organisations leadership get involved in shaping our communications plans
3.14
3.21
3.06
3.18
7
I am trusted and empowered to do my job by my organisation’s leadership
3.75
3.79
3.93
3.79
8
My organisations leadership understand and support what I am doing
3.57
3.45
4
3.53
9
Change and uncertainty are big factors in my organisation
4.03
3.85
3.5
3.96
10
We manage change communications well in my organisation
2.71
3.07
2.88
2.89
Advice on the numbers in Table 3.3: We have created average scores for ease of comparison across sectors. While average numbers do not provide insight into the breadth of agreement or disagreement for each statement, they do provide a quick route for readers to see where key differences exist.
WHILST 71% OF COMMUNICATORS SAY THAT CHANGE AND UNCERTAINT Y ARE BIG FACTORS IN THEIR ORGANISATIONS, ONLY 29% SAY THAT THEIR ORGANISATIONS HANDLE CHANGE WELL.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
Satisfaction and value 34% of communicators say they are not satisfied with the role they are in (Figure 3.3) – and a similar 34% do not feel they get the training and coaching they need to improve in their role. Other findings in relation to the statements in Figure 3.3 may highlight why one in three communicators are unsatisfied with their roles. Clearly, training and development opportunities are one issue. However, there are other issues regarding the relationship between communicators and their organisation’s leadership, and the perceived place internal communication has in an organisation’s ‘value chain’ or pecking order. Just under 50% (Figure 3.3) of respondents feel that their function and what it does is valued by their organisation’s leadership. While a considerably lower figure (approximately 15%) disagreed with this view, just over a third of respondents had an ambiguous picture of whether their organisational leadership valued them or not. In other words, they are simply not sure.
Added to this, approximately 60% of respondents said they disagreed with or were ambiguous on the following statements: n Internal communication is actively involved in shaping the organisation's strategy n My organisation's leadership get involved in shaping our communications plans. These perceptions may contribute to or reinforce the view that internal communication is a) the lesser cousin in communications generally and b) is seen as a ‘post-office service’, used mainly for packaging and distributing an organisation’s messages. Different sectors, different perceptions There were many similarities in findings regarding perceptions in Figure 3.3 across the three key sectors. However, there were also some interesting differences.
18
SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE As statement 10 in Table 3.3 shows, communicators in the private sector are more likely to assess the ability of their organisations to manage change communications in a positive light – with public sector professionals having the least positive perception of change communications in their organisation. This is further illustrated by the contrasting view amongst public sector communicators that change and uncertainty are big factors for their organisations. Clearly, this highlights the transformation taking place in the structuring and delivery of public services – and the relatively newer experience of managing such change in that sector. This compares with private sector businesses that have seen ever increasing waves of organisational change in the last two decades. There is also a significant difference in the area of job satisfaction and opportunities, between public and private sector communicators on the one hand and communicators in NGOs on the other.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
SECTION 3
JUST UNDER 50% OF RESPONDENTS FEEL THAT THEIR FUNC TION AND WHAT IT DOES IS VALUED BY THEIR ORGANISATION’S LEADERSHIP.
19
SURVEY RESPONDENTS ROLE FIGURE 3.4
SECTION 3
AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMUNICATORS
13.19
External supplier management
Campaign development and management
Measurement and evaluation
Managing channnels
Copywriting
Strategy development
10.99
15.49
3.29
2.20
8.79
10.99
5.49
0%
23.08
15.38 17.58
29.56
42.86
25.27
18.68
49.45
20.88
15.38
8.79
46.04
24.18
23.19
6.59
4.40
58.24
24.18
12.09
3.30
Advising internal clients on internal communication
54.95
15.38
17.58
4.40
3.30
Communication planning
7.69
28.57
24.18
21.98
12.09
20%
40%
n1
40.66
25.27
19.78
n2
60%
n3
n4
80%
100%
n5
Responsibilities: Communicators were asked whether specific responsibilities were areas of regular focus for them. Their responses ranged from 1 (never) through to 5 (very regular)
Areas of direct responsibility Figure 3.4 demonstrates that the primary focus for internal communicators is planning with 82% reporting this as an area of high priority in which they are regularly engaged. Campaign management (70%), copywriting (71%) and advising internal clients (70%) are also high up on the list of activities that internal communicators spend a significant proportion of their time engaged in. One area of activity where communicators say they spend little or no time engaged in is measurement and evaluation. 53% say it is an area of regular or very regular focus and priority, compared to 32% who do not. The fact that nearly one in three communicators have limited
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
32% OF COMMUNICATORS SAY MEASURMENT AND EVALUATION IS NOT A REGULAR FOCUS FOR THEM.
direct responsibility for measurement may be of some concern. This could be interpreted as a number of communicators saying that ‘someone else’ has responsibility for measurement and evaluation. i.e. it may be carried out as an activity in their organisation, but not by them. However, the fact that the negative score for this statement is so high demonstrates an issue that cannot be dismissed that easily. This is something we will return to in Section 6.
20
SECTION 4 2
COMMUNICATION RESO U TEAM & BUDGET SIZE
RCES
This section provides an insight into resource allocation for internal communication departments.
T
ogether with overview statistics relating to (internal communication) financial and personnel resources, we assess what organisations of a certain size spend on internal communication.
Organisations represented in iC survey 2006 A first step in this assessment is to outline the size of the organisations represented by the respondents to this survey1. The largest segment of organisations (24%) represented in the survey are those employing between 250 and 1,000 people (Figure 4.0). Just under one third of organisations employ under 1,000 staff. Clearly the statistics in either Figure 4.0 or Table 4.0 are not representative of the size of organisations in the UK. The National Statistics Office figures state that 99.47% of the UK’s 2.07 million businesses employed between 1 and 250 employees. Just under 1,000 businesses employed more than one thousand employees. National Statistics Office figures also show that the numbers employed in public and NGO sector organisation (as outlined in Table 4.0) are more representative of those sectors. It should be noted that the relatively
TABLE 4.0
high number of respondents from private sector organisations employing less than 250 people are mainly communications consultants and those working for small communications-focused agencies – many of whom participated in the survey via encouragement from Communicators in Business (CiB).
FIGURE 4.0 SIZE OF ORGANISATION BY EMPLOYEE NUMBERS
9%
5% 12%
12% 19%
19% 24%
n Under 250 n 1,000 to 5,000 n 15,000 to 30,000 n Over 50,000
n 250 to 1,000 n 5,000 to 15,000 n 30,000 to 50,000
SIZE OF ORGANISATION BY EMPLOYEE NUMBERS BY SECTOR
Public
Private
NGO
Total
Under 250
8.19%
15.82%
6.25%
12.31%
250 to 1000 1,000 to 5,000
21.98% 26.37%
13.97% 20.47%
43.75% 37.50%
18.64% 23.66%
5,000 to 15,000
21.48%
18.38%
12.50%
19.31%
15,000 to 30,000
14.29%
12.03%
0.00%
12.32%
30,000 to 50,000
5.49%
11.62%
0.00%
8.61%
Over 50,000
2.20%
7.71%
0.00%
5.14%
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
21
COMMUNICATION RESOURCES TEAM AND BUDGET SIZE FIGURE 4.1
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION BUDGET SPEND
Internal communication budgets and team resources have, over the past few years, grown as functions have been built up. Clearly there are cyclical downturns, and the current trend for cost cutting across many organisations is having its effect on internal communication resources. It is unsurprising that private sector organisations are spending more on internal communication. This is partly due to the resources available in the private sector. It may also be due to private sector organisations having more advanced internal communication functions than those in the public and NGO sectors. The next two charts (Figures 4.1 and 4.2) highlight the amounts organisations allocate to internal communication and the size of communications teams – with associated breakdown by sectors (Tables 4.1 and 4.2).
