Black Belt Dojo

From Russia with ... A Slight Delay

Greetings from Moscow, everyone!

My name is Jeffery McMillan and I will be your Black Belt Dojo guest blogger for the month of June. As you can see, things are off to a pretty late start — so before I continue here in the dojo it's fifty virtual push-ups from me.

There, that feels better.

I received my internal communications black belt from Liam and Sue back in March of this year. (Regular readers of this blog may recall some gossip about two guys who had to pay the jargon-busting penalty at the end of Module 2 with a speech on pole dancing and accompanying demonstration. Well, I am the one who kept his trousers on.)

An IC Assistant Manager in the Moscow Office of PwC Russia, I have actually been in internal communications for less than a year. There are few straight paths to internal communications, it seems. My own particular path has taken some odd turns at times — a Korean TV show, a Master's in Sociology at the Russian Peoples' Friendship University, a year of translating tax bulletins and editing audit reports — and so I am thrilled to have ended up here in IC.

Here's an example of why (and the reason my tenure as guest blogger is getting started a week late).

Last Monday the Global CEO of PwC flew in to Russia to visit key clients and partners in Moscow and also to attend the St Petersburg Economic Forum. Just before he arrived in the country, an hour was freed up for internal communications in his week-long itinerary. We were given 48 hours to arrange a film crew, set up a filming location, assemble a panel of 10-15 "regular employees" ready to speak confidently with our Global CEO on pre-approved topics in fluent English under bright lights in front of two cameras, and put together a short film to be shown at our upcoming all-staff meeting. Stressful? Yes. But once we got rolling it was really quite magical.

Call me starstruck, but I found it amazing to be given access to the Global CEO — a man at the head of an organisation employing 140,000 people in 149 countries — after only having  worked here in the firm for less than two years.

For me this underlined the importance that is placed on IC at PwC. It also brought home some of my favourite lessons from the Black Belt course. Liam mentioned that as communicators we do not really have any power in our organisations, but we do have influence. It is important to recognise the difference. The second lesson was an interesting technique that Liam recommended for building up that influence: schedule regular meetings with the top managers and be seen to be coming and going from their offices (regardless of whether the meetings have involved little more than small talk). The final lesson is that once you have established influence, you can only use it once. After that, people will figure out ways of getting around you.

This is beginning to sound a little abstract. Let me bring things back down to the mat with a few questions for you, colleagues. What are your thoughts on (and experiences of) the wielding of influence by internal communicators? Where should internal communications position itself in relation to management and staff? Where is the line between deciding how to word a policy and deciding what the policy should be? Have you ever ended up on the wrong side of that line?

Forgive me if these questions sound a bit naive. As I have said, I am quite new at this, and I am exactly half of my IC network here in Russia (so far). I am really looking forward to chatting with you and getting to know you in the month ahead.

Last word for today is a big hello to Liam, Sue and my fellow black belt trainees from February and March. For a short trip down memory lane, follow this link:

http://jefferymcmillan.com/blackbelt

Jeffery

The end is near...

Well, my month is almost up as the guest blogger here on the Black Belt Dojo and it’s been emotional. The battle to save our employee magazine comes to a head today; I have a meeting with our CEO at 3pm. Thanks to everyone who contacted me to offer help in building my case; your assistance has been invaluable. When I know the outcome, I will add a comment to this post updating you all.

I am on leave for three weeks from the end of the day today and for the first time in a long time, I really feel like I need this break. It has been a tough month in IC for easyJet. Do you ever get the feeling that you are dodging the crosshairs of the CEO and sometimes, you are just not quick enough to get out of the way?

If Sue and Liam ever ask you to be the guest blogger here, seize the chance with both hands. During this last month, I have received emails from IC professionals from around the world, been asked to feature in a magazine as a guest columnist and even been headhunted (sadly the job is well out of my league for now…but my head is twice its normal size).

If you want to stay in touch, or make initial contact feel free to give me a poke(!) or add me as a friend on Facebook using taffysteve@hotmail.com to find me.

In a Jerry Springer stylee, I will leave you with a final thought:

When asked what they want to be when they grow up, not many children will say “I want to work in Internal Communications”. Most of the communicators I know say that they ended up in the role ‘by accident’. However, there is a universal connection that seems to run through all IC professionals the world over; we care about what we do. We know the value we can add to an organisation and we know the difference effective communications can make. Now, if only we could get others to see it…

Take care of yourself…and each other.

Steve

Avoiding the pit of management speak (whilst knowing the company lexicon)

What happens to people in business today that makes them think that using the term “Singing from the same hymn sheet” is ever acceptable in any way?

Nothing, and I mean nothing gets my blood boiling quite like management speak. My colleagues at easyJet know this and for my ‘Secret Santa’ gift last Christmas, I was given a book by Graham Edmonds called ‘Bullshit Bingo’. The concept is simple enough; just take one of the bingo cards from the book into a meeting with you (so much more fun if you have a friend doing it too) and mark off any of the expressions that you hear during the meeting. Once you have a line of marked off squares, yell at top voice “Bingo!” whilst holding your card aloft. (I won’t be held responsible for any P45s issued as a result of playing.)

So what gems should you be looking out for? Take a look at this list (in no way exhaustive) and see which ones you hear in your daily working environment:

• The genie is out of the bottle
• Let’s talk about this offline/off piste
• A rising tide that lifts all boats
• Going forward
• Get our ducks in a line
• Thinking outside the box
• Working in silos
• Dovetailing
• Different levels of honesty (a personal favourite)
• Low hanging fruit
• Listen loudly

Needless to say, I could go on and I hope that some of you will share your favourites in the comments section.

Can we get by in business without being sucked in to the use of this dubious language? Of course we can. There is a chasm of difference between knowing the lexicon of our specific business to using these BS phrases to make ourselves sound so dreadfully important. Knowing how to use the former will help you to enhance the reputation of your communications department whilst the latter could be seen by some as a desperate need to look important whilst not achieving very much at all.

On that note, I am going to interface with my core business leaders to do a gap analysis on my knowledge base.

Steve

Look at it another way

This morning I showed the Black Belt group this video. It's actually an advertisement for an Argentinian political candidate, but it's also a thought-provoking example of how something can look entirely different, when viewed from two different perspectives.

