scm FEATURES 1 2345 On the quest for world-class internal

Some findings from recent research into what best- practice internal communication looks like

BY JO ALEXANDER, SHOLTO LINDSAY-SMITH AND CAMI JOERIN

ecent research headed by HSBC, and supported communicators is the way the discipline doesn’t by brand and consultancy work in isolation but alongside, and reports into, functions such as HR, and external RUffindellWest, aimed to discover how internal communication, creating a specific bias. When communication works in a variety of global . linked to HR, internal communication focuses on employee engagement. When working with It revealed that many forward-thinking internal marketing it’s on customer service. And when communication approaches are being implemented and working with external communication, it’s geared towards the internal management of the news here the authors discuss what the industry can learn agenda and corporate social responsibility. from these results. At HSBC, where the Group internal communication team reports into corporate In late 2008, HSBC instigated a study to explore communication, the discipline is heavily involved global best practice in internal communication. in day-to-day news management. For Jo Drawing on an analysis of employee engagement Alexander, the wide scope of her team’s role data and a range of published sources, the study means that one of her challenges is finding the also used first hand observations from across time to be a proactive advisor on strategic HSBC and a range of companies in Europe, Asia business projects, whilst needing to align the Pacific, North America and Latin America. internal news agenda with the agenda of her colleagues in external . Working in What’s the purpose of the internal an industry that’s currently very much in the communication discipline? spotlight and undergoing significant media and This was our first question, and the answers are government scrutiny, staying topical and timely is familiar but show how different organizations critical to the credibility of internal look for slightly different outcomes from their communication but it can’t be at the expense of internal communication discipline as follows: the other longer-term projects that they support.

• Create understanding of strategy and An emerging trend direction The most noticeable aspect across the study was • Support organizational change the emerging importance of employee • Keep people informed of company news engagement in the role and purpose of internal • Build company pride communication. Increasingly, evidence is proving • Help people to live the values that engaged employees are more productive but many of us have felt uncomfortable about drawing What complicates the role of internal too hard a line between the communication we do

32 scm Volume 13, Issue 4 June/July 2009

and the engagement scores or indices devised by Use new technology effectively our companies. “It’s about line managers,” we say. Technological innovation means that new Or, “Engagement is really an HR topic.” The communication channels are becoming widely research showed that many internal accessible, such as instant messaging (which is communicators are now embracing a role in likely to take over from ), blogging and facilitating engagement, realizing that their skills intranets. Jo Alexander is head of group can make them uniquely qualified to play a key Some CEOs are exploiting successfully – internal communications at role in supporting line managers and also seeing they have the energy, commitment and time to HSBC. She has over 20 years’ that they can build a profile for their own keep them current. Video streamed online gives experience in marketing and discipline at the same time. leaders real visibility and brings issues alive, communications, and seven although it can be expensive to produce and years in internal and change How do you drive interaction with employees? requires an IT infrastructure with sufficient communications. This is one of thorniest questions for internal bandwidth to make it widely available. In communicators and our research showed that it customer-facing situations, where frontline continues to receive significant attention, money employees are located in call centers or branches and creativity as we strive to find an approach it also requires a culture that supports people to that works. We’re experimenting with a vast array take time out to watch this channel. of , investing in expensive TV and The most interesting thing we discovered video channels and creating bespoke training and around channels and technology was how Sholto Lindsay-Smith is coaching programs. What’s clear is that almost all decisions are made and who’s doing the decision managing director of solutions require some kind of technology making. Some companies embrace the UffindellWest. He has 20 framework to enable us to easily reach the communication channels their employees favor years consulting experience in dispersed audience we’re hoping to engage. outside of work. Bebo, Facebook, YouTube and brand strategy and Twitter have exploded and employees are happily communications. Create genuine two-way dialogue adopting these new channels. Some companies We all know that face-to-face communication is work with whatever new development their IT the holy grail of internal communication and that department signs them up to. And some face-to-face communication involving managers communicators are driven by their existing (rather than communicators) builds trust, shows company culture, understanding that social media commitment and helps employees to connect tends to reflect the level of interaction and what they do in their every day jobs with the dialogue that’s already happening on the ground Cami Joerin is internal mission of even the largest business. rather than being a spark for igniting it. communications director at Our research confirmed the pitfalls of two-way One company we were impressed with relied on UffindellWest. She has over dialogue: viral marketing to generate hits among employees 14 years’ corporate and • Often methods, including conference calls, on a corporate video hosted on its intranet. It agency internal team briefings and roadshows, are still attracted 3,000 hits from a population of 24,000 – communications experience. broadcast channels and don’t consistently that’s a 12.5 percent penetration. But the level of facilitate dialogue. involvement for video is typically much lower. In • Information is often sent by email and not terms of collaboration the “1-9-90” rule is useful: briefed in person. one percent generates content, nine percent • There are no measures to test how effective comments. The rest observes. line managers are at communication. It’s almost too obvious to state, but intranets • Managers may not know what’s expected of are now the foundation for internal them in terms of communication. communication, particularly in large or global • There’s often no proof that employee organizations. However, few companies have 3 feedback has been listened to.