25%
24.70 22.17 20.96
20%
SECTION 4
15%
13.60
10%
9.81 8.76
FIGURE 4.2
5%
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION TEAM SIZE
40%
38.04 0%
35%
0 ,000 0,000 0,000 ,000 50,00 100,000 r £20 £500 – £50 – £25 £ 00 – £ Unde ,000 ,000 Over £20,0 £50,000 – £250 £100
30%
TABLE 4.1 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION BUDGET SPEND BY SECTOR Public Under £20,000
32.33%
Private 10.18%
NGO 50.00%
25%
24.47 Total 20.96%
£20,000 to £50,000
13.95%
12.88%
18.75%
13.60%
£50,000 to £100,000
23.95%
21.21%
18.75%
22.17%
£100,000 to £250,000
18.14%
30.73%
10.00%
24.70%
£250,000 to £500,000
6.98%
10.61%
2.50%
8.76%
Over £500,000
4.65%
14.39%
0.00%
9.81%
20.98
20%
16.52
15%
10%
5%
0%
Overview of internal communication budget spend and team size.
The resource allocations outlined in Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2 become more useful when looked at in relation to the size of the relevant organisations. This provides us with benchmark information on how big communication budgets and teams are relative to organisational size. This benchmark has been done before in other industry research – the best being previous Melcrum research in this area (see www.melcrum.com). However, the relatively large size of the sample in the iC 2006 survey provides a powerful picture of resource allocation to internal communication across the different organisation sizes.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
1 to 3
3 to 10
10 to 20
Over 20
TABLE 4.2 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION TEAM SIZE BY SECTOR Public
Private
NGO
Total
1 to 3
47.34%
29.15%
62.50%
3 to 10
27.58%
23.32%
12.50%
38.04% 24.47%
10 to 20
8.60%
30.62%
12.50%
20.98%
Over 20
16.48%
16.91%
12.50%
16.52%
22
COMMUNICATION RESOURCES TEAM AND BUDGET SIZE TABLE 4.3
SECTION 4
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION TEAM SIZE BY SIZE OF ORGANISATION
Internal communication Team Size Public
Private
NGO
Organisation size (by employee numbers)
1–3 staff
3–10 staff
10–20 staff
Over 20
Under 250
88.00%
9.30%
0.00%
2.70%
250 to 1,000
82.61%
8.70%
4.25%
4.45%
1,000 to 5,000
66.67%
28.79%
3.03%
1.52%
5,000 to 15,000
42.86%
33.13%
11.92%
11.68%
15,000 to 30,000
25.00%
7.14%
25.00%
42.86%
30,000 to 50,000
7.14%
14.29%
28.57%
50.00%
Over 50,000
22.73%
18.18%
4.55%
54.55%
Resource allocation by organisation size Both Tables 4.3 and 4.4 indicate that there is a general synchronicity between the size of an organisation and the amount of resources (team size and activity budget) it spends on internal communication. The figures demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between organisation size and internal communication resources. That is, as the size of an organisation increases, so does the amount spent on internal communication. The highlighted numbers in Table 4.4 illustrate this relationship. Nonetheless, an interesting finding is how some larger organisations are spending relatively little on internal communication. For example, 23% respondents from organisations with over 50,000 employees said the internal communication team comprised between 1 and 3 people (Table 4.3). 17% of respondents from organisations with 30,000 to 50,000 staff have activity budgets for internal communication of no more than £20,000 (Table 4.4). Conversely, there are some organisations that may be perceived to be spending relatively larger sums on internal
TABLE 4.4
communication given their relative size. For example, 10% of respondents in organisations employing between 5,000 and 15,000 staff reported that their internal communication budget was over £500,000.
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION BUDGETS BY SIZE OF ORGANISATION
Internal communication budget (excluding staff budget Organisation size
Under £20,000
£20,000 to £50,000
£50,000 to £100,000
£100,000 to £250,000
£250,000 to £500,000
Over £500,000 0.00%
Under 250
66.07%
17.27%
16.67%
0.00%
0.00%
250 to 1,000
62.22%
15.56%
17.78%
4.44%
0.00%
0.00%
1,000 to 5,000
23.56%
26.44%
25.00%
14.06%
10.94%
0.00%
5,000 to 15,000
17.43%
5.07%
27.19%
22.81%
17.40%
10.10%
15,000 to 30,000
23.08%
7.69%
11.54%
30.77%
3.85%
23.08%
30,000 to 50,000
16.99%
8.01%
25.00%
16.60%
33.40%
0.00%
Over 50,000
6.95%
4.15%
2.54%
27.27%
13.64%
45.45%
23 KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY 23
SECTION 5
COMMUNICATING DEMOGRAPHY
ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY
cators do not seem to have a clear picture of what their employees know and think about a range of strategic issues.
Measurement Statement 1 in Figure 5.0 shows that there may be relatively patchy levels of knowledge amongst communicators in relation to employee understanding of and opinion on their organisation’s strategy. Just over one third of communicators say their organisations measure employee understanding of strategy and goals. Table 5.0 shows that this equates to a net negative2 of 0.58% between those who disagree3 with this statement versus those who agree with it. This may also be an explanation for the fairly high number of communicators who responded in a neutral way to the other statements in this section. In some respects, communi-
PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY COMMUNICATION
3.41
3. Staff understand the organisation’s direction
2.63
11.33
4. Staff know the key priorities for our organisation in the next year or so
11.37
5. Staff have a good understanding of our organisation’s market/operating environment
10.50
19.64
38.04
9.85
9. The organisation’s strategy is in a story or narrative form that employees can relate to
0%
36.91
8.22
33.95
40.54
11.98
44.05
40%
15.02
28.07 60%
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
8.90
30.16
44.23 20%
6.33
31.75
31.61
16.97
4.95
19.12
32.91
32.83
18.55
12.06
39.03
40.90
20.89
10. Staff believe in the direciton 5.51 our organisation is going
40.91
30.41
17.69
8. The organisation’s leadership see internal communication as critical to the delivery 7.97 of the organisation’s strategy
28.52
33.57
6. Staff understand what the organisation’s 6.43 strategy means for them in practice 7. Staff feel involved in shaping the organisation’s strategy
37.92
2.18
2.Our internal communication strategy is aligned with the organisation’s strategy
15.23
20.06
28.60
25.86
80%
2.32
10.02
2.17
1. We measure employee understanding of business strategy and goals
5.22
FIGURE 5.0
I understand… The positive picture from Figure 5.0 (statement 2) is that over two thirds of communicators believe that their internal communication and organisational strategies are aligned. Furthermore, just over 50% of respondents agree / strongly agree with the statement that staff in their organisations have a strong understanding or their operating environments and the priorities for the coming year (Statements 4 and 5).
100%
Communicating organisational strategy: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements on the effectiveness of communications relating to their organisation’s strategy. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
24
COMMUNICATING ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY TABLE 5.0
SECTION 5
PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY COMMUNICATION
Showing the difference in percentage between those who said they agreed with each of the following statements and those who said they disagreed.
