The Melcrum Blog

Time to capitalilse on confidence

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

It seems that confidence (or rather the lack of it) has become a global obsession. Scan any of the business pages in the newspapers and you’ll find constant references to consumer confidence, confidence in the housing market or confidence in our political leaders to deliver. Sadly, most it is dipping, plunging or on its last legs, especially in politics. So what part can we play in restoring confidence? And how are we advising our leadership on the best ways to restore confidence in our companies and our brands?

The Company Agency, a group of management consultants that specialize in communication, has attempted to unlock the “confidence” genome in its latest study, 'Seven types of confidence'. This morning, the group, led by Martin Newman, a partner at the firm, presented its findings in the form of a short but rather luxurious 22-page handbook, printed on some extraordinarily plush paper previously only reserved for scrolls, doctorates of nuclear physics or landmark documents such as the Magna Carta.

Littered with fabulous quotes on confidence by essayists, biblical figures, company executives and even JK Rowling’s fictional wizard character Harry Potter, the Company Agency interviewed some well-known senior business names to drill down to its seven types of confidence. These included a “legendary” fashion entrepreneur, one of Ronald Regan’s key advisors and two people who had lead their countries’ Olympic efforts in London 2012 and Sochi in Russia. Future home of the 2014 winter Games. There was no expense spared.

But rather than agree with many management theorists who claim that confidence is either recipe, the sweet spot between arrogance and despair or distinguished by three cornerstones, accountability, collaboration and initiative, the Company Agency’s top talent identified seven types of confidence: respect, vision, track record, openness, authenticity, consistency and simplicity and said that it can be any one, or any combination of these seven distinctive yet frequently overlapping qualities. “Confidence is not a potion ready mixed and following a recipe, it is a palette,” said Newman’s introduction.

The report makes some great cases and dishes out some great advice through its expert panel of confident business characters, but my only issue is that it’s all very well explaining the meaning of confidence, but as far as I can tell, the large majority of us are the opposite. The seven types might be nice to pin to the wall but until the climate improves, not many of us are going to adhere to these principles.

But as internal communicators, perhaps now is the right time to write each seven guiding words down on a bunch of Post Its and stick them to your desktop? When we’re feeling at our lowest - whether it be through reduced budgets, mass redundancies or the fact that even if you do have a deposit to put down on a property the interest rates are so bad you’re discouraged - learning, appreciating and disseminating those confidence values to your team, your leaders, and the company’s employees could be the solution to many business’s worries. Think banks, think financial services, think property sector, all of these previously flourishing businesses now sit at the bottom of the trust pile. The opportunities are beginning to become apparent so now might just be the right time for them to pick themselves up.

As we saw in Melcrum’s Key Benchmark Data for Communicators survey last week, internal comms is having to re-evaluate everything it stands for and its value to businesses worldwide. Transmitting these principles across your organizations could be the key to re-energising the workforce and liberating the leadership. If nothing else it will make your superiors and the key decision makers within your organisations think about where it has all gone wrong and how it can all be put right.

Then again, Morgan Stanley’s European media analysts today printed the thoughts of a 15 year-old intern who was asked to write a report of micro blogging phenomenon Twitter. The report generated six times more feedback than the investment banks’ usual emails. Meanwhile elderly media moguls gathered at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley in the US to discuss social media and their ageing business models. So much for inspiring confidence. Perhaps we should all be quoting Harry Potter after all?

The portable plinth: the answer to invisible execs

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Just over three hours ago sculptor Anthony Gormley’s One and Other “human statue” project got underway in London’s Trafalgar Square.

The premise of the live art experiment is simple. The fourth plinth, built in 1841 was originally intended for an equestrian statue but has lain empty over the years with only a collection of sporadic exhibits adorning the northern most corner of the square.

Gormley’s project, however has given the public their opportunity to populate the plinth, quite literally, and, in London mayor Boris Johnson’s words, to “democratise art”. Every hour, on the hour, a different person will stand high on the large stone slab and demonstrate their ‘art’. Rachel Wardell, 35, was the first "living statue" to take part at 9am this morning.

Wardell was followed at 10am by Jason Clark, a 41-year-old nurse from Brighton. Other people to take to the stage include Heather Pringle who will be celebrating her 20th birthday on the plinth, while the oldest among July's 615 participants is pensioner Gwynneth Pedler, 83, from Oxford, who plans to signal with semaphore flags. Luckily the river Thames is no longer used by large cargo carrying vessels so Gwynneth can safely wave in peace at the crowd of three watching, rather than directing a cruise liner into the London Eye.

But this got me thinking about how this could work in the corporate world. My first instinct was that the plinth would be the ideal platform for a modern day version of the stocks where disgraced or perhaps invisible executives would be individually winched onto the plinth and paraded in front of a jeering, salivating, recession-riddled public. Free packs of sharpened darts would be handed out 25 feet from a trembling, pinstriped pariah (to give him a fighting chance) and a dance of the darts would then ensue. His only protection would be a moth eaten annual report, while the only escape route would be to leap off the plinth onto the solid concrete below, risking severe injury and potentially crawling away into the distance only to be hit by an on coming red double decker London bus.

The other, far less gladiatorial option, would be for internal communicators to use this idea at company meetings or workshops where a portable replica plinth would be transported around the country for various internal events. This would then be used by executives to stand on for a minimum of an hour, giving passing employees the opportunity to ask their superiors questions. No darts or sharp objects allowed. There would naturally be no hiding place or thankfully no buses. The plinth would be too high to jump from, there would be no ladders to help you clamber down, the only thing you can do is to face the music and be give an honest answer. Don’t get me wrong. This would not a form of punishment or some kind of corporate copycat David Blaine type stunt, it would merely act as an open air forum where you would give an influential company figure the opportunity to literally stand up and be counted. It would take a brave man or woman to do it but, as with Gormley’s One and Other project, it would instantly democratise your business and give employees and employers the chance to get to know each other better.

