The science of measuring communication

by Louise Godwin, Melcrum

Last month, Harvard Business Review published results of research into the role of communication when building a successful team, carried out by the Human Dynamics Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

The research, which involved teams across a range of professions, produced quantifiable, statistical answers to why seemingly similar teams within an organization can have significant gaps in performance.

As well as proving, with scientific accuracy, what internal communicators have always known – that there is a direct relationship between patterns of communication and team performance – these findings could be revolutionary to the way we, as internal communicators, approach teamwork within an organization.

This research also marks the first time that Internal Communication has been explored scientifically. The data for the study was collected using wearable electronic devices called sociometric badges; worn by individual team members, they measured and recorded the non-verbal features of communication between employees, particularly:

1. Speaking speed.
2. Tone of voice; how employees speak to each other.
3. Body language; physical interaction between conversationists.
4. Number of people spoken to.
5. Location in which conversations occured.
6. Conversation length.
7. Physical activity levels during working hours.

What distinguishes MIT's research in this area is the focus on non-verbal communication features as opposed to the more traditionally analyzed conversation content between colleagues. In other words, not what is said but how and how often it's said using vocal features, body motion and relative location as indicators.

For IC, these research findings are invaluable. It is a clear indication that it's not enough to simply be saying the right things as communicators; we must also take the necessary steps to improve the cohesion within our teams.

Lead researcher, Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland wrote in his article for HBR, that his research team "found patterns of communication to be the most important predictor of a team’s success." Pentland cited communication ability to be just as significant as other factors, including: individual intelligence, personality, skill, and the substance of discussions – combined.

We've established just how important co-operation is to the productivity of a team. However, this information is of limited worth without an accompanying strategy for how to promote such co-operation. Find out how to strengthen the group dynamics within your team with  the article Top Tips to building a successful team on the Internal Comms Hub.

Watch the short video clip below for an interview with the man himself, Sandy Pentland from the Human Dynamics Laboratory at MIT. Hear about how he believes sociometric technology looks set to become a permanent feature of Internal Communication in the near future, for whole organizations as well as individual teams; with the real potential for statistical data collection to become part and parcel of IC performance analysis.

 

Until next time,

Louise.

How to manage a geographically dispersed IC team

by Louise Godwin, Intern, Melcrum

The HBR blog network recently posted a short video by Amy Edmondson (see below), Harvard Business School Professor and Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management. The video outlines Edmondson's top five behaviors for how to manage intellectually diverse and geographically dispersed teams through 'teaming'; the activities that comprise collaborative work across boundaries, rather than a stable team structure.

  

'Diverse and dispersed' team members have became an accepted obstacle for Internal Communicators to navigate in order to head up a successful cross-boundary team. If you are the head of an IC department, listen up! Watch this video for practical information and advice on how to communicate with your global comms team.

Until next time,

Louise

Tablets to become a permanent fixture in the C-suite?

by Louise Godwin, Intern, Melcrum

Image taken from the Financial Times.

2010 saw the "age of the tablet" with the launch of the first Apple iPad. Since then, android tablets have arguably taken over from PCs and smart phones as the personal mobile-technology device of choice in the corporate world. Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, forecasts worldwide tablet sales to reach 326.3 million by the end of 2015. And out of their top 10 commercial business applications for tablet devices, Gartner listed three uses specifically related to Internal Communication:

• Collaboration applications for meetings.                   
• File sharing and document distribution.
• Hosted virtual desktop agents.

The increase in corporate tablet usage is reflected in the rapid growth of existing, and rise of new, technological companies dealing specifically in digital solutions and applications to replace the paper handout. Diligent, founded in 2001, is now the global number one Board Portal, providing tablet specific board member services. With increased sales figures from USA$500,000 in 2008 to USA$6 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, Diligent has seen exponential growth in recent years, in line with the "age of the tablet". Since January of this year, their "Board book" application for iPad has been adopted by 20% of the FTSE 100 after being launched for a mere six months (since June 2011).

