60% of employees say mobile makes them more productive

Thanks to a study by The Economist Intelligence Unit, there is now an established and measurable connection between mobile-first workplaces and an increase in employee productivity and creativity. This data should help internal communicators work with the C-suite to drive any new mobile adoption. 

Overall, companies with a strong and coordinated internal mobile strategy experience a:

• 16% rise in workplace productivity

• 18% increase in creativity

• 23% improvement in employee satisfaction

• 21% greater loyalty to the employer

In the study, which included surveying 1,865 employees from around the world, EIU found that 60% of employees said mobile technology makes them more productive. And perhaps even more interesting, 45% believe it increases their creativity. On those two points, I'd like to know why 40% believe it inhibits productivity, but also what about mobile makes people more creative. 

The survey found that the biggest impact on employee productivity was the ability to work anywhere and anytime (49% said this mattered most). And the ability to work mobile would be the number one factor in an employee's satisfaction with their employer for 38%. This is interesting data for organizations weighing on work-life balance discussions. 

And for those who combine mobile and millennials in conversation, this study found that there was no link at all between an employee's age and how mobile technology impacted performance and engagement. This dispels the commonly-held belief that mobile working is tied to a younger generation. In leaders' eyes, this should make mobile technology an even greater priority for organizations. 

What can Santa claus do to improve elf engagement?

I know that ICology listeners come from all over the world but a celebrity listeners from the North Pole sent me a video asking for help. It's a busy time of year for Santa but he has a problem that he's hoping ICology listeners can help with.

Watch the video.

Santa: Ho, ho, ho! Longtime listener, first-time caller. Big fan of the ICology podcast here at the North Pole. Christmas is just a month away and I'm makin' my list and checkin' it twice, but I have a problem I think your listeners can help me with. I have low elf engagement. The surveys all say it.

The elves can all play reindeer games on their breaks. They all have access to unlimited syrup in the cafeteria. I even gave them a great dental plan! But nothing changes! What can I do to improve elf engagement at this critical time? Ho, ho, ho! Help me out, and I'll put your listeners on the nice list. Well, so long! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

Do you have advice for Santa?

It's very easy to share your tips, all thanks to Something Else. It's a new video series from ICology where I ask the questions and communicators provide the answers. But instead of me, this time it's Santa who needs your help.

When you shoot your video, please record it in landscape mode and introduce yourself before sharing your valuable insights. Don't worry about it being polished but make sure the audio is strong. 

ICology: Unedited internal communication lies

Ep 36, What is the biggest lie internal communications tells itself?

ICology is available on iTunes as well as many other platforms and apps. 
Or you can simply listen to the media player above. 

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Something Else is a monthly video series where ICology host Chuck Gose asks the questions and communicators provide the video answers. Watch the edited video. 

But here on the podcast, you get the unedited, uncut version of the answers submitted. In this month's episode, guests include:

• Paul Barton, Paul Barton Communications

• Brian Moore, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• Priya Bates, Inner Strength Communications

• Kristin Hancock, The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba

• Rachel Miller, All Things IC

• Heather Pommernelle, Talent Driven Value, LLC

• Rocky Walls, 12 Stars Media

• Daron Aldridge, Cook Children's Heatlh Care

---

Episode Transcript

Chuck: This is ICology. It's a podcast about interesting people doing interesting things in the world of internal communications. In this episode we have Something Else. No, really. It's literally Something Else. If internal coms is your passion, this is your podcast. Listen in. Hello. I'm Chuck Gose, the host of ICology. 

As I mentioned on a few previous episodes, I've set a new video series called Something Else. I ask the questions and communicators provide the answers. For November I asked, what's the biggest lie internal communications tells itself? I got some great answers from eight communicators from around the world. You can check out the video at learnicology.com/somethingelse to see their answers. Since it is a video, we had to do some trimming, so what to do with the rest of the great content? Well, here on the ICology podcast you get to hear the full unedited, uncut answers. Remember, the question is, what's the biggest lie internal communications tells itself? First up is the fabulous Rachel Miller from All Things IC, and the equally fabulous Brian Moore from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Rachel: Hi, Chuck. Rachel Miller here of All Things IC, communication consultancy. I'm here in the UK. Love the idea of Something Else and I thought I would contribute. The question you asked this month is, what is the biggest lie that internal communication tells itself? I believe the biggest lie or the biggest problem that we have in internal communication right now is that people understand measurement. I don't think that's the case. I think that's a lie. I think that many internal communicators are having to blaster their way through, when it comes to conversations with stakeholder particularly about measurement.

Measurement isn't a dark art. There are many modules, many ideas, many theories, many practical things you can do to help you measure. I think the lie that internal communications tells itself is that people know how to do this. I don't believe they do. I see that from conversations with clients, I see that from masterclasses that I've been running for internal coms pros, and also from judging lots of industry awards. When it comes to the measurement section particularly, it's so weak. I think there's a lie there, there's a falseness there from internal communicators that we know how to do this stuff. Actually, for many people, they don't know how to do it. I see that in the measurement section on awards. The entry says, a quote from George Bernard Shaw for example, saying, "Everybody loved what we did." No, that's not measurement. It needs to go further than that.