1
We measure employee understanding of business strategy and goals
-0.58%
2
Our internal communication strategy is aligned with the organisations strategy
+52.52%
3
Staff understand the organisation’s direction
+31.17%
4
Staff know the key priorities for our organisation in the next year or so
+38.98%
5
Staff have a good understanding of our organisation’s market / operating environment
+45.79%
6
Staff understand what the organisations strategy means for them in practice
-12.76%
7
Staff feel involved in shaping the organisation’s strategy
-50.07%
8 9
The organisations leadership see internal communication as critical to the delivery of the organisations strategy The organisation’s strategy is in a story or narrative form that employees can relate to
+14.13% -35.16%
10
Staff believe in the direction our organisation is going
+10.80%
Communicating organisational strategy: showing the difference in % between those who said they agreed with each of the statements and those who said they disagreed4
I believe… A generally positive result from these statements is the large number of respondents who feel that employees understand the direction of their organisation. The downside is that far fewer employees are seen to believe in this direction. A net positive of 31% for understanding of organisational direction can be compared with a net positive of only 11% for belief in that direction. This gap is likely to be linked to potential suspicion that employees have of the spin and gloss used by organisations - and ostensibly the communication
channels deployed. Too often, much of the communications employees receive relating to their organisation’s future prospects and strategy is rose-tinted. Employees will see through the spin and, whilst understanding a strategy, they may not believe it or believe it is achievable. Table 5.0 also shows the inability of employees to relate to what a strategy means to them in practice. A negative difference of nearly 13% in statement 6 highlights that the communications employees receive often fails to convey the impact of an organisation’s strategy and goals on the
daily working lives of its employees. This shows that employees can be intellectually engaged with an organisation’s direction without any concurrent emotional engagement. Emotional engagement is impossible when an individual feels that that ‘something’ does not apply to them personally. Equally, engagement is unlikely where communications are passive and require no involvement of or action from individuals.
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT GAP BE TWEEN THE PERCENTAGE OF EMPLOYEES WHO UNDERSTAND THEIR ORGANISATIONS STRATEGY AND THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN IT.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
25
COMMUNICATING ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY
SECTION 5
A ‘story’ to relate to and understand An organisation’s strategy does not have to be placed in a narrative form for employees to ‘get it’ or ‘believe it’. But it helps. Just over 50% of communicators say that their organisation’s strategy is not in such a narrative form (Figure 5.0). As children, we learn through the power of story telling. Storytelling is vital to the transmission of culture, morality, norms and the like, and are often communicated implicitly. Furthermore, adults do not lose that inclination towards stories as a logical and compelling form of communication. Placing complicated strategies into simple, meaningful narratives can be a critical first step to communicating them to employees. It enables communicators to distil a range of complex messages and facts into a simple story that is more easily followed. The fact that so few organisations carry out such an exercise may be one of the reasons why there is the net negative of 13% (Table 5.0) in relation to employees relating their organisation’s strategy to themselves. Excluded The largest negative in these responses relates to the employee belief that they are not involved in shaping their organisation’s strategy. Only 9% of those surveyed agreed with the relevant statement compared with 59% who disagreed - a net negative of 50%. Deep down, internal communication professionals are unlikely to be surprised by this statistic. It demonstrates that there is a very clear perception of organisations dictating strategy with little or no input from their staff. Despite the talk of engagement and involvement, these figures bear out a different reality. Indeed, this is the perception of those responsible for communicating and ‘selling’ their organisation’s strategy. Clearly the role of leadership is to set strategy. However, there is also an important role for employees to help identify the strategic options and solutions on which strategy is based. Strategy and development is not done in isolation – the exclusion of employees from this process impedes wider support and personal implication Different sectors, different perceptions There is a general uniformity in many of the above results across the three sectors. However, there are three fairly significant differences between the public and private sectors in relation to some of the statements. The
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
ONLY 9% OF THOSE SURVEYED FEEL STRONGLY THAT EMPLOYEES IN THEIR ORGANISATION ARE INVOLVED IN SHAPING STRATEGY.
detailed analysis4 by sector of the data relating to strategy communications shows that: • 38% of public sector communicators said employees understood the direction their organisations were headed in. This compares with 49% in the private sector. • The difference between those who agree and disagree with the statement on employees being involved in shaping an organisation’s strategy is also fairly marked. A net negative of 45% in the private sector compares with a net negative of 57% in the public sector. This highlights an interestingly higher likelihood for communicators in the private sector to believe that their employees feel more involved in the shaping of organisational strategy. • There is a higher percentage of communicators in the private sector (45%) compared to those in the public sector (35%) who say their organisations measure employee understanding of organisational strategy. • Whereas both public and private sector communicators say that their leaders see internal communication as critical to the delivery of their organisation’s strategy, NGOs say quite the opposite. 19% of NGO communicators said this was the case in their organisation – a net negative of 6%. This compared with 45% for private sector communicators and 38% for public sector ones who agreed with statement 8 in Table 5.0 – providing, respectively, net positives of 11% and 18%.
26
SECTION 62
SMUEARSVUERINYGRTEHSEPEFOFENCDTIVEENNETSSS OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT
DEMOGRAPHY
F
Channels Figure 6.1 highlights a major focus on measuring channel effectiveness. At first glance, this may look positive. And if it is part of a wider mix of metrics, then that is how it should be viewed. Nonetheless, it is clear from these figures that the link between measuring channels and measuring the impact they have on employee understanding of the messages conveyed in them is not strong enough. The focus on measuring channel effectiveness, on its own, will provide a poor picture of the effectiveness of those very same channels. Arguably, the best way to identify if channels are working is to test whether or not the messages transmitted through them are getting through to the target audiences. It is not simply by testing whether a particular channel is favoured by employees that this will happen.
igure 6.0 shows that there are marginally more communicators saying that their organisations regularly measure the impact of communications (45%) than those who say they do not (37%). However, 32% of respondents say they link their communication metrics to the organisation’s objectives. This mirrors one of the answers in section 5 (Figure 5.0, statement 1), where only 38% of respondents said they measured employee understanding of organisational strategy and goals. This picture is further reinforced when communicators were asked what they actually measured when surveying employees (Figure 6.1). 35% said their organisations regularly measure employee understanding of key messages. Ends or means? Communicators were asked what their organisations most regularly measure. Too often, organisations focus on measuring the ‘means’ (the channels we use as communicators) and not the ‘ends’ (shifts in employee understanding and behaviour). PERCEPTIONS OF MEASUREMENT
Employee engagement is linked to our organisations bonus and reward scheme
42.79
We link our communication measurements to our organisations objectives
We regularly measure the impact of communications on employee awareness and understanding
18.18
9.25
0%
25.99
27.74
28.06
20%
14.60
21.79
24.17
18.03
40%
12.36
28.63
60%
4.34
FIGURE 6.0
Satisfaction? It could be argued that employee satisfaction or engagement is the most important factor impacted upon by communication. This could be the ‘end’ that communicators should be measuring. According to
8.15
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
15.97
80%
100%
Measuring communication: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding the way they measured the impact of communications in their organisation. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
27
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT FIGURE 6.1
SECTION 6
WHAT ORGANISATIONS MOST REGULARLY MEASURE OVERALL RESPONSES AND BY SECTOR
0.8%
69.91 0.7%
61.02 0.6%
n Public n Private n NGO n Total
0.5%
0.4%
34.82 0.3%
25.05 0.2%
0.1%
5.26 0% Channel effectiveness
Employee satisfaction and/or engaement
Figure 6.1, employee satisfaction/engagement is the primary focus for communicators when they survey employees. This is clearly a good thing. However, the question communicators need to ask themselves is whether, when conducting such measurement, they are able to demonstrate tangible and specific links between the work they do and the changes in employee understanding and opinion. Many organisation-wide employee satisfaction and engagement surveys seek to identify the general awareness, understanding and opinion of employees. Such surveys can provide a useful snapshot, often no more than once a year (see Figure 6.3), of how employees are feeling. These kinds of surveys do not provide a more detailed and accurate picture of what employees are thinking and doing on a day-to-day basis. To do this, organisations must survey more regularly and focus those surveys on the messages being communicated and the opinion/behaviour desired from employees. A broad base of organisations, both in the public and private sector, conduct these kinds of ‘pulse’ surveys. Organisations like the BBC and British Gas have pioneered the process of taking regular employee pulse checks. The process of developing and managing the ‘annual’ satisfaction or engagement survey can often become the end in itself – not a means to an end. The speed and immensity of change organisations are experiencing, together with the time it takes to process survey data, means
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
Employee understanding of key messages
Employee behaviour
FIGURE 6.2
