Klavs Valskov pulls a 180˚ on Internal Communication at Maersk Line

Volume 16, Issue 4 April 2012DEBATE | 4Will Mobile change the gamefor Internal Communication?CASE STUDY | 20Driving employeecollaboration for businesssuccess at REA Groupinsight, innovation and strategy for communication leadersSTRATEGY | 38Demonstrating socialmedia impact<strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> <strong>pulls</strong> a 180˚on Internal Communicationat Maersk Linestrategic communication management

A SPECIAL REPORT FOR MEMBERS OF MELCRUM’S STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION RESEARCH FORUMKey workforce trends and implicationsfor communication professionalsRecent Forum researchprojects include:The global forum for seniorinternal communicatorsThe Strategic Communication Research Forum isan exclusive membership group for InternalCommunication executives faced with thechallenges of communicating in complexmultinational companies.Via a dedicated research and advisory service, weprovide Internal Communication leaders withbest-practice research, case studies and toolkits,workshops and peer-to-peer benchmarking tohelp raise the bar on their team’s performance.Optimizing global-localcommunicationWhere does the balance lie between identifyingand taking opportunities for scalable planning anddelivery, and understanding when a more localapproach will serve the business better? This studyhelps pave the way for more cohesive and coherentconversations about IC at global, local andbusiness-unit levels of the business.What will the Forum do for you?Through membership to the Forum, you will beable to: Benchmark with other senior professionals Increase investment in Internal Communication Enhance your decision-making and credibility Shape industry thinking and influence bestpractice Get tailored in-house training for your teamTHE FUTUREFOR INTERNALCOMMUNICATIONClosing the Internal Commsperformance and perception gapDesigned for use in conjunction withour recently launched Diagnostic Tool,this study provides resources to helpclose identified performance gaps andmaximize areas of strong performance.The future for InternalCommunicationThis Forum research project focuses onthe future of global business, theimplications for internal communicatorsand recommendations on the nextsteps.FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO JOIN:Membership is tailored to the needs of your team and is only open to senior Internal Communicationprofessionals. To discuss how you can benefit from membership please contact one of our team:EMEARebecca Richmond+44 (0)20 7357 8888rebecca.richmond@melcrum.comwww.melcrum.com/forumUSAClaire Leheny+1 202 393 8960claire.leheny@melcrum.comAsia PacificSally Heginbotham+61 (0)2 9222 2810sally.heginbotham@melcrum.com

Volume 16, Issue 4 April 2012Senior Editor: Sona Hathisona.hathi@melcrum.comAssistant Editor: Nishwa Ashrafnishwa.ashraf@melcrum.comFeatures Editor: Luke Doddluke.dodd@melcrum.comEditorial Production Manager:Alison Pughalison.pugh@melcrum.comVice President, Research and Content:Kelly Parsonskelly.parsons@melcrum.comMarketing Executive: Joseph Johnsonjoseph.johnson@melcrum.comEditorial Enquiriescontent@melcrum.comGeneral enquiriesEMEA2nd Floor Apex Yard, 29 Long LaneLondon, SE1 4PLTel: +44 (0)20 7357 8888Fax: +44 (0)20 3174 1128USATel: +1 202 393 8960Tel: 866-MELCRUM (Toll free)Fax: +1 202 330 5859Asia PacificTel: +61 (0)2 9222 2810Fax: +61 (0)2 9222 2820Billing and Subscription EnquiriesEmail: subscriptions@melcrum.comWe are committed to answering all customerenquiries within 48 hours. Because we havesubscribers in over 80 countries, email is ourpreferred way of keeping in touch.O P I N I O N 4DEBATE: Will Mobile change the game for InternalCommunication?Also in this issue, measuring the impact of social media; facilitatingthe culture and environment for social business; three questions toanswer to stay relevant and improve your skill set; and the five keyroles managers must play to engage employeesT H E I N T E R V I E W 10<strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> talks to us about making an impact at globalshipping company Maersk Line through perserverance,determination and creative thinkingCASE STUDIESDelivering change across Maersk Line’s layered organization 16REA Group drives employee collaboration for business success 20Give them what they want: The birth of the Employee Digest 24ADVERTORIAL 28STRATEGYMelcrum’s Digital Communication Summit 2012, London:What you missed!30Cloud computing: What, why and how? 34TOOL: Creating a dashboard to demonstrate socialmedia impact38MEMBER PROFILEDorothy Hisgrove, Australia Post, explains how her team42really is the driver of strategic change in the business and why it’sso important to keep laughingCONTENTSNo part of this publication may be reproducedor transmitted in any form or by any means,including photocopy and recording, withoutthe prior written permission of the publishers.Such written permission must also be obtainedbefore any part of this publication is storedin a retrieval system of any nature. Articlespublished in Strategic CommunicationManagement are the opinions of the authors.The views expressed do not necessarily reflectthe views and opinions of the publishers.scm is published 10 times a year.ISSN 1363-9064scm is printed on paper obtained fromcarefully managed, sustainable forest reserves.Printed in the UK byPremier Print Group Ltd.www.premierprintgroup.comPublished by Melcrum Ltd.www.melcrum.com© Melcrum Ltd. 2012Cover photography: Poul ChristensenCompanies in this issueAustralia Post is the tradingname of the AustralianGovernment-owned AustralianPostal Corporation, foundedin 1809. It’s headquarted inMelbourne and employs over30,000 people.Citi is a leading global financialservices company, withapproximately 200 millioncustomer accounts and a presencein more than 160 countries andjurisdictions. Citi Operations &Technology – a division of Citi– employs over 100,000 peopleglobally.Maersk Line is the globalcontainerized division of the APMoller – Maersk Group, dedicatedto delivering reliable oceantransportation services. It hasoperations in 125 countries andemploys around 25,000 people,including seafarers.REA Group is a market-leadingonline advertising businessspecializing in property. Establishedin Melbourne in 1995, the Groupowns and operates leadingreal estate and commercialproperty advertising sites inAustralia, realestate.com.au andrealcommercial.com.au, as well asinternational real estate advertisingsites such as the Italian propertysite, casa.itscm April 20121

Call off the search!Melcrum’s InternalCommsJobs.com is your first port of callwhen searching for or posting nternal ommunicationvacancies onlineInternalCommsJobs.com has more nternal ommunication vacancies than anyother website or publication. Receive regular tailored job alerts. Access free professional developmentresources from Melcrum. Search by keyword, sector, location or salary. Upload your CV so recruiters can contact youdirectly.“When looking for a position in nternal ommunication last year, I found Melcrum’sInternalCommsJobs very useful as the roles advertised are so focused within the industry sector,which means there is no need to trawl through various ‘communications’ roles to find what you’relooking for. I ended up finding my current job via the site so was very pleased with the service!”Laura Owen, Betfair Internal Communications, BetfairFind out more at:

ttendees of Melcrum’s UK DigitalCommunication Summit (DCS), heldat 200 Aldersgate, London on 27–28March, gained an insight into thestrategic thought processes aroundthe introduction of new technological platforms/initiatives at global organizations. The chosenspeakers – leading thinkers and practitioners– shared a number of stories around socialtechnology, including: The context in which new technology has beenimplemented. Decision making processes. Techniques to get stakeholders engaged in newways of working. Creative ideas to prove the ROI on technology. Advice on effectively working with otherfunctions to ensure desired outcomes, suchas collaboration, innovation and knowledgesharing are met.The Summit demonstrated that we’re workingin a truly digital era, where the benefits ofsocial technology in the workplace are finallybeing recognized – to quote the global researchcompany McKinsey, “Web 2.0 is finding itspayday”. The event also showed that thenetworked organization will find it easier tonavigate through complexity and improve itsmarket position in what’s still an unpredictableeconomic environment. Those organizationsthat remain closed to opportunities risk fallingbehind, but those that see great returns recognizethat technology is and will continue to evolve atincredible speed. What’s most important here isnot the provider you choose – they will come andgo – but the organizational capacity for change.Paul Miller, Founder, Intranet BenchmarkingForum, opened proceedings at the DCS witha keynote speech on his top 10 predictions forthe future of digital communication in 2012 [seewww.melcrumblog.com for the full list]. In aconversation with conference chair and Melcrum’sManaging Director EMEA, RebeccaRichmond, Miller said he believes theintranet remains a core element for thedigital workplace but there are widerreachingtechnologies emerging. Hetouched upon the idea that theworkforce will be getting younger,with more and more teenagersentering into digital careers dueto their adeptness with newertechnologies.Also in this session, Millershared insights from his newbook, The Digital Workplace:How Technology is LiberatingWork pondering questionssuch as why ambitiousmanagers are switching fromintranet to digital to engagewith employees and whyintranet search and digitalusability has to improve fortech-enabled communicationto thrive.Luis Suarez, Knowledge Manager,Community Builder and SocialSoftware Evangelist at IBM discussedhow the adoption program “BlueIQ” wasformed specifically with the task to encouragethe Sales department to make better use of thesocial software available to them. Initial effortsseemed fruitless but, after they highlighted how30 scm April 2012 scm April 2012using this software could make daily tasks easierto complete and developed a learning programto improve productivity, the BlueIQ team’s valuewas evident. The talk, titled “Observations onsocial business adoption within the enterprise,”saw Suarez encouraging delegates to sharetools, enablement materials and best practices.He added that it’s important to demonstrateachievements in social technology by sharing thevision and communicating success stories and alsooutlined the importance of finding key influencersas early adopters, educating management andembedding the social software into day-to-daybusiness processes.A key component in IBM’s case study wasits “BlueIQ Ambassador Program”. Suarezrevealed how BlueIQ Ambassadors promoted theprogram and were more likely to feel equippedto collaborate efficiently; re-use assets; andreport increased productivity, faster response tocustomers and increased customer satisfactionand sales.Further metrics gathered as a result of theBlueIQ program included a drop in emails of35 percent across the 16,000 person salesforce, freeing up roughly two hours perday of their time.He explained how he hadcompared the degree ofinvolvement in the BlueIQprogram with a variety ofproductivity measures andfound a positive correlation –the greater the involvementwith the BlueIQprogram, the more valuerespondents gained fromsocial software. Advicehe offered the Summit’sdelegates included theneed to focus on tasks,not tools; leveraging earlyadopters; and enablingexecutives to lead the way.Nick Crawford, SocialBusiness Strategist andHamish Haynes, Head ofInternal Communication, Bupa,provided a double dose of top-levelthinking with their presentation titled:“Connecting and engaging a globalworkforce through the Bupa Live networkingplatform”. The Bupa Live platform waslaunched in 2009 with the aim of connecting thehealthcare provider’s diverse workforce. Crawford31DEBATE | 8CASE STUDY | 24STRATEGY | 34SCM 16-3.indb 1 29/02/2012 12:25Social, digital, web 2.0, collaboration – call itwhat you may, it’s here to stay. Except it’s nolonger being “owned” by one individual or onefunction as a set of tools, but is being embracedby entire global workforces as a new way ofworking.Communication is being democratized thanksto Internal Communicators finally approachingsocial media in an holistic way: understandinghow new tools and platforms sit alongside orreplace existing ones, and introducing themwith a purpose that strongly aligns with businessgoals. Organizations are recognizing that theuse of social technology demands a change inbehavior, mindsets and even culture if they’reto support business priorities such as creatingefficiencies, facilitating global connections,e-learning, collaboration and innovation.Internal Communicators are breaking newground and if you don’t believe me, turn topage 34 to read about the organizations braveenough to opt for cloud computing tools thatoffer more agile ways of working. And, go topage 38 for an accurate, easy and compellingway to demonstrate the ROI on social media byChristine Crofts.Also, we’re still buzzing from the excitementof hosting the first event in our brand newglobal Digital Communication Summit series inLondon last month, where the best of the bestpresented what’s working (and what’s not) forChris Crofts is Global Head of InternalCommunications at Aviva Investors andwas previously Global Head of Channelsat HSBC. While at HSBC, she pioneered aglobal internal social media tool toincrease collaboration and drivepeer-to-peer networking. Crofts has over12 years’ experience in communication inprivate, public and not-for-profit sectors.In this issueFigure One: An example Social Media Indexdiagram.VALUEIMPACTSMISocial media ROIRexpense are all reasons senior leadersare reluctant to fully support internalsocial media tools. But what if you coulddemonstrate how your tool has helpedthe business achieve its objectives, save money andimprove engagement and collaboration?It’s important to note that it’s not just aboutproving financial ROI. Well established socialmedia tools can provide you with credible insightsinto your employee’s thoughts, feelings andbehaviors, thus influencing your communicationapproach. These insights combined with hard dataon usage and costs, and presented in a succinct andcompelling way can position you as the “go-to”expert on employees. In short, it can address ageoldissues that Internal Communication faces.PENETRATIONA framework for measurementTo date, the easiest form ofmeasurement for internal socialmedia activity has focused on webhit-styleusage figures. But thesepenetration measures are just onepart of the measurement mix.There are multiple ways you cantrack how social media is helpingyour business to achieve its goalsand, when combined, these factorscan create a Social Media Index(SMI), something that is particularlyattractive for number-drivenexecutives.Page 38Internal social media are often hard to sell to seniorexecutives given the lack of control and informalthem nature as their of content, organizations so how can you make demonstrate sharing.the journeytheir worth? Here CHRIS CROFTS shares a possibletowards becoming a truly digital businesses.model for measuring and reporting internal socialTurn media to page tools. 30 for a round up of the highlights.Finally, the team at Melcrum offer ourcondolences to those who knew Penny Lawson,an exceptionally courageous and inspiringInternal Communication leader and humanbeing, who passed away last month following abattle with cancer. Penny made a memorableimpact at both ITV and British Airways and wasalways generous in sharing learnings with herpeers. Her passing is a significant loss for ourprofession and our thoughts are with her friendsand family.Sona HathiEmail: sona.hathi@melcrum.comimpact, penetration and value [see Figure One].However, you could choose whatever measuresyou feel are most relevant to your organization:1. The impact score tracks achievement of specificsocial media objectives that support the overallbusiness goals.2. The penetration score tracks the reach and usageof the tool, using statistics that demonstrate thebehaviors required to achieve your objectives.3. The value score tracks the net value of the tool(money saved or generated minus the cost of thetool).COMMENTImpact measures – objectivesIt’s very difficult to measure social media unlessyou know what it is you’re actually trying toachieve. Therefore, it’s important that you havea clear strategy with objectives outlining theoutcomes you’re striving for and these objectivesshould ultimately support the business goals ofyour organization. Following the model outlined inFigure Two [see right], think about:Business goals. What’s your organization trying toachieve? What challenges will it have to overcometo achieve them?The Internal Communication strategy. How InternalCommunication can help the business – bymarshalling the collective commitment, knowledgeand expertise of all the organization’s employeesbehind a clear vision, strategy and values.Social media objectives. How can social media helpto achieve the business goals? Different examplesinclude:■ By breaking down silos between business lines/teams.■ Increasing valuable knowledge and expertise■ Exposing buried talent, experience and knowledge.■ Supporting cultural change for greater openness.■ Reducing inefficiency and duplication byincreasing visibility of what’s going on indifferent parts of the business.■ Helping employees feel more connected to thebusiness.38 scm April 201216-4 Features.indd 38 27/03/2012 09:55NOT YOUR COPY OF SCM?Volume 16, Issue 3 March 2012insight, innovation and strategy for communication leadersShould IC prioritizepartnering for collaboration?Engaging with the corporatevalues at AetnaTaking the pain out ofpartnering with your IT teamIf you’re interested in taking out your ownsubscription or want to know more about thebenefi ts of Melcrum Membership, pleasevisit www.melcrum.com/membershipor email membership@melcrum.comABupaDIGITAL COMMUNICATION SUMMITMELCRUM’S DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SUMMIT2012, LONDONMelcrum held the first event in its global DigitalCommunication Summit series in Central Londonat the end of March, showcasing superior examplesof the use of digitial technology to enhance, eventransform, strategic internal communication.Here’s a round up of the best bits.Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF)IBM...what you missed!Angelo Ioffreda: Partneringfor superior businessoutcomes at NII Holdingsstrategic communication managementscm April 20123

