Keeping it Real
Or, How to Communicate with Your Employees like They’re Human Beings
Have you heard of the now infamous Nokia memo, which ignited the blogosphere for a few days in February 2011? The memo, which painted a frankly scary picture of the company’s current market position and chances for success, began with the story of a man standing on the burning platform of an oil rig, trying to decide whether to perish then and there or take his chances by diving into the icy waters of the Atlantic.
Memo author and CEO Stephen Elop equated Nokia’s current position to that of the man on the platform, stating bluntly, “we must decide how we are going to change our behavior.” He then spent roughly 20 or so more paragraphs telling employees what was going wrong before stating that the company would be revealing a new strategy in the coming days.
If you read the memo, you probably had a strong reaction to its tone and content. We certainly did — we wrote a blog entry spelling out our thoughts, one of which was, essentially, proceed with great caution when delivering such a dire scenario to your employees. However, as practitioners of internal communications, we couldn’t help but react somewhat positively to the frank tone and candor of the memo.
Let’s be honest — internal communications isn’t always the most riveting stuff, and a lot of corporate messaging is so watered down that it’s hard to tell what an executive is trying to say. So in a way the Nokia memo was refreshing. It was plain that a man under siege had written it, and while we always want to think that our leaders have everything under control, it was almost a relief to be able to picture a living, breathing person behind it.
Why was the candor of the Nokia memo so shocking? And why is communicating with employees like they’re human beings so challenging? After all, we know how to talk to our friends, family members and colleagues, and sometimes we even excel at communicating with our customers. But employees consistently get the short end of the stick.
There can be all kinds of reasons for this. Maybe the people in charge of employee communications have multiple other responsibilities, and communications is at the lower end of the priorities totem pole. Maybe it’s a matter of not having enough time, or even a skill set problem. You might be great at establishing a communications strategy and getting your colleagues’ support, but lack the creative mojo to develop and rollout communications programs that will grab the attention of busy employees and help them understand and believe in the changes you’re telling them about. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. After all, it’s a rare (not to mention boring) person indeed who is perfect at everything.
Whatever the issue, identifying the problem is the first step in developing more creative, thoughtful and inspired communications for your employees. When you’re ready to take the next step, here are a few things you can do to breathe a little life into your employee communications:
- Think of your employees the way you think of your external customers. If you’re introducing a new product or making a major announcement, chances are good that you’ll invest a lot of time and energy in how to share the news effectively with your most important stakeholders. You should be thinking of your employees in the same way — they’re one of your most critical access points to your customers, and they have to credibly deliver whatever it is you’re promising to the outside world.
- Banish the corporate speak. Please, we beg you. Your employees — and the world — will thank you.
- Ditto the acronyms and insider jargon. It doesn’t matter if most of your employees know what they mean. Would you tell your spouse to pick up the “DC” (drycleaning) during his/her “EC” (evening commute)? We didn’t think so.
- Put some emotion into it. Whether it’s humor, excitement, or even frustration, a little glimpse of the human being behind the communications will go a long way.
- Ask employees to aspire to something bigger and better. Reference your company’s purpose and vision, and invite employees to participate in something larger than themselves.Tell a story. While “burning platform” analogies are a bit too dire for our taste, stories, anecdotes and examples can do wonders to bring your communications to life.
- Invest in high-quality written materials. If you don’t have the time, resources or skills to do the job well, that’s OK — but make sure you partner with someone who does. For starters, you can always contact us.