INCLUSION OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT COMPETENCIES IN LINE MANAGER OBJECTIVES OVERVIEW n No
53.03%
46.97%
n Yes
Relationship between employee engagement and business performance
that actionable findings can often be overtaken by events. This is not to say that such set-piece surveys do not have their place. On the contrary, they can be a useful ‘temperature check’ each year (or whenever they are conducted) – providing senior managers a broad picture of how engaged their staff are. Such surveys are even more powerful when their results are tied to the company’s bonus or reward scheme. It provides a genuine pecuniary incentive (like few other things) for the organisation’s leadership to keep their staff engaged. And yet, as Figure 6.0 shows, this is not something that happens very widely. Only 17% of respondents said their organisations made a link between employee engagement and their organisation’s bonus / reward scheme. This compares with 69% who said they did not. Another missing link? A slim majority of organisations fail to make communication and engagement competencies part of their line management objectives, with 47% of those surveyed place such competencies in their line manager’s objectives (Figure 6.2). However, this masks a stark difference between the private sector on the one hand and the public and NGO sectors on the other (Figure 6.2a). While three in five private sector communicators said their organisations placed such competencies in line manager targets, only a third of
28
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT
SECTION 6
FIGURE 6.2A INCLUSION OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT COMPETENCIES IN LINE MANAGER OBJECTIVES BY SECTOR
Private Sector
42%
Public Sector
67%
58%
n No
33%
n Yes
RS SAY THEIR ORGANISATIONS TO ICA UN MM CO OR CT SE TE IVA 58% OF PR IVES. ILLS IN LINE MANAGER OBJECT SK N TIO ICA UN MM CO E UD CL IN public sector respondents said the same. NGO respondents gave a near identical response to communicators in the public sector. Figure 6.2a may simply demonstrate a greater level of general objective and target setting for line managers in the private sector than in the public sector. In other words, private sector managers have a range of targets to meet – such as financial or sales. A targets or objectivesetting culture is more prevalent in the private sector. And with communication skills moving higher up the management agenda, they get included in the wider competency mix of the private sector line manager. As such, it seems likely that private sector firms now place a greater onus on their line management to have the necessary communications skills to engage and motivate their teams. Regularity of satisfaction or engagement surveys Employee satisfaction or engagement surveys are mainly conducted annually or once every two years. According to respondents, just over 50% of organisations check employee satisfaction/engagement through a formal survey process once a year (Figure 6.3). A further 26% conduct such surveys once every two years – and up to 15% of organisations survey their employees once every three years or on an ad-hoc basis.
29 KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
FIGURE 6.3
REGULARITY OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION OR ENGAGEMENT SURVEYS
70%
51.51 60%
50%
40%
n Public n Private n NGO n All
26.16 30%
respondents
20%
10.76 10%
5.37 3.66 2.05 0.48
0% Quarterly
Half yearly
Annually
Once every two years
Monthly
Weekly
Ad-hoc/not regularly
Once in three years
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY 29
SECTION 27
SURCVOEMY M REUSNPOICNADTIEONNTS PLANNING DEMOGRAPHY
T
he first thing to say on this subject is that planning is clearly a fundamental part of any communicator’s job and skills set. As was noted in Section 3, communications planning is the most regular area of focus for communicators. Four out of five communicators reported that it is a key activity they were engaged in on a regular basis (Figure 3.4). This is reinforced by the fact that nearly four out of five communicators said that their organisations prepare an annual forward plan of communications activity (Figure 7.0). Whilst there are marginally
more private sector than public sector communicators conducting this annual process, there is an interesting divergence when it comes to NGO communicators. Only 56% of NGO communicators say they create communications plans for the coming year (Figure 7.0). One plan? A less positive picture was found when communicators were asked whether activity plans from across their organisations were integrated into one overarching communications plan. Just over half of all communicators say
FIGURE 7.0 DO COMMUNICATORS PREPARE A FORWARD PLAN OF COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITY FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR 100
83.05
80
78.99 76.19
60
56.25
43.75
40
20
23.81
21.01 16.95
0
Public
Private n Yes
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
NGO n No
All respondents
that their overview communication plans do not factor in wider activity from across their organisation (Figure 7.1). The percentage of private sector communicators who say that they integrate activity plans from across their organisations (49%) is marginally lower than those who say they do not (51%). This compares with public sector communicators – where there is a smaller percentage (46%) who say they do create one communications plan that incorporates organisation-wide activity. A sizeable number of private sector organisations represented in the survey are relatively small – with 16% employing less than 250 compared with 8% in the public sector employing a similar number (see Figure 4.0). This may explain why there are marginally more private sector organisations than public sector ones with integrated communications plans. The ability to integrate communications plans and activity into one overarching plan in organisations with, say 25,000 staff and numerous departments / and functions, is a tough challenge. Similarly, many of the NGO communicators participating in the survey work for organisations that are smaller and less complex than private sector equivalents. Hence, the higher percentage (53%) stating that their NGO produced integrated communications plans. The lack of integrated planning across organisations highlights an obvious but important point. Communication plans that do not incorporate activity from across an organisation represented in the survey are useful up to a point but do not give communicators and organisational leaders the information necessary to make decisions on priorities. The only way this can be done is to have a comprehensive and integrated picture of what messages are being communicated, to whom, through which channels and at what time. Clearly this is not easy to deliver - otherwise a larger number of organisations
30
COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING would be doing it already. Nonetheless, using new technology, some organisations are putting in place online planning systems which enable such a ‘dynamic’ planning process. Dynamic planning enables an organisation to prepare and refine plans on an ongoing basis. British Gas is one example of where an online planning tool has had major impact on and improved the efficiency of communications planning. In a relatively small organisation, this kind of integrated planning is not as much of a major issue. Communication plans which encompass activity from across the organisation can be updated with relative ease. However, the larger the organisation and the more complex the activity, the harder it is to keep an integrated communications plan up to date. A communications plan, even if it successfully integrates activity for the year or quarter ahead, will soon be out of date – and in many cases, irrelevant. The irony is that the larger and more complex an organisation is, the more robust and dynamic its planning processes need to be. In larger organisations, it is true to say that more activity takes place and therefore there is a greater probability that this activity will change. This observation is, to some extent, borne out by the survey findings relating to the regularity of the planning review process. There is some uniformity across sectors for those who review their plans on a half yearly basis (Figure 7.2). However, public and private sector organisations are far more likely to review their plans on a quarterly basis than those in NGOs, which tend to be smaller and have organisationally simpler structures. As such, NGOs are much more likely to only undertake an annual planning review process.
SECTION 7
FIGURE 7.1 ARE ACTIVITY PLANS FROM ACROSS THE ORGANISATION INTEGRATED INTO ONE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN? 60
54.22 50
51.32
53.13
52.25
48.68
47.75
46.88
45.78 40
30
20
10
0
Public
Private
NGO
n Yes
FIGURE 7.2
All respondents
n No
REGULARITY OF PLANNING REVIEW PROCESS
60%
50%
40%
34
30%
27
19 20%
10%
8 6 0 1
0% Annually n Public
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
Half yearly n Private
Quarterly n NGO
Monthly
Fortnightly
Weekly
n All respondents
Ad-hoc/as required/ contuning
31
COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING PERCEPTIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING
I have strong communications planning skills
4.39
Our communication plans are wholly focused on the organisation’s key goals for the coming year
5.82
My team has strong communications planning skills
3.86
FIGURE 7.3
SECTION 7
We have a process for prioritising communications acitivity in our plans
11.96
10.82
0%
31.26
39.36
13.56
34.04
25.09
20.47
26.02
29.76
27.12
20%
24.29
40%
60%
31.03
12.91
25.55
12.23
80%
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
100%
Planning: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding the way communications were planned in their organisations. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
Perceptions of planning There is an interesting outlook on the skills the respondents believe they have as compared to the skills of the team that work with / for them. 70% of communicators said they have strong communication planning skills – whilst only 45% stated that the rest of their team had similarly strong planning skills (Figure 7.3). The difference could indicate self-belief, or it could reflect the responses of some of the more senior communicators participating in the survey. Just over 40% of respondents were confident that their communications plans reflected the organisation’s key goals. This could be interpreted as a worrying statistic. However, the word to notice in statement 3 of Figure 7.3 is ‘wholly’. Indeed, the fact that over 40% of communicators believe their organisation’s communications plans are wholly focused on the coming year’s goals should be interpreted positively. How many organisations can truly say that? With the incessant white-noise and conflicting political interests to be found in many organisations, developing a single-minded communications plan is a significant achievement. Of course, having a plan in such complex organisations is one
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
ONLY 38% OF COMMUNICATORS SAID THAT THEIR ORGANISATIONS LACKED A PROCESS WITH WHICH TO PRIORITISE COMMUNICATIONS AC TIVITY.