DEBATEEach month, we ask two communication expertsto argue respective sides of a burning issue. Here,Nick Howard and Tom Crawford debate whetherthe increase in employee use of mobile devices toaccess company information will change the game forInternal Communication.YESNick HowardWhat a few years ago may haveseemed like science fiction is swiftlybecoming reality. Today mostpeople have access to a mobiledevice – whether that’s a tablet,smart phone or “feature phone” (thepolite term for a dumb phone). Sowhy wouldn’t organizations makeuse of this ubiquitous technology tocommunicate with employees?Mobile devices are, well, mobile.They’re easy to carry around andare always with you. They’re used bythe vast majority of people, from aplant foreman in a small UK town,to a supermarket shelf stacker inArkansas or a tea picker in Kenya.Mobile devices can giveinnovative communicators newand creative ways of engagingemployees and linking campaignsChances are you have a mobiledevice of some sort in your pocketand it may be the only piece oftechnology you use to communicatewith others. In fact, mobiles areat their best when they’re twowaycommunication devices – ormultiple-way communication devicesif you use them for social networking.Nick Howard is Director of Employee Engagement atEdelman. He has over 15 years of experience advisingbusiness leaders across Europe, North America and UAE.Before joining Edelman, Nick was Retail CommunicationDirector for Lloyds Banking Group, where he led thesuccessful communication of Europe’s biggest financialservices integration of Lloyds TSB and HBOS.Nick.Howard@edelman.comDid you know that half ofall Facebook and Twitterusers share their thoughtsand views through theirmobiles?No othercommunication devicecan fit in your pocketand be an immediateconnection to others.Mobiles also bridge agap between online andoffline communication– QR codes on posters,image recognition andGPS location-basedservices are all examplesof this. Mobile devicescan give innovativecommunicators new andcreative ways of engaging employeesand linking messages and campaigns.I know of at least one globalcompany that’s using mobile devicesto connect its people in ways thatwouldn’t have been possible justa few years ago. Employees arebeing encouraged to take part inlocal charity projects and sharewhat they’ve achieved (and howproud they feel) through theirmobile devices. They’re inspiringother employees to do even moregood work. But most of all they’reconnecting with one another so thatthey feel part of something biggerthan just their day job.Another well-known consumerbrands company is using mobilesto help employees connect withthe outside world. Edelman’s 2012Trust Barometer shows that, morethan ever before, employees aretrusted sources of informationabout the company they work for.This company is giving its peopleencouragement and guidance, sothey can share positive and credibleWill Mobile chfor Internal Coinformation about their employer toinfluence consumers.These are just two examples outof many. As the nature of workchanges and the lines betweenpersonal and work lives blur, mobiledevices will become the means bywhich employees manage theirlives and relationships – insideand outside of work. The cost ofmobile technology – hardware andthe ongoing permanent connectioncosts – will continue to fall. Thecapabilities of mobile devices willcontinue to improve and they willbecome even more portable. Thiswill put the ability to make trulymeaningful connections betweenemployees and employers ineveryone’s hands.So perhaps the question we’reasking here is not about usingmobile devices to “deliver companymessages”, but about using mobiledevices to make meaningfulconnections between employees andtheir employer, each other and theoutside world.4 scm April 2012

ange the gamemmunication?NOTom CrawfordAs Internal Communicationprofessionals, we’re constantlylooking to invent and develop newchannels. It’s almost as if we tryto prove our worth by showinghow many new ways we can getthe corporate message out there:“Intranet is so last year, darling.” Ifsky writing was cheaper we may havelatched onto that.This channel reinvention missesa vital fact; we live in a viral worldwhere people are desperate to expressthemselves and get their own messageacross. Across many countries of theworld people are risking their livesright now, trying to have a voice.Why aren’t we doing that more in theworkplace?The sooner we, the InternalCommunication team, makeourselves comfortable with handingover control of all channels to thepeople the better. Unless we changeour approach, my concern is that themobile will becomethe latest tool by whichwe ensure there is noescape from what weare determined to tellpeople. “You will hearthis message and thenonce you have, I canenter into an awardsceremony where Ican say how effectivemy communication isbecause I reached Xnumber of people.”How did those peoplefeel though? There’sa quiet but significantrevolution of peoplewho are turningtheir back on thecorporate world because they feel anunrelenting pressure to “be in touch”.They feel they are unable to escapewhilst feeling like they’ve never got atrue moment of solitude and peace.We cannot fuel that, otherwise thewar for talent will go nuclear.Now, of course I can’t be today’sEdwardian lady regarding the mobile,metaphorically gathering her skirtsaround her at the side of the roadshouting about the mobile like theydid the motor car: “It’ll never replacethe horse!”I’d be lost without my phone.Both of them. There’s three in thisrelationship and it works just fine.Tablets, mobile, machine to machine,apps – they’re the future. All I’masking for is some respectful etiquettearound usage of mobile as a channelwhich means it won’t intrude into mylife in a way I don’t want it to. It won’tbe inappropriately used to pester me.In using the mobile more, IC needs tobe careful it doesn’t replace spam. Todo that we have to fundamentally shiftthe relationship between the IC teamand the audience, drastically movingfrom push to pull, making the mostof viral word-of-mouth to underpinour channels so that people will wantto go and find our information on arecommendation from a colleague,when it suits them rather thanbeing beaten over the head withcommunication when it suits InternalCommunication. As a consumer doyou respond to unsolicited marketingor a recommendation from a friendwhich drives you to the same websiteanyway?There’s a quiet but significantrevolution of people turning theirback on the corporate world due to anunrelenting pressure to “be in touch”In the last few years I’ve usedgraffiti and handy cams as a channel,largely because they enable the flowof dialogue to move in the oppositedirection. They allow people tocommunicate as and when they wantto. And that has cultural benefitstoo. How many of us have had as anobjective “create more dialogue”?If we’re going to use mobile devicesplease just make sure the user cansend in a film they’ve made on it,answer a fun poll on it or, heavenforbid, simply be able to send in atext to tell us what they think of ourcommunication.Tom Crawford has worked in several senior InternalCommunication and Engagement roles for a variety ofcompanies including Deloitte and EON. Having decidedto take a different path in life outside of the corporateworld, he now divides his time between the UK and arun-down farm in France. His last job role was Head ofInternal Communication and Engagement at O2.Twitter: @tomster72Image source: ppdigital (MorgueFile)scm April 20125

OPINIONSubtle ways to measure social media’simpactThe impact of social media on business can be difficultto measure, yet there are a number of subtle or indirectapproaches you can take.An advantage of online communicationis that it can be measured automaticallythrough web usage statistics, such ashow many people clicked on variouslinks. For social media that “live”online, some clicks are more usefulto track than others. Typical clickthroughsare actually measuring howeffective the previous screen was inconvincing readers to click to the nextpage. Those clicks don’t tell us anythingabout how useful the information wasonce people landed on the page beingmonitored.Beyond the usual click countsMany social media clicks, however,do tell us about the usefulness of theultimate landing page. When readersclick on an RSS feed button, they’retelling us that the information was notonly useful, but so useful they wantto keep seeing more of it. When theyclick on a “forward to a friend” buttonor “tag” an item, they’re telling usit’s so useful they want to make suretheir colleagues and friends also haveaccess to that information.Similarly, if your website features astar-rating system or promote/demotearrow buttons to prioritize the valueof several items on a page – such asmultiple newsletter stories, previouspodcasts/webcasts or search results –the page editor is receiving data thatpreviously could be identified onlythrough surveys: which topics aremore useful than others. This type ofinformation on usefulness can be usedto tailor future social media content.You can also make qualitativeobservations of what your audience isAngela Sinickas, ABC, IABC Fellow, is president ofSinickas Communications, Inc., an internationalcommunication consultancy specializing in helpingcorporations achieve business results through targeteddiagnostics and practical solutions. For moreinformation visit: www.sinicom.comsaying online, such as a comparisonof the percentage of comments onblogs or discussion forums versus thenumber of original postings (knownas the “conversation ratio”). You cancategorize the comments as positiveor negative to get a feel for howyour audience is reacting to an issue.You can get a sense of how engagedpeople are about a topic by noticingthe emotional heat of a discussion.For all these qualitative assessments,however, remember that the audienceslice participating online may not be arepresentative sample of the audience.Survey questions on social mediaoutcomesA survey about social media shouldnot appear within social mediathemselves because it would elicitinformation only from the biggestusers, not a random sample of theentire audience. In addition totypical questions about how satisfiedusers are with various features, thesurvey also should include questionsthat connect a particular socialcommunication with desirableoutcomes. For example, for adiscussion forum on typical ethicalconundrums at work and how otheremployees have handled them, youcould ask a survey question to seehow many employees read the forumand how many were able to applythat information to a real-life ethicalsituation they faced afterward.Another way to use surveys isa bit more subtle. On an existingsurvey that already asks aboutdesirable organizational outcomes,add a few questions about usage ofcommunication tools, such as specificsocial media. Think of these questionsas demographic items to identifydifferences among subgroups. Forexample, you could track if heavierparticipation in social media channelsallowing interaction with executivesSM impact can bemeasured in quite a fewways, most of whichdon’t cost anything(blogs, discussion boards, podcasts)is correlated with other survey scoreson confidence in leadership or leadertransparency. Another examplewould be if employees participating inan online wellness/preventive healthsocial community report higher levelsof actually losing weight, quittingsmoking or other behaviors with afinancial impact on company healthcosts. By comparing the financialbenefits of the behavior changesagainst the cost of the time employeesspend with the online community,a rough estimate of a return oninvestment could even be calculated.Pilot and control groupsSeveral years ago IBM launchedwikis for a pilot group of projectteams working on similar tasks toother teams who didn’t have accessto a wiki. Results showed that theteams with wikis not only finishedprojects faster and with higher qualitylevels, but email volume among teammembers also dropped.Another version of piloting socialmedia can be used if you want youraudience to take some action online,such as signing up for a training classor viewing a webcast. You can createunique URLs for the landing pagesand use different ones in differentcommunication about the action.This way you could compare the“conversion rate” of various tools,such as an article in a publication,an email or a discussion forum on arelated topic.So, social media impact can bemeasured in quite a few ways, mostof which don’t cost anything. Wejust need to be as creative with ourevaluation approach as we are increating the content.6 scm April 2012

Adapting to the social era of businessDuring the process of redefining Melcrum’s training content, JeffHostler analyzed what needs to be considered when facilitatingthe culture and environment for new social technologies.I recently partnered with Melcrum’sglobal trainers to re-evaluate the socialmedia components of our InternalCommunication Black Belt course.We had great conversations and, as agroup, we had a lot of energy aroundthis topic. It’s incredibly exciting,because we know social media hasthe potential to do amazing thingslike transform company culture,get us engaged, make informationmore transparent, improve howwe collaborate and immediatelycommunicate with colleagues at theclick of a button – just to call out afew benefits. It’s all in the name ofpositively impacting our business.At this point, I’m certain we’ve allmoved beyond what I’ll call the socialmedia experimentation phase. Mostorganizations have some form ofsocial media embedded in day-to-dayoperations – even if it’s just a basicapplication tied into your intranet.Today we’re thinking about socialmedia far more strategically, shiftingthe focus from social media to socialor collaborative or digital business –not tools, but a way of working. Somebusinesses have grasped this concept,others have a way to go. Businessmodels must be updated to adapt tothese changes. On what and whereshould we focus to add the mostvalue? And, how can we facilitateour organization’s new operatingenvironment?After a lot of thought anddiscussion, we boiled down a dauntingamount of research and informationinto a some key teachings that willensure you support your organization’ssocial strategy.First and foremost, remember thatit’s not about the tools – no matterwhat anyone tells you. It’s easy to getcaught up in the excitement of newtools and technologies, without everreally clarifying what those tools areexpected to achieve. So before youroll out any social media, ask veryspecific questions like: Who will usethese tools? How can they supportor generate useful conversations inthe organization? How can they giveemployees better access to leadership?How can they help global teams tocollaborate and communicate better?How can they change the culture?At the same time you’re asking thesequestions, assess your organization’scultural readiness across differentaudiences. Are your leaders readyfor the transparency required? Doemployees understand the importanceof collaborating in the right way,aligning their efforts to business need?For professional communicators,simply knowing about social mediatools and how they can benefit yourbusiness and your employees, is notenough. The reality is that just becausesomeone writes a blog, has 1,000followers on Twitter and can give youfive top tips on how to revolutionizeyour intranet, it doesn’t mean they’rea qualified social media managerfor an organization. What remainscritically important is an individual’sability to use this experience in thecontext of business and in line with anorganization’s existing communicationprinciples. As communicators, we canpartner with the right people (like IT)to provide the tools, then shape andset guidelines for their use. It’s theaudience that will decide what’s usefulor not – not us.Think about and clarify thebenefits to the business. Last year,Melcrum surveyed more than2,600 Internal Communicationprofessionals. They told us thatthe biggest benefit of social mediato business is innovation and ideaexchange (42%) followed by employeeengagement (38%) and knowledgemanagement and collaboration(31%). This was reinforced by the54 percent of respondents who saidgetting employees to talk, shareinformation and collaborate was the“most effective” use of social mediawithin global organizations. Buildingcommunities was the second mosteffective use of social media, whileconnecting to and learning from GenY employees was found to be the third.Relinquish control. Social media isabout sharing the process and gettingcomfortable with ambiguity. Theway in which social media works –placing all users on an equal footing– inherently means reduced control.Employees become equal partners inthe communication process and areinvited to take part in a conversationand share information, rather thanhave information pushed at them.Of course, while social media may beall about encouraging a more open,transparent and democratic way ofcommunicating internally, this doesn’tmean we shouldn’t lay down clearguidelines about the appropriate useof social media within the business.But don’t overengineer it. Social worksbest when it’s allowed to develop andgrow organically.Jeff Hostler is Vice President, Executive Education and Development atMelcrum. He has over 20 years’ experience as a communicator and has actedas consultant to leadership for Fortune 500 and not-for-profit companies.Hostler has an MBA in Marketing and Communication from Emory Universityand a BA in Economics from Denison University.jeff.hostler@melcrum.comscm April 20127

OPINIONThree questions you need to answer tostay at the top of your gameStaying relevant and adding to your skill set is unquestionablyof vital importance for communicators. How you do thisdepends on the answers to the questions explained here.Over the years I have spent a lot oftime adding to my skills and expertiseso I could be more effective in mywork. It’s been a life-long, drivingforce for me and has meant beingcommited to going out of my comfortzone at times and investing timeand money in education. Ten yearsafter I completed my BA and MA inCommunication, I added an MBAso that the playing field would beequal to most of the other executivesin the organization. In addition, Iobtained certifications in ExecutiveCoaching, Change Management andReengineering and Myers-BriggsType Indicator, adding value in mywork and enabling me to stay on topof the trends of our field.I would be hard pressed to finda person who would argue thatcontinuous skill-building isn’tnecessary. However, the type ofskill-building you need depends on anumber of factors, based on answersto the questions on the right.Based on these answers, what willprovide the most impact to yourcareer and future?Recruiters in our field havesome useful recommendations.For example, Nancy Voith of CRAsuggests getting smarter about truechange management. To discoverwhat that means, you could join theAssociation of Change ManagementProfessionals (www.acmp.info).Sandy Charet believes “employersare looking for specialization.”She also recommends buildingsocial media skills and believesit’s “a must for every industry andevery communicator.” A counterGeri Rhoades has been a leader in thecommunications industry for over 25 years. She hasheld numerous positions on both corporate andconsulting sides of the business and built one of thefirst corporate Change Management departments inthe United States.recommendation was also given forgetting out of specialization andmoving into broader fields: “There’sa tremendous focus on integratingthe activities of marketing andcommunication.”Do something, learn something,talk to someone and do it based on theanswers you discover from reflectingon these three questions. It’s critical tostay relevant and powerful in our rolesas communicators.What are yourcareer goals?What are theopportunitiesin yourorganization?What are yourresources in bothtime and money?If your goals are modest, such ascontinuing on the path you are on,then do the following:■ Join a communicationorganization (e.g. Melcrum, IABC,PRSA or CLE).■ Sign up for a group on LinkedIn(I found over 50 available).■ Read industry materials.■ Take a workshop or webinar.■ Attend a conference.If you are the communication expertin your organization, you need to bean expert communicator. This meansstaying fresh. There is nothing thatwill diminish your credibility fasterthan “saying” that being a goodcommunicator is important and thennot “being” a great communicatoryourself.Other recommendations includetechnical courses on design, socialmedia and process improvement,and joining Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org)If there aren’t a lot, and you wantto stay, then do something from themodest list above. You could also findpeople in your organization who haveskills that interest you and partnerwith them on a project.Not a lot – again, choose from themodest list.If your goals are to advance in yourcareer, a more aggressive approachis necessary. Do everything from thelist on the left, only more so:■ Be active in an organization.■ Create a LinkedIn group.■ Write an article.■ Read outside the industry.■ Speak at a conference.Some are pursuing Masters inCommunication or OrganizationalDevelopment. Two other forces inour roles today are coaching (www.coachfederation.org) and changemanagement.If something interests you, go forcertification. It provides a specificname for what you’ve achievedrather than only being able to say“I’ve taken additional courses incommunication.”Most importantly, get out of yourcomfort zone so you can grow.If there are a lot of opportunities butyou don’t yet have the credibility, orno opportunities but you’re thinking ofyour next role, then something fromthe above list is necessary.If you have more time and money(or your organization has tuitionreimbursement) go for thecertification or the degree.8 scm April 2012

