Communications as Ikor

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지난번에도 말씀드린것 같이 Change Management의 핵심은 Employee Communications 또는 Internal Communications입니다.

현재 미국에서 널리 공유되고 있는 Internal Communications의 패러다임을 아래글에서 구경하실수 있습니다. PR인들이 이제는 그들의 고유한 업무들을 넘어 더욱 조직 발전을 위한 Momentum이 될수 있다면, 과연 그 같은 PR프로그램의 실행 목적은 무었이어야 하는지, 어떠한 새로운 시각을 가지고 자신을 개발해야 하는지, 또 어떠한 자질이 우리들에게 필요한지를 잘 설명해 주고 있는 아주 깨끗한 글입니다. 문장하나한가 버릴말이 없는 좋은 글입니다.

 

바로 이전 글에서 말씀드린 전략적 PR 컨설턴트 Grates씨의 뉴스레터에 들어 있던 글인데, 새삼 그 명쾌한 비젼설정에 감탄하며, 이렇게 여러분들께 나누어 드립니다.

 

아래의 글의 깊이와 범위는 대학원 1학기의 강의로도 소화하지 못할 거대한 것입니다. 잘 프린트 하셔서 출퇴근이나 등하교시에 음미 바랍니다.

 

어지러운 제글을 읽으시느라 수고들 하십니다. 그지만, Grates씨는 다르더군요..

 

그럼 전 “홍보!”

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Moving Beyond Employee Communication…

Making the Quantum Leap from Crafting Messages to Maximizing Organizational Effectiveness

 

Internal communication is no longer about monthly newsletters, quarterly update videos, intranets, themes, events and employee suggestion boxes. Internal communication is evolving to a new level, where the focus is on accelerating decision making, challenging people’s knowledge, and providing information that leaders, managers and employees need to make decisions and launch initiatives. Going forward, strategic internal communication will be about improving organizational effectiveness, starting with leadership behaviors and managerial actions, not employee messaging…

 

When did the notion of employee or internal communication become “chic?”

 

In a recent article, a respected public relations trade publication lamented the fact that the “largest public relations firms have failed to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the burgeoning importance of internal communication.”

 

That neglect seems to be waning as evidenced by the recent spate of announcements by large public relations firms that effective internal communication is in fact an important component to organizational success.

 

Pretenders vs. Contenders

Interestingly, this new found “discovery” of employee communication as a critical management tool by large public relations firms has resulted in the formation of a “strata” in terms of type, scope and thinking associated with delivering counsel, advice and services.

 

“There is now a strong distinction among the many firms touting employee communication as a practice,” explained Gary F. Grates, President of GCI BoxenbaumGrates, a unit of GCI Consulting, the recognized leader in strategic internal communication and change management. “While we welcome the additional emphasis on internal communication, it is safe to say that what is currently being delivered is, in fact, almost a decade behind the times,” Grates noted. Employee communication has evolved into maximizing organizational effectiveness. It means that professionals in this field need to have a strong knowledge and appreciation of business and organizational behavior including management theory, management models and behavioral psychology. Against this backdrop is an understanding of leadership and its intersection with organizational communication,” Grates stated.

 

Grates, who has been personally practicing internal communication since the early 80s, and the firm, which has been at the forefront of progressive internal communication practices since the early 90s, states that savvy clients must discern between those that profess an understanding and expertise in this area (Pretenders) and those that legitimately have the interest, credentials, experience and base of knowledge (Contenders).

 

“The litmus test is the firm’s ability to view internal communication as a management philosophy,” Grates concluded. Successful internal communication efforts are focused on management development and attention and integrated with other important functions of the business including marketing, sales, product development and production.

 

A Look Back

First and foremost, internal communication practices within agencies have long been viewed primarily as a stepchild;a view that was repeated at most corporations. With a charter that included “fostering goodwill and creating understanding of leadership’s objectives among employees,” the internal communication function was typically relegated to producing events and parties, distributing trinkets, celebrating anniversaries and other milestones, producing messages, publishing monthly newsletters, writing executive speeches, and implementing other “feel good” activities. In other words, it was the official propaganda machine for the organization.

 

This was in keeping with the times. From the 60s to the early 80s, internal communication reflected the organization’s bent on producing enough products to meet demand. As Tom Peters has said, “management during this period could not screw up if it tried.” In that post-World War II environment, the focus was on production, manufacturing, efficiency and distribution.

 

Of the same genre, yet on a somewhat different level, was benefits or HR communication. Practitioners of this type of internal communication focused on disseminating specific information, including instructions and updates related to benefits, pension plans, insurance, wellness campaigns and other company-sponsored programs. In both cases, the focus was on distilling information from the top level down and using a variety of vehicles to disseminate it to employees. While these types of communication helped to maintain employee awareness and understanding of certain messages and information, the internal communication function did little to increase understanding, affect behavior or otherwise direct people’s attention to the future.