thing. Sticking to it is quite different. One area of planning weakness relates to the availability of a process to prioritise communications activity in an organisation’s plans. Only 38% of communicators indicated that such a process existed in their organisation. This was exactly the same percentage who said that such a process did not exist in their organisation. Furthermore, there are two factors which are critical to successful communication planning: 1. the support of an organisation’s leadership in ensuring plans are adhered to. 2. the ability of a communications team to be flexible in adapting plans to changing circumstance.
32
SECTION 8 2
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS
W
hen assessing the most common methods of reaching employees, an unsurprising list of channels emerges. However, the fact that staff newspapers/magazines still remain the most common means of communicating with staff is an interesting find. The death of printed publications has long been predicted. Dumping the staff newspaper for cheaper electronic news channels has been a trend in the last few years. Despite this, staff newspapers remain a dominant channel for communicating with employees – alongside email and intranets. The development of the online communication channels has not eclipsed printed publications for a variety of reasons: Tangibility – both from staff and senior management perspectives; the fact that newspapers / magazines are tangible communication products give them credence. A senior manager can see, touch and read the news and features about him/her and his/her organisation. Compared with having to hunt around an intranet they may be (or often are) unfamiliar with, the newspaper provides a tangible, recognisable comfort zone. Hence, and despite the higher costs, the tangibility of the staff newspaper (and by inference, the work communicators do in creating them) is an important reason why it has survived. Resources – the costs of providing staff newspapers have come down, with communicators becoming more astute at sourcing and negotiating better design and print deals. However, more important than direct costs, the high indirect resources required to maintain up-todate intranets is another reason they are not seen as a complete replacement for staff newspapers. Intranets that are not updated regularly with information and news that is relevant to an employee’s day-job is one that soon loses the audience’s attention.
FIGURE 8.0
MOST COMMON CHANNELS USED TO COMMUNICATE WITH STAFF
85.61 Newspaper/ magazine
81.95 Email
80.30 Intranet
70.98 Face-to-face briefings
55.35 Newsletter
48.84 Letter from senior leader
27.54 Video
16.14 CD-Rom
15.37 Interactive portal
11.41 Internal TV
5.66 Internal radio
2.03
Other
0%
20%
40%
n All respondents
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
60% n NGO
n Private
80%
100%
n Public
33
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS FIGURE 8.1
SECTION 8
PERCEPTIONS OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS We ensure that internal channels always incorporate our organisation’s key messages
We use our channels in an integrated way to maximise the impact of our messages
7.24
Most of our organisation’s communication channels are interactive and enable employee feedback
9.25
22.71
15.20
7.99 0%
10.52
30.30
28.80
23.67 20%
17.86
29.32
41.47
Written communications in our 9.25 organisation are clear and concise
16.14
36.99
32.45
We know what kind of publications/programmes our employees read/watch outside work
We have clear guidelines for deciding which channels are used for which purposes
37.01
20.76
9.83
6.27
22.10
16.43
47.94
31.19
24.61 40%
60%
6.96
8.39 3.42
8.55
12.50
80%
100%
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
Channel and message integration: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding the effectiveness of their organisation’s communication channels. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
Prioritisation – some communicators are becoming better at prioritising which channels are best suited for communicating which kinds of information. Intranets and more dynamic, instantly updated electronic channels are better suited to news and information. However, they are not always best suited to more discursive features – those that help provide context and understanding. These are best ‘channelled’ through staff newspapers and magazines. The survival and revival of the newspapers and magazines has left many organisations with more than one key route for communicating with staff. The numbers in Figure 8.0 show a large percentage of organisations that have both an intranet and staff newspapers. Whilst costing more to maintain both, the different routes are likely to be effective for reaching different audiences for different purposes.
Email The prevalence of email as an easy and convenient means by which to communicate to staff is demonstrated by the statistics in Figure 8.0. Four in five communicators say their organisations use email as a common form of communicating to employees. The very convenience of emails makes them a positive tool for communicating quick information to audiences. Nonetheless, given the
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
relatively impersonal nature of email and the deluge of emails individuals receive, overuse of this channel is an issue. Ironically, many organisations now have policies and training programmes encouraging staff to use email less. However, encouraging employees to not use email as often is made difficult if communicators continue to use it as a primary channel. Multi media channels Just over a quarter of the communicators surveyed reported that their organisations use videos as a common route to communicate messages to staff (Figure 8.0). Whilst a relatively expensive option, video is a tool used by a third of private sector firms – double the usage in the public sector. CD-Roms are also used fairly commonly – both as an ad-hoc/ irregular channel and as an ongoing one (for example, in the form of an interactive multi media magazine for on-the-road British Gas engineers).
channels areintegrated to maximise the impact of those messages (Statement 2). However, this positive perspective is not as strongly shared by communicators in the public sector. Whereas 60% of private sector communicators agree they use channels in an integrated way and incorporate messages in their channels, only 45% of public sector communicators can say the same. Furthermore, there is an interesting split between public and private sector organisations on the use of guidelines to decide how channels are used. Public sector organisations are marginally more likely than private and NGO sector ones to have such guidelines. Overall, 43% (Figure 8.1, statement 6) of all organisations surveyed say they have guidelines to help decide on which channels are used for which purposes.
Perceptions of communication channels A positive picture emerges from these results regarding the use of channels to communicate key organisational messages. More than 50% of organisations (Figure 8.1, Statement 1) tend to both incorporate their organisation’s messages into internal channels and ensure that
34
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS FIGURE 8.2
EXISTENCE OF A FACE TO FACE BRIEFING PROCESS
Knowing which newspapers your employees read, what TV they watch, how they travel to and from work, how they socialise and so on is just as important as knowing whether they prefer accessing information via your staff newspaper or your company intranet. And yet few organisations go to the lengths of finding this kind of information out. It is for the reasons given above (that seeking such information may be seen as intrusive and as being outside the work domain and therefore irrelevant) that companies often do not seek this information.
100
86.42 80
81.91
81.25
78.74
n No
60
n Yes
40
20
21.26
18.75
18.09
13.58
0
Public
Private
One way streets? The principle of ensuring that communication channels are interactive and provide a mechanism for feedback is only fully practiced by up to 30% of communicators (Figure 8.1, statement 3). However, 42% of communicators do not believe that most of their channels allow for employee feedback. Assessed by sector, it is clear that private sector employee channels are more interactive than public sector and NGO equivalents. Only 12.5% of NGO and 29% of public sector communicators feel most of their channels are interactive. This compares with 44% of private sector communicators who feel the same way about their channels.
NGO
All respondents
42% COMMUNICATORS DO NOT BELIEVE THEIR CHANNELS GENUINELY ENABLE TWOWAY INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS WITH STAFF.