Five people you need for engagementIn the second instalment of her two-part article, Jane Sparrowdescribes the five key roles that managers and leaders mustplay to successfully engage employees.CoachPilotIn the last edition of SCM [March2012], I shared an overview of thefour-stage organizational engagementstrategy to take employees from being“Savers” to “Investors”. Much ofthis work is driven by highly talentedInternal Communication and HRprofessionals, but they alone can’tunlock exceptional performanceunless managers and leaders are greatengagers too. Without managersthat have the competence, spaceand encouragement to engage theirpeople, almost every penny spent oncommunication initiatives is wasted.Managers have the biggest impacton how employees feel and behave sohow this group are engaged, equippedand developed is the most importantconsideration for organizations. Thismay not be news to you, in which case,consider why it continues to have theleast focus? I know it’s hard to placeinvestment of time and energy intoall line managers, but imagine thepotential performance if that “middlelayer” of the enterprise was engagedand able to engage others.Senior leaders who are themselvesphenomenal engagers are a key part ofmaking this happen, particularly whenthey value the management group asbeing a core part of the engagementprocess. Alongside this, you need apractical strategy.That strategy starts with recognizingfive manager-roles that are needed tomove people from Savers to Investors(as shown in the figure on the right):The “Prophet” is a highly emotiverole with a requirement for visionaryand inspirational attributes. It involvesinspiring others, planting the vision ofthe future and what it will look like forthe individual and team. In the role ofProphet, a manager imagines a bigger,better tomorrow and ignites emotionsaround how it will feel when reached.The role of “Storyteller” is aboutsharing context, content, metaphorsand examples to engage others.Context and content are the top areasfor creating employee understandingand thus setting the foundationsfor Savers across the organization.The Storyteller works with others tobring the vision, direction, change orpurpose to life and helps them identifyhow their strengths can contribute.The “Strategist” identifies theapproaches and builds the plans toengage others. They turn intentionto engage into a reality. As Strategist,a manager will engage through astrong talent strategy, centering ondevelopment of their people, will keepteams focused and pay attention towider stakeholder engagement.The role of “Coach” is aboutgetting the best out of people. Amanager has a responsibility tofacilitate team members on a journeyto full engagement and being aproficient Coach will help themdo this. This behavior contributeshighly to a community of Investorsrather than Savers. Good Coacheswork with others to understand theirpassions and what makes their heartbeat. They guide, build capacity inothers and leave team membersfeeling highly valued as individuals.At a practical level this starts with“asking” rather than “telling” duringchallenging times. This is difficult formost managers when their time is soprecious but is critical for sustainedemployee engagement.The “Pilot” is a respected rolemodel – calm, measured and trusted.As a manager it’s important to be theone that can guide a team throughtroubled times, making them feelsecure and in control. A Pilot isconfident and an expert in galvanizingteams into action. They’re alwaysmindful of when to be inclusive andwhen to be authoritative.Most managers are valued forbeing good Storytellers – it’s often thestrongest of the five roles seen in mostorganizations today. This is whereStrategistStorytellermuch investment, strategy and supportis put in place at an organizationallevel, and communication teams do agreat job in equipping, coaching andsupporting leaders and managers.However, a manager needs to use allfive roles and be proficient in each.In reality, there will be some that arenatural preferences, but a successfulmanager-as-engager will intentionallyplay the appropriate role at theright time.For an HR or Communicationsprofessional, the five roles are key totaking engagement to higher levelsthan the organizational engagementstrategy can do alone. Helping seniorleaders pay attention to practical waysof boosting manager engagementlevels, competence and confidence is agood starting point. So too, is workingwith line manager communities to helpthem develop an appetite, confidenceand competence in the five roles.Practical, in-depth ways to develop the fiveroles can be found in Jane Sparrow’s book,The Culture Builders: Leadership StrategiesFor Employee Performance, which will bepublished by Gower later this year.Jane Sparrow is a consultant, trainer and professionalcoach specializing in transformational change, employeeengagement and sustainable performance. She’s an activemember of the IABC and has authored a number of booksand articles on sustainable working and engagement.Jane@northern-flight.comProphetFigure source: Adapted from The Culture Builders: Leadership Strategies For Employee Performance, Jane Sparrow (2012)scm April 20129

THE COMING OFAGE FOR MAERSKLINE’S ICFUNCTION<strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> believes that making an impact iseasy for Internal Communication when youinnovate and use your initiative, as his efforts atglobal shipping company Maersk Line have shown.BY LUKE DODDMaersk Line is the global containerizeddivision of the AP Moller – Maersk Group,dedicated to delivering reliable oceantransportation services. It has operations in125 countries and employs around 25,000people, including seafarers.Three years ago Internal Communicationwas a small team of four at Maersk Line.Today, it’s a globally dispersed integratedcommunication department of 25 people,who are in intimate relationships withthe board of directors. The person leading this teamis <strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong>, who’s succeeded in making theorganization realize the true potential of InternalCommunication. “Trust in your own abilities and youcan take your function, and yourself, far,” he says.But how did he arrive at this point? Whenconsidering joining the international shippingorganization with its global workforce of 25,000employees, <strong>Valskov</strong> was apprehensive. Thecompany, and industry, had a reputation of beingconservative – making it a difficult environmentto host best-practice internal communication. Headmits: “The main worry I had was ‘How am I evergoing to implement bottom-up communicationhere?’” Despite this admission of concern, heachieved it through combining perseverance,determination and some creative thinking.Indeed, at a previous role at Nordea Bank asa Communication Consultant, his main focuswas Internal Communication and buildingcommunication plans for various different internalfunctions, but he wanted to leave his mark: “AtNordea, I wanted to show them what I could dostraight away, so I helped to set up the NordeaBank TV Studio that was linked through TVscreens at different branches.” As well as buildingcommunication channels such as video and socialmedia, he also built various communicationplans – a skill he had honed through previousroles at companies including global consultancyfirm Accenture, the Ministry of Industry and theDanish Management Group. In these early roles,he built his tactical skills around different channels,including newsletters, as well as his communicationplanning expertise.Before joining Nordea, he took a year outto go traveling (where incidentally, he met hisfuture wife), then began a short-term contractas Communication Consultant at L’OrealDenmark, which he reveals was an eye-openingexperience. “It was a totally different environmentto what I was used to. Everything within thecosmetics industry is focused on PR and externalcommunication with budgeting for these functionsset at an incredibly high level – in stark contrast towhat Internal Communication may receive fromother organizations.”Post-Nordea, Maersk Line was calling. <strong>Valskov</strong>joined in 2008 as Communication Partner in a10 scm April 2012

THE INTERVIEWWHAT MAKES A GOOD COMMUNICATOR?The traits of a good communicator include the ability to understand complex issues quickly, being able tosource creative solutions, having the basic ability to produce collateral and being able to facilitate/interview.They also have to be organized, able to build plans and implement them, service-minded and assertive.with different departments to build themcommunication plans around streamLINE,” headds.At the same time, he also built a strongcommunication infrastructure (including anintranet, called enable) and ensured the storiesthey were telling via that channel were “compellingand crisp.” He made sure of this by creatingcontent that was business relevant, yet not toocorporate. Other support tools were created,including videos with low-cost production andanimation.function that wasn’t yet fully established in his eyes.In fact, the communication team consisted of onlyfour people: an Intranet Manager, a Journalist,<strong>Valskov</strong> and his manager.Streamlining processes for Maersk LineHowever, an opportunity arose that was to changethe company’s entire communication set up, aswell as domestic attitudes towards the InternalCommunication function, forever. On his thirdday in his new role, <strong>Valskov</strong> was allocated thetask of announcing to 120 colleagues working ona global change program, called streamLINE,what communication could do for them. ThestreamLINE initiative was launched to simplifyorganizational layers and structures in MaerskLine, standardize processes, implement sales tools/pipelines, rework the entire financial reporting(SAP) system and cut costs everywhere. [For moreon streamLINE, see the case study on page 16.]<strong>Valskov</strong> says that rolling out communicationsurrounding streamLINE across the company’s25,000-plus employees helped improve theperception of IC as a driver of businessperformance in the eyes of leaders and otherdepartments. “From that, we earned our stripes.We developed our own tools and workedGlobal challengesDuring his work surrounding the streamLINEprogram, he was awarded a new role as Head ofInternal Communication with an initial task oftransforming his communication team into a globalfunction, relocating jobs to sites such as Mumbai(part of streamLINE’s companywide agenda).“It was a tough beginning, but I saw it as anotheropportunity to set an example to the rest of theorganization facing these same changes,” he says.<strong>Valskov</strong>’s optimistic attitude proved to be right– his global communication team’s engagementlevels have been measured as “high” and he hasa seat at the quarterly General ManagementMeeting, the executive body of Maersk Line.Following this period of job relocation, moreand more sections of Maersk Line desired theassistance of the communication department andso it was grown further in Manila, where there arecurrently five employees.The biggest winFollowing the success of Internal Communication’sinvolvement with streamLINE, the CEO asked<strong>Valskov</strong> to communicate the positive results to20 leaders of Maersk Line’s leadership team at aconference in Copenhagen. “For this, we beganwriting up the story of streamLINE, but in doingso it started to look more and more like a strategydocument,” he explains. “So, they actually endedup using that document as the overall corporatestrategy for the company.”KEYPOINTS➤ <strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> joined the newlyformedMaersk Line InternalCommunication function in 2008 andhas since overseen the growth of thefunction from just four to a globallydispersed team of 25.➤ He and his team successfullycommunicated the streamLINEglobal change program over2008–2009, resulting in a strongcommunication infrastructure andan improvement in the perceptionof IC as a driver of businessperformance and source of strategiccounsel.Photography: Poul Christensenscm April 201211

in numbers...25,000 employees, including7,600 seafarers325 offices in 125 countries2010 revenue of USA$26 billionBIOKLAVS VALSKOV➤ <strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> is currently GlobalDirector of Communication, MaerskLine, leading a team of 25.➤ Previous employers have includedNordea Bank – who had 35,000employees in 21 countries,L’Oréal Scandinavia and theDanish Management Group.He received recognition fromMcKinsey for Maersk Line’s changecommunication work in 2009, andwas the winner of the Rising Staraward at Melcrum’s SCM Awards2011.➤ <strong>Valskov</strong> has an MA in BusinessStudies and Communication fromRoskilde University and speaks sixlanguages. He’s married and has afour-year old daughter.In a huge turnaround for the InternalCommunication function, the company, and indeedthe shipping industry as a whole, <strong>Valskov</strong>’s team wasgiven the task of delivering this strategy externally.He was allocated many resources and had to decideupon the best way to convey it to the world. “Theinteresting thing about the shipping industry isthat it’s relatively commoditized, so customershistorically aren’t used to amazing service.Containers don’t arrive on time, documentationisn’t up to scratch and online solutions are nonexisting.It’s an ancient industry when it comes toservice, but customers have accepted that’s the wayit is.” <strong>Valskov</strong> took these issues and saw them as theperfect challenge for the new strategy to respondto, creating a document called Changing the way wethink about shipping. “The point was not to praise,but to challenge the industry as a whole about thefundamental issues they could see,” he says.Supported by a website (www.changingthewaywethinkaboutshipping.com) and a manifestodocument that was distributed at industry events,they now had a challenge to respond to and they didso by releasing information about how to overcomethese challenges. “This was hugely excitinginternally as well as externally,” <strong>Valskov</strong> enthuses.The power of integration and his managementstyleFollowing the success of this exercise, <strong>Valskov</strong>was given responsibility of Marketing as well asExternal Communication in the middle of 2011and the title of Director of Communication.The integration of the Internal and ExternalCommunication functions, as well as Marketing,was a milestone for his career, and a naturalevolution in his eyes. “One of the very importantlessons from this is that all external campaignsneed to take point of departure internally.Everything should be grown from InternalCommunication. That builds trustworthy, credibleexternal campaigns. It builds value propositionstowards customers – as when you are ready to goexternal, the whole workforce are behind it. Ifyou start the other way around, your company’scredibility is at risk.”<strong>Valskov</strong> has high hopes for his communicationfunction and thrives on being well connected.“We should be world-class as we are the biggestcompany in the industry. I try to have bi-weeklyone-on-one meetings with people I deal directlywith in my department including team leaders inMumbai and Manila. I encourage them to haveshared objectives with other teammates – inspiringthem to work together,” he says. <strong>Valskov</strong>’sdepartment is structured into two separateunits: one is for communication specialists andthe other is for channel specialists. Those in thecommunication unit identify what communicationsupport is required across the business, thendevelop a plan and head to the channel specialiststo ensure its effective delivery.Focusing on technology and measurementIt’s always tricky when thinking of ways todemonstrate measurement effectively to leaders12 scm April 2012

THE INTERVIEWOne of the very important lessons is thatall external campaigns need to take point ofdeparture internally. Everything should begrown from Internal Communicationinternal TV channel, a YouTube-inspired sitewhere employees can upload videos and rate orcomment, as well as the intranet enable – whichis in line for a revamp: “We’re migrating toSharePoint 2010 this year with all of its features,such as MySite. It will also include internal socialmedia using NewsGator.”and the broader business. To combat this,<strong>Valskov</strong> produces a quarterly communicationreport in the format of a dashboard, which goesto a selected audience of top management andthe global communication network [see pages14–15]. The dashboard contains metrics from theintranet, quarterly pulse survey, external media,social media and external website, which he theninterprets to identify focus areas and improvementpoints for the next quarter. [Go to page 38 to readmore about how to measure your social mediaeffectively.]“Measurement has been a vital part of myjourney. When you’re pushed on cost you needto show you’re making a difference. In 2010,I engaged in industry networks about how tomeasure the success of our communication efforts.Employee engagement equals high performance,which impacts the bottom line. So how can you addto that equation that communication efforts impactemployee engagement? It’s difficult.”This led <strong>Valskov</strong> to think about how to deliverpowerful measurement data effectively. Hebelieves that consistency is the key. “At thebeginning of streamLINE in 2008, we startedasking questions with our quarterly pulse surveysand now have continued the practice. The key ismeasuring similar things each time, that way youare speaking with historical data, which is veryuseful.” He adjusts pulse questions along the wayand tests it upon demand.Engaging with his audience digitally is alsoa priority for <strong>Valskov</strong>. Maersk Line boasts anInternal Communication philosophy“Earning your stripes”, a phrase touched uponearlier in the interview, is key for <strong>Valskov</strong>. “It’srare that people just buy into a communicationstrategy from the very beginning – you need togive them a reason to believe you and trust you.”For this, he believes that Internal Communicationneeds a strategic point of view. “You need to geton top of the business agenda and understandwhere the business is going. Be ahead of the gamesomehow and be proactive.”It’s this attitude that he equates with success.“In all life’s aspects, if you take initiative it usuallyresults in a positive outcome. You will also be ableto steer your surroundings towards where you wantto go. In Internal and External Communication,if your team is proactive, people will want to workwith you and, over time, you will get more andmore resources. But it requires courage.”We end the interview on a high note and talkabout <strong>Valskov</strong>’s recent recognition at the SCMAwards 2011 where he was presented with the RisingStar award. “I was very proud of this achievement.Building a communication function from virtuallynothing to an award-winning department makesyou believe you can have a great effect on anyorganization if you put your mind to it.”Excited about what’s to come <strong>Valskov</strong> believesthat the future state of Internal Communicationlooks bright. “All industries, including the oldfashionedshipping industry, have come to termswith the fact that communication is of huge valuefor them,” he says.SCM SUMMIT AND AWARDS 2012If you would like to find out more about the upcomingSCM Summit and Awards 2012, taking place from 9–11October, please visit our website.➲ www.melcrum.com/scmsummit/awards_2012.htmlQ&A... KLAVSVALSKOVFAVOURITE BOOKWild Swans: Three Daughters of Chinaby Jung Chang made a big impressionon me.DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREEWORDSDedicated, suggestion-maker,enthusiastic.HOW DO YOU RELAX?Spending time alone with my daughterand wife. I also find it very relaxingto be out with old friends all nightlong – there’s something incrediblylife-affirming about that.IF YOU WEREN’T A COMMUNICATOR,WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN?An American crooner living in the ‘50sand ‘60s. The period of Rock’n’Roll,Sinatra, gangsters, Kennedy, casinosand Marilyn Monroe fascinates me.WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESSPHILOSOPHY?Don’t wait, act and take the initiative.scm April 201213

