What do the findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer mean for internal comms?

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Arriving at Edelman's head offices on Victoria Street, central London this Tuesday morning at 8am, I was greeted by a waiter offering me a freshly brewed coffee and a bacon roll – not a bad start to the day, I'm sure you'll agree.

I had been invited to the launch of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global study that questioned 30,000 people in 25 different countries, the results of which reveal the state of trust in business and institutions.

Before the launch itself took place, I met up with Nick Howard, director of employee engagement at Edelman and quickly asked him a bit more about the Trust Barometer and the importance of trust in the current business climate:

Following the morning's refreshments and networking, we took our seats ready for the unveiling of the results. These were delivered jointly by Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman and Ed Williams, Edelman's UK chief executive. There was also a stellar panel on hand to discuss the findings including Anne McElvoy, The Economist; Camila Batmanghelidijh, Kids Company; Caroline Daniel, FT Weekend; Amanda Platell, Daily Mail and the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell.

Globally, blame for the financial and political chaos of 2011 landed at the doorstep of government, as trust in that institution fell nine points to 43 percent. In seventeen of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right. In twelve, it trails business, media and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution.

"Business is now better placed than government to lead the way out of the trust crisis," said Edelman. "But the balance must change so that business is seen both as a force for good and an engine for profit."

Although globally business experienced fewer and generally less severe declines in trust, it has its own hurdles to clear. Overall, trust in business fell from 56 percent to 53 percent, with countries like France and Germany, in the heart of the Eurozone economic crisis, experiencing double-digit decreases.

Meanwhile, CEO credibility declined from 50 percent to 38 percent, its biggest drop in nine years. In South Korea and Japan, it dropped by 34 and 43 percent, respectively:

In Japan, the site of last March’s earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster, trust fell severely in three of the four institutions including government (down 26 percent), media (12 percent) and NGOs (21 percent).

Areas for internal communication to address

It was reported during proceedings that the most trusted resource within an organization is the average employee (60 percent). This undoubtedly underlines the importance of peer-to-peer communication as well as employee "champions".

We also heard how the average person needs to hear a story three to five times from different sources before they believe it. An indication that using a variety of channels to deliver a comms message across your company is a smart move!

Trust in social media and the internet has increased. Maybe consider this fact when looking at company transparency – employees can discover news about your organization from external web-based sources, and will believe it.

It was discussed that working in a low-trust environment may be something we need to permanently adjust to. Look at your organization – in a distrustful society, how can you create a comms strategy that recognizes and adjusts to this state?

To view the various tweets from the day, type in #edeltrust2012 on Twitter.

 

Until next time,

Luke

 

PS. For further information on issues of trust in internal communication, click the links below:

How to help leaders rebuild credibility and trust

OPINION: Communicating and rebuilding trust in the finance industry

Promoting trust and change to a hard-to-reach, unionized workforce

 

What language are you speaking?

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

Consider the following questions:  

How well do you know your internal audience?
How long have they been employed at the organisation?
Who do they trust?
What are their frustrations and concerns?
Do they use social media outside work?
What’s their motivation for coming to work?

   
If you don’t know the answers, it’s unlikely that you’re speaking the same language as your audience.

Far too often, and for many and varied reasons, the importance of really knowing our audience is overlooked, and a one-size-fits-all approach is wheeled out yet again.

And while the increase in comms channels now available to us can create the illusion that we’re successfully reaching out to and communicating with all of our employees, the reality is that it’s just more likely that our messages will be lost in the fierce competition to gain an audience’s attention.

The simple fact is that our communications should be tailored, targeted and relevant in order to resonate with our audience. And yes, while it does require an investment to establish an understanding of the different segments and preferences within your audience, the alternative has a far greater cost.

  
Psychoanalysis(!)
One possible approach to segmentation is to focus on attitude and motivation, and leverage them to create an understanding of what drives employees in your organisation, how they feel about the company and in turn, how best to communicate with them to achieve your desired outcome(s).

Brainwaves Consultancy takes just such a psychological approach through Personal Construct Psychology, working on two key assumptions: 1) that we are a product of our experiences, and 2) that our perception of the world is revealed in what we say. 

The research methodology involves asking employees a series of questions around a specific topic. Based on their responses, employees are categorised into segments, each of which has a distinct preferred method of communication that can then be utilised.

  
Sound interesting?
In our Mastering Audience Segmentation report, we published a case study with Sainsbury’s and Royal & Sun Alliance around the use of this methodology. If you’d like to read more you can download a copy of the full case study here: http://bit.ly/wko0RX

The concept of audience segmentation is also covered in The Internal Communication Black Belt 1 Programme.  

Under the guidance of our expert trainers, attendees discuss a range of influential theories of segmentation, learn how to effectively build an audience profile and identify the most appropriate method of segmentation for their organisation.

Black Belt 1 covers a host of other core IC areas too - visit the website to view the full course overview and learn more about the programme.

Some closing thoughts on internal communication

Mike Berry, Head of Content, Melcrum

After 16 months as Head of Content at Melcrum, I’m leaving for pastures new. As such, I thought I’d offer up some closing thoughts on the hot topics as I see them for internal communicators. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, or ranked in any particular order, but just some of the areas that I think practitioners need to keep front of mind.

EVP
The latest three-letter acronym on the block is EVP – employee value proposition. But it is much more than just the latest buzzword. In simple terms, it’s “the deal” between the organization and its employees; what each party expects from one another. Unquestionably this relationship has changed in recent times as companies struggle to navigate the choppy economic waters, so if you’re not defining and articulating your EVP, there’s a fair chance your employees are putting their own spin on it. Towers Watson’s latest research shows a strong correlation between those companies with high communication effectiveness and a clearly articulated EVP.

