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Internal Communication Strategies for Work (That Work!)

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Great leaders inspire their people and provide focus by setting a clear vision, a mission, and actionable values that fuel an environment for individual and company-wide success. A strong company culture is fueled and inspired by leadership actively involved and connected to the realities of their teams and their business.

It’s no secret that ineffective communication is one of the main drivers behind workplace failure. Poor, nonexistent, misdirected and dysfunctional communication are among the biggest reasons companies fail to accomplish their missions. Building a strong culture takes countless hours, hard work and commitment. It often involves tearing down the barriers that threaten success and identifying ways to optimize internal communication.

Working closely with a diverse range of executive teams at both multi-billion dollar corporations and early-stage startups, I work as a strategic guide around strategy, innovation and cultural transformation and I have seen how collaboration and communication at its best drives success and at its worst, poisons a company’s potential. Significant investment is made in employee development, recognition and engagement but very little time and money is spent to improve communication.

Be honest for a minute and think about how much time you waste in meeting preparation to ensure you deliver on a message for a key executive. Or how much analysis and discussion revolves around trying to understand and translate feedback from a senior leader––it adds up and is riddled with inefficiency.

Maybe it’s time to think about internal communication as an opportunity for new thinking. Understanding who you’re talking to, how they process information and like to communicate are opportunities to significantly improve results.

Chances are your employees don’t always have the opportunity to perform at their optimum level because their natural talents go untapped as a result of poor communication and a misunderstanding of who they are engaging. In our work to connect teams and optimize their cultural effectiveness, we’ve used two programs that have been very effective in improving communication.

Strengths Finder is a valuable engagement tool that helps employees discover and build their innate abilities. The Gallup-created assessment program is based on a 40-year study of human strengths and talents—helping people ingress, discover and characterize their talents. They’ve also created an online Strengths Center to provide solutions that enable people to become more engaged, more productive, and happier. When people do what they do best, companies and organizations benefit. According to Gallup, “People who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job. Teams that focus on their strengths are 12.5% more productive. Coach the people you lead to improve their performance.”

The program also enhances executive leadership teams by focusing on leadership talents. Completing Gallup’s strengths coaching certification process allows individuals to achieve an elite level of coaching and mentorship by providing them with the tools to inspire confidence among the people they coach.

Who’s Who in the Zoo is another program designed to enhance internal communication. It transforms the way people in companies relate to one another, to management and to customers by teaching them to become effective communicators. Personality types are easily identified and referenced with a specific animal characteristic. Once participants are aware of their personal character, they learn how it relates to their own communication styles. They are also taught how to intentionally adapt their communication style to more effectively listen to, connect with, and influence their important colleagues.

This program works because it’s structured to focus on others instead of one’s own self and is built on the premise that successful communication is saying something the way the other person can hear it, not the way you want to say it. The program begins with people discovering which animal they are in the zoo, and once that’s established, the focus shifts to others, adapting the ideal communication style accordingly.

Good communication is key in business and in life––yet it is absent in many relationships, teams and companies. Utilizing communication-enhancing tools is an effective way to improve executive leadership, build team and interpersonal communication, develop employee strengths and innate talents, all while helping to increase productivity and build a vibrant company culture.

Image credit: pixabay.com

How To Build A Courageous Company Culture

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Do you run into your company’s culture every day? Does it inspire you or does it smack you in the face and get in your way, slowly wearing you down? Is your culture overpowering or does it inspire you to overcome challenges?

It’s important to understand what drives brand culture. Is it power and ego that people react to or a culture of encouragement and empowerment? Is it driven from top-down directives or cross-department collaboration?

To get a taste of an organization’s culture, join an executive meeting or sit in the lunchroom, listen to the conversations, and examine the way decisions are made and how departments cooperate. Take some time out to get a good read on the health of the company culture.

Culture Fuels A Strong Brand

A vibrant culture provides a cooperative and collaborative environment for a brand to thrive. Branding is the most important asset to differentiate a company consistently over time. It needs to be nurtured, evolved, and invigorated by the people entrusted to keep it true and alive.

Without a functional and relevant culture, the money invested in research and development, product differentiation, marketing, and HR is never maximized and often wasted because it’s not fueled by a sustaining and functional culture.

Consider Zappos, one of the fastest companies to reach $1 billion in recent years, fueled by an electric and eclectic culture, one that’s inclusionary, encouraging, and empowering. It’s well documented, celebrated, and shared willingly with anyone who wants to learn from it.

Now compare that to American Apparel, the controversial and prolific fashion retailerwith a well-documented and highly dysfunctional culture. Zappos is thriving and on its way to $2 billion, while American Apparel has been mired in bankruptcy and controversy. Both companies are living out their missions—one is to create happiness and the other is based on self-centered perversity. Authenticity and values in culture always win.