Pages from <strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong>’s Communication Report for Q4 2011Maersk Line Communication / 15 January 2011Enable / MaerskEXECUTIVE SUMMARYHIGHLIGHTSENABLETHE NUMBERSHuge increase in number of page views onenable: from 20,000 to 60,000 per week onaveragePresence in social media established withoverwhelming responsiveness and interestfrom the outside worldEmployees aware of and passionate aboutML vision to be undisputed leader of linershippingPositive media response to Daily Maersk andconfidence in ML’s abili to weathereconomic stormIMPROVEMENTPOINT“I believe there should be moreconversation around the jobs beingoutsourced and what this will meanto the employee sitting in that seat.”– Pulse Survey respondentNumber of enablereaders tripled112,000 fans onFacebookFOCUS AREAS Q1 2012Introduce new CEO internally andexternallyTransmit increased sense of urgency forchange internallyStrengthen cost focus internallyFocus externally on ease of doingbusiness as one of our key differentiatorsCOMMENTSExplosive increase in page viewsdue to redesign and new less formaleditorial sleNew CEO town hall video viewed byalmost 3,000Articles and/or videos featuring topmanagement most popularREDESIGN OF FRONTPAGE70,0000Wk 1 9 17 25 33 41 49BETTER USE OFIMAGESUSE OF ZETTAFONT FAMILYROTATING BANNERFOR TOP STORIESALIGNED WITHNEW ML.COMEXTERNAL MEDIA MONITORINGExternal Media Monitoring / Maersk Line Communication / 15 January 2011SOCIAL MEDIASocial Media / MaerskWe’re constantly monitoring our mentionsin external online media in order to measurethe effectiveness of our workDaily Maersk2010YEAR-ON-YEAR1800160014001200100080060040020005799083971643937961572Triple-E8361280“All in all, I thinkMaersk Line willcome out the otherside of the crisis asthe winner”– Axel Funhoff, analyst at INGManifesto1390764 763 7961099 1011977Social media7801589563106899613892011692166455% MORE MENTIONS IN 2011COMPARED TO 2010GOOD OR BAD PUBLICITY?43155OVERWHELMINGLYPOSITIVE PUBLICITYCONSIDERING OURPOSITION AS MARKETLEADERDEMOGRAPHIC SPREAD61 578182571460112548%NEUTRALAfricaAsia PacificAsiaAustralia/OceaniaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth America36%POSITIVE16%NEGATIVENO. OF ONLINENEWS ITEMS INTHE DIFFERENTPARTS OF THEWORLDTWITTERTwitter panel on Facebookup-and-running w/ LucasVos, Jacob Sterling, JesperThomsen, Helene Regnell,Søren Stig and more From 600 to 1,500followers in 2 months, or:150%THE RESTOur own Maersk LineVimeo account for videosharing has been launchedOn LinkedIn we havemore than 12,600followersOn Instagram users aretaking photos of ourcontainers, vessels etc.and sharing themGoogle+ page has beenlaunched and video chatopportunities are beingconsideredTHE MISSIONFACEBOOK110,0000“Getting closerour customersWHO ARE WECONNECTINGTO?Nov 1 JAN 1526%OTHERS(PRESS, NGO,SHIPPING ORG,ENTHUSIASTSETC.)24%SHIPPINGPROS34%EMPLOYEES16%CUSTOMERSNO. OF FANSTOP 10COUNTRIES14 scm April 2012

THE INTERVIEWCommunication Pulse Survey / Maersk Line Communication / 15 January 2011COMMUNICATION PULSE SURVEYLine Communication / 15 January 2011NO. OF ARTICLESIN Q4 2011PAGE VIEWS WEEKBY WEEK 2011NO. OF ARTICLESWEEKLY AVERAGESTREAMLINERELATED ARTICLESTOP 10 MOSTREAD IN Q4CEO on Q3 result 16,098EKO: Why I’m leaving ML 15,668Don’t travel without it! 14,088CEO on MSC/CMA 13,362New CEO of ML13,194Org. ann. Process Vision 13,000Mand. for weigh. boxes 11,280ML finally on Facebook 11,070CEO townhall: destiny 10,812Safmarine HQ close 10,08672658%ABOUTMaersk Line Communicationhas been running the surveyevery quarter since 2008Why? To track employeesentiment towardsstreamLINEThe Q4 survey ran fromNovember 14 to 25 andcollected 330 responses Seven out of the 20statements asked in thesurvey scored 75% or more oncombined agree and stronglyagree responses“Communication is mainly focusing on how Maersk Linewill benefit from any decision or change, with very littlefocus on how that will affect employees also…”– Pulse Survey respondentTHE MISSIONMAERSKLINE.COMTHE NEW SITE“At work, I know what is expected of me.” 90.2%“I understand why we want to differentiateourselves in the market.”92.9%“I understand the urgent need for careful spendingto improve our company’s financial situation.”“In order to support streamLINE, I amwilling to change the way I work.”89.6%“I am passionate about our vision of being89.8%the undisputed leader of liner shipping.”“streamLINE means a change for the betterin how MLC we serve has our been customers.” running the Pulse 78.1%Survey every quarter since 2008330 81 respondents 80 across75 76geographies74 73 71 71 71 71 and functions.6869,7 70,168,565,6 65,5Seven out of the 20 statements63,561,259,1 in83.8%“Daily Maersk is a leap forward inour plans to change shipping.” 75.6%85807570656055IMPROVEMENTPOINT68,5 69,977,5 78,1MaerskLine.com / Maersk Line Communication / 15 January 2011“Delivering ease of doing business”THE EXISTING SITEA web site worthy of a market leaderMuch improved ‘Do business’ areadeveloped by X-LeapCurrently live in beta versionWill take over from the old site in2012Engaging contentFocus on the differentiatorsTone: eye-to-eye, competent, andkindAudience: customers, noncustomers,press and NGOsNOVEMBER 2011,KEY FIGURES21,562,8412,893,6961,925,711TOP COUNTRIES IN%page viewsvisitsunique visitorsLine Communication / 15 January 2011to”Phillipines 16,541Indonesia 13,779Pakistan 10,379Egypt 9,953India 9,146Bangladesh 5,964Mexico 3,806Peru 3,300Thailand 1,818Malaysia 1,653NEXT UP:CONNECTING OURCUSTOMER PANEL TOSOCIAL MEDIA112,000 fans(incl. 20,000 customers)MALE VS.FEMALEIN LESS THAN 3MONTHS73% 27%MLC INFOMERCIALWHO WE ARE Communication andmarketing professionals Vast experience from otherorganisations Located in Copenhagen,Mumbai and ManilaWHAT WE DOInternalcommunicationChange management andaudience planningEditorials (articles, videos,presentations, graphics)Facilitating globalcommunication andcampaign networkTop management and linecommunicationChina 13,6OUR COMMUNICATIONUSA10,2TARGETWho we are / Maersk Line Communication / 15 January 2011India9,7Hong Kong3,9Denmark3,7“Maersk Line asthe leader of theshipping industry”WHO WE ARE 2ExternalcommunicationCustomercommunicationCampaign executionPublic relationSales collateralAdvisories to staff90%Intel, Ernst & Young,Pepsi, HSBC, Accenture,L’Oreál, Carlsberg,Nordea, Weekendavisen,Coloplast, large Indianand Philippine mediaBrandingMediaplanningAdvertisingSponsorshipsEventsVisual identiOF USCOMEFROMOTHERORGANISATIONSSOME OFTHEPLACESWE’VEWORKEDMALE VS.FEMALEONEGLOBALTEAMInternet and socialmediaChannel managementand governanceContent developmentWeb analytics40% 60%COPENHAGENIntranetGSCChannel managementand governanceSharePointscm April 201215

CASE STUDYDelivering change across Malayered organizationDeveloping a communication plan around change that could resultin companywide job losses is perhaps the hardest thing InternalCommunicators have to do. <strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> explains how he and his teamnavigated this turbulent time.In 2008, Maersk Line, the global shipping company,embarked on an ambitious turnaround.The entire 50-year old container industry had cometo a breaking point. For a sector that enables global freetrade, shipping itself had ironically become a closed shop,with only a handful of major players and accusations ofcartelization. With few competitive pressures, the industryhad stagnated and its internal working culture by the early2000s had become locked in the past. The company had tobe modernized and adapt to the times.Shipping might grease the wheels of capitalism, butits internal operating model had remained resolutelyindustrial. Across internal hierarchies at Maersk Linespanning dozens of organizational layers, a militaristic“command and control” management structure wasslowing down decision-making. Under little competitivethreat, shipping companies had become insular, selfregardingand inefficient.Customers were certainly less than satisfied with theresulting service they received, including late arrivals(50% of containers missed their projected ETA), wronginvoices (60% annually were being queried), endlesslylong booking times (up to three weeks of negotiations),few e-booking options, invisible pricing, bewilderingcomplexity of processes, transit documentation thatcould run into thousands of pages and countless otherinefficiencies that needed to be rooted out and rectified.The impact was beginning to show – from 1997–2007,Maersk Line had grown five times in size throughacquisitions. But although trade volume had grown, profithad not. Something had to be done.The structural challengeAt the start of 2008, a high profile global change program,streamLINE, was launched to simplify organizationallayers and structures in Maersk Line, standardizeprocesses, implement sales tools/pipelines, rework theentire financial reporting (SAP) system and, essentially,cut costs everywhere. [See below for the poster releasedby Internal Communication at the start of the program]It began with redundancies for 8,000 of the 33,000-strongHow streamLINEwillleadus2tothenewMaersk LineMaking thestreamLINE 1strategyWe mustreduce costsCustomers just wantguaranteed space,reliable schedules,accurate deliverydates and a good priceWe need to have asimpler businessSet sailI’m still gettingmy head aroundthese newprocessesI miss my friends…I wishBob still worked herestreamLINEMA RSKKPI’s and performancemanagement put pressureon me. I’m not sure I like itIt’s all about myperformance...I thinkI’m not sure whatmy new managerexpects of me…3 The perfect stormstreamLINEMA RSKMaersk Line is the global containerized division of the AP Moller –Maersk Group, dedicated to delivering reliable ocean transportationservices. It has operations in 125 countries and employs around 25,000people, including seafarers.I thought streamLINEfinished with there-organisation in April.Now it seems we’rejust startingThis feels likea differentcompany nowWe’re still nenough monstrategy re16 scm April 2012

ersk Line’sGlobalREAD THIS AND LEARNWays to ensure your change program is successfulFURTHER READING1. Announcing change at RBS: Ten lessons learnedwww.internalcommshub.com/trial/change/casestudies/rbs_change.shtml2. How to engage employees during extreme uncertaintywww.internalcommshub.com/open/change/casestudies/wadman.shtml3. Communicating change to an engaged audience at WorldVision Australia www.internalcommshub.com/open/change/casestudies/wvaopen.shtmlHow do we make ourprocesses work better?ot makingey? Is thisally right?workforce – unprecedented in the company’s history. Theengagement repercussions could not be contained to theinternal organization – Maersk Line’s layoffs were now thesubject of widespread public debate.Then, exactly as streamLINE was launching, the globaleconomy collapsed and so too did global trade – the verything by which Maersk Line was sustained. As a result ofall this, in early 2009, Maersk Line posted the first everloss in its 100-year long history: USA$2.1 billion.ThestreamLINEWelcome to the5 new Maersk LineWe’reprofitableagainIs everythingdifferent?We’ve gotcapacityspot onstreamLINEMA RSKstreamLINEMA RSKAnchoring4 the changeDefined products aredelivered reliablyMy customersare satisfiedWe are costcompetitivestreamLINEMA RSKI can see moreopportunityI never thoughtabout cost likethis beforeIt’s clear nowthat everyonehas to deliverMaersk Line 2008program hadnow becomethe potentiallifeline of thecompany, with150 hand-pickedcolleaguesbrought toCopenhagenfrom aroundthe world todesign, testand implementseven differentturnaroundprojects –the sevenstreamLINE“Leaps” [seebox, right].These were allprojects with aglobal reach,and all hittingthe organizationat the same time– immediately.The company was losing USA$10 million per day, so wehad no time to carry out air traffic control – the greaterchallenge was to act quickly and consistently and makethe program immediately relevant for everyone in theorganization by involving them in it, so that each of asuccession of changes could be embedded, nurtured andgrown at local level.“streamLINE”ing processesWe started with the basics, holding workshops with theseven projects – the streamLINE Leaps – individuallyto build a coherent communication strategy for each ofthem, then co-creating websites, films and basic packs ofinformation – all explaining what each Leap was doing,and the implications and benefits for the organization’sfrontline.But there were immediate challenges. Ourcommunication infrastructure was basic – the company’sfirst ever Internal Communication function had barelycelebrated its first birthday. Just two communicationpractitioners were available to work across all sevenLeaps, and our budget was limited (USA$200,000).In addition, the Leaps were complex and thereforeeasily misunderstood. And the rumor mill was alreadyTHE SEVEN STREAMLINE LEAPS1. Focus on reducing fuel costs.2. Improving network planning.3. Creating financial transparency.4. Reducing erroneous invoices.5.Establishing a simpler product overview.6. Getting more sales traction.7. Creating a superior customer experience.scm April 201217

We showed Maersk leaders thatopening a two-way conversationwith those who need to understandhelps – not hinders – usunderway, with somethinking that theLeaps were “clearlyanother headcountreduction exercise.”This was tricky asthe possibility that some Leaps might lead to furtherredundancies could not be denied, but nobody knew how,when or whether that would actually happen.When we dug deeper, results from our global “pulsesurvey” – a monthly (today quarterly) “rogue” poll weconducted under the radar for extra insight – showedthat the key concern for employees was much morefundamental. They didn’t understand the streamLINEprogram overall. Was it just a redundancy initiative? Whatdid its stated aims of “empowerment and simplification”actually mean?Maersk Line was in a perfect communication storm:new to market pressures, the organization was by nowswimming in every piece of business “doublethink” jargonfrom the last 50 years. And, thanks to a managementgroup with no history of Internal Communicationcounsel – in a company with an industrialized mindset,the leadership style of the admiralty and the operationalbureaucracy of a government ministry – all sense was beingbleached out of the communication. Core informationaround the company was bewildering.We now had our communication strategy – to make surethe change made genuine sense – and furthermore, to tellit from the audience’s perspective. This was completelycounter-intuitive to Maersk leaders, who instinctivelyunderstood communication to be a process of tellingpeople “lower down” to do something because it benefitedthe organization and expecting them to just do it.We then set ourselves the immediate tactical challengeof explaining the whole streamLINE change vision froman employee’s perspective in less than five minutes. Wefound the funds in our own budget and scripted a stopmotionanimation film that would explain streamLINEin a simple and humorous way. We were determined toliberate ourselves from stuffy, ultra-conservative Maersk“management talking heads”, so we specifically made themain character and narrator a Maersk Line employee – forthe first time ever in the company, communication wouldbe actively fronted by a rank-and-file employee explainingwhat change meant for them.It took six weeks and many script and storyboarditerations to get the tone right. We then launched theanimation on our intranet and seriously broke withMaersk protocol by not asking anybody beforehandto approve our explaining the entire corporate changestrategy in this way, and in such an apparently frivoloustone. The images to the right show some stills from thisvideo, the box on page 23 contains employee reactions toit and you can watch the video at: www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/streamline.shtml.It was an instant hit – in the following months, we flewto offices and vessels, filming employees and seafarersexplaining how early Leap successes had affected them.We launched online video diaries – providing handycamsto frontline employees in pilot countries, asking themto record frank and unscripted weekly “episodes” totell other employees like themselves what it felt liketo go through the changes. We coached each Leap’smanagement team in a simplified “storyline” for theirproject – one that positioned ther aims with a clear line ofsight down to frontline job roles. We strong-armed Leapleaders to incorporate a sense of employee impact intotheir project designs (e.g. today all Leaps have a “LeapCommunicator” role, as suggested by us).To counter rumors that the Leaps were “just moreprojects dreamt up by Copenhagen”, we profiled employeeswho had actually joined Leaps from frontline countryoperations and put them into articles and team briefingpacks. And as rollout began, we somehow found time tobuild an online “change centre” – with interactive “How To”guides and downloadable toolkits – that frontline managerscould use to guide their teams through the changes.It all added up to a consistent communication strategyof simply making the right kind of sense. And as the LeapsScreenshots from the streamLINE animation.18 scm April 2012

