5 Simple Tips to Keep Your Employees On-Side and Informed

Our employees are our biggest asset… blah blah blah…

How many times have we heard this? I’m sure there are no MDs or CEOs who would willingly insult their employees. But thousands are doing it every day just by sending out hapless employee communications.

Let’s face it most internal communications are organised by the marketing or communications department and often badly. ‘Not me’ you protest. I beg you, just have a look at the five pointers below and if you can’t check all of them off then there’s room for improvement.

We all know that the best way to find out what’s really going on in the company is:

a)      At the water cooler

b)      In the smoking area

c)       In the coffee area

d)      If you’re a woman, in the ladies bathrooms. (Possibly that goes for the gents too?…I invite your comments?)

So how do you harness this mire of gossip and underworld activity?

Here’s how.

1.       Nominate Communications Champions for each department. Give a real communications job to the office gossips. Filter the communication through them and keep them informed, both with the good and bad news.

2.       Not on computers? These days most people are on email. But for field based staff, technicians on the road, etc. this isn’t always possible. Ensure you have an effective and well understood system for communicating messages: SMS, noticeboard, or team briefings just for starters.

3.       No bullsh1t. This is fundamental. People will see through it and it will cause more harm than good. It’s essential to be 100% sincere in your communications. No stock standard phrases and no waffle.

4.       Love the media, but not too much. Don’t let employees find out what’s going on in the company through media reports. (Yes, this actually happens – I know. It happed to me on more than one occasion.) Ensure your employees are briefed BEFORE the media.

5.       Direct from the horse’s mouth. If it’s important (and by that I mean significant re-structures, mass redundancies, takeovers etc), let your employees hear it directly from the CEO. Call a mass meeting and talk to everyone together. And CEO’s: don’t be defensive when your staff ask questions. Answer truthfully and openly. It will do wonders for the CEO ‘street cred’ to be seen communicating directly with the staff.

Do you have anything to add to these five tips? What’s your experience? What works for your organisation? I’d LOVE to hear from you. I'd welcome your comments below.

Getting the most from your PR

PR is a specialist field and most companies work with a PR agency to manage their media liaison. Here are some tips on how you can get the most from your agency and get your organisation’s staff prepared for both positive and negative media attention.

Share your marketing objectives with your PR agency. If they’re not clear on your company’s direction, they will be unable to guide your PR planning.

Work out a budget for your PR. And be clear on what you will get for your money. Allow your agency enough hours in the budget for media follow up. This is the sales process that will get your stories in the press.

Develop a media activity plan for the year. Ensure that this ties in with your marketing activity for maximum benefit. Consider the newsworthy stories and how you can present these to the media.

Approve the lists of target media for each press release. Ask your agency to share the target list each time they sent out a press release. Highlight the most important contacts to follow up.

Be able to respond to the media requests quickly. Organise media training for a range of people in your organisation, so you are able to provide an expert to talk to the media at any time. Prepare media kits, so you have materials on hand to present key topics.

Be prepared for crises. Disaster can strike at any time, so make sure your company is prepared. Develop a written document in conjunction with your PR agency and make sure key people are aware of it. As a minimum, the document should include:

·         a list of people to contact, with out of hours telephone numbers

·         the procedure for releasing a statement

·         a range of scenarios with possible responses

Measure your success. Be clear on what your PR agency can produce in terms of reporting and agree on the contents of a monthly or weekly report.

Got a story you want to share with the media? CraftWrite can assist you with writing press releases, articles, case studies or media kits. Contact jill@craftwrite.com.au for a chat about how I can help.