1. Postcards from the Road
Debrief
Presented by
Leslie Hiltabrand
Internal Communications
Consultant
Houston, TX
10 November 2015

2. 22
Purpose
The purpose of Todd Grove’s road trip and corresponding Postcards
from the Road newsletter was to:
• Introduce Todd to ABS Group employees and contractors
• Position Todd as a personable, approachable leader who favors
context-oriented communications
• Engage Group employees in Todd’s travels and learn more about
what the other offices do; provide visual connection to other offices
and people through inclusion of photos
• Allow Todd to get acquainted with the business faster
• Set the stage for Group’s ongoing interactive, value-based internal
communications objectives and plans

3. 33
Introductory Video
Working from the positive impact Bureau videos have achieved, we
started by creating and distributing to all ABSG employees and
contractors a video of Todd Grove in which he:
• Introduced himself to the organization
• Gave details on his background and experience
• Showed his enthusiasm for leading the organization
• Announced road trip to ABSG locations around the world to
learn more about our service offerings and meet personnel
face-to-face
• Shared our plan for a Postcards from the Road newsletter that
would allow personnel to follow along on his travels, see
photos of people and places, and learn more about what
ABSG does

4. 44
Road Trip Destinations and Town Halls

5. 55
Created and distributed five editions of Postcards from the Road
Postcard from the Road
Date Distributed Locations
28 May, 2015 Irvine, CA; Knoxville, TN; Arlington, VA
13 July, 2015 Warrington, England; Aberdeen, Scotland; Oslo,
Norway; Trondheim, Norway; Bergen, Norway;
London, England; with virtual town hall with staff in
Stavanger
13 August, 2015 Shanghai, China; Singapore, ROS
6 October, 2015 Ridgefield, CT; San Antonio, TX; Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
10 November, 2015 Dubai, UAE; with virtual town halls with staff in:
Ahmadi, Doha, Dhahran and Abu Dhabi

6. 66
Feedback from Employees
A good way to communicate our
team skills and also ongoing &
past projects developed in other
offices all around the world.
Lima, Peru
Postcards from the Road is very
important and useful for promotion
of our job and with the new
strategy, the ABS Group improved
the performance of its diffusion and
awareness campaigns. Thanks for
this useful information.
Veracruz, Mexico
Postcards provides a good
summary of the capabilities of
each of the office in a text form.
Has this been converted to a
matrix of offices and their
capabilities?
Knoxville, TN
This is an awesome internal
newsletter. Kudos to Todd for
making the trip to all the offices
listed and sending this
newsletter. Great start!
Arlington, VA
Excellent!
Copenhagen, Denmark
Thank you for providing these
communications. They have
been very informative.
Arlington, VA
Thanks for the Postcard! Even
though I’ve been with the
company for 25 years, it’s good
to keep continuously learning
about our expanding
capabilities.
Very informative.
Knoxville, TN
This is a very good initiative keeping the
employees informed and it helps againt to
support the understanding of our global
expertise and capabilities.
Hamburg, Germany
I thought the video was very
nicely done. I think it will be
interesting to see pics and
information about the other
offices, especially those
overseas!
North Charleston, SC
I very much enjoyed reading
this journal and look forward
to hearing about the next
round of office visits. The
details on services / strategic
initiatives for each office/
service line is very helpful and
the narrative/personnel
details help in communicating
our overall value proposition.
Thank you.
Ridgefield, CT

7. 77
Next Stage Communications
Based on the success of Postcards from the Road, next steps are development of:
• Group Performance Communications
– Monthly scorecards based on KPIs to be determined
– Quarterly narrative from Todd that provides context around the numbers to staff
– Key messages to be sent to leaders to reinforce messages with their staff
• Group Infographic for Intranet
– Illustrates group locations
– Lists service offerings
– Provides contact information
To enhance two-way communications, we are exploring the possibility of:
• Leadership Unplugged
– Unscripted, one hour online live audio sessions
– Speakers are senior-most leaders or influencers
– Leader/ influencer briefly shares his or her recent experiences in the field, current program
activities or news updates
– Majority of time is open for employees’ Q&A, on a particular topic
• Reddit-style AMA (Ask Me Anything) Sessions