closed down and new ones gradually took their place over2009, the strategy continued, strengthened, through thechangeovers – a strategy that had all begun with just a littlecartoon man appearing on the intranet one day, telling atotally different kind of story for Maersk Line.The outcome/business resultsOne year later, in 2010, the company presented anhistoric profit of USA$2.6 billion – a yearly difference ofUSA$4.7 billion. The success of streamLINE has beenheralded as a crucial factor in bringing the company backfrom the brink.By the time the first seven “Leaps” had concludedactivities, the Internal Communication team and itsbudget had been doubled in size – a testament to thequality of work we had produced in the nine monthsbetween launch and rollout. [Read the interview with<strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> on page 10.]The online “change centre” we created is still in use inthe organization today, as a core part of rollout by projectsall across the company. The series of video diaries welaunched gained extremely positive feedback from theaudience it was aimed at – frontline employees:Our news strategy for streamLINE has now expanded,even to include post-mortem critiques of some of theLeaps and whether or not they ever met their statedobjectives – a fundamental transparency turnaround in theway communication is conducted inside the company.Our work on “storylines” with each of the Leaps becamean emblem of the mindset change about communicationthat we had begun to instil in management across thecenter organization.What was the biggest factor in communication successwith the Leaps? First, making sure we all knew exactlywhat our core storyline was – had agreed on it and used itconstantly. Second, that we put that story in the context ofemployee effectiveness and future roles, not in terms ofheadcount.Our most recent initiatives in 2011 to get Maersk Linesetting an industry agenda externally – even revealingits corporate strategy with a media launch at www.changingthewaywethinkaboutshipping.com, a conceptthat would have been utterly unthinkable just a fewyears ago for this famously private company – can inmany ways be traced back to the way we showed Maerskleaders, through 2008–2009, that opening up a two-wayconversation with those who need to understand helps –not hinders – us.But the feedback we got from the animated movie wasthe most universal and fulfilling. Below its posting on theintranet we lobbied for a free text comments field. Whenit launched, it was the first time in the company’s historythat employees had been given such an open voice. Theconcept caused some alarm in the higher echelons of thecompany. We ourselves wondered whether anyone woulddare to comment, so strong was the naval hierarchy.But slowly, slowly they came in; a trickle at first, andthen a steady stream, as employees discovered that therewere no repercussions to making themselves heard. Thisfirst time out, we topped more than 100 comments – andall of them universally applauded the style, the tone andnot least the simplicity of the film [see box below].Next to the film we added a poll, in which we asked:“After watching the film, do you feel you have a betterunderstanding of what streamLINE means for you?” Ofthe 543 people who voted, 82 percent answered yes.Of all the things we did to support the streamLINELeaps, the animation became the beacon of our work.It became so popular that we have since been asked toproduce 15 other films in the same format, explainingother strategic initiatives – “Yield”, “EquipmentOptimization”, “On Time Delivery”, etc.Importantly for us, we had forged an enduring bestpractice that we will refer to in future projects andstrategies – communication surrounding streamLINE hashad a lasting impact at Maersk Line.EMPLOYEE TESTIMONIALS“This video is so simple yet very informative. Finally, aclear definition of ‘What streamLINE is to me’.”“Our entire team is really attracted by the cartoon. Itmakes the meaning of streamLINE simpler to understandthan any other town hall meetings or propagandacampaigns.”“This video is just great! Educative and gives me thepower to make the change for a better Maersk Line.”“Let me join all those who are in favor and appreciate thevideo for helping us understand the streamLINE processin such a simple and beautiful manner… I want astreamLINE T-shirt!”<strong>Klavs</strong> <strong>Valskov</strong> is Global Director of Communications at Maersk Line. He hasover 13 years’ experience in Communication and Marketing roles, includingpositions at Nordea Bank and Accenture, and has successfully led projects inchange management and communication, measurement, strategic planningand more. In October 2011 he won the Rising Star award at Melcrum’s 10thAnnual SCM Awards.scm April 201219

collaborationAsia PacificREAD THIS AND LEARNHow to introduce a collaborative social intranet atyour organizationFURTHER READING1. Making connections at News Corp. www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/labanca.shtml2. Building global collaboration with a new social network atEricsson www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/ericsson.shtml3. Taking collaboration to new levels with SharePoint at Siemenswww.internalcommshub.com/trial/channels/casestudies/change_sharepoint.shtmlof a social intranet and the resolution of concerns aroundaccess and staff behavior, we were supported in ourapproach – that the intranet is a communication tooland the vast majority of people will use it appropriately.On the other hand, if someone is going to say somethinginappropriate they’re going to use whatever tool theyhave at hand. They may write a blog, but if they didn’thave the intranet they might send an email to 50 people;if you took away email they might write it on a wall; andif you took the pens away they might shout it across theroom.Essentially, the intranet is just another communicationtool and existing processes are already in place to dealwith inappropriate behavior, be that an employmentcontract, workplace legislation, code of conduct,performance management and so on.Out with the old, in with the newThe actual deployment of the new social intranet wasquite simple and there was no content migration plan asthere was no easy or cheap way to automatically migrateall the content from the old wiki or intranet. Instead, weworked with the business, via our project team, to helpthem decide what content they would manually migrate.Not surprisingly this was a very effective way of cleaningout old and unnecessary content, as about 90 percentof the existing content was not ultimately migrated. So,during a four to six week content audit, the project teamreviewed the content with their teams and made thedecision on what they wanted to keep – there were noset criteria as such, just whether it was still needed. Theproject team was also responsible for getting any criticalinformation, like HR materials, onto the new intranet intime for the full launch to staff.Our launch of the social intranet had two phases:1. A soft launch: The purpose of the soft launch wasso our project team could start migrating content sothe site wasn’t empty when we launched to the wholebusiness. However, our other goal was to see howpeople used it, whether they would share it with otherstaff and hopefully have it go viral. We sent the projectteam of 12 people an attractive email containing thelink, the benefits, the instructions and how to log in. Inthe background we switched on access for all staff.2. The full launch: The full launch that occurred a monthlater involved training, posters, emails, team meetingbriefings and so on. The day before we launched to thebusiness, our initial group of 12 people registered touse the site had swelled to over 120 and we had wellover 100 blogs, discussions and pieces of content. Ourgoal that it would go viral had worked and we were ableto launch to the wider business with the confidenceof knowing that people were choosing to use the newintranet because they wanted to, and not because theyhad to.Controlling the uncontrollableTo many people, a social intranet may seem like arecipe for anarchy; with all that access to blogs, groupdiscussions and the ability to add photos or videos andedit content. What if someone were to say somethinginappropriate, or share confidential information? Whatif all they do is talk about their hobbies and don’t do anywork?On the other hand, what if people share knowledge,lend help, answer questions, get to know each other, offersolutions, have fun, ask for assistance, express themselvesand collaborate?As communicators we talk a lot about the importanceof engagement and the need for the employee to trust andREA Group is a market-leading online advertising businessspecializing in property. Established in Melbourne in 1995, the Groupowns and operates leading real estate and commercial propertyadvertising sites in Australia, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, as well as international real estate advertising sites such asthe Italian property site, casa.itscm April 201221

Screenshots of REA Group’s new Jive-based intranet.Anything they write can be seen by their workmates,their manager, their direct reports – and this selfcensorshipand informal peer control is powerful.A more formal control is in the form of an intranetusage policy that can be summarized as “Be Professional”.The intranet usage policy also references the REA Codeof Conduct, employment contracts (e.g. confidentiality)and relevant workplace legislation (bullying, harassment,discrimination and so on).Our intranet is just another communication tool andexisting processes are in place to deal with inappropriatebehavior.respect the employer – but what about the need for theemployer to trust and respect its employees?By choosing to trust and respect employees byproviding this social intranet, our employees are alsogiven the responsibility to use it well. By having control ofwhat they share and receive, they also have control overtheir own actions and behaviors. There’s no anonymity asall blogs, comments or alterations to content are linked tothe user’s profile.REA Community intranet, three years onAlmost three years after launching, our social intranethas become an essential tool that supports the deliveryof our innovation and collaboration-based operatingmodel and strategy. Our teams have knocked down thewalls between them and are collaborating online andoffline. They’re getting to know each other via what theyshare online and are forming productive and rewardingrelationships.Our Customer Care Centre (CCC) has transitionedover the past 15 months from email/shared drive to almostexclusively using the intranet for their knowledge base,news, compliments, issues, support, social activities andmore. By making this content accessible to other parts ofthe business they have also significantly raised the profileof the team, their work and their needs. This has led toincreased collaboration with the rest of the business,as they are now more visible to everyone – not just thepeople they were emailing or meeting.Their needs are now being prioritized with IT; they’repart of the project team when implementing majorproduct changes, training development and so on.As part of an overall uplift program for the CCC overthe past 15 months, they have now hit their targets for 13continuous months and their turnover rate has droppedfrom 90 percent to 10 percent.Additionally, our IT department run a quarterly “HackDay” where we first use our intranet’s idea module togather suggestions for improvements across any part ofour business, from any employee. Employees are thenable to allocate a set amount of votes across the ideas andthe ideas with the most votes then get to be worked onover a 24-hour period. We use the intranet to start teamsto work on the ideas and anyone can add their name tothe wiki-based document if they want to get involved.The teams then present back to the business on whatthey’ve developed. Since we’ve been running Hack Days,a number of ideas have made their way into productionand others have led into other bigger ideas and alsoconnecting skills and interest across the business.22 scm April 2012

TOP TIPSENABLING COMMUNICATION USING A SOCIAL INTRANET Seek out the people in your business with an interest in social tools – they could be anywhere: IT, Marketing,Internal Communication or Finance, for example – and get them involved. To enable communication and collaboration, you need minimal restrictions, so always question why youwant to restrict something – what are your fears and are they really valid? To enable communication and collaboration you also need simplicity. The tool you choose and how peopleuse it should be as easy as possible. Remove those blocks that might prevent employees from contributing. Invest in training, both at launch and ongoing so employees are confident and knowledgeable in using thesocial intranet. Consider special training for super users as a way of improving communication skills and thequality of content and design. Don’t let your social intranet go to seed – keep upgrading and introducing new tools and functionality to keepit relevant.Our company is buzzing, it’s performing well and ourpeople are highly engaged:■ REA Group has continued to deliver record financialresults and a share price that out-performs the S&P/ASX200.■ An employee engagement survey conducted in 2011showed REA Group outperforms the Australiannational norm in the engagement and communicationcategories and is on par with global high-performancecompanies.■ We’ve built a strong culture of online engagement,with 91 percent of employees using the intranet and41 percent contributing content. Over 80 groups havebeen formed, of which 75 percent are work-related and25 percent are social.■ Focus groups have been conducted to understand whatour employees value about working at REA, such as:– “The innovation that comes from REA, the cuttingedgetechnology and the feeling that we’re theGoogle of Australia.”– “I feel like everything is on an upward curve, I joinedtwo years ago and it just keeps getting better here.”– “High levels of trust.”– “You can speak your mind – and people listen.”– “The communication here is great; we know what ishappening in other states and markets.”– “We work closely as a team; we all want to succeedand help each other.”– “It’s collaborative, and we have strong supportnetworks.”Enable communication for greater engagement andcollaborationA social intranet doesn’t become the one and onlycommunication channel for a company, it’s just anothertool for the business to use to communicate to employees,but more importantly it’s a tool employees can use toshare and collaborate with other employees.Everyone in the company is a communicator, justlike they always have been, but now they have a toolthey control and use how they want. In the knowledgeeconomy and workplace we now operate in, the socialintranet gives our team a tool to connect, share andcollaborate – and achieve the flow of information andknowledge required to get the job done.Let go and see what happens. It just might make yourjob and your effectiveness as a communicator even morevaluable.Melissa Hendry works for REA Group as Internal CommunicationsManager. She has worked in communications for over 10 years and in seniorInternal Communication roles for the past five. Hendry’s work in strategiccommunication planning has led her to advocate both the value oftraditional face-to-face communication and also leveraging the best in socialmedia and online collaboration tools.scm April 201223

CASE STUDYGive them what they want:the Employee DigestAs part of a larger strategy to empower employees, Citi InstitutionalClients Group Operations & Technology leveraged web analytics as thebasis for understanding employee interactions with historical content, tohelp develop a new communication vehicle dedicated to “good to know”,work-life productivity information. Tanya Villagomez explains.In February 2010, our leadership team conducted faceto-faceemployee discussions to uncover opportunitiesfor improving the internal culture within Citi Operations& Technology, in which more than 2,000 employeesparticipated. In the midst of the global downturn, theseforums helped us to understand the organization’sstrengths and also highlighted areas for improvement.One particular issue that arose was that employeesfelt they lacked access to information to help aid theirdevelopment, navigate the organization and be moreproductive at work. This couldn’t be resolved overnightand would require multiple strategies to address – ourInternal Communication vehicles would be central to thatstrategy.We already had access to an existing internal newsletter,NOTES, which received consistent and positive feedback.One solution discussed was to retool NOTES to meetthis need for information by changing its focus to includeitems that employees had identified as missing. However,through direct feedback from readers who would emailcomments about the newsletter and responses to ananonymous annual readership survey, it was clear thatemployees appreciated the channel for its focus onbusiness news and events – as well as its brief format – sowe made a conscious decision to leave the integrity of thisvehicle alone.Evidently, we needed something new, but didn’t want tocreate yet another competing newsletter – it needed to beunique and to meet the gaps identified without adding tothe noise.Citi is a leading global financial services company, with approximately200 million customer accounts and a presence in more than 160 countries andjurisdictions. Citi Operations & Technology – a division of Citi – employs over100,000 people globally.Understanding what’s “top-of-mind”For nearly two years, we embedded Google Analyticsas part of NOTES and used this technology to trackclick rates and rank the performance of articles everyquarter. One of our newest team members was an expertwith metrics and, with her help, we began to unlock thepotential of this data.A comprehensive assessment uncovered a number oftrends. The analysis revealed stories focused on drivingefficiencies and developing skills – content types whichtypically represented less than 20 percent of the storiescovered in NOTES – consistently outranked items thatwere not focused on driving efficiencies or developingskills (e.g. business updates or organizational changes,and, in some cases, even “featured” stories). We thenused Microsoft Excel to overlay calendar events onto thedata, revealingadditionalpatterns. For Screenshot of the Digest.example, wefound that thepopularity of anarticle recappinga training sessionon “how tocommunicateeffectively” wasstrongly correlatedwith preparationsfor mid-yearperformancediscussions.Thesepatterns wereenlightening – theyhelped dispel24 scm April 2012

the birth ofUSAREAD THIS AND LEARNHow to leverage analytics to get buy-in for a newcommunication vehicleFURTHER READING1. TOP TIPS: Discover how to publicize news to get it noticedwww.internalcommshub.com/trial/channels/toptips/newswriting.shtml2. How to grab your reader’s attention – and keep it! www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/howto/attention.shtml3. How Roche created a newsletter for senior managerswww.internalcommshub.com/trial/channels/casestudies/roche.shtmlmisconceptions about what we thought was top-of-mindfor employees and enabled us to obtain a much betterpicture of what employees craved.Birth of the Employee DigestWith that understanding, the team sought to create avehicle that served as a quick guide to organizationalresources – to help employees take advantage of training,learn from colleagues and get timesaving tips. We chosethe name Employee Digest because it best described ourpurpose of reinforcing previously published content in acondensed format.Citi is a large place, the Digest serves to bring employeeattention to resources that can help them be moreproductive and further develop their skills. To get buy-inwe needed to show that this was in fact a different typeof internal newsletter and that we were not lookingto compete with something that was already in place(NOTES).Once we had a prototype, we presented it to RandiSalko, Chief of Staff, and Jon Beyman, Head ofOperations & Technology for Citi’s Institutional ClientsGroup, and set about organizing the pilot following theirapproval.of their career; and lastly, “Good to Know”, informationreinforcing awareness of perks and utilities available toemployees.For the first edition, we used historical and current clickrates from NOTES to help determine top-of-mind itemsfor employees. Most related to setting stretch goals, so wechose the theme “Managing your Career”. We then addedlinks to training opportunities and useful tips from othervehicles.Launch preparationBefore launching, we met with stakeholders to obtainfeedback, including employees, HR and managers.They liked the Digest’s focus and their feedback onwhat to include and what to leave out was invaluable inshaping content guidelines. We created a review panel,Explaining the Digest’s content categories.Content designOur team created a design using Microsoft Word thatwas easy to drop into Outlook [see screenshot, left]. Thedesign displayed content as hyperlinks – each with anembedded tracking code so that we could continue tomeasure click rates and channel usage – and presentedcontent in three categories [see screenshot, right]. Firstly,a feature showcasing relevant resources aligned with theorganization’s process cycles; secondly, “On the SPOT”,featuring employees and their thoughts on our themes,along with a blog by a team member in the early stagesscm April 201225

