In your face and on your desk!

My cube’s soft board is peppered with information on various programs that are underway within the organization. An indication of the ‘in your face’ communication that employees are being bombarded with these days. With e-mail communication now playing a secondary role, direct mailers are the ‘in-thing’!

I have a postcard with a balloon inviting me for a ‘Bring your Kids to Work’ event over the weekend. Will skip that considering I am still not a father!

The other communication notice is from the Employee Health & Safety team goading me to do stretches regularly and maintain a proper sitting posture in front of the computer. The third note invites me to keep my desk clean from a data privacy perspective. It is indeed fascinating that internal clients are convinced that to win the war of ‘eyeballs’, one needs to be aggressive and in your face. Quite a change from how internal communication was viewed in India a few years ago.

Need for visibility – building an image for internal teams and functions

Recently, there has been a spurt in demand by internal teams to build an ‘image’ for themselves among employees. On looking closely at these requests, one can understand where this need is coming from. While organizations grow in size and are geographically spread, it becomes more and more difficult to have a ‘high’ recall value when it comes to internal buy-in and uptake. More so when respective teams are trying to get employees to look at internal transfers for specific projects and assignments. Also, some teams have stakeholders in multiple groups – for example, the software and process team’s expertise cuts across all projects internally. Their quality audits are a must to ensure high performance and delivery. But due to tight deadlines and ever stricter cost control, project teams try to make do with the basic ‘checks and balances’. This may end up acting at cross purposes with the organizations’ mission.

While there is a growing need to promote a ‘single brand’ within an organization instead of confusing employees with varied messages and ‘taglines’ from internal teams, allowing teams to promote and highlight their expertise becomes essential.

Recently, we helped build awareness for the Six Sigma team – again, another team trying to build strong robust practices. Promotion was in the form of road shows, interactive contests and games, event collateral, internal mailers and ‘showcasing a face to the team’. Another interesting internal awareness program was around a leadership visit to popularize the setting-up of a research & development arm in the region. Using a mix of both online and offline communication tactics, we reached out to employees to learn more about the exciting projects this R&D set-up was doing already. There were also several ‘calls to action’ like a registration for the leadership talk, enrolling for a companywide technology forum and an interactive quiz!

Internal communicators need to be cautious in not getting carried away by the energy and enthusiasm that these teams display. There have been cases of teams creating campaigns to create ‘visibility’ for themselves only in the interest of being ‘noticed’. A fine line needs to be drawn and an evaluation criterion explained for such requests.

Cross-selling in internal communications

Borrowing a marketing tool – cross-selling, one can superimpose this idea within internal communication practices as well.

While there are numerous occasions for cross pollinating one program with the other, a firm balance should be maintained to get the best results. For example, if there is a Quality Drive undertaken by the software and process team – there is a great opportunity lurking to promote say a testing function within the organizational by showcasing a particular case study or by having a speaker from the team to address the audience. It cuts both ways – the testing function gets visibility and the software and process team is viewed as a capable unit in supporting strong business practices within another function.

Another example, which comes to my mind, at a recent leadership promotion event for employees, we plugged in an employee referral link and program to get talent to join the team. Along with an opportunity to join a related network and e-zine.

Know other ideas of cross-selling in internal communications? Experienced other examples? Share it here.

Internal communications and empowering the client

Do internal communicators get better only by doing more work for their internal customers? Or do they only move to the next level by empowering others to be better communicators? This debate has always intrigued me – since we find internal communicators getting stuck in routine jobs since we have not been able to move ahead of the basic requirement that exists.

So does an internal communicator get savvy and street-smart? Here is my take. I call it the 3Ps.

Projection: Be seen and perceived as an expert on the subject and as a willing teacher/coach. When you get stuck in the ‘do-er’ mode, the internal client tends to view you in that mode. Demonstrating interest and action in getting others to follow suit.
Pattern: Create templates for easier usage and consistency. Recently, by empowering internal teams with access to visuals and certificate templates, we cut down on our involvement completely. Register regular requests from internal teams and create templates like mail formats for invites, registrations, thank you notes among others.
Practice: Hand-hold the internal clients till then are aware of how to go about the business of communicating. Believe me, once they begin, they will love the freedom and the element of creativity that comes along with the activity. Play the role of counselor at this stage – let them bounce of ideas and issues with the communication. Move from creating communication to reviewing them.