I first learnt about it thanks to someone on the recent Change comms Masterclass. They had used it with their exec. team to help them see the importance of looking at things from the employee perspective, not assuming that their view of the world was shared by everyone else.

See what you think.

Sue

TLAs

That's three letter acronyms to you. We love them, don't we? I've got used to not being able to understand what people are talking about some of the time in my in-house line manager workshops.

It starts with the introductions  ("I'm Paul, and I'm the HORM for the CDT section of the AMR") and goes from there. By the time I've gone around a room of 20 people and they've all introduced themselves in similar terms, people are usually laughing at themselves a fair bit.  But back in the office, they wouldn't really notice it.

TLAs are often useful shorthand, although sometimes I raise my eyebrows at people's compulsion to use them at every conceivable opportunity, often when there's no need. And as someone who is often walking into a totally new company to run a workshop, I get a feel for what it must be like to be a new person. I could either spend the entire time asking questions, or accept that I won't know what people are talking about and let it go over my head.

Some TLAs are quite amusing. What are your favourites?  Back in my Royal Mail days our senior leadership team in Personnal (as HR was back in those days, you know!) was rather unfortunately called the Personnel Management Team.  At Barclays I remember having a fit of giggles in a meeting when I was talking through a comms plan and said "then we need to get the HORSes talking to the ARMs.' (Heads of Regional Sales, Area Retail Managers). 

Anyone want to offer any personal favourites?

Of course, in an entirely different category is text speak. Sort of TLAs ('two/three letter abbreviations', maybe?) of a totally different kind, but just as alien to those who don't speak it.   And loved by Generation Yers. (This post from Les Potter made me laugh - look at the number 1 reason why his students don't blog). Although help is at hand - I just found a website that actually translates text speak into plain English. Excellent.

Of course, the danger of TLAs is that they can cause blocks and misunderstandings. Take the case of one of my much-loved NTL team (yes Wendy, it's you!) who was convinced one of our employees had a bit of a crush on her because of the affectionate emails he kept sending.  Eventually she got around to asking in our team meeting, "LOL does stand for 'lots of love', doesn't it?'

lol! (take it whichever way you like - hey, it's Valentine's day!)

Sue

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater

It's quite a bug bear of mine that, as a profession, we often seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Activities are deemed good/bad, in/out - a bit like those lists you get in women's magazines about 'what's hot and what's not.'  Some examples would be:

• IN - strategy                         OUT - tactics
• IN - engagement                    OUT - raising awareness, giving
                                                     information
• IN - consultancy & coaching     OUT - crafting and drafting

Nothing against those things on the left. I'm all for them. But we have this nasty habit of  assuming that because one thing is 'in', the other thing has to be 'out. There is no in between. 

I think I'm a reasonably competent communicator (no corporate plugging intended) but I still find myself questioning whether the solutions I'm recommending are too 'tactical'. Or feeling guilty because I happen to like writing. Or wondering whether people will look down their noses at a conference if I'm not speaking about scenarios that could genuinely be termed examples of engagement.

Then I give myself a good slap and remind myself not to fall into the 'either/or, in/out' trap, because the things on BOTH sides are important.

• Tactics for the sake of tactics ('we have a newsletter because it's al ways been there') - thumbs down.  But strategy on its own goes nowhere. Strategy sets the direction and should drive - surprise - what tactics to use. Tactics are how strategy gets brought to life.
• Consultancy and coaching - yep, great, all for it. But crafting and drafting too - one of the most important skills valued by CEOs in Melcrum's recent research into what CEOs want from their internal comms people. Their companies have complex strategies, they want people to understand them, they need comms people with good messaging, crafting and drafting skills to make them simple, memorable and understandable.
• Engagement. Yes, if you want people to change attitudes and behaviours, you need to choose tactics from the top of the escalator which involve people. If you just need them to understand something, having a conversation with them will probably work fine. If you just need to raise awareness about something, telling them is OK. Honestly. And sometimes, 'just telling people' something - well - can be incredibly difficult and takes skill and persistence. Ask anyone who communicates with dispersed employee groups who hardly ever get together face to face, have no access to a computer and never stop anywhere for long enough to read anything.

Just wanted to put my two penneth in on this one.

Sue

PS I had to smile at the message that came up from istockphoto.com when I bought the baby photo:  "Purchase small child." !

 

Managing upwards

How well do you get on with your boss?

I had a familiar conversation a-la-'my-boss-is-a-PR-person-that-just-doesn't-get-IC-and-is-driving-me-nuts' with someone last week, hence the question.

I've always been tough on my bosses. It took me a very long time to realise I was being TOO tough. Fundamentally, I expected my managers to be better than me. To know everything I did and be able to do everything I could - only more, and bigger, and better. Given that I set impossible standards for myself, the standards I set for them were sky high, especially as most of them did have PR background and were never going to be IC experts - that's why they employed me.

It took me until my last in house job to realise just how impossible those standards were, and to stop fuming inwardly at the things managers didn't get about internal comms and start looking instead for the things they were good at and respecting them for those.  My last boss was phenomenally good at building relationships. When I asked him how he did it, he looked a bit perplexed because he did it naturally, but eventually said he looked for an outside work interest/topic he had in common with them and formed a bond that way.

It's amazing how much easier and less frustrating things got when I stopped stressing about what was missing and started looking at the good things. I learnt a lot more, and I developed a lot more respect and understanding for my boss. I also reflected about what I gained through having a manager without an IC background - a lot more autonomy, freedom and access to the senior team. And if there was learning I needed that I couldn't get from him, fine - I went and got it somewhere else.

Looking back, I really wish I'd learned the lesson earlier about not expecting my manager to be superman and looking for what I could value instead. I just thought I'd pass that one on, in case it saves someone else a few years of totally fruitless frustration. (I should point out that most of my managers have been really great people and I promise I haven't spent all my time inwardly moaning about them!)

Sue

PS I discovered today that the Swedish equivalent of pancake day is to eat something called Semla, a totally calorific doughy object filled with marzipan and absolutely laden with cream. Obviously I had to try one - adopt local cultures and all that, and anyway, it's a good work up to cutting out chocolate for lent - yes, really!!

One-of-those-days?