“The SPOT” – dedicated SharePoint site.blog, RSS feed and a comment/discussion forum. [Seescreenshot, left.]The Digest was initially piloted with a small group of2,000 employees based in the USA and was simply emailedusing a distribution list to that pilot population.which included HR – as they were among the strongestadvocates of the Digest – to help us determine monthlycontent.To support the publication, we also created a dedicatedSharePoint site called “The SPOT”, which allowed usto build on thoughts introduced in the newsletter andhelped encourage further interaction online through aDebut and todayLeveraging tracking analytics and leaning on the supportof our review panel, we launched the Digest to the pilotgroup in October 2010.We had immediate feedback via email from employeeswho’d seen it and we also started to receive feedback frompeople outside of the pilot distribution who wanted tobe added to the next edition of the Digest, or were askingwhen it would become available for their team [see box,opposite]. The readership began to organically growbeyond the pilot population – in many respects it wassomething genuinely viral and “grass roots”, as there wasno awareness campaign administered.We measured success through click rates (compared toother internal newsletters), email survey comments, directfeedback from employees at staff meetings and othercompany gatherings, as well as unsolicited commentsvia email. The work we’ve done on ROI has presented aAn example heatmap, used to display metrics and improve content.26 scm April 2012

picture of a more engaged workforce, who feel that theorganization is helping to bring greater awareness of theresources that help them to be more productive.In addition, senior leaders quickly saw that employeesnot only consumed the Digest but also actually shared andreinforced the guidance it provided with their teams andthat some managers were printing out the resources itcontained to share with staff who didn’t have email accounts.The Digest today is published in the USA and Canadafor most of Citi Institutional Clients Group Operations& Technology. An excerpt is also now available anddistributed globally as a recap in NOTES, which reachesover 100,000 employees globally.As part of our editorial process, the team continues toutilize click rates to build heatmaps [see heatmap, left] sothat we can improve our approach month-over-month basedon content, popularity and placement trends. Our reviewpanel also continues to play an essential role in determiningcontent that ties neatly to organizational events.If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t change a thing– taking this approach was a great learning experience.The Digest is grounded on topics that are at the heart ofwhat our employees had identified as lacking and ourability to deliver monthly content that’s directly relevantto those needs is at the heart of our high readership. OurJanuary edition garnered a click rate of nearly 40 percent,suggesting that a great percentage of our employees areaccessing or leveraging the content we’re providing.FEEDBACK AND BLOG COMMENTSON THE EMPLOYEE DIGEST“It’s almost as if the content is directed at me personally.”“I hardly ever read the corporate communications that endup in my inbox, but I really do enjoy your Digest. Thanks somuch for putting together so many helpful articles.”“… the fundamental content being shared here shouldgo a long way in reaching employees down to the lowestlevels in the organization – and getting all the way downto that level will be critical in developing the culture we’reafter… I plan on promoting these publications in meetingswith my staff.”“This is terrific information that I’ve already incorporatedinto my weekly status meeting with my manager… Iwill definitely be tuning into your blogs on a more regularbasis. Thanks for keeping us up with the times!”TOP TIPS Even in a large, global organization try toengage employees in discussions to get at theheart of what’s top-of-mind for them and havethat knowledge fuel and shape the content of yourInternal Communications strategy.Always pilot key messages with a sampleaudience so that you can use the feedback tofurther shape your communication before it goesout to your full distribution.Tap subject matter experts across yourorganization and partner with themcontinuously to stay on top of new resources andtools that can help employees – Colleagues in HRand Expense Management for example are alwaysa great resource for identifying services that canhelp employees.Use analytics to continuously evolve yournewsletter – tracking content from what’sfeatured to your links requesting feedback canhelp you determine which areas of your newsletteremployees are finding engaging and should beexpanded, and which areas are not of interest.Monitor the pulse of the organization – What’stop-of-mind today may not be so tomorrow.Tanya Villagomez is Director, Employee Engagement Initiatives &Internal Communication, Citi Operations & Technology. Prior to joiningCiti, she led Internal Communication for several organizations within thebio-pharmaceutical, financial services, and diversified industrial sectors.Villagomez has an MS in Communications Management from SyracuseUniversity, an MS in Project Management from Stevens Institute ofTechnology and received a BA in Political Science from The College ofNew Jersey.scm April 201227

ADVERTORIALReaching the hard-to-reachipadio helps you connect with hard-to-reach employees, even if they’re atthe South Pole. Giles Bryan explains how and presents a short case studyfrom HomeServe.This year marks the centenary of Scott’s ill-fated TerraNova Expedition to the Antarctic. In their memorynumerous expeditions have taken to the polar ice, withclimbers, skiers, surfers, walkers, cyclists and evendrivers testing their own skills and endurance witha journey to the South Pole and back. Whilst muchof the equipment for today’s adventurers would beunimaginable to their Victorian predecessors, there isone challenge they would be familiar with – the difficultyin communicating with the outside world.One solution for today is the “phonecast” – acombination of a telephone call and a blog thatdoesn’t require internet access. It enables people andorganizations to reach the hard to reach, from any phone,anywhere. In the case of the Polar explorers, the service– provided by ipadio – allows them to stream a phone calllive to the web and automatically cross-post that call totheir blogs, Facebook or Twitter. And – as well as sharingFOR MORE INFORMATIONipadio, 96 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3EATel: +44 (0) 2033 940 840Email: info@ipadio.comWeb: www.ipadio.com/corporatetheir extraordinary day-to-day accounts to a worldwideaudience, the service also collects and interprets data suchas latitude and longitude, temperature and wind speed,and automatically adds their current location to onlinemaps.Mark Wood (pictured above) who is currently walkingthe South and North Poles back-to-back is one of anumber of explorers who use the service. “A huge part ofmy adventure walking to both Poles is to keep the people,schools and organizations who follow me informed of myprogress: phonecasting is tremendous because it lets mespeak to everyone via my satellite phone, take questionslive from the shelter of my tent and automatically poststhe resulting audio to my blog and social media feeds,”he says.Wood, along with Felicity Aston (the first womanto have traversed Antarctica via the South Pole solo)or wonderkid Jordan Romero (at just 17 the youngestperson ever to climb the seven highest mountains in theworld) are admittedly pretty extreme examples of ipadio’smission to “reach the hard to reach”. What these intrepidexplorers do, however, is illustrate ipadio’s capabilities ofcombining the power and flexibility of the Internet withthe reach and simplicity of phones.The result is a suite of easy-to-use and cost-effectivecommunication services that are available for businessesglobally.28 scm April 2012

CASE STUDY: FIELDTALK – ENGAGINGWITH A REMOTE WORKFORCE ATHOMESERVEBy Jo Cook, Head of Internal Communications and PaulHickson, Internal Communications ManagerIn 2010 HomeServe changed the way we talk to our people.We created a new internal voice and started to establish asense of community that linked to our service propositionas the first place people would turn for their homeemergencies, maintenance and repairs. It was clear howwe could do this with the employees sitting in one of ouroffices, but HomeServe also has over 300 engineers out onthe road, repairing peoples’ homes. The question quicklybecame “How do we effectively engage the employees whoare in our customers’ homes every day?”We worked withipadio to developthe answer –FieldTalk – aregular, tailored audio broadcast that connects every oneof our engineers with what we want to say and allows usto listen to what they want to say back to us. Furthermore,we can tailor the content of our broadcasts to respondto engineer questions and feedback. We can make suregroups of engineers hear the content that’s relevant tothem and best of all, it’s done with something we carry withus wherever we go – a mobile phone.FieldTalk is incredibly simple to use; it takes verylittle time and has the flexible controls for moderationof content, and we continue to receive expert, proactivesupport from ipadio.HOMESERVE’S TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL FIELDTALK1. Have a general section for everyone, in addition to regional or operational sections. As well as making operations more efficient,all levels of the management team can get involved.2. Use interviews for some of the content. Unless you’ve an expert speaker handy at all times, monologue is rarely fascinating,and dialogue helps the audience understand what’s being said. Why not have a member of the target audience act as a “guestpresenter” – perhaps you could do an X-Factor style competition to choose them?3. Really encourage people to leave feedback, and make sure it’s followed up on – fast. FieldTalk is all about two-way dialogue:staff should know that FieldTalk is the simplest, quickest and most effective way of getting themselves heard.4. Likewise, use the FieldTalk voting system to gather opinions on issues that really matter: e.g. focusing on “vote for yourpreferred location for this year’s annual meeting”, rather than “what did you think of the message?”.5. Keep FieldTalks short and sweet – a total of around seven minutes total is ideal.6. Keep them regular so that employees get into the habit of tuning in – weekly or bi-weekly is best. Gather the interviews andupdates a day in advance.7. Send out notifications of a new FieldTalk by text message – and why not send out a reminder a day later? Use the ipadio reportsto show who’s dialled in, and who hasn’t.8. Have people think about their spoken delivery – the trick when doing audio is to sound at least 25 percent more enthusiasticthan you would if delivering such a message in real life.9. When recording a FieldTalk, if you go wrong leave a short pause before starting again – this makes editing much easier.scm April 201229

MELCRUM’S DIGITAL COM2012, LONDONAttendees of Melcrum’s UK DigitalCommunication Summit (DCS), heldat 200 Aldersgate, London on 27–28March, gained an insight into thestrategic thought processes aroundthe introduction of new technological platforms/initiatives at global organizations. The chosenspeakers – leading thinkers and practitioners– shared a number of stories around socialtechnology, including: The context in which new technology has beenimplemented. Decision making processes. Techniques to get stakeholders engaged in newways of working. Creative ideas to prove the ROI on technology. Advice on effectively working with otherfunctions to ensure desired outcomes, suchas collaboration, innovation and knowledgesharing are met.The Summit demonstrated that we’re workingin a truly digital era, where the benefits ofsocial technology in the workplace are finallybeing recognized – to quote the global researchcompany McKinsey, “Web 2.0 is finding itspayday”. The event also showed that thenetworked organization will find it easier tonavigate through complexity and improve itsmarket position in what’s still an unpredictableeconomic environment. Those organizationsMelcrum held the first event in its global DigitalCommunication Summit series in Central Londonat the end of March, showcasing superior examplesof the use of digitial technology to enhance, eventransform, strategic internal communication.Here’s a round up of the best bits.that remain closed to opportunities risk fallingbehind, but those that see great returns recognizethat technology is and will continue to evolve atincredible speed. What’s most important here isnot the provider you choose – they will come andgo – but the organizational capacity for change.Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF)Paul Miller, Founder, Intranet BenchmarkingForum, opened proceedings at the DCS witha keynote speech on his top 10 predictions forthe future of digital communication in 2012 [seewww.melcrumblog.com for the full list]. In aconversation with conference chair and Melcrum’sManaging Director EMEA, RebeccaRichmond, Miller said he believes theintranet remains a core element for thedigital workplace but there are widerreachingtechnologies emerging. Hetouched upon the idea that theworkforce will be getting younger,with more and more teenagersentering into digital careers dueto their adeptness with newertechnologies.Also in this session, Millershared insights from his newbook, The Digital Workplace:How Technology is LiberatingWork pondering questionssuch as why ambitiousmanagers are switching fromintranet to digital to engagewith employees and whyintranet search and digitalusability has to improve fortech-enabled communicationto thrive.IBMLuis Suarez, Knowledge Manager,Community Builder and SocialSoftware Evangelist at IBM discussedhow the adoption program “BlueIQ” wasformed specifically with the task to encouragethe salesforce to make better use of the socialsoftware available to them. Initial efforts seemedfruitless but, after they highlighted how using30 scm April 2012

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SUMMITMUNICATION SUMMIT...what you missed!this software could make daily tasks easier tocomplete and developed a learning program toimprove productivity, the BlueIQ team’s valuewas evident. The talk, titled “Observations onsocial business adoption within the enterprise,”saw Suarez encouraging delegates to sharetools, enablement materials and best practices.He added that it’s important to demonstrateachievements in social technology by sharing thevision and communicating success stories and alsooutlined the importance of finding key influencersas early adopters, educating management andembedding the social software into day-to-daybusiness processes.A key component in IBM’s case study wasits “BlueIQ Ambassador Program”. Suarezrevealed how BlueIQ Ambassadors promoted theprogram and were more likely to feel equippedto collaborate efficiently; re-use assets; andreport increased productivity, faster response tocustomers and increased customer satisfactionand sales.Further metrics gathered as a result of theBlueIQ program included a drop in emails of35 percent across the 16,000 person salesforce, freeing up roughly two hours perday of their time.He explained how he hadcompared the degree ofinvolvement in the BlueIQprogram with a variety ofproductivity measures andfound a positive correlation –the greater the involvementwith the BlueIQprogram, the more valuerespondents gained fromsocial software. Advicehe offered the Summit’sdelegates included theneed to focus on tasks,not tools; leveraging earlyadopters; and enablingexecutives to lead the way.BupaNick Crawford, formerSocial Business Strategistand Hamish Haynes, Head ofInternal Communication, Bupa,provided a double dose of top-levelthinking with their presentation titled:“Connecting and engaging a globalworkforce through the Bupa Live networkingplatform”. The Bupa Live platform waslaunched in 2009 with the aim of connecting thehealthcare provider’s diverse workforce. Crawfordscm April 201231

Networking in the exhibition area.provided background, context and thinkingbehind Bupa Live and Haynes shared how theorganization wanted to consolidate into OneBupa with Bupa Live being a key driver for this.Bupa Live – which is a cloud based platform– was made available to users before the launchwith 50–100 people trialling it in a six-monthpilot prior tocompanywiderollout. The duobelieved this wasa key processin shaping theplatform, whichthey labeled“Launch andLearn”, allowingearly adopters toessentially shapeits format andfeatures.The successof the platformhas beendemonstratedin a number ofways including afast occurrenceof innovation inunprecedentedways – forexample, thedevelopmentof Bupasmartphoneapps.adidas GroupIn his presentation, “Building a morecollaborative workforce”, Felix Escribano,Collaboration and Knowledge Management,adidas Group, explained how he was taskedby leadership with establishing a collaborativeculture at the company and an end goal ofstrengthening competitive advantage. The needwas identified for employees to work closertogether cross-functionally, which led to a needto change the company culture. To enable this, heneeded leaders to spearhead open, non-politicaland collaborative communication throughout theorganization with a goal of establishing processesand tools centered on collaborating, knowledgesharing and building a learning organization.The result was establishing “Adiweb” – adidas’intranet. Further development for the intranet hasincluded My Workspace, My Site and My Profile: My Workspace is an area where employees canshare information and files with colleagues;share and discuss team or project updates; trackcompleted, in progress and planned work; andcollaborate on documents. My Site includes latest news from an employee’slocation, team and the adidas Group as a whole;32 scm April 2012

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SUMMITupdates from projects, teams and colleagues;and fast access to employee workspaces andinformation on other colleagues. My Profile lets employees know who the peopleare at the organization and what they do; sharecontact details; and help colleagues and friendskeep track of what employees are up to.Escribano laid emphasis on the importance of notcontrolling employee bahavior on social platforms,but instead mediating, enabling, supporting andtraining to help them. He also believes that, whilewe shouldn’t limit content choice for readers, it’suseful to highlight the most interesting stories forthem.The importance of integrating an organization’sweb 2.0 into employees’ day-to-day work activitiesso that it’s embedded in the workflow, not aboveit, was also noted. As well as this, he thinks thatorganizations need to drive adoption and usagethrough communication and that it’s important tobreak down the barriers to organizational change– “don’t just deploy, but be Enterprise 2.0”.BT and KontikiDuring BT and Kontiki’s presentation, “How BTare using video to maximize intranet impact”,Tim Passingham, Vice President, EMEA, BTConferencing and Greg Holt, Sales Director,EMEA, Kontiki looked at how the use of video inday-to-day communication is increasing.In the session, attendees heard how BTdeployed video as an effective global InternalCommunication channel and used it to overcomethe challenge of communicating to a globalinternal audience, as well as engaging employees,strengthening internal messages and boostingleadership visibility. BT overcame majorinfrastructure challenges to deliver this and useddashboards demonstrating metrics to illustratewhat, when and how content was viewed anddigested.The presentation was split into two chunks thatlooked first at how video can be used to addressleadership challenges, and then how it can helpglobal communication. Challenges were alsoput under the spotlight, including the issue ofbandwidth constraints and other IT roadblocks.NokiaJames Nas, Head of Internal Channels and SocialMedia, Nokia looked at the process of how thetelecommunication organization streamlined andintegrated its social channels for a new platform:“One Stream”. Following a request from theWhat’s most important here is not theprovider you choose – they will come and go– but the organizational capacity for changecompany’s new CEO for an audit of channels, Nasreceived employee feedback online from most ofthe previous intranet’s users that it was just toocomplex. So, the company decided to streamline:cutting out time-consuming, less popular channelsin the short term. In the long term, Nokia is inthe process of integrating all remaining channelsinto One Stream like a Twitter feed with simplefilters for people to decide what they do and don’twant to see. Currently, they have a SharePointbasedhomepage, which includes a live feed of theStock Exchange, as well as banners, research andaddress books. However, the intranet homepagewill ultimately no longer look this way and willinstead resemble Twitter. A key reason for thismove to streamlining and integration is that thecompany’s competition is the outside world – ifpeople can’t find news on the intranet, they willlook at external channels. Another importantfactor he outlined was that the CEO was stronglybehind this initiative and wanted employees tohave quality dialogue online, highlighting thesignificance of gaining executive-level buy-in.Luis Suarez of IBM explaining their Blue IQ adoption program.scm April 201233