Does this idea sound viable according to you? Post your comments.

Promoting a leadership visit

In the life-cycle of an internal communications professional, I am sure one comes across the need to own, promote or make a leadership visit ‘successful’. Success is quite an ambiguous word in this context. It could mean making the leader prominent in the eyes of the employees or in the media or create a larger than life imagery. Or it could be a factor of the attendance for the road-shows which showcases the leader.

Quite often, the challenge is to gain acceptance for the leader either in the region or in that country or location he or she is visiting. You could be torn between focusing on the subject of the talk, making the leader be perceived as approachable and affable.

In a recent leadership visit – we created a quiz using his profile, produced posters of him in a ‘visionary’ avatar and propagated the message via waterfall communication using other senior leaders and mailers.

The results were there to see – we got an amazing response to the quiz (the prizes were gift vouchers from a leading shopping brand), there were queries on participating at the road shows held at the locations he was visiting and even senior leaders quipped that he was a ‘celebrity’ – his bookmarks, posters and banners were smiling down from the notice boards in the facilities!

Some key points to note while drawing out a communication plan for a leadership visit –

- Build in both face-to-face as well as online communication to ensure interactivity
- Have the ‘whats in it for you?’ message incorporated within the communication
- Keep the subject of the communication focused on the speaker(s) to make it more personal. We got feedback that they would like to meet the leader since he seems to be affable – the photograph had him smiling pleasantly.
- Think long term – we captured the leader’s thoughts on camera for a film we had in mind 6 months later in the year
- Accommodate communication for those who cannot make it for the road-shows due to travel or personal commitments. Try to broadcast the key messages.
- Have a feedback mechanism and a link for more information in all communication is released. Sometimes a chat link works fine as well – again depending on how the organization views technology.

Have other ideas on promoting a visit? Share it on my blog...

Communicating less for more!

Recently an internal human resources function faced a unique situation while conducting an education sponsorship program. There were 40 seats for a leading technology education institute in the country for which the company was sponsoring employees for higher studies. This was part of the group’s initiatives to retain employees and further their growth and learning.

The communication pitched the ‘learn while they earn’ theme and enabling employees to leverage impressive tie-ups which the company had with thought leaders in the education domain.

After the first round of communication, the team received a rousing 150 responses – close to 4 times the numbers of available seats! They wanted to now harp on this achievement by mentioning the number of responses in the next round of communication.

I reviewed the decision and decided against mentioning the number of responses so far. I put myself in the shoes of the employee and realized that if I was to get a communication talking of the 150 responses against a total seat number of 40, would I be excited to apply? Surely not. I would have felt I lost the opportunity.

By holding back on this communication, the team got another 100 responses to the next mail!

This was a case of communicating less and achieving more!

If You Can See It, You Can Brand It

If You Can See It, You Can Brand It

( Published on Marketing Profs website http://www.marketingprofs.com/2/koshy1.asp )

June 11, 2002

In the financial services sector it is increasingly difficult to sustain product, cost and distribution advantages.

Branding in financial services is undergoing substantial changes, owing to the dramatic increase in competition following deregulation and the threat posed by new entrants with branding experience.

Success in what is fast becoming an overcrowded market will depend on effective brand differentiation, based on the identification, internalization and communication of unique brand values that are both pertinent to and desired by consumers. [Source: The challenge of financial services branding: majoring on category or brand values? by Leslie de Chernatony and Fiona Harris; August 2000 Brand Management and Marketing Research Unit (BMMRU)]

Successful branding takes a product, service or company beyond market share. What your customers see, hear and experience with your brand becomes what your brand stands for.
If you have a product or service that is tangible, visible or measurable, it is easy to make it sell. You can help prospective customers relate it to the five senses.

But what would you do for a product or service that cannot be packaged physically or can only be viewed in a cluttered marketplace?

Take for example, a banking solution provider that consults on services like the Internet or on a software package. How will you make it sell like a Nestle confectionary or a General Motors car?
Here are a few ways to beat the competition.