I am told-I-should-put-this-non-comms-related-escapade-on-the-blog-so...

Ever-had-one-of-those-days?...I-am-having-one-of-those-WEEKS!

Sunday-pm...en-route-to-Birmingham-airport-for-flight-to-Dublin-and-had-puncture-on-M6...Late-to-airport-late-to-Dublin-missed-having-dinner-with-Blackbelter-and-wondrous-blogger-Jeroen(the-odds-on-us-both-being-in-Dublin-on-the-same-day-at-the-same-time-were-probably-a-million-to-one-and-will-never-happen-again!).

So.Am-in-hotel-room-working,and-notice(don't-laugh-ok!)-I-have-piece-of-chocolate-stuck-under-space-bar-on-laptop...so-for-some-stupid-reason-think-it-would-be-a-good-idea-to-use-a-metal-nail-file-to-faff-about-under-keys-and-get-it-out...BAD-idea...manage-to-dislodge-contact-and-space-bar-will-no-longer-work...no-more-work-for-me.

Fortunately-was-in-Dublin-to-run-a-workshop-for-which-you-don't-need-spacebars...!

So.Yesterday-I-waste-a-day-sorting-out-new-tyre-and-buying-attachable-keyboard.(Nice-man-in-PC-world-attempts-to-mend-my-space-bar-by-sticking-contact-on-with-sellotape!!!Doesn't-quite-work!).Buy-wireless-keyboard-but-technical-abilities-are-such-that-can't-make-it-work.Go-back-and-buy-ordinary-wired-one-instead.Sorted.Tyre-on-car.Keyboard-for-laptop.Marvellous.

This-morning-set-off-for-Cranfield-to-Black-Belt-course.Half-way-up-M1-what-happens?ANOTHER-flat-tyre!Not-a-single-one-in-two-years-and-two-in-a-week!Stress-a-lot-but-tell-Liam-to-stretch-out-the-introduction-and-just-manage-to-walk-in-in-time-to-run-my-first-session...Then-come-out-in-break-to-get-laptop-and-keyboard-and-find...was-in-such-a-rush-to-get-out-of-car-that-have-slammed-boot-lid-on-USB-connection-for-new-keyboard!...Is-totally-mangled!-So-now-here-I-am-again-with-mangled-keyboard-and-laptop-with-no-spaces....(now-you-know-why-there-are-dashes-in-between-all-my-words!)

Aaaargh!(And-I-haven't-even-bored-you-with-the-taxi-driver-that-got-lost-on-way-to-Dublin-workshop,laptop-that-wouldn't-talk-to-projector,memory-stick-that-had-a-virus-on-it....)

Wonder-if-I-can-start-this-week-again...have-I-made-your-week-suddenly-feel-SO-much-better-than-you-thought-it-was..?!

Sue

Getting deep and meaningful

At this time of year I tend to ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

In particular, as I look back on 2007 and ahead to 2008, I'll be asking myself whether I'm making enough of a difference. Having the chance to make a difference to people, whether it's IC folk, leaders or employees, is why I do what I do.  So I'll look how well I'm measuring up to my values and whether there are things I should change.

Stopping to remind myself what this is all about always refocuses me and makes me that bit better and sharper. During this year I've been jolted into taking stock a few times - both for inspirational reasons and for a sad one.

In February, my grandfather died. A few days later, my IT systems collapsed too. I lost everything on my laptop - documents, email, contacts, calendar - and then my web domain packed up. Sometimes life has a way of totally stopping you in your tracks. I bumbled about in quite a mess (practically and emotionally) for a while. I remember picking up my grandad's belongings from the nursing home and thinking to myself 'so this is what it comes to. What am I making of life while I have it?' I also thought about how I would remember him, and how I would want people people to remember me. 

On a more positive note ...

I've been inspired by other people to question myself. For one, I've had the pleasure of dining out with Bill Quirke twice this year. He is still the person I admire and respect most in this industry. I would love to be as insightful, and to have his skill at connecting with a room of people, making the complex simple and bringing concepts to life. Whenever I spend time with Bill I end up thinking "how can I be better?"

For another, I'm going to embarrass someone now, but Paul Diggins of TMobile, when you talked at dinner about why you do your job and the difference you want to make, I thought "you are SO in the right job. That's the level of passion I want to feel about mine, too. Do I?"

And finally, I refer you to Mr Les Potter. This year, I discovered his blog. Through it, I have come to understand how much of himself he puts into his work and how much he loves what he does.  Students of mass communication at Towson University, you have one amazing professor. He inspires the heck out of me.

So ...

...in between collapsing in a relieved heap as you switch off your work PC for the last time and starting it up again either reinvigorated or depressed in January, take a chance to take stock. It's easy to go through the motions. Work can turn into an endless round of meetings and churning stuff out, and sometimes you lose sight of why you're doing it in the first place. We spend so much of our lives working. Might as well make it meaningful for you, and for all those people in your organisations you connect with.

Have a really lovely festive break. See you in 2008.

Sue

Fancy being a black belt guest blogger?

It has just struck me that about this time last year I was tentatively emailing Darren Crozier, Mark Darby and Timm Suess to say 'um, we thought we might try introducing the idea of a monthly guest blogger on the dojo - what do you think ... and would you be up for it?'

Being the helpful people they are, all three agreed, and in fact Darren has the dubious honour of being our first ever guest blogger, in December last year.

We're always looking for new guest bloggers, so if you're a regular reader and have found yourself thinking 'why don't they talk about x?' or 'wouldn't it be interesting to talk about y?', please mail us and let us know. If you've never blogged before, it's a good opportunity to have a go, too.

I have been very bad at doing my share lately - I'm sorry. I blame it on spending most of my life on an assortment of trains and planes at the minute. I must resolve to spend my journeys writing blogs instead of reading or sleeping ...

Sue

Learning to write (again)

Writing has always been one of my favourite parts of my job. I love the feeling when a note I've ghost-written sounds so much like a senior leader I can hear them speaking when I read it.  Or when I've pulled together a story that makes such common sense, the messages flow together like perfectly-fitting parts of a jigsaw puzzle.

But despite 16 years spent honing my corporate writing skills, for the second time in recent years I feel as if I'm back at primary school because I'm trying something a bit different.