CLOUD COMPUTINGHailed by many as the nexttechnological step in the evolutionof how we do business, cloudcomputing remains a buzz word forour times. A 2011 survey conductedby Gartner Executive Programs (EXP) thatincluded responses from 2,014 CIOs from across50 countries and 38 industries, found that CIOswere expected to adopt new cloud services muchfaster than originally expected. At the time, threepercent of CIOs had the majority of IT running inthe cloud, but by 2015 they expected this numberto increase to 43 percent. Mark McDonald, groupvice president and head of research for GartnerExecutive Programs said “New lighter-weighttechnologies – such as cloud computing, softwareas a service (SaaS) and social networks – enablethe CIO to redefine IT, giving it a greater focus ongrowth and strategic impact. These are two thingsthat are missing from many organizations.”But what exactly is cloud computing? Lee Bryant,Managing Director (Europe) of the Dachis Group,a global social business consultancy that also runsthe Social Business Council, says: “Cloud computingis offering computing power as a utility, with easyprovisioning of servers ‘in the cloud’ (i.e. not onpremises) to allow people and companies to easilyramp up and down their server capacity to meetdemand. Because of the massive scale of cloudserver farms provided, cloud computing capacitytends to be significantly cheaper than equivalenton-site systems.” Typically, once an organizationsigns up to a cloud provider, they can adapt theirThe technological tide has turned: nowadays, IT suppliersand digital companies are not just offering hardware/software, but online collaborative hosting systems fororganizations to conduct all operations. Welcome to theworld of cloud computing. LUKE DODD looks at the issuessurrounding this approach for Internal Communication.platform to reflect whatthe company’s specificrequirements are. Forexample: collaborationand social media toolscan be built into aninternal platformor intranet withthe ability foremployees toshare and editdocuments,join discussiongroups or accessthe company’ssocial networkingsite – all hostedonline – in the cloud.Implications for InternalCommunicationThere’s one major deliverable of cloudcomputing that has not been achieved bytraditional, costly and clunky internal servers: it’sbringing businesses one step closer to realizing thedream of a seamlessly-connected global workforce,and a truly 24-hour business where virtual/flexibleworking works because everyone can accesseverything. Internal servers simply haven’t beenable to handle the amount of data required toturn this dream into a reality – and here’s whereInternal Communication comes into play.According to www.cloudcomputingworld.org’spredictions on how cloud computing willaffect businesses in five years, geographicallocation of employees will becomeinsignificant when it comes to productivity.“Cloud computing solutions have had atremendous impact on the crucial aspectof communication in business. The tediousefforts of internal communication andthe margin of miscommunication havebeen practically eliminated by cloudcomputing tools. With a web-basedsoftware solution, all permitted decisionmakersand employees of a business view,revise and interact with the same softwareinterface, and all changes, additions or34 scm April 2012

CLOUD COMPUTING...what, why and how?communicationprocesses are reflected in real time. All usersview the same data, which means there are nohurdles in vertical business communication, andthere’s definitely a cut-back in the manual laborof data entry. New advances in cloud computingapplications have made it possible for all usersto interact with real-time data and one another,further enhancing the decentralized businessmodel, and nearly trivializing the relevance ofgeographic location.”But, don’t be alarmed at the assertion “tediousefforts of internal communication… have beenpractically eliminated by cloud computing tools”.The success of web-based enterprise technologythat aims to deliver this level of connectivityis very much in the hands of employees, who,along with the very top and middle layers ofleaders, need to be engaged and understand thebenefits of using cloud-based solutions to shareknowledge, communicate and collaborate. InternalCommunication has a significant role to play inthis entire process, from influencing decisionsaround which technology is suitable based on itsdeep understanding of pain points around theorganization (consider how cloud-basedtools such as Socialcast and Yammerare now commonplace as part ofthe IC toolkit), to communicatingbenefits and sharing success storiesto attract employees new technologiesthat are implemented. As AlistairCroll explains in an article oninformationweek.com 1 , enterprisetechnology is no longer purely inthe hands of IT: “We gave IT amonopoly on technology in orderto complete great projects, muchas we created monopolies to buildtranscontinental railroads or putphone lines in the ground. But, justas trains and telecom giants outlivedtheir usefulness, turning innovationinto complacency, so enterprise IT nolonger has a guaranteed monopoly.End users are consumers, and so areexecutives and shareholders. Theexpectations they bring to the officeand boardroom are set by public cloudsand technology upstarts. IT will have to satisfy asignificant number of these expectations in 2012,or face the wrath of its stakeholders.”Eliminating fear of the cloudEven though the cloud is a presence thatis gradually enveloping the business world,the ramifications it presents for InternalCommunication and IT processes can beintimidating.With a cloud system, your data anddocumentation is not backed up on an internalserver located at your organization – essentially,you’re placing your company’s “brain” in thehands of a supplier. The idea of allocating thisamount of trust in an external company can bedisconcerting – especially when holding delicateinformation, such as public banking details. Buthow real and serious is this risk? Not seriousenough to outweigh the benefits for the Spanishbanking group BBVA, who this year announcedplans to switch its 110,000 employees to useGoogle’s cloud computing services. It has stressedthat all customer data would stay in the company’sRead thisand learn➤ What to consider when switchingto cloud computing.FURTHER READING1. Driving cultural change at BASFwww.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/basf.shtml2. Making connections at News Corp.www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/labanca.shtml3. Are employees rejecting SharePoint?www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/spdebate.shtmlscm April 201235

NII Holdings’ IGLOO platform.own data centers and it would use Google’s toolsfor internal communication only, but still – arevolutionary step for such a risk-averse industry.Addressing security concerns is a major issue.Fortunately, even though your applications and dataare really on the public internet, most cloud datacenters offer firewalls and other security measuresfor protection against hacking. Bryant believes thatit’s worth exploring which legal jurisdiction covers apotential cloud-based solution provider, and whattheir provisions are for disaster recovery, securityand data protection. “For example, Amazon nowoffers a European cloud hosting option in additionto a USA one, which provides more legal protectionfor European customers in certain cases. In reality,however, the real security and data protection riskstend to be lower with well-managed cloud providersthan they are with your own internal IT,” he says.The loss of data is another common fear. When yourkey data is in the cloud, you really don’t know whereit is. Can it disappear? Even though the data isn’tlocated within the safety of your headquarters, mostdata centers feature monthly, weekly and nightlybackups, so it should be retrievable if displaced.Preventative measuresBut what can internalcommunicators do tocombat any potentialproblems that arise?Bryant outlines three steps:“Firstly, they need to takea grown-up attitude to risk.Secondly, they need tohonestly compare the risksto the current situation,rather than assuming thatexternal providers areinherently less reliableor secure than internalsystems. Thirdly, they needto have the confidence andknowledge to engage indetailed conversation andevaluation with their ownIT functions, rather thanleave IT to make thesedecisions on their behalf.”Sound do-able?All that said, let’sexplore some realexamples of organizationsusing cloud computing tounify global workforcesand so much more.Deloitte Australia – YammerThe Company: Deloitte Australia, a member ofDeloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the world’s largestprofessional services organization.Cloud of choice: Yammer, an enterprise social networkservice that offers collaborative document sharing.The Set-up: When Yammer started at DeloitteAustralia, the team thought it might make a goodaddition to their email and voice systems, unsureof how the social software would add value. Overthe next year, without any formal push, Yammerspread to 5,000 people and 12 national offices,supporting core business processes while breakingdown communication silos. As the user base grew,so did the number of user cases. Deloitte employeescan connect with others who share their interestsand expertise – connections that might not otherwisebe made. Certain projects are run entirely throughYammer, connecting cross-functional teams andcutting out meetings completely. Developers, productmanagers, designers and business analysts built anew iPhone application from ideation to launch, allwithin Yammer. The team used a Yammer group toplan, build and test the app without meeting once,resulting in a successful launch.Thoughts: Pete Williams, CEO, Deloitte Digitalbelieves that Yammer has gone beyond all of hisexpectations and has become embedded in theway that Deloitte Australia are doing things. Headds that it has helped drive innovation and buildcommunity at Deloitte, and that the organizationis finding new value in the tool every day.NII Holdings – IGLOOThe Company: NII Holdings, a mobilecommunication provider to Latin America withmore than 15,000 employees.Cloud of choice: IGLOO, a Canadian developerof online communities and social software forbusinesses.The Set-up: The new intranet is a corporate platformthat includes a suite of online collaboration,community building, social networking and contentmanagement tools [see screenshot, left].Delivered via the SaaS model, the IGLOOplatform provides document management andcollaboration tools with social software capabilitiesto help build and support communities both insideand outside an organization. The software allowsemployees to customize their own links, rate36 scm April 2012

CLOUD COMPUTINGcontent and share documents, and allows for teamand project groups. The platform is mobile andincludes blogs, microblogs, and wikis, boasts a robustemployee directory where they can upload theirpicture and share areas of expertise, and aims toincorporate multilingual capabilities at a future date.Thoughts: Angelo Ioffreda, Senior Director,Employee Communications, Engagement, andRecognition at NII Holdings says “Collaborationis a key need for our business. Toward that end,we’re building an innovative social intranet thatserves our business by putting collaboration at thecenter, rather than weaving social media featuresand technologies into an existing SharePoint orintranet.” He also says that NII Holdings wantedsomething that was cost effective and simple to use,simple to train on and easy to deploy and maintain.Bupa – JiveThe company: Bupa, a UK-based global healthcareprovider, with more than ten million customers in200-plus countries and 52,000 employees.Cloud of choice: Jive Social Business Software.The Set-up: “BupaLive” is Bupa’s cloud-basedsocial platform that aims to connect the globalhealthcare organization’s workforce of 52,000and support its “One Bupa” strategy of becominga holistic healthcare partner for its customers.Recognizing that the existing intranet couldn’tenable the global collaboration required to deliveron this strategy, the BupaLive team opted for JiveSocial Business Software. Because the platform ishosted in the cloud, it created minimum disruptionto internal IT infrastructure when it was piloted in2009. The user base grew from 750 to 15,000 in twoyears, following a unique approach to the roll out,internally known as “Launch and Learn”, wherebythe first six months were focused on buildingcritical mass: users, content, conversations,knowledge, profiles and so on. Thereafter thefocus was on “learning” from users and shapingthe platform accordingly. It currently has 3,500groups, some open, some private. It’s also thrownup unprecedented ROI in the form of innovation:Bupa’s first smartphone app was developed by adispersed team that connected on BupaLive.Thoughts: According to Nick Crawford, formerSocial Business Strategist at Bupa he and histeam had a mandate from senior leaders to“take risks and do whatever it takes” to work ina new way in order to accelerate the sharing ofideas and knowledge,innovations, contacts,products and servicesacross the businesses.“We had to join upall our businesses whichhad unintegrated ITand KM systems. In2008 we took our plansto create a traditionalhardwired intranet tothe CEO, he told usto go away and comeback with somethingcheaper,” says Crawford. It was around this timethat Bupa discovered Jive. “That solved 92 percentof our problems in a cost effective way – it wasglobally accessible, and being hosted in the cloud,it enabled us to move quickly.” As Bupa’s first trulyglobal collaboration space, BupaLive is now firmlyembedded in the culture, at team, departmental,business unit and global levels, and the board hasagreed to continue to invest over the next threeyears in ongoing development of the platform.The futureThe cloud has forged a permanent presence onour skylines and seems to be the next stop on thetechnological evolutionary path. How we navigateour organizations along this route and ensure wehave the right provider for our internal platformneeds could be crucial to business success. Internalcommunication has a responsibility to ensurethat, with IT, its organization’s business goals aresupported by its technology, whether that be acloud environment or not.However, the story doesn’t quite end there. Astudy commissioned by Microsoft and conductedby the Internal Data Corporation (IDC), predictsthat cloud computing will generate nearly14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015. Morethan two million jobs will be generated in thecommunication, media and manufacturing sectors.The study also estimates that revenues from Cloudcreated innovation could reach USA$1.1 trillion/year by 2015.With such a high level of revenue predicted fromusing the Cloud’s full potential and generatinginnovation, ask yourself: “Can any organizationafford to not get involved?”1. Alastair Croll. 2012’s Top Cloud Trend: IT DeliversPlatforms. Go to: www.informationweek.com/news/cloudcomputing/platform/232301324[accessed 22 March2012].Pages from BupaLive.scm April 201237

CREATING A DASHBOARDSOCIAL MEDIA IMPACTChris Crofts is Global Head of InternalCommunications at Aviva Investors andwas previously Global Head of Channelsat HSBC. While at HSBC, she pioneered aglobal internal social media tool toincrease collaboration and drivepeer-to-peer networking. Crofts has over12 years’ experience in communication inprivate, public and not-for-profit sectors.Figure One: An example Social Media Indexdiagram.VALUEIMPACTSMIReputational risk, time wasting andexpense are all reasons senior leadersare reluctant to fully support internalsocial media tools. But what if you coulddemonstrate how your tool has helpedthe business achieve its objectives, save money andimprove engagement and collaboration?It’s important to note that it’s not just aboutproving financial ROI. Well established socialmedia tools can provide you with credible insightsinto your employee’s thoughts, feelings andbehaviors, thus influencing your communicationapproach. These insights combined with hard dataon usage and costs, and presented in a succinct andcompelling way can position you as the “go-to”expert on employees. In short, it can address ageoldissues that Internal Communication faces.PENETRATIONA framework for measurementTo date, the easiest form ofmeasurement for internal socialmedia activity has focused on webhit-styleusage figures. But thesepenetration measures are just onepart of the measurement mix.There are multiple ways you cantrack how social media is helpingyour business to achieve its goalsand, when combined, these factorscan create a Social Media Index(SMI), something that is particularlyattractive for number-drivenexecutives.Internal social media are often hard to sell to seniorexecutives given the lack of control and informalnature of the content, so how can you demonstratetheir worth? Here CHRIS CROFTS shares a possiblemodel for measuring and reporting internal socialmedia tools.I’ve created an SMI based on three scores:impact, penetration and value [see Figure One].However, you could choose whatever measuresyou feel are most relevant to your organization:1. The impact score tracks achievement of specificsocial media objectives that support the overallbusiness goals.2. The penetration score tracks the reach and usageof the tool, using statistics that demonstrate thebehaviors required to achieve your objectives.3. The value score tracks the net value of the tool(money saved or generated minus the cost of thetool).Impact measures – objectivesIt’s very difficult to measure social media unlessyou know what it is you’re actually trying toachieve. Therefore, it’s important that you havea clear strategy with objectives outlining theoutcomes you’re striving for and these objectivesshould ultimately support the business goals ofyour organization. Following the model outlined inFigure Two [see right], think about:Business goals. What’s your organization trying toachieve? What challenges will it have to overcometo achieve them?The Internal Communication strategy. How InternalCommunication can help the business – bymarshalling the collective commitment, knowledgeand expertise of all the organization’s employeesbehind a clear vision, strategy and values.Social media objectives. How can social media helpto achieve the business goals? Different examplesinclude:■ By breaking down silos between business lines/teams.■ Increasing valuable knowledge and expertisesharing.■ Exposing buried talent, experience and knowledge.■ Supporting cultural change for greater openness.■ Reducing inefficiency and duplication byincreasing visibility of what’s going on indifferent parts of the business.■ Helping employees feel more connected to thebusiness.38 scm April 2012