 

For some, this is still the reality. Depending on whom you talk to, traditional employee communication is still being practiced, in more and less sophisticated ways, at many companies and agencies.

 

Yet, as today’s savvy business leader now knows, yesterday’s idea of employee communication is no longer plausible in a world where technology and the hectic pace of business are redefining how companies communicate both internally and externally and where people are more sophisticated (e.g., mature and immune to corporate speak). As a result of this pressure, communication has been changing accordingly, particularly during the late 80s and 90s, when communicators began to shift the focus from message delivery to message development albeit against a backdrop of corporate initiatives, strategic goals and financial targets.

 

The early 80s have been described as the undoing of the deals which formed the conglomerates in the 60s and 70s. Spurred by the oil crisis, the influx of foreign products, services and investment and a new instrument, junk bonds, which gave rise to a new breed: the raider.

 

Junk bonds and leveraged buy-outs provided new financial instruments and strategies that forced poor management’s out and organizations to determine the real value of their enterprises.

 

Reengineering, restructuring, M&A activity and the like began to dominate the business headlines as leaders scurried to eliminate waste and improve shareholder value.

 

This resulted in the need to recruit, retain and motivate talented employees so as to produce the value inherent in the organization. It is during this time that internal communication began to transform itself.

 

Internal Communication as a “Critical Organizational Priority”

Now, as we stand on the brink of a new century, the true transformation of internal communication &#8211; from necessary function to critical organizational priority is already underway.

 

As Alvin Toffler, noted futurist and author has stated, society is moving from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. In this new environment where information is abundant, competitive advantage lies in an organization’s ability to affect the behaviors, attitudes and actions of its employees. The end result is a workforce that can make decisions quickly, accurately and consistent with the business strategy.

 

At GCI BoxenbaumGrates, we believe a more accurate depiction of internal communication can be described as the concept of improving “organizational effectiveness.” In this framework, communications is practiced in a strategic manner &#8211; accelerating decision-making, challenging people’s knowledge, and providing relevant and timely information.

 

From this perch, internal communication is focused on understanding the true underpinnings of operational and performance including:

 

* Through what operations is structure actually designed?

* Through what operations does a leader impact a manager, employee and customer?

* Through what operations do rewards and consequences affect change?

* How are decisions made in the organization?

* How is strategic planing defined and used in the organization to effect change in operations and behavior?

* How is risk managed?

* How clearly is success defined?

* What are the interactions of individuals within the corporate environment?

* How is information generated, shared, interpreted and used?

* How is the organization contributing to self worth, self-actualization?

* What are the values of employees throughout the organization? How do they match with organizational goals?

* How much of the marketplace customers is part of the internal dialogue?

 

Another characteristic of this environment is that people are constantly reevaluating their skill sets and reinventing themselves. In terms of credibility, it’s experience that counts, not words, and people are judged by their deeds, not just their intentions. Importantly, leadership does not exist solely to lead; rather, leaders are there to assist and facilitate others in getting results.

 

Put succinctly, organizational effectiveness, or the institution’s ability to operate profitably, functionally, socially, strategically, innovatively and humanly, is the next management frontier. This new management model brings together the right mix of communication, leadership and team building to create an openness and an exchange that’s fostered by the right technologies and the right skill sets.

 

What’s more, organizational effectiveness is a behavioral-based model, embedded in a belief that sharing the right information with the right people will result in decisions being made for the organization. The concept is so powerful, in fact, that savvy corporate managers recognize organizational effectiveness as the foundation for distinct and sustainable competitive advantage of the future.

 

Institute for Excellence Think Tank Formed

In 1998, in an effort to help lead a new generation of communicators, leaders and managers into this new frontier, Boxenbaum Grates, Inc. formed the Institute for Excellence in Employee-Management Communications, A Think Tank on Organizational Effectiveness. The Institute was designed as an umbrella entity for continuous learning, improving organizational effectiveness, and meeting business objectives through strategic internal communication.

 

Based on its initial work, the Institute recently reported that organizational effectiveness is a function of eight key considerations, all of which intersect with strategic internal communication:

 

Talented employees;

Motivated employees;

Sound business strategy;

Competent leadership;

Clear-cut decision-making;

An ability to communicate clearly;

Customer/marketplace focus; and,

Progressive systems to monitor the prior seven considerations.

The key variable in this new model, however, is leadership. Leadership is responsible for ensuring that all considerations are in place and appropriate. Consequently, the linkage between leadership and strategic communication is direct and especially profound. For leaders to be successful, they must build relationships and here is where strategic internal communication can make or break the paradigm.