The first time was when I did a feature writing course. Two days. Me and a room full of journalists. I loved it, but I sat practically quaking every time I had to read out yet another standfirst or introductory paragraph that sounded clunky and clumsy next to everyone else's. Afterwards, I wrote a series of one page interviews for a local magazine. I can't tell you how much I agonised over 750 words and what a fraud I felt when I had to call the BBC to get a photograph of one of the sports personalities I was writing about. "Are you a journalist?" asked the nice switchboard lady. "No!" I said instinctively. "Er, I mean yes." ("But not a REAL one", the voice in my head was shouting.)

Now, I'm learning to write again for a different reason. Some of you will know it's my dream to write books. Well, I've finally got my act in order and last week I started seeing a publishing coach. We talked a lot about my ideas, angles, what a publisher might and might not buy, and then she said "And how do you feel about the writing?"

At which point I realised I'm actually quite nervous about it. I've spent so many years writing for other people, I've forgotten what it feels like to write for myself.

So my homework is to write a piece about anything, of any length, just for myself. No brief whatsoever. I am NOT to think about objectives, structures, audiences, etc. I am not to finesse what I've written. Most importantly, I am not to worry about whether it's any good. (Gulp. I'm worrying about how not to worry.) The worst of it is, I don't have to hand it in. So I won't even know if I've done it right. Except there IS no right - that's the point. It's about remembering what it feels like to enjoy the experience of writing just for me.

This probably sounds very easy, but I'm a perfectionist (which is like a dead weight sometimes) and I work by planning, structure, going over and over things until I'm happy with them and asking for feedback at any possible opportunity. So it actually feels quite alien and daunting to me.

Which is a good sign that I'm about to learn something ...

Sue

Beginning with the end in mind

I had a blonde moment yesterday. I'm back in Stockholm to run a workshop and was checking into my apartment. Reception gave me the key card and said I needed to go to another building on the left.

Rather too busy thinking about the enticing shopping mall close by, I headed along the street, saw a card swipy-thing on the wall and set about swiping card. Several times. It didn't work. Finally, nice student-looking-man saw me looking perplexed and used his card to let me in. Went inside, saw lots of student-looking posters on the wall, thought it all looked a bit odd, and suddenly realised I had no idea exactly WHERE on the street my apartment building was. Or what number it was, or even what the apartment company was called.  Conversation ensued as follows:

Me: "Er, am I in the right place?"

Nice student-looking-man: "Erm, I don't know. Where IS the right place?"

Me: "I don't know"

Nice student-looking man: "Well, in that case, I don't know whether you're here. And if you're not, I don't know how to get you there either."

Very embarrassing. Had to go back to reception. But very good story for illustrating the importance of setting communication objectives in my workshop. (Every cloud ...)  If you don't sit down and work out what exactly you're trying to get to through communication, you probably won't get there. And even if, by chance, you do, you won't know whether you have, because you won't know where 'there' is. 

Setting goals is the starting point for any communication plan, or should be. But it's tempting to skip it, and I've seen lots of entries for communication awards fall at the first hurdle because there were no objectives in place.

Just a thought for the day. Always nice when something half decent comes out of one of my blonde moments ...

Overhyped, oversold, over here ...

The first post from our new guest blogger: Paul Massie, Chair of CIPRInside (the internal communications group of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.)

Overhyped, oversold, over here ... that's my view of the current social media fad. Welcome to my first blog, and given my views on the social media craze it will probably be my last - I don't suppose Sue or Liam will invite me back again!

Come on, be honest, with people complaining about email overload can you seriously tell me that people have time to read blogs, let alone write them? And as for podcasts - have you heard the rubbish that's out there? It's like wading through treacle trying to find something half decent - is it really worth the effort? The reality is that social media is just another way for the chattering classes to get broader exposure to their views - but who cares? It's not as if their views are representative.

The overwhelming majority of people either do not have a computer or do not know how to use it, a pre-requisite for this type of communication. Social media, far from being socially inclusive, is socially devisive, emphasising the difference between the computer literate and the computer illiterate, the haves and have-nots, the time rich and the time-poor - not to mention those who have something to say and those who don't but want to say it anyway!

Take some traditional channels, sprinkle a bit of technology dust on them, give it a sexy name and hey presto, you've got a marketers dream. I've lost count of the number of so-called gurus, conferences and articles all encouraging us to jump on the bandwagon, and if we don't we're out of touch. Tosh. That's not to say that social media doesn't have its place amongst other channels - but that is all, so let's not hype it all up.

Go on, tell me I'm wrong! If just one person out of you millions of web users out there thinks I'm mistaken, let's hear from you (Sue/Liam, this doesn't include you!). Silence will just prove my point - you either agree with me or you haven't read it, in which case, what's the point?

Talking engagement (if I must)

OK, I admit it, I hate the 'e' word. It's joined 'strategic' and 'culture' as one of those wibbly terms that gets bandied about constantly whilst half the time people don't really know what it means ... but they manage to have an earnest-sounding conversation about it anyway.

I've seen a few debates on the go on various networks debating what 'the word' actually means. For a profession that's supposed to be about making the complex simple and creating understanding, we've done a great job at creating confusion by making a piece of jargon part of every day language.

I'm as guilty as anyone else. The first time I was asked to organise an 'engagement day' I moaned for ages about how people would think it was about wedding planning. These days it's just part of my vocabulary.

Excuse me for sounding cynical, but I've been in comms a long time (I have the scars to prove it) and the debates that go on around engagement are the same debates that have always happened. Except people used to talk about 'employee commitment' or 'involvement' or even 'morale' (ugh. Hated that one too. Yep, it's our job to make everyone happy smiley people. Where shall we have the Christmas party this year?).

But hurrah for 'engagement' - it's been a great excuse for survey producers and conference promoters I've never even heard of (where the heck are they all springing up from?) to persuade people there's something else they need to buy.

Not like me to rant, I know, but Liam's working overseas this week so I'd hate you to feel you were missing out...

Sue

 

Introducing yet another Black Belt blogger

In her relentless hunt for fresh guest bloggers (“Braaaiiins!”), Sue must have considered me a tasty prey, as she just wouldn’t stop stalking inviting me in the last few months. Ah well, my fault for getting her addicted to my own blog when I attended the Black Belt seminar back in January, I guess.

