This Month's topic: Internal Communications
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Helping the Victims of Katrina--and now Rita
Here we go
again....as I noted last month, this is a huge, ongoing disaster and
the need will be there for a long time. I have been inspired by what
small, medium and large nonprofits have done to help the victims. Let's
not slow down....
So, what can we do? First, refresh our networks. Talk to you staff,
your board, your community leaders about what your town, your agency,
your network can do in both hurricane zones.
Second, post ways for people to give cash. It's really what the Red
Cross, Salvation Army and the other organizations struggling to help
need most.
Here are some organizations, websites and phone numbers you can post on your site.
Remember to note that if people give online, to target the gift for
hurricane relief. Also check with your local United Way, as well as
your mayor's office to see if any community relief efforts are being
planned.
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| This Month's Topic: Internal Communication |
Each month, this area provides with a
number of my favorite and most helpful sites regarding the topic of the month.
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Management
Tip of the Month
Each issue, I start with a discussion
of my management perspective on the month's topic, and give you a few hands-on
ideas to consider.
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Recommended Publications
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the best printed materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of internal communications.
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Technology
I provide you with some good ideas for
uses of tech to better your organization in the area of internal communications.
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Marketing
Tip
So much to say, so little space to say
it.....
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Next
Issue
In November, we'll look at an issue that is
really important: Board Recruitment. We'll look at ways to do it better...and retain board members longer.
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Websites of the
Month
Here are my recommendations for websites of interest
on this month's topic, Internal Communications
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Management Tip of the Month
Internal Communication: or, Can you hear me now?
I've been working with nonprofits for 30 years on communications,
including the organizations where I was on staff and ED, and there are
three key communications truths that I've learned. Here they are:
1. No organization, no matter how well run, is ever happy with its internal communications. Ever.
This does not mean that you have an excuse not to try to improve your
internal communications efforts, but don't hold out hope for it being
the top finisher on your next staff satisfaction survey.
On the positive side, this permanent discontent means that there is always
an opportunity for improvement, since most everyone will want to have
better communications. The first task in any change management
process is to get agreement that there is a problem. With
communications that little item is always checked off.
2. It doesn't matter what you say. What matters is what they hear.
It doesn't matter what you write. What matters is what they read.
Think about it. How often do you get into discussions that go like this: "No, what I said was...", "No, that's not even close, what you said
was...." That's because people often hear something different than the
words that come out of our mouths. Body language, attitude, context,
distractions, even the level of energy/exhaustion of the speaker and
listener all weigh in on whether or not whether the communication is
successful.
Read that last again---whether the communication is successful. It's
not about you, or about them, its about the communication. Remember
that people hear differently. Some hear better with their ears, some
with their eyes. Some can hear well on the spot, some need some time to
think (my mother called this her "processing time"). If the point of
the entire exercise is to successfully transmit information, learn how
the people you interact with get information most accurately and most
consistently. I'll talk more about this in the Marketing Tip.
3. Communications is half technique and half trust.
This is the truth came to me the most slowly. My dad was an engineer,
as are my two sons, my brother-in-law, and my uncle. I grew up in an
environment where you can....well, just fix stuff. So if communications are not
good, just tweak the technique, and it will be all good, right? Or
not.
There is a critical, if somewhat mushy, variable in communications that
goes beyond technique that can be tweaked. It's called trust, and it is
a huge part of
successful communications, I suspect in reality even more than the 50%
noted in the header above. Think about discussing something with
someone
you know does not keep his or her promises, or exaggerates every story,
or is prone to manipulate through lying. How much of what they say do
you really hear, or really care about? Not much, right?
So it is with your staff. If they don't believe that every word that
comes out of your mouth is the truth as you know it, you are already
behind the communications curve. And believe me, little throw-away
statements like, "I'll get you the decision, uh....Tuesday, John, OK?" are
listened to, remembered and held against you if you don't keep your promise.
So, the best starting place in communications is to think before you
speak, and say what you mean. Other techniques follow, but trust is the
foundation.
Good internal communications is vital to good, effective mission. You
need it to delegate, to market, to manage. As you learn new techniques,
just remember these truths.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and
technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
And, remember to take a look at the
Mission-Based Management
Blog.
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Top
Print Resources
My recommendations for texts on Internal Communications are shown below.
Making the Connections: Using Internal Communications to Turn Strategy Into Action, by Bill Quirke
Corporate Conversations: A Guide to Crafting Effective and Appropriate Internal Communications, by Shel Holtz
Organizational Communication, Balancing Creativity and Constraint, by Harold Goodall & Eric Eisenberg
Again, If you don't find enough choices here, type
"Internal Communication" at Amazon.com and you'll have more choices
than you probably want!
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Top
Technology Tip
Can tech help your communications efforts?
Of course. But it can also hurt. Tech has
enormous, and for most organizations, untapped potential to improve
communication, but it should never be thought of as an excuse for face
time, or as a total solution.
So what can we do to improve our communications with technology? First,
read the management and marketing tips in this edition, and think
through your organizational communications goals. Only then will you be
prepared to use technology as a communications enhancer and
accelerator. Let's look at some possible tech applications for
communications:
Your website:
Some of the suggestions below will be familiar to regular readers. The
key is to think about your website as an information pool that
regularly needs to be refreshed and expanded. As staff or board members
ask for more information, put it on the website, but remember to keep
it updated. Some specific ideas:
1. Have board and staff specific (and passworded) areas of
your website where members of each group can find information on issues
important to them. In the board area, you should have contact
information on all the board members, copies of bylaws, policies,
information on all agency programs along with staff contact information
for that program, information on committee meetings, agendas, minutes,
copies of current financials and past audits. And that's just for
starters. Any request you get for information from a board member, add
the resulting answer to the website.