TOOL: SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT DASHBOARDTO DEMONSTRATEFigure Two: A model to help identifysocial media objectives and KPIs.Key performance indicators. These are the measuresyou use to track progress against your objectives.One quick and easy way to regularly track progressagainst softer objectives around collaborationand connectivity is to run an online user survey tomeasure whether employees feel you’re makingprogress. Track strength of agreement withstatements such as:Cultural change measures■ “This tool allows me to express my opinions andideas openly.”■ “I feel more connected to my colleagues as aresult of using this tool.”The list goes on – but you should think aboutthe usage statistics that can best representthe employee behaviors you are trying toencourage – and which ones support yoursocial media objectives. You can gain furtherinsights when you analyze the results of theseby country or business line.Value measures – ROIPerhaps the trickiest measure of all is thatof financial value or ROI. But as socialmedia tools become more established,they’re starting to demonstrate cost savingsand even revenue generation.Business goalsThe Internal CommunicationstrategySocial media objectivesKey performance indicatorsImproving quality of work measures■ “I have shared new information about my skillsand experience with this tool.”■ “I have found colleagues with the skills andexperience to help me, using this tool.”Improving efficiency measures■ “I believe that this tool has helped me do my jobfaster.”■ “I believe it’s easier to find the information Ineed.”The percentage of employees who agreeor strongly agree with each of the positivestatements can then be used in the calculation ofthe SMI.Penetration measures – usageAs with intranets or videos, there are a numberof penetration measures that are generallyprovided in the analytics package that comes withyour social media tool. As external social mediatools advance, enterprise software developersare catching on and IBM has recently launchedanalytics that can track employee sentiment.Depending on the functionality of your tool, youmay be able to track:■ number of people logging in to the tool orpercentage of employees using the tool;■ number of communities/blogs/posts created/percentage of employees creating content; or■ percentage of people who have updated/addedto their profiles.Tracking cost savings. Just as in the externalworld – where you can use BlackberryMessenger for free, rather than the cost ofa text – in the business environment socialmedia tools encourage communicationaway from more costly channels such asemail. Talk to your IT department to see ifincreasing usage of your social media tools is driving areduction in emails or calls, and what the subsequentreduction in costs the tool could take credit for.The other common types of saving generated bythese tools are the identification and cessation ofduplicated work and the surfacing of cost-saving ideas.Tracking revenue generation. Perhaps more ofan art than a science is the process of provingthat revenue generation is down to employeecommunication. However, some employeecampaigns focus specifically around increasingsales of a particular product – and social mediachannels provide a space for employees to sharebest practice sales techniques as well as customerservice tips. What proportion of the increased salesyour social media tool can take credit for – aboveand beyond other activities – is best determined inconversations with your Marketing team.To calculate whether or not you’re achievingROI from a pure cost perspective – you need tohave a full picture of all costs associated with yourtool including the upfront costs (which may includesoftware licences, IT development or servers if it’san internally-hosted solution) and then ongoingrunning costs.TargetsRead thisand learn➤ How to effectively measure yoursocial media efforts againstbusiness impact.FURTHER READING1. Capturing the employee voice toreshape reward policies www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/casestudies/unilever.shtml2. 10 steps to building astronger business case for anew social media tool www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/toptips/strongtool.shtml3. TOOL: Do you really need thatsocial media software? www.internalcommshub.com/open/channels/toolkit/smsoftware.shtmlscm April 201239

Table One: Calculating the SMICalculating the value measure: Once you know howmuch the tool costs, you can start to do some simplecalculations to create a “Value %” for the SMI. Forexample:Year one costs:Implementation costs: £5,000Annual running costs: £25,000Total costs in year one:£30,000Total ROI is therefore £3,000 or 1%Year one savings:Reduction in email traffic:£5,000Identification and cessation ofduplicate project: £20,000Surfacing of employee idea thatsaved the organization: £8,000Total year one savings:£33,000If you are in the very early stages of your social mediaprogram, or are struggling to evidence cost savings/income generation, then use 0 percent as yourValue % for the SMI calculation.Calculating the SMIIt’s important to note that, for this to work, all yourmeasures need to be positive when high and negativewhen low.Sometimes it helps to create a single measure thatyou can track over time, or use to compare socialImpact KPIs Agree TargetI feel more connected to my colleagues as a result of using this tool 50%I have shared new information about my skills and experience in this tool 75%I have found colleagues with the skills and experience to help me, using this toolI believe that this tool has helped me do my job betterI believe it’s easier to find the information I need45%35%42%Average impact score 49% 75%Penetration KPIs Agree TargetUsers as a percentage of target audiencePercentage of users who have updated their profile, skills, experience75%57%Percentage of users who have started or contributed content 35%Value KPIsAverage penetration score 56% 80%Cost of the tool per annum £20,000Money saved, generated through using this tool this year to date £28,000Net cost/gain +£8,000TargetValue score 40% 150%media activities from different parts of the businessor discrete campaigns. You can create an SMI bysimply averaging the impact, participation and valuepercentage measures (circled in Table One).The SMI for the example in Table One is therefore43 percent. Over time, you would hope to showan increase in this measure and it can also be usedto compare the success of different social mediacampaigns.Employee insightWhilst the index might appeal to the morenumerically minded executive – it’s not the be alland end all. The employee insights (qualitative data)gained from social tools can also provide great value.As businesses enter a period of frequent and rapidchange, increasingly employees rely on each otherfor support and share problems with their peers. Theconversations on social media tools can highlightissues that employees are struggling to understandand need more clarification on, processes that arebroken or overly inefficient or employee sentimentaround company decisions. Some tools have built-in“word clouds” to visually demonstrate hot topics; oryou might be able to track the most commented onblog or discussion thread. Either way – your regularpresence within the tool is crucial for getting a realflavor of the concerns and issues raised and being ableto credibly advise executives. On a cautionary note,this is really only effective in well established toolswith high participation as opposed to a tool used onlyby the technical but vocal few.Creating a compelling reportNow you have your SMI figure and insights, youcan create a compelling one-page dashboard forsocial media that not only outlines the impact thetool is having on employee efficiency, connectivity,engagement and business costs but also highlights keyinsights about employee reactions and feelings aroundimportant issues within your organization.In the example dashboard opposite, I have pulledtogether the SMI figures and added some otheremployee insight and housekeeping measures thattestify to the “health”of the social media tool in asimple one-page report.In summary, the benefits that an internal socialmedia platform can bring to your business are manyand wide-ranging. Work out which ones meet yourorganization’s overall goals. The real power lies inbeing able to truly open up communication and createauthentic, multi-directional dialogue. The insights,value and knowledge are all there for the taking – youjust need to influence your organization to take a leapof faith and then measure it.40 scm April 2012

TOOL: SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT DASHBOARDHUBHUB is a peer-to-peer platform that enables employees from allacross the company to find each other, connect and share. Itsobjectives are: To foster a culture of collaboration and peer-to-peer support To expose knowledge and talent To help colleagues do their jobs better and fasterTable One: Calculating the SMIImpact KPIs Agree TargetI feel more connected to my colleagues as a result of using this tool 50%I have shared new information about my skills and experience in this tool 75%I have found colleagues with the skills and experience to help me, using this toolI believe that this tool has helped me do my job betterI believe it’s easier to find the information I need45%35%42%Average impact score 49% 75%Penetration KPIs Agree TargetUsers as a percentage of target audiencePercentage of users who have updated their profile, skills, experience75%57%Percentage of users who have started or contributed content 35%Average penetration score 56% 80%Value KPIs TargetCost of the tool per annum £20,000Money saved, generated through using this tool this year to date £28,000Net cost/gain +£8,000Value score 40% 150%TOP 5 COMMUNITIES1. IT forum2. International assignments3. Straight from the top4. Global recipe club5. A way with wordsTOP 5 SEARCH TERMS1. Job cuts2. Pay / Bonus3. Strategy 20124. Project X5. Thailand FloodsHUB dashboard April 2012HOT TOPICS WORD CLOUDSocialMedia Index48%EMPLOYEE SENTIMENT TRACKEREmployee sentiment about the recent strategy relaunchis positive overall. There is a strong sense that this isthe right direction, but there is confusion around ouroperations in Asia that requires further communication.There is a lot of negative “chatter” about Project Xwhich we believe has been heavily influenced by unioncommunications. We propose to increase line managerbriefings on this.INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT FLAGS2 this month8 to date, made up of:Restricted informationInappropriate behaviorOffensive languagescm April 201241

MEMBER PROFILEDorothy Hisgrove,General Manager,Culture &Communications,Corporate Affairs,Australia PostWhat was your route into InternalCommunication at Australia Post?Before joining Australia Post, Iworked at the National Australia BankGroup and BHP in communicationsand corporate affairs roles. I have aBachelor of Business with a majorin Marketing and Post Graduationqualifications in Marketing.What recent project have you andyour team been working on?My team is focusing on“democratizing” communication atAustralia Post. Of our 30,000-plusworkforce, only around 10,000 haveaccess to the intranet. So, one of themain projects currently underwayis the building of a new intranet,due to be launched in June 2012,replacing a 12-year old intranet witha more feature-rich, user-friendlyand accessible platform. It will ensurethat we have an intranet that fosterscollaboration and engagement acrossthe business by creating a culture ofinnovation and ideas and giving ourpeople the tools they need.We’ve also worked to improveemployee and manager engagement,with a focus on information sharing.We’ve done this though targetedbulletins and newsletters in ourfacilities and retail network, andimproved face-to face communicationin all parts of the business.What’s the set up of your team?There are around 50 members ofAustralia Post is the trading name of the AustralianGovernment-owned Australian Postal Corporation, foundedin 1809. It’s headquarted in Melbourne and employs over30,000 people.my team. They provide businesscommunication advice and support,strategic change managementplanning across the enterprise andfocus on engagement and embeddinga high-performance culture acrossAustralia Post. I report to theExecutive General Manager ofCorporate Affairs; The CorporateAffairs function comprises Culture &Communications, External Affairs &Reputation, Corporate Secretary &Government Relations, International& Regulatory Affairs and Community& Sponsorship.What’s been the teams’ biggestchallenge to date?Working to improve and change theculture at Australia Post is by far thebiggest challenge I’ve faced sincejoining the organization. In 2011, weset out the culture and behaviors weneeded to see more of at AustraliaPost to deliver our corporate strategy– our “Culture Pillars”: safety,accountability, customer focus andspeed of action. Australia Post is 200years old, with entrenched thinking,mindsets and processes – these arehuge barriers to changing behaviors,but it’s so important for AustraliaPost to embed a new culture so thatit can become more nimble andembrace future opportunities, andso that we ensure our people are safeand that we’re more accountable forthe work we do. My team is workinghard with all areas of the business toembed these new behaviors and to getteams to look at how they can bringour aspired culture to life.Over the past year we’ve focusedon safety and ensuring that all ofour people, regardless of their role,take personal accountability for theirsafety to help us achieve our goal ofzero injuries, zero harm and zerotolerance of unsafe practices. We’vealso made significant inroads towardsholding our leaders more accountablefor their performance and developinga performance improvement programfor role-modeling our Culture Pillarbehaviors that we call PerformanceReady.What’s been the biggest learningcurve?When I joined Australia Post, I’dcome from organizations whichhad industry leading employeeengagement tools at their disposal,so one of the biggest learning curvessince has been the work on generallymodernizing and improving theway we communicate and connectwith our people. We’re focusing onassisting the enterprise build thesystems and process it needs fortomorrow, but we need to have inplace industry leading communicationchannels.What’s been the highlight?There have been many – as my teamis part of Corporate Affairs we reallyare the change driver, ensuring thebusiness meets its strategic objectivesand we have achieved so muchalready. We’ve ensured there’s asafety focus across the enterprise;we’ve started to embed a new culturewhich will guide our employees todeliver results and behave in theright way; we’re improving theirskills and ensuring they’re deliveringin their roles; and we’re improvingour diversity performance to ensurewe’re meeting the needs of oneof Australia’s most multiculturalworkforces. In addition, we’ve rolledout a mentoring program to AustraliaPost women to ensure their careerscan grow and prosper.What channels are used tocommunicate with the rest of thebusiness?We have a range of channels, but ourkey communication is through theintranet, Post Journal – our AustraliaPost magazine, regular employeeand manager updates, businessnewsletters and employee briefing42 scm April 2012

documents. We also encourage teamsto talk face-to-face. My team assistsvarious parts of the business to dothis by regularly preparing what wecall “Toolbox talks”. These have beenvery effective in supporting managersto speak to their teams and cascadeinformation. We have an onlinecommunity, which is a great channelfor our people to float ideas, start adiscussion or promote an activity atAustralia Post. It’s growing rapidlyand has just reached more than 1,000members – I’m so proud of this as itpaves the way for introducing socialmedia tools and channels.How does Internal Communicationwork with senior leaders/CEO?My team is engaged with all levelsof the business to ensure thatwe’re fostering an engaged andhigh performing workforce, with aculture that will allow us to succeed.Whether it’s the executive team, orthe 2,000-plus managers at AustraliaPost, my team work across all levelsof the business on a daily basis. OurManaging Director/CEO is openand accessible, and understands theimportant role my team is playingto help the enterprise deliver itsstrategic aims.What role has InternalCommunication played in theorganization’s strategy?It’s my team’s role to ensure thatwe promote understanding of ourcorporate strategy – communicationis vital if we are to win the heartsand minds of our people asAustralia Post transitions to amore sustainable footing. We haveto ensure that every employeeknows what the strategy is, whyit’s important and how theirrole contributes to us achievingour objectives. The fact that thesenior leadership have approveda new intranet demonstrates thelevel of commitment to businesscommunication, as they know howimportant it is to having an engagedworkforce who will help us deliver.What’s your teams’ guiding principle?Our team’s guiding principles are verymuch aligned to our Culture Pillarbehaviors of safety, accountability,customer focus and speed of action.Our team provides an exceptionalservice to our stakeholders and weacknowledge and celebrate oursuccesses along the way. I’m fortunateto have some of the best and brightestcommunication professionals inAustralia on my team – every day theyamaze me and make me so proud,with their innovation, enthusiasm anddrive.What’s the future for InternalCommunication, both at AustraliaPost and the profession in general?We’ll continually evolve and reviewour communication channels andmix. Ultimately, I want to seecommunication at Australia Postintegrated across all areas. We’llalways strive for excellence in thisarea and look at new ways to engageour people. Our priority for this yearis to ensure our workforce have accessto the channels they need to connectwith each other, work effectively as anemployee community and contributeto ideas and conversations across thebusiness. I will also look at improvingthe cascading of information to teamsacross the enterprise, by looking atthe way information flows from headoffice to managers and to teams.I want to empower our managers,wherever they are, to have meaningfulconversations, by arming them withtools and support they need.What are the key traits of a highperforming Internal Communicationteam?As a manager, I try to support myteam every step of the way. I ensurethat the team comes togetherregularly to strategize and to thinkahead. I’ve seen many teams fail whospend too much time locked downin the present, rather than lookingat the challenges and opportunitiesahead. I also think it’s imperativefor teams to have a laugh – laughingis very important in a team to keepthings real and balance out the workpressures. When I started at AustraliaPost I had a blank canvas to workfrom. I knew what I wanted – the rightpeople, with the right skill set andattitude. I wanted people who werestrategic, can work under pressureand who would support the businessand leaders.It’s also important, as a manager,to ensure team members are in theright roles and are best suited tothe projects they’re working on. Ifa person is passionate about theirproject or role they will deliver resultsand enjoy their employment.What have you and your team usedMelcrum for?To ensure that they keep up-todateon how other corporates arecommunicating and innovating,and what others are doing to lookat change management and crisiscommunications.How have you used Melcrummembership service/channels toovercome challenges?The SCM journal is very popular inmy team to keep up-to-date on thelatest news and developments fromacross our profession. It’s imperativefor teams to look externally, to knowtheir industry, to read about howothers are innovating and changingthe way we do things and also toread about what’s working and notworking for other organizationsas far as their communication. Istrongly promote the reading of SCMin my team.Whether you have fellow communicators working next toyou, on the other side of the country or around the world, aMelcrum Team Membership is the most convenient resourceto share what world-class IC looks like.Find out more,email membership@melcrum.comor visit www.melcrum.com/membershipscm April 201243

a one-day communication course foryour line managersRooted in Melcrum’s 15 years of nternal ommunication research, this one-daytraining course has been designed to improve communication effectivenessby empowering one of the most important links in thecommunication chain – the line managerThe agenda is broken down into four key areas:1Why the manager matters in the communication equationMaking a clear business case for excellence in managerialcommunication and how it drives business outcomes2Formulating key messages that link to strategyEnabling managers to be more effective at helping their teamsunderstand how their individual contributions add value to theoverall business strategy and success3Engaging presentations and productive conversationsEnsuring that managers are capturing the hearts and minds oftheir teams, whether it be through public presentations orone-on-one conversations4Matching medium to messageLooking at the channels and tools available to our managers andinvestigating how they can use those tools to the greatest effectfor the right behavioral resultsThis is not a public course and can only be run in-house. If you’d like to talkmore about the course content and running it across your business unit ororganization, contact us using the details below:EMEARebecca Richmond+44 (0)20 7357 8888rebecca.richmond@melcrum.comUSAClaire Leheny+1 202 393 8960claire.leheny@melcrum.comAsia PacificSally Heginbotham+61 (0)2 9222 2810sally.heginbotham@melcrum.com

“Helped uscommunicate in away that engaged ourpeople emotionallyso they left feelinginspired and eagerto deliver”Nick Murray,Head of Internal CommunicationsOur speciality......leadership and managementevents that engage staff emotionallywith strategy.Which means we’re expert at helping nationaland international brands get the message acrosswhen things are changing, times are challengingor when a company is simply growing.We’ve got plenty of award winning stories to tell . . . and we’d love to share them with you.Talk to Mags, Deb or Nick 0845 612 6121 top-b.comGlobal Leadership & Management Event Specialists