The recent success of Diligent and other companies, such as Board Vantage and Project Place, demonstrates the rising popularity of tablets in the C-suite. Here are Melcrum’s top advantages and disadvantages to consider regarding tablet usage. Although this does not fall in to the traditional remit of IC, they should be borne in mind ahead of the predicted "tablet takeover" in the boardroom:

 Advantages

1. Physicality
Perhaps the most obvious benefit to be had from replacing paper with tablets is the space savings. Virtual board books mean space on the table and fewer distractions during meetings; gone is the irritating rustling of paper and misplaced handouts. And with the advent of cloud computing, documents can be hosted using a web-based software solution for remote access, in any part of the world; thus bringing IC one step closer to the dream of a completely connected global workforce. For busy executives, there is also much to be said for having a portable and lightweight tablet that contains all board papers with the additional wireless functionality for internet access, especially when traveling.  

2. Cost savings
Printing costs will be significantly reduced with a move from paper to digital. Less printing also brings environmental benefits; this may be a sticking point for those of you who are trying to promote CSR within your organization.

3. Functionality
Tablets present document management capabilities that printed documents simply can’t. Placing documents within cloud technology allows them to be remotely accessed and updated after issue, as well as remotely deleted. This is more significant than ever, with increased numbers of people working from home, and for executives that hold board positions in multiple companies. We have all been in meetings where discussion moves away from the planned agenda, and wireless internet access means that tablets are very good for pulling up on-the-spot statistics, diagrams or info to support a discussion point.

4. Features and software
There are a number of programs/Apps designed for corporate tablet use. iAnnotate for PDF files does exactly what it says on the tin, and can be bought from iTunes. Protaskinote is the app that allows you to handwrite to-do lists using a stylus, then sort, highlight and archive them to your design. While these have more general business uses, BoardEffect and iqBoard are electronic portals specifically designed for secure information sharing between board directors.

Disadvantages

1. Vulnerability
Perhaps the major downside to creating virtual "board books" is their vulnerability to access breaches. Physical documentation is much easier to store securely – the risk of sensitive and confidential information being stolen from digital platforms is real, and should be taken seriously. However, just like briefcases containing government-classified information being left on public transport, tablets can be lost or stolen too! And there are ways to protect against security breaches; encryptions, passwords and remote data storage via cloud technology for example.

2. Information overload
Without printing and space constraints, it's easy for board execs to be flooded with unnecessary information; it's so simple to link a website, or email a document attachment, whereas printing requires more forethought and editing. So if you do use tablets for boardmeetings, make sure you are strict with yourself about what is actually important and keep to the point.

3. Cost
Implementing tablets throughout the C-Suite is an expensive undertaking. After the initial costs of buying the devices and software, consistent IT support must be available for directors, many of whom may not be familiar with tablets. Expect these costs to be high; teething problems are a given for such an ambitious project- the transition from paper to screen is a big one.

4. Risk
Relying almost solely on technology and the internet is a risky business. What would happen if the Internet crashed for a day? Or there was a power cut? There must be emergency procedures in place for these kinds of unexpected problems.

With over three quarters of directors now having a positive attitude towards distributing and using board papers in electronic format (Jon Edis Bates, Edis-Bates Associates), internal communicators must move in line with these changes and alter their communication strategies accordingly. And finally, here are some questions to think about after reading this post:

• What changes do you think tablets in the boardroom will represent for internal communication?
• Has your organization successfully implemented the use of iPads or another tablet for board meetings?
• What devices and/or Apps have you considered or used? What issues have arisen or do you foresee?

 

Until next time,

Louise

Ensuring smooth CEO succession via video at AkzoNobel

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Hi everyone,

CEO transition is an inevitable event that Internal Communication has to announce and manage effectively, as AkzoNobel's IC team can testify: they've had to communicate the departure of the chemical and coating company's CEO of 10 years, Hans Wijers, and the arrival of new leader, Ton Büchner, to 55,000 employees in over 80 countries.

The move had been announced internally, and to the public, in July 2011 so the succession wasn't exactly a surprise to employees when it took place last week.

