The Dragon lives on:
engaging staff post merger at St.George Bank

The end of 2008 saw one of Australia's biggest mergers of the past decade between St.George Bank and Westpac. Now 12 months on post-merger, where are they in their employee engagement cycle?

This session will cover:

• Managing communications post merger operating in a multi-brand environment
• Dealing with the challenges of change integration
• Keeping communications brand-specific to maintain staff engagement

Anthia Galanis
Head of Employee Communication
Telstra

Morning Tea

In this session delegates will break into groups to discuss the aspect of employee engagement that is most relevant for your organisation. This is a chance to learn from your peers and also to share your engagement stories.

Internal Communications and Human Resources share a common interest in employee engagement, but how does this work in practice?

VicRoads will explore its approach using its latest employee engagement survey as a springboard for new ways of working.

This presentation will include a case study on VicRoads recent brand refresh where staff played a vital role in the process and external/internal alignment was a key success factor that helped link strategy and culture.

Rebecca Cattran,
Internal Communications Manager
VicRoads

Rachael Bragg,
Senior Consultant - Organisation Development
VicRoads

Lunch

During change, a good communication strategy is vital - you need to engage your audience more than ever. But what if this happens in the midst of economically thrifty times, when budgets are tight and resources low? Having spent the last year in exactly this kind of environment, Jo will share her insights about building a robust communications framework on a shoestring budget. Learn invaluable strategies for leadership by understanding how to get the most from what you already have.

• Leveraging the gold mine of existing content that surrounds you
• The rewards of an 'open door policy' in your team
• Amplifying your messages with innovative communications
• Utilising diversity with natural advocates
• Creating impact without breaking the bank

In 2009 Ericsson Australia and NZ faced a major challenge. The company was embarking on a cultural change program but its leaders, who were key to role modeling and generating energy for the change, were demotivated and perceived to be poor communicators by employees. To address the communication skills gap, the leaders underwent organisational storytelling training, with fantastic results.

In this case study presentation you will learn:

• Why organisational storytelling is a powerful tool for developing leadership credibility and engaging employees
• How to implement an storytelling training program in your organisation (including getting senior management buy-in)

Employee Engagement and Managerial Effectiveness are core strategies for Philip Morris in Australia & New Zealand to help drive business performance.

In this presentation you'll hear:

• How do you move engagement to the most strategic level?
  Identifying where the engagement process needs to, or should, begin; building an engagement framework that is fundamental to the organisation; developing a less transactional or reactive approach has been part of the journey
• How do you translate engagement survey results into action?
  Leveraging the survey/research process as a driver for employee engagement; sharing results with managers and front-line employees in a meaningful way; leading effective action planning sessions; employees taking ownership of appropriate and specific actions for improvement have been the key to our successes