In Melcrum's report on How to communicate business strategy to employees, a case study from Goodyear describes the company's approach to cascading information in a decentralized organization of more than 75,000 employees.

An important element of Goodyear's approach to strategy communication is to coach managers to open up a conversation around the strategy. To this end, a managers' meeting guide has been designed focused specifically on engaging employees in dialogue rather than just giving them information or telling them what to do.

Sean Williams, internal communications manager at Goodyear, offers 2 useful tips to creating an effective discussion guide:

1. It has to be comprehensive – it's better to provide too much information rather than too little. Don't assume people know things. But by the same token, use only enough words to make your point effectively. Also, make the design user friendly and scannable.
   
   
2. The leader needs to create a dialogue by asking members of the audience direct questions. "Instead of making a speech and then asking for questions, the leader calls on specific people and asks them direct questions," explains Williams. "This is a cultural change for many organizations and it can make people nervous. So if an organization has no history of dialogue it's important to take it slowly and create an environment where it's safe for people to speak up."

Smith believes that building a culture of getting people to speak up is helping to drive through core strategy and improve business results at Goodyear.

"Demonstrating that it's safe to speak up leads to people being able to share problems when they come up in the business. It takes courage to speak up about a problem, so we encourage leadership to create a two-way conversation, through whatever means, and demonstrate a willingness to listen."

The full case study appears in the Melcrum report on How to communicate business strategy to employees.

See you next week!

P.S. There are only a few places remaining for next week's FREE member-exclusive event in London. The topic is the role of viral communication in the workplace and will include the latest research from Melcrum, as well as presentations from BAA and Pfizer. Register today to guarantee your place.

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