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kelly.dyer@melcrum.com
July 10th, 2008
At Melcrum's free member-exclusive event being held in September in London, the theme will be understanding the power of peer-to-peer communication in the workplace.
We will present our latest research on this topic and one of the guest speakers, Stuart McDonald, internal communication manager at airport owner and operator BAA, will talk about the effectiveness of informal networks when staff mistrust is high.
McDonald will explain how he made informal channels the heart of his communication strategy in a bid to provide information to an audience in a heavily unionized environment.
He kick-started his campaign by operating on a regular, human level and not as "one of the management".
1. Observe the level of opinion. "Looking around the crew rooms, I could see The Sun, The Daily Star, The Daily Mirror [UK tabloid newspapers]," McDonald says. "So, instantly I know how I need to write and communicate with that audience."
2. Speak the language. "One key is to listen more than you're talking," he says. "I listen to the language people are using, the phrases they use, the ways they break down key developments into certain key words or analogies – and then I use those when I’m communicating back through 'formal' channels." It also helps to understand the context of any situation. "Your view on it as a communicator will be very different from theirs, especially when they're learning about it from the union. You need to know what their position is if you're to communicate effectively and play an important role as a communicator."
3. Get your appearance right. You're clearly always going to be mistrusted as "one of the suits" when you walk in wearing a suit and the rest of the crew are in their workgear. "You either have to have broad shoulders or work out a way round it," he says. He notes that when given a "BAA Scotland" lanyard by a visiting colleague as an emblem of his Glaswegian roots, he found to his surprise that wearing it gave him additional inroads. "People suddenly seemed that little bit more open with me, thinking I must be visiting from north of the border rather than as part of the management set-up," he says. "That simple unplanned thing opened up 10 extra conversations a day for me, which was telling."
Until next time,
P.S. Don't forget to find out more about the Strategic Communication Management Summits happening in a region near you soon.
Starbucks to lay off 12,000 workers
The Internal Comms Hub, July 9,
2008
Communicators at the coffee shop chain have their work cut out in light of hefty job cuts.
What aren't your "associates" or "cast members" telling you?
Annie Waite, The Melcrum Blog, July 9, 2008
Why in this age of increased corporate transparency are companies continuing to call their employees by these softer names?
Benchmarking for managing an employee survey
Cinzia Beretta, Melcrum’s Communications
Network, July 4,
2008
"I'm currently managing a survey to find out what employees think about work flows, motivation and group collaboration in the company. Does anyone have any benchmarking information they could share?"
The Source
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