Explore and identity the company’s core values and reasons for existence. Sometimes taking two steps back can take you miles forward. Scan its heritage, and the founder’s vision and thoughts. Run through its internal publications. Maybe you will stumble upon an insight or two.
Sieze upon the most important value the company promises to its customer: It may be reliability, or it may be expertise or flexibility, and it may be a niche area of operation. Use it as a sledgehammer. Drive home the point in every communication the company does. Both internally and externally.

Create an icon or a visible package that can spell out the financial service offered. The Intel Inside campaign drove home the chip’s advantage by bringing out its presence as a symbol of quality and processing speed on the PC shell.

Link the organization with a cause that it can identify with: Reebok with Amnesty International or like Kellogg with the Kids Helpline.

Be visible. Be where decision makers voice their opinions. Try to match your offering with the theme of the event.

Ride on your people's achievement. Invest in them. The value of good, resourceful employees is greater than anything a company can buy.

If you have just entered the market, or are in a large pool with the big guns, get into the considered set. Energetically voice your position.

Aim to be an opinion leader in your scope of business. When decisions are called for in your industry or in your association, the opportunity to be "top -of-mind" is high.

Differentiate yourself on the basis of unique emotional values, instead of focusing on functional category values.

If you are a financial services organization, following these guidelines will ensure that your customers correctly understand your brands’ value.

Building A Potent Intranet For An Enterprise

Building A Potent Intranet For An Enterprise

( Published on Intranet Journal http://intranetjournal.com/articles/200107/pia_07_11_01a.html)

Intranets can change the way your organization works. When built correctly, they centralize information, streamline processes and reduce costs.

The best intranets require a solid understanding of the business processes that the system is to embody. Often these processes are already automated by older technologies that require integration. The new interface, which must be intuitive, also needs to take these older technologies into account.

This piece is targeted at owners of intranets within organizations as well as the interactive agencies that support it.

Broadly, there are two parts to an intranet setup. One, the technological aspect; the backend work and support. The other, crucial content and applications which has been covered in the article.

Content is definitely king: But how easy is it to develop content and applications that is compelling, regular and enticing? Users of the intranet look for significant content that decides whether they re-visit the site regularly.

Give users a reason to 'repeat' visit: Stickiness is all-important. There must be interaction at all times between the medium and the visitors. It could be as simple as 'weekend getaway' nuggets or an auto responder note to a query online, which gives the user interesting information and confidence in the system.

Allow co-ownership: The intranet is for its users. They own it. Let them feel likewise. Let them drive it. The intranet Administrator needs to play the role of facilitator and mentor.

Keep your ears to the ground: the intranet survives on regular feedback from its users. Never forget the end result. True success of an Intranet is in its usability and reach.

Maintain synergy with all other corporate communication: The company's corporate vision has to be reflected across all media, the Intranet included.

Cross sell the intranet: Grab every opportunity to cross sell the Intranet. Use the internal newsletter, extranet and corporate bodies to drive eyeballs.

Make life easier for the users: The role of the intranet is to make life easier for its users. Be it simple constructive content and applications. Something like travel tips for jet setting employees or a module for ordering marketing collateral.

Visibility is key, both offline and online: Users are not always online. How do you let them know when things are happening online? By being visible offline as well. At the cafeteria, gym and at corporate events among others. Places where they spend time and are receptive to messages.

Ideas hold the key: The intranet runs on ideas. Marketing your intranet to your users requires agility, flexibility and creativity. Be it in a recipe club you want to start online to a collectors gathering, it all hinges on an idea of providing the users with a forum for interaction.

Knowledge lies within, use it: Your organization is a minefield of knowledge. Extract, filter and leverage the power within. You might not even have to look elsewhere for information. Have a knowledge management section to collate relevant thoughts, articles and suggestions.

The challenge in building up a potent intranet lies in getting and improving confidence in its users. Whether communicating information to Web-based users or enabling secure purchase transactions, a company needs to balance the enticements of technology with the necessity of adhering to basic branding practices, and customize its intranet for a global audience. intranets also need to be graphically appealing, easily navigable, relevant and memorable to be a killer.