I tried to convince her that I’d really love to help her out, but had no idea what to write about internal comms. Even though I’ve been in the IC business for over 8 years now, I don’t consider myself to be some kind of a communications guru. I don’t have any grand conceptual theories I work by. I generally tend go with my gut feeling in IC matters. So what could I ever tell you about internal comms which you didn’t already know?

But then Sue suggested another approach, and convinced me. So here I am, politely introducing myself. My name is Jeroen, which strangely appears to be an unpronounceable name for most English-speaking people. Just say ‘Yuh-roon’ and you’re close enough. Never mind my last name though, you’ll break a jaw. I work at the Group Communications department of the Belgian-based financial group KBC. But if you’ve kept an eye on this blog, you may already know I also like to dabble in the art of cartooning, and that will be my topic for this month: using cartoons in internal communications. So get your pencils out, I’ll be back next week!

Jeroen

Would you stay in your job if you won the lottery?

My neighbour was joking today that her other half loves his new job so much she couldn't tear him away if they won the lottery.  Conversely it made me think about the survey Lee Smith talked about recently that said almost half all British workers want to move into a more fulfilling second career by age 45.

If all 6 numbers came up on Saturday night, would you turn up at work on Monday?  Do you yearn to be a yoga teacher, a charity worker or an animal welfare person (some of the top more fulfilling careers on people's minds according to the survey Lee quotes)? Or does internal comms do it for you?

Two things have made a difference to me in the past week thanks to people who were passionate about their work. On Thursday I saw Billy Elliott on stage. I loved it - it made me laugh, it made me cry and I came out on a real high. I wondered what it must feel like to have audiences standing on their seats cheering every night and thought about the people you see on Any Dream Will Do that get so emotional because they want the chance to perform so much.

On Sunday I went to church. Usually I'm half focused on stopping my 1 year old godson eating the hymn book or untangling his hands from my hair. But this week I was on my own and what the vicar said hit home and made me think - hard. By the time I walked out I'd realised some things about myself I hadn't thought about before. I found myself thinking what an excellent communicator he was and trying to work out why. I decided it must come from believing so much in what he was saying and wanting so much to make us think.

So am I passionate about internal comms?  Actually, yes - I've done lots of soul-searching this year because I want to really believe in what I do and I don't want to spend time on things I don't honestly care that much about. I've narrowed my focus and I pass some of the things I used to do onto other people. And I've cut down my hours. It's hard to be passionate when you're sleep-deprived and stressed, and I wanted some free time to write a book - something else I feel passionate about.  So comms actually does it for me ... but I've had to make a few changes in focus.

Personally, I don't think you need to find a cure for heart disease or find the solution for world peace to make a difference or feel fulfilled.  I think it's about knowing what really matters to you, wondering whether you're doing those things, and if not, deciding what changes you're prepared to make.

So what do you reckon?  Can you feel 'passionate' and 'fulfilled' in an internal comms job ... or is that pushing it a bit far?

Sue 

 

Cold and wet in Manchester!

I'm at a bit of a loose end today, bank holiday Monday, so I thought what shall I do?

Should I tackle one of my many projects like putting my Vinyl onto my itunes or start a new book "SEND" or tidy up my inbox?

I decided on non of the above and thought I would go an research the Company that I am to join in June The Co-op Financial Services. This was a pleasing find for me.

The Co-operative Bank have joined the wonderful world of ‘online social networking' with the launch of its ‘green' MySpace profile to celebrate the 15 th Anniversary of its Ethical Policy.

MySpace, founded in 2003 and originally designed for unsigned bands to promote their music, has quickly become the world's fastest growing networking website with approximately 80 million profiles at the last count.

The social site is currently the world's fifth most popular English-language website and has quickly become an arena for registered users to voice their opinions on a wide range of subjects - from what they had for breakfast to the global impact of climate change - with ‘ethical and environmental' profiles and blogs becoming increasingly popular.

‘Green' orientated profiles created by individual users like ‘Pimp my Plantpot', ‘Tree Hugger' and ‘Stop Global Warming' give eco-minded people the opportunity to exchange information/hints/tips with their ‘friends' via blogs, groups, voting and forums with top searches on MySpace regularly including the keywords ‘ green, environmental and climate change'.

For every new ‘ green' friend added to its profile The Co-operative Bank will donate 20p to the Children's Society**. To become a ‘Co-operative Bank friend' visit www.myspace.com/goodwithmoney and request to be added for the chance to make it into the bank's ‘top friends' list, whilst ensuring a donation to a good cause.

So share this site with your friends and colleagues and lets see it grow!!

All the best

Sarah x

It's who you know... isn't it?

I've recently been sucked into the world of social networking, through Facebook and LinkedIn. For those of you unfamiliar with these, Facebook seems to be overrun by teenagers and is like the interactive version of Friends Reunited. It makes me feel old (and I only caught the last few months of the 70's). Very much at the social end of networking spectrum. At the other end, LinkedIn, in my opinion, is the more worthwhile for career / professional networking. I've already found Sue on there and it allows you to find former colleagues, post your career experience and maybe find a new job there. All very neat and I wish I'd thought of it...

The beauty of these sites, as far as I'm concerned, is the ability to have a look at who your contacts are connected with. You can request an introduction - much less awkward in cyberspace - and an easy way to widen your networked circle.

However, I always have something to rant about in my posts, so here it is:

There is too much cloak and dagger competition in IC. While our companies may be competing, we're not. I'm not asking you for trade secrets of the sector you're in or begging for insider trading tips. Linking in to what Sue said last week, maybe there is no short cut to hard graft. I agree there is no 'quick fix' but, on the other hand, someone, somewhere is bound to have done it before. Maybe not to the letter, but in all the companies, in all the world, your dilemma / project / change programme / niggle has been tackled before.

So, perhaps this really does prove "It's not what you know, but who you know". You can hide away in a room and work out how to solve your problem. Or you can post a question on here. Let other people share their knowledge, experience and wisdom to make your life easier. Perhaps even log onto LinkedIn and find me - I'll gladly share my (limited) contacts with you and we can create our own network of IC professionals.