But we also saw what those companies who are KEY POINTS getting it right are doing: • Global banking giant HSBC partnered with consultancy UffindellWest • They have a supportive leadership team. to carry out research into world-class internal communication. • They make communication a formal part of the line manager’s role and give each line • One noticable trend that emerged from the research was the manager effective communication training. increasingly important role that employee engagement plays in the • They send briefing materials direct to front internal communication function. line managers and these are tailored to the local context. • The importance of technology and how it’s used by internal • They audit the process to ensure it’s happening. communicators also featured heavily in the research findings. • They use technology to enable a faster, more professional solution. scm Volume 13, Issue 4 June/July 2009 33

On the quest for world-class internal communication

Join up your communications “IF THE AROUND When it comes to issues like restructuring or COMMUNICATION STAYS AT THE ‘I THINK’ corporate actions, employees will turn to trusted external news sources to corroborate internal RATHER THAN THE ‘I KNOW’ LEVEL, INTERNAL information. As internal communicators we’re often hampered by a more onerous set of internal COMMUNICATORS WILL ALWAYS GET TALKED sign-off requirements than our external media colleagues, making it more challenging to produce DOWN BY THOSE WITH MORE CLOUT.” clear material quickly. An internal version of an external news item should give employees context and what they need to answer customer questions. 7 translated this into a central role in driving the You can better align internal and external online and collaboration strategy for their communication by considering the following: , preferring to eschew the technical • Integrate the internal and external jargon and let the IT department take the lead. communication function by introducing split roles. Aim for “less is more” • Educate internal communicators about what We know that employees are constantly deluged drives the news agenda. by digital and printed internal communication, • Push back if you get jargon or “corporate which they will respond to by either ignoring or speak” to print from other functions. deleting. In a bid to retain the credibility of their • Think about shift working, or out-of-hours communication the most switched on companies and on-call arrangements if your company is have rationalized the number of channels they use in the media spotlight. or set up criteria that drives when new websites or • Create a dedicated internal news newsletters can be created. As internal management role within the internal communicators we often face the dilemma of communication department to drive news wanting to manage message volume while needing around the business strategy. to help different business areas to get their messages across. Structure the discipline like the business One solution is to drastically reduce – or Governance is a vital issue for a global matrix eliminate entirely – printed materials. The organization. Without a clear structure confusion regional CEO of one business we approached had can reign and internal communicators ending up banned all print communications to keep to a competing against each other to attract green agenda. His internal communicators employees’ attention. There’s no “one-size-fits- focused their efforts on the intranet and targeted all” solution to structuring your internal , supplemented by conference calls and communications discipline, but enduring townhalls. A year down the line and the move had structures seem to be those that mirror the generated significant cost savings and better business. control and coordination of communication. Should the discipline be centralized with all Employees had also learnt that they needed to go internal communicators reporting into one to the intranet to get company news. functional line or devolved, either to the regions Of course, it’s vital to ensure accessibility issues or business units? Centralization makes for are covered – that everyone has computer access, greater global alignment to the overall corporate and anyone with visual or physical impairment strategy, and better coordination and control of doesn’t lose out. You may need to do a limited messaging. It’s also more cost effective. But a print run. It’s about doing less, better. devolved structure means greater alignment to the business operations, supporting the delivery of Use strategy to develop a clear agenda more tailored, localized information. Another way to tackle the volume of messages is Many companies we talked to are finding that to streamline those from leaders in the business – the business partner model is the best of both who usually convey their important information worlds. Account managers have a close knowledge via separate employee communications. of their business or function but sit within a Use an executive communication board to unite centralized functional head office or regional all the business leaders once or twice a year to team, and can therefore draw on the skills of review the communication agenda. When they see specialist event management and online the whole picture from the employee perspective communicators. Aware of all the communications they’ll recognize the need to prioritize and hitting their audience, they can manage the flow rationalize message output. of communication, ensure the right cultural