Learning from the tsunami

Learning from the tsunami

( Published in the Hindu Business Line, January 27, 2005 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2005/01/27/stories/2005012700240400.htm)

The tsunami holds lessons in internal communications for companies which can and want to do much more than extend `cheque book support' to prove their integrity.

In the wake of the destruction left behind by the tsunami that struck recently, a few key learnings and lessons for internal communications can be derived and put to practice.

Most corporate houses have risen to the occasion and provided relief and support, but there are still many ways by which these entities can gain public respect and employee trust.
Numerous unique but touching examples are heard each day of individuals and companies using their core strengths to bring assistance to the needy: a car rental company using its vehicles to pick up and drop food, medicine and clothing, IT professionals and celebrities spending time to assess the damage and route essential material, airlines chartering flights for relief work, media firms setting up call centres and toll-free numbers for relatives and well-wishers.

Companies who want to `walk the talk' can do much more than extend `cheque book support' to prove their integrity. Here are some ideas for building that feeling of oneness among employees during a crisis:

Trawl the database to match skills of employees to specific requirements: A quick scan of an employee database can reveal unique hobbies and interests which may be useful during a crisis. For example, an employee with an amateur HAM operator license would be of use in keeping devastated islands linked to the rest of the world. I can relate to this example, as a good friend of mine took leave to travel with the Indian Armed Forces rescue team and utilise his experience as a radio operator. His action was purely based on concern and individual drive but I am sure there may be many more such people who can contribute their talent. There may be employees trained as counsellors who can help victims get over the trauma or those who can play the role of interpreters for international agencies and local administrators because they know a local language or dialect.

Opportunity for building employee morale: It's crises like these when employees judge the true commitment of their employer. They look forward to the tact, balance and ability to empathise with the suffering. Managers who show individual activism and take decisions to visit and support relief camps are respected. So are senior leaders who make personal contributions. Even by matching or exceeding employee contributions.

Assisting employee volunteerism: Routing energies of employees for the right causes can go a long way in making them feel good about working for a socially responsible company. Firms should empower, reward and publicise the actions of these `unsung heroes' internally.
Action-oriented support is expected: No action is too small in times of crises. Some methods are to set up online helpdesks or free access calls helping family, relatives and friends re-unite, helping employees adopt children and villages, investing in infrastructure and identifying reputed charities for employees to contribute. Some companies tracked each employee's whereabouts and reported them on the internal systems, which raised confidence among its employees.

Contribute your core strength: One enterprising networking firm provided free bandwidth and space on their servers for NGOs involved in relief work. If your core strength or value is innovation, invest time and people in developing a programme or software for early warning mechanisms working closely with the national or local administration.

Building a framework for internal communications during crises: Most companies scrambled to put together messages for internal circulation during crises. Putting together a framework involving crisis teams, leadership and department-specific messages and action baskets. There were cases of employees duped by fake fund raisers.

By anticipating, covering all angles of crisis communication and using the internal news channels such as the Intranet/ portal/ newsletters, companies can keep employees up-to-speed on the dos and don'ts. During crises, keep in mind that usual channels of communication (telephone lines, for example) may be disrupted. Think of unique methods of reaching employees, maybe via chat or SMS or through their families and friends.

While the world comes to grips with the disaster, organisations need to put comprehensive internal communication crisis support systems in place and keep a close watch over our shoulders for the next challenge around the corner.

Communicating culture through facility branding

Communicating culture through facility branding

Published on the CiB ( British Association of Communicators in Business ) website http://www.cib.uk.com/artman/publish/article_214.shtml

Walk into any office and you tend to get a first-hand impression of the organisation's pulse, culture and values. In this feature, Anish K. Verrghese looks at how you can communicate your brand and its values using your own workplace.

Everything from the way you are greeted at the reception to the colourful mission and core value posters placed on the fascia, the corporate social responsibility communication placed in the corridors, and the colour-matched upholstery in the workstations provide an insight into the soul of the organisation.

We tend to form opinions on the way the company operates, its internal processes and the work environment from the concoction of imagery and messages that are projected internally and externally within the premises. Mind you, the placement of the corporate logo is only incidental!