I'm all for making things easier - that's the natural lazy person in me. But I suspect that all our lives could be made a little easier if people in IC talked to each other a bit more.

Spring has sprung

A new month, and a new blogger! For a brief introduction before the ramblings begin, my name is Fiona Gibson and I'm a Communications Manager at Ernst & Young in the UK. I previously worked at Lloyds TSB doing Group communications and have only recently spread my wings to corporate pastures new - a challenge I'm very much enjoying. No piccie as yet (embarrassing ski tan at the moment) but I'll try to sort something out soon. Promise.

I love working in IC. Not popular to express such feelings for jobs in the UK. Better to conform to the national predisposition for doom or, even worse, ambivolence. But this is my first day back from holiday and I do love my job. It keeps me on my toes and gives me a decent mental workout. Someone once asked me why I like what I do. I'd never got the hang of the answer until I came to work here. I'd had to work out what job I wanted and why I should have it, which concentrates the mind somewhat. I like it because it suits my brain. Having a science background, I like analysis. But science isn't that creative (unless you were in my chemistry classes...) and I need to flex both sides of my brain to feel fulfilled in work. We're almost back to Sue's previous post on self-awareness.

So in a month of new beginnings (snowdrops, crocuses and gambling lambs), take a new perspective on life. Why do you love what you do? And if you don't, is it time to consider whether you can change that?

Here's a thought...

Richard Bailey has an excellent blog - PR Studies - he teaches PR at Leeds Metropolitan University (which is one of the longest established centres for the teaching of PR in the UK and very well regarded).

His latest posting caught my eye because he's talking about avoiding Bloggers Block (a condition I would have thought would be welcome in my case).  And his advice? Know when to shut up and get out more (so you've got something interesting to talk about!).

It's an interesting blog site to go and have a nose around! I found a link through to this collection of blogging policies.

Liam

Writer's block

I'm trying to write a report. Actually, I'm trying to write two fairly major reports in the same week. Obviously at some point when I was planning my work, I thought this was a good idea. A week writing at home, with cat curled up beside me. I like writing. I like cats. I love my house. Perfect.

Nope. Actually, it's very, very painful. And suddenly there are squillions of fascinating distractions.

I have looked at favourite blogs & friends' websites umpteen times over. They haven't changed since the last time I looked. But at least I'm doing wonders for their hit rates. And I find you really can miss those tiny details the first ten times you read something...

I have sorted out my diary for the next two weeks. I have consumed my entire body weight in sugar.  I have exchanged e-mails with people I haven't seen for years, and shot replies back to new messages at lightening speed. I have thoughtfully sent cards to friends.  I have been totally delighted to hear from anyone who phoned me, hung on their every word and become mildly hysterical when they tried to end the conversation.

If I still worked in an office, I would by now have driven my team to distraction pacing up and down, pleading with them to talk to me and pinching any available food off their desks. Being at home instead, I have at least resisted the enticing call of the pile of ironing in the airing cupboard. So far.

I have re-written the same sentences approximately 25 times. They are now beautifully crafted works of art. I have planned and re-planned. I have read all my research material three times over. One of my IC friends helpfully said 'you just have to wait for inspiration to strike. It'll happen when you least expect it'. I'm waiting. I'M WAITING! Hello?!

I did have this strange idea that I might like to write books. I'm now asking myself whether this is wise. I'm thinking I could end up twice my current size and weight, addicted to Second Life or some such Internet-based diversionary activity, alone and friendless, having sent trusty friends fleeing 'neath a barrage of cards, phone calls and e-mails.  Mind you, I'd probably have a VERY clean house.

Cure for writer's block, anyone??

Sue

Winners and Losers

In the past couple of weeks I've read profiles on the grumpy Scottish tennis player Andy Murray, Aidy Boothroyd, the manager of my beloved Watford FC.    Both Andy and Aidy have incredibly challenging personal goals.  Andy to be the world's number 1 tennis player within 3 years, and Aidy to be England Manager within 10 years (after winning the Premiership and Champions League).  It's easy to say well they are talented enough to do that - but talent just isn't enough. As Mohammad Ali said (fantastic list of quotes today on the BBC website) "...they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

Behind the Will of both Aidy and Andy are very detailed, but flexible plans to achieve their goals. No stone is left unturned, they are willing to try almost anything - and they never doubt their vision and passion.

I looked at our 1 year internal communications plan today (we don't have a 3 year one). Yes - we have a goal - to raise employee engagement in the business strategy to XX%.  Not very exciting is it? Certainly doesn't inspire me or my team. And I am not even sure if all the projects we do are related to that goal.   Soo.... 

The team have set up a meeting for tomorrow, with Krispy Kreme donuts, to set our 1 and 2 year team goal. It's up to us to decide how scary we want to make that goal. Maybe we want to be the best in the world?  It would certainly make us look at our objectives and change the way we work.

Am I being too naive?  Has anyone tried this before?  How do you get the balance right for business, team and personal success?

I have also realised that I have personal dreams (bestselling novel, country house, the other Cheeky Girl) - but no personal goal or plan.  So I'm off home to plan my world domination.

Guest Blogger 2

Blimey, so I’m the guest blogger this month. That means I have to appear like I understand what internal communications is all about. Well, I’ll let you into a secret – I don’t, but I am good at putting people off until I’ve referred back to my Black Belt folder, or Bill Quirke’s books, or phoned up an ex-colleague or two.

As you almost certainly don't know who I am - here is my IC history in a nutshell. I was in HR at Lego until 2000 when Vodafone asked me to do Internal Comms, despite having no direct experience. Luckily I was taken under Darren Briggs's wing when he joined the company. 5 years later, I moved onto Ericsson, who put me on the Black Belt Course. Just 6 months ago I joined Visa to head up the IC team here in Paddington.   My strength is getting under the skin of the company and knowing where IC will improve things.  My weakness is a distinct lack of attention to details (and typos in here will prove it). My passion is the written word and storytelling in the business world (or Fudging for Fun).

I am proud to work in IC, I don't want to do anything else - I just want to learn more.  So hopefully I can learn from the responses I get from you guys (if I get any).  My first question is around "Ohh, that's good" moments.  Whether it be from a book, a colleague, a training course, or your own big brain - what was a eureka moment for you in IC?   I'll let you know one of mine in my next post.