FIGURE 8.3
SECTION 8
Face-to-face communications The fact that face-to-face communications is not the most common means of communicating with staff may, at first glance, seem a worrying one. It is accepted that face-to-face briefings, discussion and involvement between managers and their teams is the most effective means of getting messages across, understood and accepted. But it is not always the easiest to make happen. Having regular face-to-face communication is not always possible if staff are on the road, away from a regular place of work, or work from home. That is one of the main reasons the survey findings puts face-to-face communication as the fourth most common – with 71% of respondents saying it is used regularly to communicate with staff (Figure 8.0). A more positive figure is that 82% (Figure 8.2) of communicators say that their organisation has a face-to-face briefing process. What this tells us is that many
ARE BRIEFING PROCESSES MANDATORY IN ORGANISATIONS? 80
(Not) A full understanding of audiences The survey highlighted the limited nature of communicators understanding employee cultural and social traits. Just over 10% of those surveyed said they knew what kinds of publications and programmes their employees viewed outside of work. Although this may sound somewhat intrusive, the ability for organisations to get a comprehensive understanding of their employees social mores is an important step towards identifying the most effective ways of communicating with them in work. It is true to say that employees do not walk into work and become completely different people from who they are at home, and it is a point that many organisations overlook.
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
70
62.37
60
61.54
55.46
54.10
50
45.90
44.54 40
n No n Yes
37.63 38.46 30
20
10
0
Public
Private
NGO
All respondents
35
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS
SECTION 8
THERE IS A STRONGER TENDENCY FOR PRIVATE SECTOR FIRMS TO SE T AND RE VIE W TARGETS PARTICULARLY ONES CENTRED AROUND THE CO MPANY’S FIN AN CIA L GOALS.
organisations have the processes in place to communicate with staff on a face-toface basis but that these are not the most common ways of reaching staff. Despite the existence of briefing processes, most organisations do not make these mandatory. This is particularly the case for public and NGO sector organisations (Figure 8.3). It is clear that a culture of mandatory briefing is one that has taken a greater hold in private sector firms, although interestingly where the process is mandatory, relatively fewer meetings actually take place (Figure 8.3). There are also some differences in approach to how face-to-face briefings are used by organisations across the three sectors. Whilst public and NGO sector organisations are likely to use briefings to communicate organisational news, private sector firms will tend to use them
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
for communicating team targets and progress (Figure 8.4). As mentioned in section 6, there is a stronger tendency for private sector firms to set and review targets – particularly ones centred around the company’s financial goals. This clearly permeates throughout the organisation, requiring the setting of targets at various levels. As such, teams in private sector organisations will be more likely use any time together to review progress in achieving these targets. Just under a third of all organisations surveyed use briefings to recognise and reward team members. This is an important part of any communications mix and sits alongside the use of briefings to communicate team progress.
36
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS FIGURE 8.4
SECTION 8
DIFFERENT USES OF THE BRIEFING PROCESS
80%
n Total n NGO n Private n Public
70% 60.9 60% 52.83 50% 40.2 40% 30.18 30%
20%
10.72
10%
6.7
0% Team targets and progress
Perceptions of line manager communication Many organisations recognise the need for team leaders with strong, motivational communication skills. Sadly, that recognition does not always translate into tangible investment or action. Figure 8.5 finds that 50% of communicators agreed with the statement that strong communication skills were key in a line manager’s role. However, barely a third of communicators say their organisations insist on line managers having communications/engagement in their performance targets. This is far outnumbered by those who strongly/ very strongly disagreed with the relevant statement – with nearly 50% disagreeing with it. Communicators do not believe that line managers have the necessary skills for effective team engagement. Only 13% stated that this was the case in their organisation – dwarfed by the 48% who stated the opposite (Figure 8.5). This issue has developed into one of the main bugbears of many an internal communicator. You can produce as many glossy publications and whizz-bang intranets, but how do you get line managers to play their role as effective communicators and motivators? This comes down to investment in team leaders and the development of skills. There is also an issue with the perception of what makes a line manager a good communicator. A team leader could be a good communicator – regularly talking with their team, engaging and motivating
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
Team training
Team recognition and reward
Organisational strategy and goals
them – without being good at conducting the formal cascade briefings expected of them in many organisations. Hence, they are seen as poor ‘communicators’, when in fact they may be quite the opposite. Nonetheless, compounding the issue is the lack of resources and support available to team leaders to develop specific communication skills. Only 25% of communicators felt that their organisations provided the necessary levels of support, with
FIGURE 8.5
Other
45% (Figure 8.5) suggesting a significant lack of support. What is the solution to this problem? Only a handful of organisations will be prepared to invest significant sums into genuinely developing their team leaders’ engagement skills-set. So, organisations need to find lower-cost ways to educate and mobilise their line management army – and a few already are.
PERCEPTIONS OF LINE MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Line managers have communications and engagement as part of their performance targets
18.33
Strong communications and engagement skills are key requirements of a line mana- 7.42 ger’s role in our organisation
30.72
25.39
18.80
26.44
21.18
19.36
Line managers have the skills necessary for effective team 8.06 communication/engagement Line managers have the resources support and training to develop their communica- 7.39 tion skills where needed 20% n1
n2
40% n3
60% n4
10.78
19.31
30.79
36.69
0%
23.58
40.13
38.11
6.89
80%
2.90
Organisational news and information
5.80
100%
n5
Line management communication: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding the effectiveness of their organisation’s line management as communicators and regarding how line management was used as a communications ‘channel’. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
37
SECTION 9 2
LEADERSHIP ROLE IN COMMUNICATION
31% OF COMMUNICATORS SAY THEIR ORGANISATIONS LEADERSHIP ‘WALKS THETALK’ AND LEADS BY EXAMPLE.
T
he first thing to note from these responses is the relative ambiguity conveyed. More than any other set of statements through the survey, these consistently scored high ‘3’s. This ambiguity can be explained by the picture that emerges from the statements in sec-
mean it (Figure 9.0, statement 4) . They are committed to engaging their workforce. But beyond staying on message (another positive finding), that is the sumtotal of the good news. Over a third of the people surveyed could not really say one way or another how committed their leadership was to either communication with or engagement of their people. This is a vital factor in whether communicators can truly play a role in improving an organisation’s performance. It is clear that if communications are not directly linked to an organisation’s objectives, measurement of its effectiveness is, at best, loose. This will continue to be the case, unless the leadership themselves can be engaged and convinced that communication will help them deliver active support in achieving their goals.
PERCEPTIONS OF LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
8.50
The leadership regularly seek feedback and input from employees
9.95
The leadership put in the time needed to engage employees
The leadership are committed to engaging the workforce
The leadership 'walk the talk' leading by example
The organisations leadership communicate agreed, consistent messages
25.52
27.75
0%
35.28
32.76
34.18
14.88
% 20
40
23.61
17.73
33.03
32.32
25.04
11.06
6.54
33.86
14.04
6.25
23.74
28.88
13.14
8.30
36.00
4.82
A culture of open two way communication and feedback exists in my organisation
4.97
FIGURE 9.0
tion 9. In short, it is a picture where leaderships have the intent to genuinely engage employees - but not the will, the wherewithal or the time to actually deliver on that intent. Hence communicators may be hedging their bets about the eff ectiveness of their organisation leaders genuinely communicating and engaging staff. Senior leaders will say the right thing. But management clichés about staff being an organisation’s most valuable asset is often met with cynicism. In some cases, that cynicism is well placed. Numerous leaders will mouth platitudes of this kind without really thinking about it, let alone meaning it. But countless more, indeed the majority, genuinely do want to harness the power of their people. This survey shows us that 45% of communicators believe that their leadership really do
60
12.31
24.87
6.27
35.12
9.27
80
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
100
Leadership communication: Communicators were asked if they agreed with a series of statements regarding the effectiveness of their organisation’s senior leadership team as communicators and regarding how leaders thought and behaved in relation to staff engagement. Their responses ranged from 1 (strong disagreement with a statement) to 5 (strong agreement with a statement).