Building a strong company culture takes hard work and true commitment, and, while not something that can be ticked off in boxes, here are some very basic building blocks to consider:

1. Dynamic And Engaged Leadership

A vibrant culture is organic and evolving. It’s fueled and inspired by leadership that is actively involved and informed about the realities of the business. The leaders are passionately engaged and genuinely care about the company’s role in the world. They are great communicators and motivators who set out clear visions, missions, values and goals and create an environment for the brand culture to come alive.

2. Living Values

It’s one thing to have beliefs and values spelled out in a frame in the conference room–it’s another to have genuine and memorable beliefs that are directional, alive, and modeled daily throughout the organization.

It’s important that departments and individuals are motivated and measured against the modeling of the values. And, to create a values-driven culture, hire people using the company values as a filter.

For an organization to embody its culture, people must be empowered and every department must understand what’s expected. Don’t just list values in slide shows–bring them to life in people, products, spaces, at events, and in communication.

3. Responsibility And Accountability

Strong cultures empower their people, recognize talents, and offer the framework for very clear roles and responsibility. It’s amazing how basic this principle is, yet how absent it is in many businesses.

4. Celebrate Success And Failure

Most companies that run at speed often forget to celebrate their victories, both big and small, and they rarely have time or the humility to acknowledge and learn from their failures. Brands can celebrate both victories and failures in their own unique ways, but should share them and share them often.

About the Author: Shawn Parr is the Guvner & CEO of Bulldog Drummond, an innovation and design consultancy headquartered in San Diego whose clients and partners have included Starbucks, Diageo, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Adidas, MTV, Nestle, Pinkberry, American Eagle Outfitters, Ideo, Sony, Virgin, Disney, Nike, Mattel, Heineken, Annie’s Homegrown, Kashi, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, The Honest Kitchen, and World Vision.

photo credit: La Quebrada Cliff Diver / Clavadista via photopin (license)

Building An Authentic Brand: A Case Study

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Building a brand that stands for something is challenging; it takes time and, most importantly, authenticity. Almost all companies hope to impart a positive emotion or gain immediate recognition upon someone viewing their logo, hearing their name or considering their story. Zippo is one such company that has been able to achieve that success.

When most people hear the word Zippo, they have immediate brand recognition. Its name and brand persona hold a reputation of tradition and durability that companies and industry leaders can learn from.

Zippo Conveys Quality and Personality

Zippo employs these important values throughout the company. Personality reflects the nature of the brand, right to its core. A Zippo lighter is considered an extension of one’s personality, a reflection of a person’s character right down to the color and design of the lighter. With personality in mind, Zippo has also made innovations in its manufacturing processes to emphasize design by making customizations available on itswebsite. Today, Zippo’s “Customize It” feature online enables consumers to upload any image they want imprinted on their lighter. This creates a unique Zippo, allowing users to make a statement about who they are and what’s important to them.

Zippo works each day to ensure that its brand promises shape its business decisions. It believes that quality starts at its roots, and that supporting consumers who share its values is the most effective way to fuel growth.

“We believe in communicating quality through our lifetime guarantee policy – ‘It Works or We Fix It Free’ – which is threaded throughout the company,” says Global Marketing Director David Warfel.

Marketers, entrepreneurs and company executives alike should consider the values that a company operates within before creating a campaign or advertising strategy. By tying efforts to a brand’s promise, you’ll be creating something that is more meaningful—to you, your company and your consumers.

Zippo Knows How to Communicate Directly with Fans

Zippo recently created an experience for fans by fans—a campaign inspired by consumer feedback and its long-held company values—#ShareThePain. In response to a growing number of consumers turning to social media to vent about the loss of their Zippo lighters, Zippo launched ShareThePain.com and created custom meaningful content unique to Zippo consumers. It engaged with consumers one-on-one via Twitter to commiserate the pain of losing a beloved lighter.

“The results from the campaign have been exceptional, and we’ve seen an organic increase of over 8,500 fans on Zippo’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. It is important for the future of the brand to have a strong presence on social media so that we can continue to nurture the relationships we’ve developed with our passionate fan base,” says Warfel.

#ShareThePain is an example of Zippo furthering its investment in consumer insight, knowing where its target audiences live and engaging with them in meaningful conversation. The key insight is that the entire campaign was built around quality and personality.

In the U.S. alone Zippo continues to see over 100 tweets each month about lost Zippo lighters, and these tweets are completely unsolicited. As a brand, this offers Zippo an ongoing opportunity to engage with fans and offer “condolences” for lost lighters. It also provides an opportunity to learn from consumers and turn feedback into ideas around how to better communicate with them, provide content and services they find most important, and continue to drive the brand in the direction that resonates with consumers most.

