In this deck I share my views on Internal Communications for a presentation at the 2014 NCHRA Young Professionals Summit
Title: The Internal Marketer
Topic: The Art and Science of Internal Communications
Description: Have a big initiative coming up? Implementing a new system or program that you need your stakeholders to buy into? But you are HR! How does that work? Internal marketing is inward facing marketing. Internal marketing is used by marketers to motivate all functions to satisfy customers. Yes, this includes employees!
What you get out of this:
Discover the art and science in internal marketing and communications
Learn internal marketing strategies and techniques that will help gain buy-in at any level in the organization
Learn what foundational channels you must cultivate and develop to ensure you get as much bang as possible in your employee communications
2. AJ Thomas
Head of Employee Engagement & Development, Nimble Storage
Founder & Executive Director, Infuse Program Foundation
@ItsAJThomas
Mom, foodie, passionate about education and technology.
4. Why are they communicating?
Where does it fit within an organization’s strategic plans?
Who should do it -- marketing, HR, public relations?
What can these organizations learn from each other?
Key Questions Regarding Internal Marketing
5. Selling the company to its employees (Grönroos, 1981)
The process of attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining qualified employees through
job-products that satisfy their needs (Berry & Parasuraman 1991)
Building customer orientation among employees by training and motivating both customer
contact and support staff to work as a team (Kotler & Armstrong 1991)
A process by which employee satisfaction is leveraged to positively impact the bottom line.
Satisfied employees strengthen relationships among all critical stakeholders. (Williams, Business &
Economic Review, 1997)
How is Internal Marketing Defined?
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6. Effective internal
marketing responds to
employee needs as it
advances the
organization’s mission
and goals.
“The application of marketing, human resources
management, and allied theories, techniques, and
principles to motivate, mobilize, co-opt and
manage employees at all levels of the
organization to continuously improve the way they
serve external customers and each other.
(Joseph W.B. 1996 Cleveland State University )
ɪ̀ntə́rnəl márkətɪŋ (n.)
7. Customer- and employee-focused
It demands an integrative approach
Internal customers -- the idea that organizational departments serve each other
It encompasses all employees
What Does It Need to Succeed
ɪ̀ntə́rnəl márkətɪŋ (n.)
9. The Art & Science
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Recruiting the right people
Training them
Motivating them
Communicating with them
Co-opting them (getting them to buy into the organization and its plans)
10. Changing Workforce
Employees viewed as
assets, not costs
People will have 4-6 careers
in lifetime
More than half of women
with babies are working
More women are starting
and running their own
businesses
11. Where Internal Communications Fail
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Few companies develop a strategy
Failure in over 80% of cases involving announced change
Biggest symptom of failure - lots of inaccurate, negative rumors
Second symptom - learning about change from press
12. How It Affects Employee Engagement
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Employees are insulted when a less ‘rich’ channel is used
Management does not adapt message to different groups
Employees react negatively to use of buzzwords
Great differences between literal meaning, intention and effect of
overly positive messages
13. Implications of Not Doing Enough
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Employees don’t believe what management says.
Are not sufficiently informed.
Change not communicated well.
Management does a bad job of explaining reasons behind decisions.
Communication is not timely.
14. Don’t have time
Haven’t gotten information self
Fear reactions, leaks, uproar
Won’t give away power
Not evaluated on their communication
Get no rewards for communicating
Don’t see how it is useful
Under-evaluate employee’s information needs
15. What Employees Want Leaders to Do
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Inform them ahead of time
Care about how they really feel
Give their managers enough authority to get job done
Make a strong commitment to serve the customer
Have the ability to solve major organization problems
Run a socially responsible organization
Provide new products and services to meet competition
Place more emphasis on quality than quantity
16. Communication Obligations
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Speak at meetings
Negotiate
Give feedback, criticism and praise
Speak personally with staff
Solve conflicts
Set demands
Explain and defend unpopular decisions
Carry out periodic evaluations of
employees
Carry information from Sr. Management
Explain
Listen
Get feedback from employees
Take information from‘down’to ‘up’
Active role in spreading information
Sell ideas
Motivate, inspire and encourage personal
development
22. What is size and nature of company?
What do employees think of organization?
How satisfied are employees?
What employee communications exist?
How effective are communications tools?
Are there special employee relationship
programs?
Assess the
Organizational
Landscape
23. Communication Objectives
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Increase employees’ knowledge
Enhance favorable attitudes toward employer
Get more adoption by employees of behavior desired by management
Make employees spokespersons for organization in community
Receive more employee feedback
24. Prescriptions for The Internal Marketer
• Face-to-face: non-routine and difficult communications
• Memos: routine, simple communications
• Discussion & Meetings: make presence felt
• Rich media: Implement a strategy for these types of communications
• Multiple media: critical issues and need to get message heard
• Evaluate appropriate technology and tools
25. Manager’s Communication Obligation
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Speak at meetings
Negotiate
Give feedback, criticism and praise
Speak personally with staff
Solve conflicts
Set demands
Explain and defend unpopular decisions
Carry out periodic evaluations of
employees
Carry information from Sr. Management
Explain
Listen
Get feedback from employees
Take information from‘down’to ‘up’
Active role in spreading information
Sell ideas
Motivate, inspire and encourage personal
development
26. How to Measure Impact
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Communication, Retention, Acceptance of Messages
Employee Surveys
Focus Groups
Talk to your employees and managers 1:1- extensive use of network
analysis and interviews
Automation and tool metrics
27. What Great Companies Do
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Share responsibility
Bad news/good news ratio
Knowing customers, clients, audiences
Employee communication strategy
Chief executive as communication
champion
Match between words and actions
Commitment to 2-way communication
Emphasis on face-to-face
28. Information/Lead
Generation: Gathering
Information
Lead Nurturing:
MailChimp, Constant Contact, Emma
Initiatives:
HR Programs
Follow Up
Corporate
Newsletter
Drip Campaigns
with Collateral and
Event Offers
1:1 Meetings
Focus Groups
Employee Surveys
Reward & Recognition
Programs
Intranet
Activity
Communications
Email
Communications
Stakeholder
Campaigns
Internal Advertising
Newsletters
Awareness:
Generating Buzz
Strategic Internal Communications Campaigns Help Drive Employee Engagement
The Internal Marketer’s Roadmap
29. An internal marketer can develop a really hot system
to market their product, but if they have not taken
time to build in an employee communications plan,
the marketing effort is dead in the water.
Gegenheimer, C. L., “Include employees in marketing”, Advertising Age’s Business Marketing, July 1998.
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