Well I am going to stop now as I want to keep the posts short(ish). My book recommendation (if you've got any vouchers left from Christmas) is go and buy a moleskine journal for work. It's impossible not to want to write better notes and thoughts in one of these babies.  I don't know if they are made of moleskin.  I hope so, because they are expensive.

Great male/female divides

Helpfully all the lovely weather today brought down the power lines for the railways in the Midlands so I got back to Euston Station this evening to discover every train cancelled. Cue grumpy journey across London to catch another train that called at probably every village that exists between London and Birmingham, took HOURS to get anywhere even vaguely near home and then dropped me off 45 minutes away from where my car was parked.

So here I am catching up on e-mails far too late before setting off at some unearthly hour in the morning to drive up to Halifax to run some more training sessions.  Note to self:  make new year's resolution to get some work life balance!  Still, such is my dedication to this blog that I couldn't resist a quick post ...

Bond -v- Borat

Read in the Metro this morning that Daniel Craig (aka James Bond) and Kazakhastani journalist Borat Sadiyev are locked in a battle of the downloads, and there's a big male/female divide about who's downloading what. Apparently women are choosing images of Mr Craig in his swimming trunks, whilst men prefer to have a picture of Borat on their mobile phones. Er, why? I can see why you might not want the lovely Daniel, but why would you want Borat?  Explain please, male persons?

Blogging and the male/female divide

Anyway, the other big male/female divide, it's seeming to me, is blogging!  One glance at the 'comments' list on this site shows a list of male names. Mark Darby told me yesterday that 'blogging's a bloke thing'.

I KNOW there are women reading this because several of them have told me so this week.  So come on fellow females - write something back!  I'm outnumbered here!!

Sue

Help for homeworkers?

OK, so I'm sitting here in my friend's flat, looking at the estate agents' description of her place on the web. AND there is an audio guided tour attached, for some reason by a strange automated voice ... with an American accent.

Talking of audio things, I'm hoping someone can help me out with something. I'm doing a fair bit of line manager comms training at the minute, mainly focused around face to face comms. This week there was someone in my group who managed home workers. When we were talking through the Mehrabian stats about the impact of words/body language/tone, he asked if there was any equivalent for written comms/conference calls, to give guidance to people like him who can go for quite a while without seeing his team.

I don't know of anything. Do you?

I was reading an article in TheLondonPaper on the way here enticingly titled 'SMS pests and tipsy texts in an age of turbo-charged love'. (I take it they recruit their journalists from The Sun.)  They quoted a 'lifestyle consultant' as saying that "93% of commmunication is voice, tone and body language, so with a text you only send 7 % of what you are trying to say."  In other words, he's quoting the Mehrabian figures, but apparently these figures can't be applied to texts and are generally applied to types of communication that they were never designed to refer to.

Can anyone help on this one?

Sue

I spy ...

I've just got back from staying at my best friend's for the weekend. Huge mirth between she and her other half about her parents' latest theory about 'what Sue actually does for a living'.

Yes, Tracy's mum & dad share that sense of bemusement about what it means to work in internal comms that we all encounter amongst family and friends. Apparently after she told them about my latest bout of jet-setting (aka mantaining polite facade whilst inwardly steaming about HOW LONG it takes to get from the plane to my car at Heathrow!!!  Aaaargh!), they've now decided that I am, in fact .... (wait for it) ... an international spy!

Yep, they've decided that my inability to park/reverse a car, hopeless sense of direction, screaming fits in the presence of spiders and general girly dippiness are all careful ploys to disguise the fact that I am in fact a highly intelligent & glamorous MI6 agent. I quite like that idea actually. It beats their former theory that I spend all my time organising Christmas parties. ..

Anyway, whilst out shopping/eating/more shopping/more eating as is only right and traditional on weekend with best friend, I came across a natty little book by Allan & Barbara Pease called Why Men Can Only Do One Thing at a Time and Women Never Stop Talking.  I was tempted to wrap it up and give it to Liam for Christmas, but found myself getting quite fascinated by it, so he's not having it - it's mine! Little facts like the ones you get in these books are great to drop into comms workshops for managers to generate some humorous banter in the room.

For instance, on the subject of multi-tasking ... something, shall we say, that we females are better known for than the male population.  Apparently a woman's brain has a 10% thicker connecting cord between the left and right lobes and up to 30% more connections. Men's brains are more compartmentalised. So a woman can do several unrelated things at the same time, but a man generally needs to concentrate on one thing at a time. So he can either read or listen, but he can't do both. (That's just what the book says, OK? Just in case any male persons reading this are ready to start beating me up!).

It's a fascinating little book, anyway, and I shall add it to our new recommended books section that you'll find on the bottom right hand corner of the blog. Please let us know about any books you've found helpful - we're always being asked for recommendations - and if you can give us a personal review, so much the better.

Sue

Green Internal Communications

To people who know us, it will come as no surprise that I got told off by Sue yesterday (again).

We're preparing for the latest Black Belt at Henley (oh joy) and we were working out what handouts we needed printed for exercises on days one and two.  There is an exercise that we replaced back in the Spring but I keep including it in the handouts and Alex naturally gets it printed off.  Sue has finally lost her temper with me and ranted on about the damage to the trees and said something about a stupid old fool that I didn't really understand.

However yesterday's news about climate change did actually bother me a bit.  OK I'm probably not going to be around to enjoy the fine wines that will be grown in Doncaster and my back won't last long enough to benefit from the new water ski resorts in Greenland.  But I think there must be a lot that internal communicators can do now to help.

If you take a look at the Carbon Footprint calculator that you can find on BP's website it's quite shocking when you see the size of CO2 emissions from aviation.  And I do remember a client once who worked for a global company commenting that their main tool of collaboration was the 747!

So. what are internal communicators be doing to help the planet?  Anyone want to share? 

I'm sure Sue would let me post any case studies on the website - and it might just get me back in her good books before she spills the beans to the next lot of Black Belters on my more embarassing personal secrets.

Liam

Stating the obvious

I'm kind of in the 'new and proud parent' stage about this blog, so I've been e-mailing colleagues, friends, great aunty Gertrude - anyone who may or may not know anything about internal comms, to show it off.