KARIAN AND BOX iC SURVEY
38
LEADERSHIP ROLE IN COMMUNICATIONS EXISTENCE OF A FORMAL FEEDBACK PROCESS TO LEADERS 80
70
67.54 63.36 60
58.42
56.25 n Yes
50
n No
43.75 40
41.57 36.64 32.46
30
20
10
0
Public
Private
All respondents
with feedback. Nonetheless, what the responses to the statements in Figure 9.0 tell us is that these processes are not part of a wider cultural approach of genuine two-way communication.
Open feedback channels, genuine twoway communication, face-to-face time engaging staff – all these are the preserve of a minority of organisations. Less then a third of communicators said their organisations had a culture of open, two-way communication. A similar number said their leadership sought out feedback. These figures are not reflective of the fact that many organisations do have two-way channels and feedback processes. Indeed, 63% of communicators said (Figure 9.1) their organisation had a formal process to provide their leaders
FIGURE 9.2
NGO
Walking the talk? Less than a third of communicators surveyed (Figure 9.2) said their leaders participated in uncontrolled, ‘walk-theshop-floor’ sessions as common practice. It could be argued that to get leaders out, talking to and engaging with their people, is near-on-impossible when organisa-
tions are going through so much change. Leader’s diaries are filled with board meetings, project meetings, operational review meetings, stakeholder discussions, and the like. When are they going to fit in time to spend, at the very least, an hour or so a week with staff? Surely this has to be the point. At a time when so many organisations are undergoing fundamental change, they need to be out there with staff. More importantly they need to be seen to be out there. And that is where some of the solutions lie. For instance, a leader visiting a site doesn’t need to meet everyone. But she/he does need to ensure, via the good offices of internal communication, that staff at the site know about it and, in particular, know about the action taken by her/him as a result of issues raised. As every good PR person knows, perception is all. In smaller organisations, a leader has a greater chance of being able to talk to large numbers of staff. A former President of the Rolls-Royce oil and gas division was legendary for being on first name terms with all 1,000 of his staff in Ohio. That is not possible in organisations of tens of thousands. But that is where the skills of the internal communication team come into play. in helping getting leaders seen to be out there with staff. Of course, the perceptions need to be based on a heavy dose of reality. In fact, the statistics in Figure 9.2 do not
METHODS OF FACETOFACE COMMUNICATION LEADERSHIP MOST COMMONLY ENGAGED IN
0
20
40
18.08
Uncontrolled, ‘walk-the-shopfloor’ discussions
27.70
31.10
Controlled focus groups
Two way, small group discussions 8.94
7.91
One way, mass briefings
0
60
20.89
22.88
27.00
23.90
10.44
26.70
27.24
40
100
10.79
27.17
21.66
19.65
20
80
n1 n2 n3 n4 n5
18.80
22.07
23.12
60
3.94
FIGURE 9.1
SECTION 9
80
100
Methods of leadership communication: Communicators were asked whether specific methods of face-to-face communication were commonly used by leaders. Their responses ranged from 1 (never) through to 5 (very commonly).
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LEADERSHIP ROLE IN COMMUNICATIONS FIGURE 9.3
SECTION 9
REGULARITY OF FACETOFACE COMMUNICATION LEADERSHIP ENGAGE IN
40% n Public n Private n NGO n Total 35%
31 30%
24 25% 22
20%
15% 12
10%
6.2 5%
3.5
3.4
0% More than once a week
Weekly
tell an overly gloomy picture. In addition to a third of communicators saying their leaders commonly conduct informal walkabouts, 46% said their leaders commonly engage in two-way discussion groups. However, a disappointing statistic is the prevalence of one way, mass briefings, where leaders talk at staff. 45% of communicators suggested that these were the most common means of face-to-face contact staff head with their leaders.
Fortnightly
Monthly
Quarterly
Half yearly
Less than once every 6 months
public sector and NGO leaders tend towards monthly. A poorer picture emerges when we see in Figure 9.3 that 34% of communicators said their leadership engaged in face-to-face communication once every 6 months or less. Indeed, within this group, 22% said their leaders conducted such communications less than once every 6 months.
Regularity of face-to-face communications Figure 9.3 shows that over 30% of communicators said their leaders engaged in face-to-face communications on a quarterly basis. While private sector leaders are marginally more likely to conduct quarterly face-to-face communications,
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CONCLUSION Revolution in our working environments The first is the unprecedented scale and pace of change that communicators across all sectors are contending with. Organisational, structural, market-driven, cost-focused change – all have a significant impact on internal culture and these are the primary challenges facing communicators now and for the foreseeable future. The survey further highlights the limited impact communicators are having on ensuring that this change is communicated effectively. The internal communication profession has developed in the last 10 years. Nonetheless, the pace of organisational change has outstripped the profession’s own change. Its ability to provide the kind of advice and support needed is insufficient for the nature of the challenges facing much of industry and the public sector. In short, many organisations have the internal communication skills sets and tools needed for a very different kind of working environment. Many apply the communication approaches and techniques more appropriate to a ‘business as usual’ environment – at a time when they should be supporting organisations as they face wholesale transformation and revolution. It is not that these techniques and approaches are wrong. They are simply inadequate for the situations communicators are increasingly being asked to deal with. A ‘box-ticking’ culture The good news is that internal communication is a profession that has many of the basics in place. When assessing whether they have the right internal communication strategy and infrastructure for engaging their staff, organisations are able to tick many of the right boxes. Beyond a limited number of organisa-
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tions, however, that is as far as it goes. Boxes are ticked, requirements are fulfilled – job done. We would suggest that the ‘job’ is not done. The limited effectiveness of what communicators are doing and how that impacts on employee understanding, opinion and behaviour at a time of major change is evident. What does this box-ticking culture look like? Here are 3 common examples that emerge from the iC 2006 research. n There is a communication strategy that is linked to the organisation’s own strategy. However, communicators are not able to translate this organisational strategy into messages that staff can relate to, understand in personal terms, believe in or support. n There is a communication planning system in place. But it is limited to the central activity and does not include the broader organisational activity. It is difficult to drill down by message, audience, segment and the like. As such, communicators seem unable to genuinely plan or manage messages. n There is an annual satisfaction survey and occasional use of online pulse surveys. Yet rarely is there a systematic means to regularly check employee awareness, understanding, opinion and support of key messages. Getting genuine cut-through with and engagement of staff is clearly a priority for most organisations. Nonetheless, for many, that ‘cut-through’ is simply not happening. This could be happening for a number of reasons: 1. Organisational culture – a lack of will from many organisational leaders to go beyond the limited scope of a box-ticking culture. Creative approaches that are genuinely inclusive of and involve staff are outside the comfort zone of some organisational leaders. This is compounded by the inability or unwillingness of communi-
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CONCLUSION
SECTION 10
N THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATIO ME A LONG PROFESSION HAS ALREADY CO S WAY IN THE LAST 10 YEARS. IT HA ARS OR SO. SHIFTED FOCUS EVERY FIVE YE
cators to challenge that conservatism and educate leaders on the art of the possible – what can be achieved if the organisation is willing to communicate creatively with and involve staff. 2. Limited capabilities – a lack of the right competencies and behaviours needed to enable the translation of communication strategy into activity that hits home with staff. Many communicators have not yet developed the competencies necessary to do this. The focus has been on developing skills associated with building / managing communication strategy and infrastructure. This has been an important part of the development of the internal communication profession. But it has inhibited the development of the broader skills set required to develop and deliver communications that genuinely make a difference. 3. Different focus – the focus of many communicators has been on getting the basics in place and on delivering ‘business as usual’ communications. This has left many communicators with little time to acquire the skills outlined above. Most communication consultancies and industry suppliers are also focused on supporting organisations in getting the basics right. Without the right culture, without the necessary skills set, time or support, it is understandable why most organisations are still focused on getting the basics right and not moving up a gear. That is the challenge most will face over the next 5 years.