Managers
Line managers remain the most critical channel for communicating with employees. They’re frequently cited by staff as their most trusted source of information, they know how people have reacted to issues in the past and how they’ll probably respond in future. But this responsibility is not easy and is something the majority struggle with. Training and coaching managers to become better communicators and ensuring they’re equipped with the right tools and support to do that is absolutely key to effective communication; it’s where practitioners can add the greatest value to the business.

Digital workplace
As obvious as it might sound, this encompasses so much more than just communicating and engaging with remote or flexible workers (although that is part of it). The digital workplace has big implications in terms of organizational culture, employee behavior, what role technology plays, the notion of collaboration and physical locations. Organizations that get ahead of the curve on this will have a major competitive advantage, as it offers a more productive, innovative way of doing business.

Integrated communication
Over the previous decade, there’s been a fight to establish internal comms as a professional discipline in its own right. But now, with social media blurring and crashing through organizational boundaries, IC has to embrace greater integration. In an article for SCM journal last year, (sub) Bill Quirke says communication functions are integrating on a range of fronts: across disciplines, geographies, corporate centers and business units. “Playing as part of an integrated team means internal communicators have to raise their game,” he says. “They have to be at least as good as their colleagues in other communication disciplines.”

Mobile enterprise
Mobile is changing everything, including what employees expect from internal communications. By 2013, it’s predicted that mobile will replace PCs as the most common device to access the web. As employees increasingly see rapid improvements in their mobile user experiences outside of work, they’ll demand it from their organizations as well. Companies realize that by allowing a mobile way of working they help employees not only become more efficient but also allow them to perform more of their tasks closer to the customer. However, being truly mobile is not just about being reachable by phone: it’s also about being able to access messages and corporate data when needed and not being tied to one particular device.

Gamification
Gartner suggests that by the end of this year, the majority of the top Fortune 500 organizations will be using gamification – or serious gaming – in training, and by 2015 more than half of organizations will gamify their innovation processes. Games offer instant feedback about progress, can engage and motivate people, encourage collaboration and facilitate problem solving. We’ve already seen several creative examples – from ethics training to rewarding employee ideas; it will be interesting to see how gamification is integrated into the communication mix.

Professional development
Getting to the status of “trusted advisor” is akin to the Holy Grail for the majority of the profession. Melcrum’s Key Benchmarking Data for Communicators 2011 research (sub) shows there is a greater focus on developing the strategic and consultative skills that will help achieve that goal, rather than the tactical and core skills of the traditional communicator. Working with and supporting leaders, measuring the effectiveness and impact of communication activities, strengthening the internal brand, strategic planning – these are the skills that will enhance the function’s credibility and position internal communication as a key strategic player.

More with less
Achieving more with less (or at least no additional) resource is the new business reality. As Western economies struggle to return to sustainable growth and leaders continue to scrutinize every aspect of their operations, there will be more focus on what value, specifically, internal communicators provide. This means more reviews of the function with the aim of increasing effectiveness and reducing costs. Making sure you’re fit for purpose and measuring the effectiveness of what you do becomes essential.

What do you think of the list? Are there any that should be added? As I depart, all that remains is for me to wish you all good luck with the challenges that lie ahead.

A resolution we can help you keep

By Tanya Batra, Melcrum

Refreshing our skills, acquiring new ones and keeping up to-date with best practice are all items that commonly feature on our professional agendas. However another common pattern is the fact that they rarely make it to the "completed" pile as you find yourself distracted by more "urgent" matters that demand your immediate attention.  

But before you let your professional development slip to the bottom of the pile, here’s a solid reason why it really should be your priority…

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) yesterday revealed that UK unemployment is set to keep rising in 2012, hitting 8.8 percent (2.85 million) by the end of the year and making it the highest number of people unemployed since 1994 and the highest unemployment rate since 1995. What’s more, this trend is predicted to continue into 2013 with unemployment forecast to rise even further, to a peak of 2.9 million in the first half of 2013.*

In response, organisations will continue to focus on streamlining, while simultaneously striving for productivity and innovation. It’s the talent of their people that’s key to achieving these goals and ensuring competitor differentiation.

Now more than ever before is the time to raise your game, prove your worth and reinforce your value-adding ability to ensure you stand out from the crowd. How? One way is by future-proofing your skill-set.

Whether you need a comprehensive overview of the IC function, want to discover how to maximise the role of video in your IC strategy,  succeed with SharePoint, or advance your writing skills – our extensive portfolio of executive education will keep you at the cutting edge of your function.

Not only that, but our courses also give you the chance to benchmark with like-minded communicators and build up your professional network to ensure you remain up-to-date with industry best-practice. 

However, if time out of the office just isn’t an option for you at the moment, kickstart your new year with this article by Sue Dewhurst on eight resolutions that can help you make a bigger difference in 2012 and beyond.

Happy New Year!

* Source: HR Magazine, Employment figures could drop by 120,000 this year, CIPD's chief economic adviser predicts, David Woods, 3 Jan 2012. Accessed 4 January, 2012.

Merry Christmas from Melcrum!

by Luke Dodd, Features Editor, Melcrum

Hi everyone,

It's that time of year where we're all starting to relax and prepare ourselves for over-indulgence and festivities.

But, before you sign off for the year, take a moment to have a look at our top five most popular articles of 2011 – consider it an early Xmas present from Melcrum:

1. A definitive framework for internal communication

2. Six key rules for engaging your customer facing employees

3. TOP TIPS: A five-step formula for calculating communication ROI

4. Creating an internal communications strategy from scratch - where do you start?

5. The Tube: An intranet that empowers employees

As a parting note, thank you for taking the time to read the Melcrum Blog over 2011 and we hope you continue reading in 2012. Please get in touch if you have any suggestions on what we should cover and any hot topics we have missed.

Merry Christmas!

Luke