I've just had an e-mail from one of my well-educated, particularly brainy friends (4 'a's at A-level, Psychology degree, that he switched to after deciding he found the Maths degree a bit boring - that kind of brainy) saying "It looks great ... although all the stuff about comms was a bit over my head, to be honest."  He's the second successful, degree-educated friend to come back and say it.

It got me thinking. How often do we think all the stuff we know about communication is such common sense, that we forget to explain the basics? I ran a training session for a room full of middle managers the other day that went astoundingly well - people left the room talking about it, and when I telephoned round for feedback, I was amazed by how many people had had 'eureka moments' and had started doing things differently. I mean, I hoped it was a good session (I do try not to design bad ones!), but I was surprised just how much people were raving about quite simple tools and techniques.

I guess it's part of the four stages of learning from 'unconcious incompetence' to 'unconcious competence'  There's a good outline of the four stages here on the excellent Business Balls website. You'll need to scroll down a bit.  At some stage in our careers, we've actively had to learn everything we now take for granted about communication. I hope we're still learning.  But once you've worked in communication day in, day out, you tend to forget that the things we know are not obvious to everyone.

Yes, communication seems like common sense.  But we see what appear (to us) to be fairly obvious howlers on a regular basis. I once helped someone transfer from being an experienced business manager to work alongside me in communication.  "You won't have any problem," I told him. "It's really all just common sense."  His reply was "What you forget, is that your common sense about communication has been developed over about 10 years. Don't take it for granted that it will feel that way for me."

So what's my point here? Well, it's really an observation that we sometimes forget how much we've learned. It pays to make an effort to be more 'concious about our competence'. We do need to make sure we 'state the obvious' as we go about doing our jobs. Because what's glaringly obvious to us may well not be so to other people.

Sue

It's survey time!

Well it had to happen sooner or later - Sue and I are doing a survey!

We've been thinking for some time that we'd like to gather some robust data on how people develop during their careers in IC and what sort of development that they want.  So, though our new joint venture Competent Communicators, we've set up a survey.

We're asking anyone who works in-house to take the survey (click here ) - it only takes 10 -15 minutes and we're doing an iPod draw in case you need any added incentive.  And if you can persuade your colleagues/peers to do it as well we'll be your slaves for a day (sort of...).

At the end of it all we want to be able to publish some some simple advice to internal communicators that says "...if you want to develop your career, you should be thinking about doing x, y and z".  For that we need to know what people think are the minimum requirements for the jobs they are doing today and what steps they take to become better at their jobs.

The reason why it will help to get your colleagues to take part is that the results will be much more robust if we can get a a good cross section of people from similar organisations.  And although we're doing a mailing with help from Melcrum, people are always more likley to respond if they are approached by someone they know.

We're closing the survey on 9 November and we'll share the results with you all as soon as we can (probably January as I'm skiving off to New Zealand in December).  But if you want a sneak preview - we're testing our findings at some focus groups in London in the week of 27 November (when I'll mention several times that I'm going to New Zealand for Christmas) - so email us if you'd like to take part in these discussions.

Thanks for your help...

Liam

Rumblings from SCM Summit

Sitting in the Strategic Communications Summit, listening to people going on about blogs and social media, Sue has forced me to nip out and do a blog myself in mid session. I’m not sure of the etiquette so I have sat myself down outside the conference and started tapping away.

But it wasn’t the blog stuff that got me going (although I can see what Sue is on about), it was a session from Monika Stafford of Lloyds TSB that made me think. Monika was talking about the challenges for the future and started by crediting me with single-handedly writing the Inter-Comm matrix.

Sorry Sue but I lost my nerve when the time came to stand up and correct Monika…. She showed some research from ISR and from Watson Wyatt about the communications characteristics of high performing organisations. In particular, she highlighted:

 The need to set an exciting vision

 The importance of leaders who are genuinely concerned and connected to employees

 The value of having structures that “speed the movement from ideas to implementation”.

And she talked about having competencies:

 To make connections

 To make it compelling

 To learn fast

 Knowing customers

 Knowing audience(s)

 Be authentic

 Make it interactive

 Deliver

In fact – all things that come up in discussion on the Black Belt courses. Two things struck me in particular.

Firstly when she asked the audience – around half said that they were looking to coaches or mentors to support their development. I wonder if that’s unusual because of the more senior audiences they get at these things or if its part of a wider trend. It would make sense to me if there was a trend here.

Secondly, she quoted me as saying that there is a lack of senior role models in IC. I have based this assertion on the fact that so many senior people see their future outside IC – good people get promoted into leadership positions in HR, Corporate Comms and even the line.

But she did a straw poll of the audience 35% said that there were in IC permanently. Although 50% of people said that they would move on within 5 years, it was still a pretty striking figure.

Does this mean that people are beginning to see a long-term career path in the discipline? And that led me to wonder if that’s a good thing. Do we need people with decades of experience or do we need people who move in and out of different functions?

More ramblings later….

Liam

So what's a dojo?

We know that we're rather stretching the whole martial arts thing a bit far, but Black Belt Dojo seemed as good a name as any for this blog.

A Dojo is the name given in Karate and other Japanese martial arts to where people train  (if you do an art with a Korean origin it's probably called a dojang).

But it does seem to be a good label because a Dojo is more than a sports hall.  It's also a place where people discuss ideas and new techniques.  It's a place where you take your problems and work them until you have found the solution or mastered the individual skill or technique.  Most importantly its a place where even the master practitioner goes to learn and reflect.

And if you'd like to know more about what goes on in a dojo....I can seriously recommend Angry White Pyjamas, a book about training in Japan.

Liam

At long last - credible figures

At the last Black Belt there was quite a lot of discussion about the latest research from Watson Wyatt (http://www.watsonwyatt.com/strategyatwork/featurearticle.asp?articleid=16457) into the value that Internal Communications adds to organisations.  One black belter even brought along a copy of their report which he’d downloaded from the Watson Wyatt site.

There are some pretty interesting claims in the research which are worth thinking about.  The HR consultants claim that good IC practices can be shown to cause better financial performance (i.e. not just coincide with it) and that shareholders of companies with strong IC operations enjoy up to 57% more return than they would in poorer communicating firms.

However what interested me was that these figures seem mu