Zippo will continue to be a thriving brand because of its authenticity and ability to successfully communicate with its consumers. It’s revolving its business around its consumers, and that’s what people truly value in a brand.

photo credit: raphaelstrada via photopin cc

Futbol, The World Cup And Brand Performance

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This year’s World Cup was without a doubt the best tournament I can remember in years. It was full of exciting games, dramatic outcomes, standout performances and unexpected surprises. What more could futbol fans ask for? After a month of watching every match intently, listening to the incessant post-game banter, and feeling the buzz and energy that came with every game, I have to say, I was in mourning the week after the finals.

As I savored the tournament and all it promised, I realized that there are many important takeaways that brands can apply to their everyday game. Your company is playing in a heated, daily competition where the whistle never blows. There is no rest between seasons and your players are on the pitch every game. Like a futbol team, you’re playing for results, rave reviews and relevance, so how you play the game really matters.

Great coaches guide teams to victory

The German coach, Joachim Loew, meant business. From his sideline presence of strategically coiffed hair, crisp black shirt and total composure, he knew the game he wanted his team to play and was a master at putting the right players in the right formation every game. If you lead people, the first order of business is to coach them proactively. Understanding their talents and encouraging them to develop and grow their skills is a coach’s responsibility. Great coaches lead their team from the sideline, but do the majority of their work during training, really learning about their players and understanding what each person needs to do their individual best. As a leader you have to know your players so they feel comfortable asking for help and guidance. It is also your job to put them into teams where each player feels as though their unique skills and hard work matter in winning the game.

Winning teams know when to pass the ball 

Germany controlled every game because their players knew exactly when to pass the ball. They were masters of the pass. Every player on your team should understand the role they play and how to use their skills to support the other members of the team. They should know when and whom to pass the ball to, setting up the next player for success. Great players have amazing awareness of who’s around them, have perfect timing and know how to find space to pass the ball. Take a look at your executional problems, missed deadlines or relational challenges and you’ll likely find that the players on your team are holding onto the ball for too long, fumbling the pass or not passing off to the right person at the right time. Great passing is a key skill in well-timed collaboration. If you work with your team on the importance of passing and improve the timing and accuracy of the pass, you will greatly enhance your results.

Playing with the will to win, wins games and respect

The U.S. team went into the World Cup lacking a great deal compared to their counterparts––a coach who told them they weren’t going to win, an average lineup of players (compared to the teams in their group) and their best player was left in the locker room because of his own arrogance. The only true world-class player on the team was the goalkeeper, Tim Howard. So what did they do better than almost every other team? They showed up with the will to win and the heart of a team who believed they could go all the way. It wasn’t always pretty, but they played their hearts out and played to win. As a leader, it’s important to instill the belief in your team that they can go all the way. Talent and training gets you two-thirds of the way, but the heart and the will to win define how your team plays together and what they think they can accomplish. How you play the game as a company is as important as what game you are playing and gives you a distinct competitive advantage in driving culture, team retention and overall satisfaction.

Defense matters every day and superstars don’t make a team 

The Brazilian team used to conjure up expectations of poetic genius and acts of sheer futbol perfection. Every Brazilian team that preceded this one built the reputation and depth of their brand, adding to the legendary status of their golden shirts. Their most admired and feared teams had showmen, tricksters and ball masters who all worked in magical harmony, sweeping up hearts and games as they went. Looking back at Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho to name a few, these supernovas played on Brazilian teams that had a well-rounded lineup of players in offense and defense. This tournament’s Brazilian team was completely reliant on their one superstar, Neymar, and they muddled through the tournament with a totally ineffective defense. In business, relying on a single function like sales or marketing to win the game is a road to unsustainable success. As a leader you must ensure that you build a fully-rounded team if you want to win the championship. No doubt you need to have an amazing sales and marketing front line, but you must have an equally world-class customer care team and a masterful operations team to win the long-term game. Always focus on both your offense and defense.

Play for the fans, not for yourself

The goalkeepers were among the stars of the tournament. Whether it was Tim Howard or the German keeper, Manuel Neuer, they did their jobs masterfully. Rodriguez of Colombia was a wonderful surprise, and despite their theatrics, players Muller, Neymar and Robben were a joy to watch. The rise of the little guys like Ghana and Costa Rica had me on the edge of my seat. The heart and tenacity of the U.S., the dominant precision of Germany, the drive of the Netherlands, the spirit of Argentina honored futbol fans all over the world with incredible displays of talent, tenacity and unbelievable skills. But when all is said and done, there is no World Cup without the fans. A football team, like a brand, has no relevance if it doesn’t engage, entertain and deliver results for the fans. As a leader, ensure that your brand is fan-centric, that your team plays for, and attracts, new fans, that your brand is exciting and interesting to follow, that you play the game with spirit and that you win with style and good sportsmanship. And don’t forget, the best uniforms in the tournament get noticed, too.

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