34 scm Volume 13, Issue 4 June/July 2009

nuance and local context. The biggest challenge organization with 50,000 line managers, a four- here is finding someone with such a broad range hour training course will cost the business 200,000 of skills, who’s both strategic and creative and management hours – plus the cost of the training. draws on aspects of management consulting, HR, Measuring productivity gains from this activity marketing and communications. will be tough but you need to be able to demonstrate in tangible ways why it’s worth that Know your internal communicators kind of commitment. Could you say exactly how many internal Many internal communicators often forget that communications people your organization has? there’s now a library of robust research available Are a number working at an operational level from organizations such as Melcrum or IABC and within the business who don’t report to a head of sponsored by many of the global HR consulting internal communications? firms. Lacking your own first-hand research, these The 1:1,000 ratio of internal communicators to secondary sources are very valuable. every employee is a popular rule of thumb. But In large global organizations pilot studies and for the global corporates we talked to the ratio is control groups are also useful for proving the between 1:1,000 and 1:10,000. Where the ratio is business case before rolling out a new initiative. higher, many of these people are working across a In this context, you could run a training exercise split role with external communication. With a with a control group to provide data on its better system, and greater emphasis on the line effectiveness. manager’s internal communication responsibility, fewer, more strategic, communicators would What all this means for the profession potentially be required. Ours is an exciting arena to be working in. The other factor, alluded to earlier in this Technology is changing internal communications article, is the spread of work your internal at an unprecedented speed – and is bringing with communication team needs to manage. At HSBC it challenges and rewards. The most forward- head office, the scope of Jo’s team spans news thinking companies who are switched on to the management, change communication, issues importance of employee engagement are management and crisis communication. This embracing this at full speed and using technology demands a spread of competences, including to forge genuine and sustainable two-way strategic, conceptual and planning ability through communication. They’re also ensuring that they to strong writing skills and time to keep abreast of play a role in driving the IT and collaboration what’s happening in the industry. This scope strategy of their company and, while not should become part of the conversation in pretending to be IT experts, are adding IT to the resourcing the team as it does in any other well- list of internal functions that they need to partner established functional area where specialist with to fulfill their role effectively. scm practitioners are recognized, for example, HR, law, IT or finance.

Measure effectiveness Provided the conversation around communication is allowed to stay at the “I think” rather than the “I know” level, internal communicators will always get talked down by those with more organizational clout. Although many of those we talked to are using the full suite of sophisticated measurement approaches to ensure they have reliable data, from measuring ROI to using pulse surveys and focus groups to gauge the effectiveness of specific communications or channels, many get to the end of a tough project CONTACT DETAILS and are too mentally exhausted to do the measurement part or are under too much Jo Alexander pressure to move onto the next project. HSBC Measurement helps us to argue our value, but a [email protected] bit like exercising, there’s always an excuse not to do it. Cami Joerin Take the cost of line manager training to UffindellWest promote better face-to-face communication. In an [email protected]

scm Volume 13, Issue 4 June/July 2009 35