For the staff area, include all policies, copies of reimbursement,
time-off, and all other forms (along with examples filled in), minutes
of board and committee meetings, notices of all upcoming staff
meetings, updates of changes in program/policy, and even information on
new staff. Think big and deep with this information.
2. Include a learning area for
staff and board (as well as the community) where papers, books, and
websites on issues important to your organization can be accessed
and/or read. This can start discussions, while at the same time keeping
the mantra of life long learning front and center.
Email:
I know, we call get too much email, but imagine what life was
like before---our response time was so, so much slower.
Organizationally, I still love email as a opening communication tool
for news about the organization, keeping everyone on the same page on
issues of importance and as a reminder of upcoming events. The problem
is that in many organizations, all the scheduling/announcement emails
go to everyone so that they begin their day assaulted by 50 or 60
emails to open, only some of which relate to their individual work or
responsibilities. Here's a method to help this: define certain kinds of
emails as "announcements": notices of meetings, reminders of a need to
submit health care reimbursement forms, calls for volunteers for a
certain project. Have all those announcements go through a designated
administrative staff person who sends out one and only one email a day
with all the announcements compiled. That way, all the staff members
open one email, and scroll through the message to see what's relevant
to them. This is a huge time-saver for staff. NOTE: Make sure the staff member assigned to aggregate the data is fluent in your email program, understands how to insert email links, etc.
Blogs:
Headsup--corporate blogs are a HUGE and growing trend in employee
communication. They serve as an informal communication tool -- an
electronic water cooler-- among employees about things going on at your
organization. If there is not one online about your .org, there will
be. Pay attention to them, read them, and remember that they are, like
water cooler talk, equal parts gossip and truth.
IM - and Text Messaging
Online chats and text messaging are a staple of communications for GenY
staff, college and grad students. They have their use, and their
drawbacks. Some organizations have had to clamp down on excessive IM
(internet messaging through services like America Online, Windows
Messenger and Google Messenger) in their offices, but most managers
just talk to staff about keeping it reasonable. Text messaging through
cell phones can be very useful as a way of getting someone's attention
without necessitating a longer call, or having to disturb them in a
meeting. Watch how your staff are using both these tools and make sure
that the overall effect is positive, not negative.
Ipods
What's your Ipod policy? If your reaction to that question is "huh?",
you need to think it through, and soon. Ipods are a fabulous product,
one that will invade your organization if they haven't already, and you
need to get ahead of the curve. Let's admit the obvious: A bunch of
people walking around with their ears plugged does not enhance informal
conversation or communications. Again, look at your long term internal
communications goals and take this kind of increasingly ubiquitous
technology into account.
Finally, remember that there is no substitute for person-to-person
conversation and teamwork. While one of my favorite short books is "Death by Meeting",
well managed group discussions are still an unrivaled was to get a
great deal accomplished. I still feel that seeing people while they are
talking, noting their body language, and expression is crucial to good
communications -- and successful operations and management.
One more time: tech is a terrific accelerator for good planning, good
management, good communications. But think it through before you apply
it.
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
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Training Schedule for Peter Brinckerhoff
Below you'll see the date, location, and topics
of public training I'm scheduled to do in the next few months. For more
information on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or
email me.
For more information on my availability throughout
the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and fees go to
www.missionbased.com/training.htm
Marketing Tip
Marketing and Internal Communications: A matched set
Is there a marketing
component to internal communications? Sure. But surprise! The way that
marketing will help your internal communications is much more related
to listening than it is to talking.
Here's the deal: People listen differently, as I said in the Management
Tip. Some listen better with their ears, some with their eyes. Some
comprehend and remember if something is said in a group, some can't
stand the smallest distraction. Since the point is to get the
communication across, you need to treat the people you are
communicating with as a target market.
What do try to meet with a market, a need or a want? If you're a
regular reader of this column, you know the answer; it's all about
wants. And, to find out what people want, you need to ask them.
Now we're getting somewhere. Treat this as a marketing challenge.
Regularly ask your various staff groups how they would like to get
information, in what form, at what frequency, through what vehicle. You
can do this in a focus group setting if you like. Talk about all sorts
of communications, staff meetings, memos, email, websites, etc. Find
out what's working and what's not. Ask people where they are getting
their information now. And pay attention, but also test the results of
your inquiries.
I have a great story from a client who was trying to clean up their
internal communications. They had asked staff where the best place to
communicate meetings and other key information was, and the vast
majority said email. To test who was reading what and where, the
ED posted a notice of a staff meeting on bonuses 24 hours in advance on
the wall in the lunchroom, sent an email out, and a written memo in
everyone's in box. The trick? Each notice cited a different time of day
for the meeting. The wall notice said 10AM, the email 11AM, the
written memo1:00PM. The ED figured there would be a LOT of confusion,
but that his point would be made, that not everyone read email only, or
even first.
The surprising result was that, out of a staff of 40, five showed up at
10AM (the wall notice time) no one at 11AM, and the rest of the staff
at 1:00PM. Not one of them had read the information transmitted by email. Not surprisingly, the organization stayed with written memos for key information.
As you try to improve your internal communication, remember that the
staff and board is a market, like any other. Ask them what they want,
(in a number of ways!) and adjust your communications style to have the
most impact. The point? Successful communication, which should lead to
better mission provision.
If you want to see more about this in detail, take
a look at more about my book
Mission-Based Marketing; Second
Edition
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
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Top
Future Topics in
2005-06 for the Mission-Based Management Newsletter....
| November |
Board
Recruitment |
| December |
Better
Budgeting |
| January,
2006 |
Generation
Change |
| February |
Accountability |
| March |
Ethics and Management |
| Send me
your topic suggestions at peter@missionbased.com |
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You asked, so here they are:
Past Single-Topic Issues of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter...
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