In compiling the IC strategy around this, Julia Hart, Head of Internal Communications at AkzoNobel, decided that video should play a part in the channel mix. "We always wanted to produce a farewell video for Hans and we originally intended it for internal use on our YouTube style platform. It's look-and-feel has been inspired by the film "Final Days" that documented Bill Clinton's last duties during the end of his presidency."

Ultimately, the success of this type of video will depend upon the type of leader, and how willing they are to participate. Luckily for Hart, she had no such issues with Wijers. "Hans has a great feeling for communication and actually had acting experience from his time at university," she said. The filming took place over two days and, even though it had been intended solely for an internal audience, External Communication wanted to use it in their messaging as well – which they did, to tremendous success.

It exploded across the media in Holland (Amsterdam is where AkzoNobel's headquarters is located) featuring in De Standaard and NRC.nl, as well as on television news reports. "News of the video hit over one million Twitter accounts – 1,011,489 according to our technical guys – within four days. This is the total of the people who tweeted it and the number of people who subscribe to their Twitter accounts," said Hart, adding that as Hans Wijers is a popular figure in the Netherlands as former minister of Economic Affairs, this undoubtedly helped provide the movie with some traction externally.

Hart says that the film demonstrates how corporate communciations can be fun and creative yet still have an impact on employee engagement and morale. "If you look at the comments across all the various sites the video is being hosted, they are over-whelmingly positive, with both employees and the public appreciating seeing the emotional, human side of a CEO succession."

Indeed, the video shows new CEO Büchner taking part in the fun alongside Wijers, which was important for Hart as she wanted to demonstrate how there were no hard feelings between the two – and ensure employees that everything was stable within the C-suite.

The video has been subtitled in the eight different languages of AkzoNobel employees and the feedback from the global audience has been equally as positive.

To find out more about CEO succession, read our article: Effective CEO sucession: 8 key questions to answer

 

Until next time,

Luke

Six key metrics from everyone’s favourite measurement expert

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

At last year's SCM Summit in London, Fiona MacAllan, Group Head of Internal & Change Communication, Corporate Affairs Division at Nationwide Building Society, opened her presentation around the rather controversial topic of "measurement" with a slide reading just two words, "Measurement...yawn...", that was complemented by the befitting sound effect of snoring echoing around the room as delegates took their seats.

Sound about right?
While MacAllan's presentation proceeded to deliver a constructive approach to what remains an ongoing challenge for many of us, I don't doubt that her initial message will have resonated with the majority. And it's hardly surprising. With ongoing change in the scale and scope of the work we do, channels we use, workforces we serve and productivity levels we champion, the challenge of tracking and measuring can easily become overwhelming.

But however dull, daunting and quite frankly, unachievable the prospect of measuring your comms sounds, the fact remains that it needs to be done.

  
Why persist?
With less money, more cuts and continued streamlining (courtesy of the (often dreaded!) concepts of Lean and Six-Sigma) casting their shadows over organisations once again, being able to demonstrate busines-benefitting ROI (whether it be fiscal, or something more qualitative like a change in employee behaviour or employee engagement scores) is crucial for IC. We MUST be able to prove to ourselves, our teams and our senior leaders, the far-reaching outcomes of the work we do every day and by extension, our worth to the wider business.

Everyone's favourite expert
Angela Sinickas, ABC, President at Sinickas Communications Inc. has dedicated the last thirty years to measuring the effectiveness of IC. Her name is truly synonymous with the subject and in the spirit of any true pioneer, she continues to strive to conquer the challenges of measuring IC in its ever-evolving state.
 
Sinickas most recently contributed an article "Six key metrics for managing global-local communication" to a research report produced for members of Melcrum's Strategic Communication Research Forum. You can download an extract of the report here.

If you find this useful, why not seize the opportunity to benefit from Sinickas' extensive knowledge first-hand at a specialist workshop for IC professionals "Measurement Works", taking place in London on 12 June? The full course outline is available online. 
 
Can't measure, won't measure?
And finally, if I still haven't managed to convince you to embrace the challenge of measurement, then I suspect that Sinickas' list of "Five good reasons not to measure" will be just what you're looking for!

*Find out more about Melcrum's Strategic Communication Research Forum online by visiting:  http://www.melcrum.com/products/research_forum