 

A Distinct Difference

Establishing itself as the leader in this category, GCI BoxenbaumGrates has developed a proprietary methodology for delivering valuable counsel and services to strategic business thinkers seeking unconventional solutions to business issues.

 

This methodology comprises four areas:

 

Leadership: Through its actions, style and decisions, leadership can instill the appropriate mindset around the organization’s strategy, set the managerial and operational tone and provide continual focus on the future.

 

Management: This group is charged with making the organization successful through the behaviors, actions and attitudes of its people.

 

Structure: This is the design for the organization’s strategy and the roadmap for employee understanding and decisions.

 

Communications: Is the enabler of leadership, the dialogue of management and the oxygen for employee existence within the organization.

 

Approaching almost any client assignment from this vantage point provides GCI BoxenbaumGrates with the proper frame-of-mind and the ability to discern between problem and symptom, providing clarity and focus to leadership planning and decision-making.

 

New Research: The Missing Link

While employee opinion studies and internal newsletter readership surveys have long been tactics of employee communication departments, resulting recommendations could only be crafted against what was measured. A key component to practicing strategic internal communication is relevant, targeted research and analysis. It is at the core of leadership credibility, planning and activity.

 

Now more, than ever, business leadership must discern between problem and symptom as it relates to organizational performance. Oftentimes, incredible amounts of time, energy and resources are spent dealing with symptoms and never attacking the root cause.

 

“Such misguided efforts have plagued managerial effectiveness since many initiatives and communication campaigns were based more on intuition than fact,” said Dr. Robert Berrier, president of Berrier Associates, Inc. (Narbeth, PA) one of the country’s leading research firms. “This laissez-faire approach can no longer survive in today’s competitive environment.” In an exclusive partnership with GCI Consulting, Berrier Associates employs primary and secondary research in order to gain compelling insights, impactful programming and measurable results.

 

Through progressive, state-of-the-art proprietary research designed to obtain the deep insights and understanding needed to engage in meaningful communications and managerial behaviors, GCI BoxenbaumGrates has set itself apart from the professional service firms who have claimed to have expertise in this area.

 

Strategic Internal Communication & “Organizational Ability:”

It’s How You Think vs. What You Do

There’s no doubt about it, strategic internal communication can and does enable organizations to effectively and efficiently deal with a changing environment by engaging a highly-skilled workforce to assimilate and interpret new information quickly for competitive advantage.

 

Yet, as we look out today, few professional service firms are practicing this new level of communication. Indeed, most still package their tactical experience under a “strategic” banner in hopes that this one-size fits-all approach will generate the results needed to drive an organization. To move beyond this narrow definition of internal communication and practice this new model, firms must bring a varied and deep understanding and appreciation for a variety of non-traditional disciplines and backgrounds, including business strategy and trends; management theory and models; opinion formation and influence; research; organizational architecture and structure; credibility; relationship building; organizational imprint or genetics; organizational decision-making; power of symbols; behavior; reputation and image-building. But what will it take to create this type of necessary sea change?

 

As Peter Drucker, the noted management guru recently observed, “the new information revolution is about…redefining information; what is needed is new concepts. In one enterprise or another, top management people during the last few years have begun to ask, ‘What information concepts do we need for our tasks?’” The implication for public relations, according to Drucker, is that the function must evolve to become the ears not the trumpet of the new organization. In the future, the focus of communication will be on explaining and interpreting and on determining new ways for managers and employees to connect and keep the dialogue going. Instead of worrying about their grasp of the organization’s mission and vision, leaders and communicators will work to ensure employees’ awareness and knowledge of customers, the company’s positioning, the organization’s health and their daily contribution.

 

A Look Ahead

The advent of Toffler’s Third-Wave Information Society has produced an economy that is challenging everything we have grown accustomed to relationships, management models, expectations, services, products, wealth-creation. From a strategic internal communication standpoint, providing context, direction, information and sound management decisions are essential to helping organizations thrive in this ever-changing landscape.

 

This means professional service firms must move quickly to understand and apply new thinking to traditional management concepts. New ideas and techniques must be explored and applied to handle today’s and tomorrow’s issues and opportunities created by the information-based economy.

 

A glimpse at the organization of the future reveals that strategic communication will facilitate a culture of learning, where people share their best (and worst) practices; performance appraisals are used to assess learning activities; flexibility and risk taking are rewarded and people are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, budgets and opportunities.

 

Granted, the new frontier may represent a brave new world for the internal communication function, yet only if communications professionals recognize the need and accept the responsibility for making the quantum leap from necessary function to critical organizational priority.