Businesses today face numerous challenges while setting up multi-national, multi-cultural bases, but tend to overlook the role facility branding plays when it comes to improving image among employees and external stakeholders.

Facility branding plays a key role in establishing the image both internally for employees and for the external world, be it during client visits, investor tours, interaction with vendors or casual visits from friends of employees.

To establish organisational culture described as a “set of important understandings, such as norms, values, beliefs and attitudes, shared by organisational members”, three levels of culture (Edgar Schein, 1992) need to be understood and established.
Artifacts - the visible, things that define a culture, products, services.
Espoused values – the reasons for doing what we do.
Underlying assumptions – the beliefs that are taken for granted.
Facility branding can be used effectively as a whole new medium for communication and internal branding. Ideally, there are three broad areas that can be covered by facility branding.

· Communication of corporate core values, culture, credo and goals
· Long-term employee specific communications, like health and fitness or corporate governance, and
· Direct, personalised touch points.

Here are some ideas for implementing a strong facility branding exercise and presence.

· Identify areas that are frequented most by employees and other stakeholders and create a niche, uncluttered space for regular branding. Most companies have soft boards on walls, but they tend to get cluttered with ads and loose paper.
· Like websites that attract readers with interesting ‘What’s New’ sections, a facility vying for attention should do well with a “Top News” space.
· Get employees to participate in the upkeep and regular inflow of content – engage them in routing employee volunteer project news, give them responsibility to update news boards and provide ideas on branding.
· Treat your facility like a museum when it comes to branding! Ever noticed how artifacts are labelled and a route map designed to walk you through a museum? If there are complex visuals and diagrams reflecting your company’s product, have neat explanations beside them. Assume the viewer has no idea about your brand ambassador, however famous – they might actually not know!
· Keep a record of landmarks achieved by your organisation – these form good content for converting into collateral for the interiors/exteriors. Like the 25th year since inception ceremony, the induction of your 1,000th employee into the organisation among others.
· Notice how Google keeps re-inventing its logo on its website to match the theme of the day or the month? Be it Cupid on Valentine’s Day or Olympic rings to commemorate the global event. Your facility also could be in tune with times.

But, there are a few words of caution.

Some corporations work out of leased premises and there could be issues and restrictions on branding such facilities. Business groups with shared services and different workforces housed within the same premises would also need to exhibit caution on the relevance of communicating messages for specific audiences. There is also a need to constantly refresh the internal communication before fatigue sets in.

Today businesses prefer conducting their induction and recruitment drives in-house keeping cost and accessibility in mind. Helping new employees and prospects get a ‘feel’ of the new world is a good way to start. Using images of brand ambassadors in their internal branding, conducting a facility tour through branded enclosures would also add to the overall ‘corporate experience’.

Investing a bit of time and creativity could go a long way in making your facility a living example of your corporate brand.

Internal communications - fad or fiction?

Internal communications is close to my heart. I had the opportunity to explore this exciting subject in only the 3rd assignment of my career - with i-flex solutions.

i-flex is a global IT product and services company - with a flagship banking solution which was taking the market by storm. It was an inflection point in their growth phase. There was a need to address people issues, communicate leadership messages, build an internal brand, stem attrition among others. Quite challenging to say the least.


While internal communications is a 'must have' function in any organization, it is sometimes considered the poor cousin of PR.

Internal communicatio, as I discovered, was mostly reactive and it defeated the purpose of the function. Quite like PR, internal communications needs planning ahead, thinking on your feet and hacing your ear to the ground. Most people issues cane be resolved early in its crisis cycle with a pro-active, direct approach.

So is internal communications a fad or fiction? Or both?

With the growing demand for internal communications and professionals who can hold their own, this field has immense potential. To me it is neither fad nor fiction. It is reality and a necessity.

How the function is viewed, decides the measure of impact on internal issues - like employee engagement and turnover. By valuing the importance of this function and bestowing faith in its practitioners, leadership has won its war on talent retention.

The next stage is articulating the messages and delivering consistently.

Through this blog, I hope to be able to share my expertise and learning for the benefit of my fellow internal communication professionals.