If you are listening Mr Gormley, once the project is over, please give me a call so we can patent the idea. Give it six months and trust me, there will be plinths in company car parks across Britain. No darts I promise.

Bold execs need IC experts to help companies recover

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Company executives who seize the initiative over the next two years as Britain emerges from recession can dominate the business landscape for a decade, according to research by accounting firm Deloitte.

The firm says those who keep their heads down and wait for a recovery will lose out, while those who are prepared to take bold decisions can put themselves in a winning position.

It cites Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, and Sir Martin Sorrell, head of advertising, marketing and PR giant WPP, whose “strength of conviction” in the 1990s recession put their businesses in positions of great strength.

Deloitte suggest that to be successful companies should instill a process that begins with strengthening the balance sheet in order to have the capacity to take opportunities, rather than a reckless sprint to get to the finish line. According to the firm this involves optimising performance, not just on costs, but also on having the right size and shape of business to survive. It also means building confidence among shareholders so the support is there once the time comes to build new markets and make acquisitions.

I hate to say it but there’s one thing missing here - who is going to do drive and engage the employees in order to optimise performance? Who is going to enable the CEO and his executive team to have the right internal structure and shape for the business to survive and push on? And who is going to build confidence among shareholders and stakeholders by heading up, pushing through and achieving internal business goals?

If all this is to be achieved then Deloitte has missed a key human element to corporate recovery. Sadly I can only offer two words of advice, but luckily they are the right combination to enable bold leaders to seize the initiative and take UK plc out of the gloom and back into the boom. The first word begins with ‘i’, the second with ‘c’. Guessed it yet?

Internal communications.

I’ll leave the rest to the thousands of expert practitioners and consultants out there working hard with their leaders and companies everyday to take the necessary bold and brave decisions that will eventually lead us out of the red and back into the black. You may have been forgotten by some but not by us.

Top video interview tips from Melcrum's Social Media workshop

By Sona Hathi, Assistant Editor, Melcrum

Earlier, I managed to sneak into Melcrum's Social Media workshop, taking place as I blog, in our London office. I timed my entrance well as the group of about 25 communication professionals were just about to hear expert advice on creating video for use inside companies.

Former TV producer and private investigator Debbie Davies shared the following top tips for producing top quality video:

1. Take your time.
2. Give the interviewee an overview of what you're going to ask.
3. Be encouraging.
4. Know your equipment.
5. Tell them where the video will be published.
6. Think about the different ways to do an interview. Will the subject look straight into the camera or at an angle? Do you want questions to be heard or do you want the interviewee to build the question in their answer?
7. Remember to leave gaps in between questions and answers - you'll need them when editing later.
8. Think about lighting, background scenery and noise - even things like air conditioning can be disturbing. Put up a do not disturb sign if necessary.
9. Avoid fancy shots - zooming in and out can be distracting and also waste battery power.
10. Remember to get permission! Look on the internet for downloadable contracts of agreement. As a last minute option, get the interviewee to say on camera "My name is xxx and I am being interviewed by xxx about xxx and am aware that this will be broadcast on xxx," and then keep this as a record.

We're experimenting with video ourselves here at Melcrum and have become big fans of the Flip camera. It's very easy to use, great quality and it fits in your pocket. It's perfect for getting employees to do video diaries like Pfizer did, or informal interviews that are easy to publish on You Tube, like we did in this quick interview below, with Abi Signorelli, Director of Internal Communication at Virgin Media - who was also one of the trainers at the social media workshop today.

Best viral campaign in the world?

With a viral campaign that spawned around 200,000 blogs, more than 40,000 news stories and more than $200 million worth of global publicity, Tourism Queensland was responsible for one of the most successful and talked-about media/viral campaigns in recent history - The Best Job In The World. And they’ve got the awards to prove it – they scored two Grand Prixs at this weeks Cannes Lions Festival – the ad world’s equivalent of the Oscars.

Last week, whilst chairing the Strategic Communication Research Forum groups quarterly meeting (Shangri-La, Sydney) I got a behind-the-scenes look into the campaign’s highs and lows.

Danielle Koopman, General Manager Corporate and Government Relations shared some key findings from this campaign including:
* Expect controversy. As you’re always one step removed – it’s really out of your hands and with social media (especially blogs), the campaign will always have a mind of it’s own
* Always be prepared to be honest and admit your mistakes. Faced with some unusual applications (spoof Osama bin Laden entrant) and a web/communication malfunction which saw the winner’s name uploaded onto the web before the official announcement – Tourism QLD didn’t try to make excuses but honestly fessed up to their blunders
* Double-check your resources. Due to overwhelming applications their website shut down and wouldn’t accept any more (it had reached the unknown cut-off quota of 30,000) causing a mild panic for the team.

Another example of a great recent viral campaign was the Deloitte Film Festival, check it out if you’re yet to view.

Thanks again to all our members for your input into this meeting, there were some really great benchmarking discussions and case studies around viral comms. See you all in September when we tackle senior leadership with our special guest expert – Bill Quirke!

Katrina

P.S. Don’t forget Danielle Koopman is keynoting day two of our upcoming Strategic Communication Management Summit, Sydney. A great opportunity to hear this story, plus 14 others! See you all there.