PR industries, internal communication is still at a relatively early stage in terms of its journey of professional development, delivery and credibility. The internal communication profession has already come a long way in the last 10 years. It has shifted focus every five years or so. n The early 1990s saw a focus on internal communicators getting their strategies right – and having them aligned to organisational strategy n The late 1990s saw a significant growth in the numbers employed in the profession and a focus on professional skills and development n The first half of this decade has been more concerned with developing, reshaping and improving the infrastructure communicators use – for example, installing and/or refining planning and measurement systems. Not all organisations have followed this linear trajectory. Some will be at different stages. Some are coming new to internal communication as a professional resource in their organisations. Many are going through the inevitable cycle many organisations go through – setting up the internal communication function, building and developing, hitting an organisational trauma, cost-cutting and downsizing, followed by re-building and re-shaping. The second half of this decade (and beyond) will be about taking the industry onto the next level of development.
The profession’s next phase of development The fact that many organisations are still getting the basics right is not necessarily a problem. It simply reflects the evolving nature of the internal communication profession. After all, it is still a young one. Compared with the marketing or
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CONCLUSION
SECTION 10
RNAL A FUTURE PATH FOR MANY INTE LEARN COMMUNICATORS WILL BE TO IDEAS AND FROM AND BORROW THE BEST G PROFESSION. TECHNIQUES OF THE MARKETIN
The next phase for the profession Talking the language of our organisations, matching communication structures to organisational structures (through business partnering, for instance) are vital components to building a credible functional profession. But this kind of functional development only takes the profession part of the way. It does not necessarily lead to an actual impact on employee opinion and behaviours. That requires a different kind of working, different communication approaches and, ultimately, a different culture within the profession. Understanding change Communicators can thrive on the fact that organisations are facing unprecedented levels of change. But they need to see this as an opportunity and not a daunting prospect. And they need to be ready for it. The next stage will involve the internal communication profession learning from and applying many of the approaches used by those working in change management. The rigorous training of senior internal communicators in change management techniques will not be enough. Middle managers need to be grounded in these approaches and techniques earlier in their careers. The profession needs to access the training and resources needed to enable them to talk the language of change management. The alternative for many internal communicators would be to continue to be seen as glorified ‘post office’ clerks. A marketing-led approach A further path for many internal communicators will be to learn from and borrow the best ideas and techniques of the marketing profession. n Getting a deep and sophisticated understanding of audiences – using an audience’s prejudices and levels of understand-
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ing and awareness as the starting point for any communication which is aiming to achieve an organisation’s objectives. n Creative use of narratives – telling compelling stories which audiences can understand and relate to. Using simple, ‘rationale’, easily digestible and highly personal narratives to engage staff both intellectually and emotionally. n Inspiration and imagination – organisations need to move their communications focus from beyond the purely ‘logical’ one. Internal communicators need to learn the art of using emotion to engage and involve staff. There are some who have already set off on the journey of this next phase of the profession’s development. Some know that this is the direction they need to be heading in. Most, however, do not currently have the necessary capabilities and/or leadership support to move in that direction as quickly as they would like. There are others who are yet to be convinced that they even want to begin the journey, but are open-minded and willing to learn. Of course, in every profession, there will be those that will resist change. There will be the point of view that pursuing a pseudo-marketing approach cannot and will not realise the internal communication profession’s primary objective: helping organisations to engage staff in order to achieve organisational objectives and improve performance. They are both right and wrong. Why right? On their own, using creative internal communication and marketing techniques will not achieve a desired objective. The right HR processes, incentives, reward and recognition mechanisms, leadership behaviours and much more need to be in place to deliver real engagement with an organisation, its brand, its strategy and goals.
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CONCLUSION Why wrong? Creating high-impact communications that hit home, that are fundamentally based on your audience’s prejudices, and that raise awareness, understanding, support and inspiration are the key towards getting real staff engagement and action. For example marketeers cannot impact the soaring wholesale price of coffee beans. But they help mitigate the effect of this variable on sales of coffee by clever use of marketing techniques that can keep people buying coffee. Similarly, communicators are there to help create and shape communications that make a difference to staff opinion and behaviour – factoring in the range of other variables that also impact what staff think and do (such as those outlined previously). What does all this mean for the profession? This next phase of the profession’s development will see a wholesale ‘raid and plunder’ on the marketing profession by organisations wanting to further develop their internal communication teams and activities. This means: n There should and will be a transfer of personnel from marketing into internal communication. This can be a positive and symbiotic process – as many marketing teams shrink, good marketeers can broaden their skills set or acquire a new adopted profession. Good internal communicators should welcome the influx as it will hasten new, more creative ways of working. n Applying a range of skills and approaches used in both change management and external marketing to the way internal communicators do their jobs. More effective audience segmentation and better market research – these are only some of the changes that will help internal communicators hone their existing competencies to create truly effective communications. n A new way of thinking. Applying the kinds of creative thinking used in advertising, direct marketing and the like will enable communicators to better translate complex organisational concepts, issues and messages into powerful, bite-size, verbal and visual representations that staff understand and relate to. There should also be a further development and improvement of the profession’s infrastructure and tools. Planning and measurement need particular focus.
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SECTION 10
n The need for integrated, ongoing, yearround dynamic planning is still a bugbear for many organisations. Solutions exist but they are not always cost-effective and are not always user-friendly. n The need for dynamic, regular metrics that give organisations a much better gauge of what their employees are thinking and doing. These cannot be selfselecting pulse checks that give skewed results or annual temperature checks (useful for a strategic understanding of where employee satisfaction or engagement).
And finally… At a time of change and uncertainty, internal communication faces a test of its credibility and ability to deliver. This should not be seen negatively. On the contrary, it should be embraced. The profession has travelled far in the last decade. And the challenges of major change posed to internal communicators are the opportunity they need to travel even further towards professional credibility. Just as lawyers see mergers and acquisitions as lucrative and professional opportunities, so too should internal communicators view the changes facing our organisations as an opportunity. We have the chance as a profession and as individuals to make a positive and measurable difference to the performance of those organisations. This will only happen if we go beyond simply ‘ticking boxes’ - thinking and working more imaginatively. We must take more radical approaches to ensure we engage the hearts and minds of our organisation’s employees. With change so prevalent, internal communication is vital to the success of so many organisations. As such, a lot rides on what we do and how we do it. Thus, one thing is clear; this is an exciting time to be a communicator – and particularly an internal communicator.
INTERNAL WITH CHANGE SO PREVALENT, THE COMMUNICATIONS IS VITAL TO SATIONS. SUCCESS OF SO MANY ORGANI AT WE AS SUCH, A LOT RIDES ON A WH DO AND HOW WE DO IT. 44
SECTION 11
FOOTNOTES 4 Page 21 Note that the percentages in Figure 4.0 represent percentages of organisations represented in the survey and not individual communicators.
4 Page 24 Net positive or negative results relating to perception mean the dierence between those who agree / strongly agree with a statement (those scoring a statement a 4 or a 5) and those who disagree / strongly disagree with a statement (those scoring a statement a 1 or a 2). For this purposes, we exclude those who give a statement a 3 as this is seen as a neutral score.
4 Page 24 In Table 5.0 the four categories of agreement (agree and strongly agree) and disagreement (disagree and strongly disagree) are collapsed into 2 general ones for easier comparisons
Page 24 The statistics relating to perceptions by sector are not provided in detail as there is a general uniformity on most of the statements. We have only highlighted those areas where that uniformity does not exist. 4
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