When times are tough good organizations will be redoubling their efforts to both keep people in the picture and engage them in decisions that effect them and which they can contribute to. The trouble is that the command and control leadership model of the last millennia resulted in top down employee communication being hard wired into the way corporate internal communication is used and experienced. Yes there are now all kinds of feedback processes – much accelerated by new technology - and very many examples of real inclusion of people in decisions and big ticket change. But for many workers the last millennia communication model is still about the alignment of the many with the decisions of the few. The rise of leader and employee engagement is resulting in a complete re-think of the DNA of corporate internal communication as leadership models become more inclusive. John will expand on the idea of the velvet revolution in employee communication exploring the clash between last millennia top down communication and more inclusive ways of leadership set in the context of a coming global collision between democratic capitalism in the West and authoritarian capitalism rising in the East.

1. A velvet revolution for employee
communication?
Simply Summit 26th April 2012, John Smythe
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2. Menu
 Social velvet revolutions & corporate leadership
 A velvet revolution at work – why now?
 Last millennia or new millennia workplace?
What/who is internal communication for?
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3. Velvet revolutions........here, there, China?
Lech Walesa at Gdansk Shipyard addressing workers
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4. Coincidental social upheavals?
The Arab Spring
Demonstrators
Protestors gathering in marching through
Tahrir Square, Habib Bourquiba
Cairo, Egypt Avenue, Tunis
Political dissidents in
Sana’a, Yemen
Protests in Duma, demanding the
Syria resignation of the
president
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5. A velvet revolution at work gathers pace
Distributed:
 Leadership
 Intelligence
Last millennia leadership  Collaboration
Command and control New millennia leadership
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6. The end of the loyalty for security deal
 Cradle to grave portfolio careers
 Loyalty for security transactional relationship
 Dependence independence
 „Our human resources‟ creative talent on loan
 Employees citizens
 Command and control well governed inclusivity
 I left the company I left my boss
 CEO = GOD CEO = Guide
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7. Last millennia or new millennia workplace?
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8. What is internal communication for under
command and control?
 Adviser to senior and local management on staff expectations and message
appetite
 Provider of the big pictures
 Localising the big pictures
 Listening to employees
 Opportunities for dialogue
 Equipping leaders to communicate
 Celebrating corporate and individual success
 Acknowledging corporate failure
 Opportunities for corporate innovation
 And edit, align, coerce
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9. Coercive communication
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10. Internal communication – alignment or
liberation?
A cross roads?
FROM ASSUMPTION THAT ITS ROLE IS PRIMARILY
MESSAGING DECISIONS MADE BY ELITES TO THE
ASSUMPTION THAT ITS ROLE IS ALSO TO ENGAGE THE MANY
IN WELL GOVERNED AND WIDELY DISTRIBUITED DECISION
MAKING
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11. 1. Elites deciding
2. Message forming
3. Message delivery
4. Message impact
5. Reinforcement
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12. The same thing right?
Communication Engagement
• Making connections • Opening decision making and
change to the right groups to:
• Sharing meaning - add value
• Influencing mood / climate - accelerate execution
- broaden ownership and
• Setting context sustainability
• Reinforcing status quo / • = Power sharing
hierarchy • Disturbing status quo /
suspending hierarchy
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13. Generalists solve complex problems
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14. What engages us? - distributed leadership
“A culture of distributed leadership enables people
at work to liberate their creativity to deliver
surprisingly good results for their institution and
themselves”
By:
 Inviting employees who deliver the end result to contribute to
day to day decisions, strategy and change in a well governed
way
 Leaders at every level who have the appetite and capability
to engage people in the decision making process.
Shared power
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15. Employee engagement – it‟s elective not coercive
People engage themselves
when they are invited to contribute to
every day operational decisions and big
ticket strategy and change that effects
them and which they can affect.
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16. What engages people at work? – power sharing
Telling OUTCOME Selling OUTCOME
the many what has Hooligans or to the many what Compliant
been decided by the spectators has been decided by collaborators
few the few
Inclusion Co-creation
Driving OUTCOME Judging who will add OUTCOME
accountability down Willing value if included in Personally
by implicating front end decision committed
collaborators
people as individuals forming for change
in execution & strategy reformers
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17. Business case - the cost of the employee satisfaction
industry…UK PLC
Hostages Apostles
28% 33%
Fence-sitters
16%
Disconnected Mercenaries
20% 3%
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18. Effective engagement still requires top down
clarity
Top down and Elites make closing
Elites decide the givens bottom up reporting decisions and/or
on engagement arbitrate
process
Top down messaging of givens
and invitation to challenge and
contribute
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19. New roles for the communicator
 Advisor - challenging the pattern of top down, elite based
decision making which must end in telling and selling
 Negotiating with elites where others can contribute to add
value and accelerate change & strategy by understanding
the demographics of the workforce
 Building the „engagement challenge‟ into change &
operational improvement processes
 Grafting engagement capability into training,
development, performance management & recognition
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20. Building the engagement challenge into change
The What
A challenge / crisis / opportunity
presents
Evaluation Sensing, identifying,
crystallisation
? HOW shall it be Address, ignore, postpone?; risk
?
Approach to engagement done & reward Approach to engagement
Tell Sell Tell Sell
Inclusion Co-creation Who will add value Options for action developed ? Inclusion Co-creation
to execution
? ?
Options evaluated
Execution plan –
?
The HOW Decision made
Decisions, large or tiny have a life cycle. Decision makers should make judgements about
who will add value to „the what / content‟ and the „how / execution‟.
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21. Building engagement skills into skills development
Effective engagement - three ingredients:
 My decision making process skills: engaging people in
decision making
 My presence: my impact
 My language: “words are the key to the soul”
Effective decisions, fast execution, better
relationships, culture of trust and respect.
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22. Personal engagement skills = how I include people
in decisions
Negotiate authentic
1 Consider who will
add value if engaged
in decision forming
upfront
2 agreement about
decision: a shared
story
COMPLETE
3
Learning from Consider who needs
5 listening /
observing
DECISION
CYCLE
to be communicated
with and engaged
in execution
How to engage & communicate
4 - method
- style
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23. Skills of leaders who engage effectively (YouGov;UK)
Creates space for teams and individuals to test and explore whilst ensuring short term demands are met (0.13)
Accepts challenge and addresses questions (0.11)
Provides insight and explanation to help create a clear context for the work we do (0.10)
Identifies the right people to contribute given the demands of different situations (0.10)
Creates value by engaging others (0.09)
Communicates clear messages Has the knowledge needed to Is adept at dealing with different
about what needs to be done lead our team in the work we do personalities
Invites people who can make a Helps groups integrate different
Helps members of the team
difference to be involved, perspectives to create
overcome resistance to change
irrespective of level of seniority sustainable solutions
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24. Stepping back
Q) What is internal communication for today?
Q) A new millennia or last millennia organization?
Q) Is internal communication leading or lagging the leadership
style?
Q) Starting a change in I/C‟s role
 Pilot in a business or change process
 Pilot in a function
 Work with HR on capability
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25. And finally
Sir Wim Bischoff (chair Lloyds Banking Group)
as a senior sponsor of Engage for Success,
the government‟s report(s) into employee
engagement – has called for employee
engagement to be one of the key health
factors to be considered by shareholders – the
velvet revolution at work is becoming main
stream.
Is the internal communications establishment ahead or
behind the wave?
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26. Thank you.
johnsmythe@engageforchange.com
www.engageforchange.com
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