I don't believe that many internal communicators know the difference between outputs and outcomes, for example. The lie for me is that people know how to do measurement. I'd love to be proved wrong, but for me, certainly, from such terms on my blog, on conversations that I have with clients, contacts and peers, is that the lie is people don't really understand measurement, but I've got lots of advice on that, so do have a look at my blog if you want to understand about measurement. I can help you bust the myth and get to the truth. Thanks, Chuck. Till next month. Bye.

Brian : Hi, everyone. I'm Brian Moore, director of internal communications at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a global learning company based here in Boston. I love the new ICology series, Something Else. Today Chuck Gose is asking, what's the biggest lie that internal communications tells itself? What I would submit is the biggest lie is that our materials, internal communication's communications, if you will; our podcasts, our videos, our messaging in the written word or our live events are the most influential on the most important things to driving culture in our companies. I think that's the biggest lie.

What I think is the answer is that the biggest driver of culture change in a company are the employees themselves. It's that peer to peer credibility and it's what employees hear from their managers, what they see and what they feel from those all around them. It's not necessarily that post to our intranet. It's not that video that we send. It's not the email. It's certainly not the email. It's, how can we get in the hearts and minds of our managers and our employees so that they're influencing the people around them? That is the most powerful thing to culture change in an organization, not what we send from the internal communications desk.

Chuck: Great lies from those two that I'm sure a lot of communicators are guilty of telling. Coming up are lies from Heather Pommernelle and Daron Aldridge. Heather is a communications consultant with Talent Driven Value and Daron is an internal communicator with Cook Children's Health Care system in Dallas.

Heather: Hi, Chuck. Heather Pommernelle here. Internal communications, New York City area. Nice to meet you in Columbus. I wanted to respond to your request for the biggest lie that internal communicators tell themselves. For myself, I think that one of the hardest ones to overcome was the thought and the lie, really, that my craft, the communications, however beautiful I made it, videos, images, whatever I did, that alone was going to help change behavior. I guess help, yes, maybe, but if other things weren't in alignment, then it wouldn't really do much good. It took a while, especially when I was new to communications. It wasn't something I was brave enough to do.

But these days, looking around at the full employee’s experience, the onboarding, even before onboarding, recruitment side, through the process even as a leader, how employees are treated, and the processes and actions and word choices that they see around, those things are good to take to assess against what are we trying to promote and what is the way that we want it to be, what are we comfortable with, and addressing areas that need to change regardless who is responsible for them. Politely, of course, but importantly. Yes, that's my biggest lie, is that we can do it ourselves when actually it's a team effort. Thanks, Chuck.

Daron: Hi. This is Daron Aldridge from Cook Children's Health Care system. I think that the biggest lie that we tell ourselves as internal communicators is that we're a team of only two or three or five, when in all actuality we have an entire employee base that could serve as unofficial members of our internal communications team. We just need to make sure that we recruit and empower them to get our message out there because they'll be able to do into in a way that we could never imagine. I'd like to thank Elisabeth Wang from Piedmont Healthcare, who recently reminded me of this opportunity that's in front of us. Thank you.

Chuck : Next, we go up North to polar bear country to hear from past guest Kristin Hancock. She is with the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba and provides a lie that is very near and dear to my heart.

Kristin: Hello, ICology. I'm Kristin Hancock with the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba in chilly Canada today. I think the biggest lie that we tell ourselves in internal communications is that employee engagement is entirely measurable. I think there are aspects of it that we can measure and we should measure, but ultimately employee engagement is a feeling and we're doing us a disservice if we think that we can actually quantify that.

Chuck : The next two lies are from industry veterans and longtime members of the IABC community and also past guests of ICology. Paul Barton is with Paul Barton Communications and Priya Bates is with Inner Strength Communications. Both bring a ton of knowledge for the IC profession and I'm sure have heard their fair share of lies over the years.

Paul: I'm Paul Barton of Paul Barton Communications. When I heard this question, it reminded me of the George Bernard Shaw quote that says, "The single biggest problem with communications is the illusion that it's taken place." I think that's absolutely what we need to guard against as internal communications professionals. We sometimes get so focused on sending messages out that I think we lose sight of whether those messages are actually getting through or not. It's not that messages aren't going out. We're sending tons of information out to employees. In fact, employees are drowning in information. The problem is that they're thirsting for contacts, for clarity, for purpose and understanding. That's where our focus and our role should be.

Priya: Hello, everyone. It's Priya Bates from Inner Strength Communication in Toronto, Canada. I love this question, what is the biggest lie internal communicators tell themselves? I think the biggest lie is that internal communicators deserve a seat the decision making table. The truth is, they earn a seat at the table through strategic communication planning, understanding the business and linking what they do to measurable results. Without that, they'll never get there.

