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mandy.thatcher@melcrum.comMarch 5, 2008
Dear Source Reader
In Melcrum's new report on How to communicate with hard-to-reach employees our research shows that in many non-wired environments, finding the time and the physical space for communication can be a big challenge. Which means the little time and space available becomes extremely valuable.
Use communication opportunities wisely
As the authors point out, carrying out research to understand your stakeholders will pay dividends in helping you identify where the opportunities for communication are and how to use them wisely. Here are some tips taken from the full report on what to find out about your non-wired audience groups in order to produce more effective communication:
1. Know your demographics
Is your audience predominantly male or female? What generation do they belong to? What languages do they speak? How long have they worked for the company? How much do they earn?
2. Understand how people spend their working day
What’s their work environment like? What hours do they work? Do they have downtime between customer calls, or might there be the odd opportunity to chat if a machine breaks down? When and where do people gather together for breaks? Do they go somewhere regularly to sign on?
3. Identify how people prefer to interact
Do you have a workforce full of tech-savvy people who spend their lives outside work skipping between YouTube and Facebook? Do they use mobile phones? Would they prefer a print magazine they can read in their breaks or while waiting for clients? Is the best you can hope for to put eye-catching posters next to the coffee machine?
4. Establish when and where you can communicate face-to-face
The hour-long monthly meeting that works in the rest of the company may be completely inappropriate here.
5. Understand what people are interested in
Are people ambitious and interested in knowing about the company and the competition? Or are they focused purely on anything relating to their job and their team – do they only come to work to earn a wage? Do they just want short, action-oriented bullet points? Or do they want to know the detail?
6. Learn who people trust
Do they see communication from the senior team as useful and honest or as corporate propaganda? Do they trust their line manager? Would peer-to-peer communication work more effectively, and if so, who are the influential people in the team?
One word of advice from communication measurement expert Angela Sinickas: it’s tricky to carry out research with hard-to-reach audiences and you may need to be creative about how you approach it. It’s well worth asking line managers for advice about the best methods.
See you next week!
P.S. Engaging hard-to-reach audiences is one of the themes covered at our annual Employee Engagement Conference in London in May. Hope to see you there!
How will tomorrow's employee behave?
The Internal Comms Hub, February 28, 2008
Personnel Today magazine is running a series of features looking 20 years into the future. One that might strike a chord with internal communicators is the magazine’s view of tomorrow’s employee, which could be a key driver of how internal communication operates in 2028.
Generation Y hogs the spotlight in Atlanta
The Internal Comms Hub, February 28, 2008
Jason Ryan Dorsey advises how to engage different employee groups.
What does Frank Lampard know about change comms anyway?
The Melcrum Blog, March 03, 2008
What does Chelsea and England football star Frank Lampard know about change communication anyway?
Brand values and corporate culture
The Communicators' Network, March 4, 2008
I'm working with a young international company and I want to clarify the brand identity. I wish to use a participative approach with employees to define the core values and related behaviors, but I don't want to end up with only a description of the corporate culture.
Empowering Nortel employees to write intranet news
Melcrum's Social Media Newsletter, February 18, 2008
At telecoms giant Nortel, as well as the "bells and whistles" new media, the company has gained real traction by handing over the company news on the intranet to employees.
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