Chuck: The final lie I save for Rocky Walls, CEO of 12 Stars Media. You would like to think I saved the best for last, but this is really my chance to thank him and his team for supporting Something Else. Candidio, their web video production software enabled me easily to collect all the content and create the finished version of this month's episode. Here's Rocky lie.

Rocky: Originally I was going to say that the biggest lie internal coms tells itself is that they don't have enough time, but the truth is, you don't have enough time and I think the biggest lie internal coms pros tell themselves is that they can do everything. I see a lot of internal coms professionals trying to take on massive projects that really aren't in their job description or massive amounts of really small projects and not being able to do any of them really, really well. The best internal coms pros I know pick projects very carefully, projects that are going to make an impact, and they do those really, really well, and say no to everything else.

Chuck: I truly want to thank each of this month's contributors for sharing what they think is the biggest lie internal coms tells itself. Stay tuned for next month's Something Else question, which might have a bit of a holiday theme to it. Visit learnicology.com to catch up on our episodes. Get to know guests better, read blog posts, check out events and all the episode transcriptions are there as well. Please follow ICology on Twitter, @LearnICology, to pick up show announcements as well as other IC news. If you're not already a subscriber, listen to ICology on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, it'd be great if you could take the time to leave a review. If internal communications is your passion, ICology is your podcast. Thanks for listening in.

What is the biggest lie internal communications tells itself? (Video)

Something Else is a monthly video series where ICology host Chuck Gose asks the questions and communicators provide the answers.

This month's question and answers are: 

November's guests:
 

Paul Barton, Paul Barton Communications
@paulbartonabc

When I heard this question, it reminded me of the George Bernard Shaw quote that says, "The single biggest problem with communications is the illusion that it's taken place." I think that's absolutely what we need to guard against as internal communications professionals. We sometimes get so focused on sending messages out that I think we lose sight of whether those messages are actually getting through or not.

Great stuff from @brianmoore320 in his answer to the biggest lie #internalcomms tells itself. The rest are at https://t.co/aAdlVA2VjR pic.twitter.com/R7GGwP1L6Y

— ICology (@LearnICology) November 13, 2016

Brian Moore, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
@brianmoore320

Our materials, internal communications, communications if you will, our podcasts, our videos, our messaging in the written word or our live events are the most influential and the most important things to driving culture in our companies. I think that's the biggest lie. What I think is the answer is that the biggest driver of culture change in a company are the employees themselves.

Priya Bates, Inner Strength Communications
@priyabates

I think the biggest lie is that internal communicators deserve a seat at the decision-making table. The truth is they earn a seat at the table through strategic communication planning, understanding the business and linking what they do to measurable results. Without that, they'll never get there.

Kristin Hancock, The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba
@kristinanneh

I think the biggest lie that we tell ourselves in internal communications is that employee engagement is entirely measurable. I think there are aspects of it that we can measure and we should measure, but ultimately employee engagement is a feeling and we're doing us a disservice if we think that we can actually quantify that.

Does #internalcomms know how to measure? @allthingsic isn't so sure. Listen to her lie. The rest are at https://t.co/aAdlVA2VjR pic.twitter.com/Yel3L4jdje

— ICology (@LearnICology) November 10, 2016

Rachel Miller, All Things IC
@allthingsIC

I believe the biggest lie or the biggest problem that we have in internal communication right now is that people understand measurement. I don't think that's the case. I think that's a lie. I think that many internal communicators are having to bluster their way through, when it comes to conversations with stakeholders, particularly about measurement. Measurement isn't a dark art. There are many models, many ideas, many theories, many practical things you can do to help you measure. I think the lie that internal communications tells itself is that people know how to do this.

Heather Pommernelle, Talent Driven Value, LLC
@heatherpomm

For myself, I think one of the hardest ones to overcome was the thought and the lie really that my craft, the communications, however beautiful I made it, videos, images, whatever I did, that alone was going to help change behavior and I guess help, yes, maybe, but if other things weren't in alignment, then it wouldn't really do much good.

Rocky Walls, 12 Stars Media
@rockywalls

Originally, I was going to say that the biggest lie internal comms tells itself is that they don't have enough time. The truth is you don't have enough time, and I think the biggest lie internal comms pros tell themselves is that they can do everything, and so I see a lot of internal comms professionals trying to take on massive projects that really aren't in their job description or massive amounts of really small projects and not being able to do any of them really, really well. The best internal comms pros I know pick projects very carefully, projects that are going to make an impact and they do those really, really well, and say no to everything else.

Daron Aldridge, Cook Children's Heatlh Care
@daronaldridge

I think that the biggest lie that we tell ourselves as internal communicators is that we're a team of only two or three or five, when in all actuality, we have an entire employee base that could serve as unofficial members of our internal communications team. We just need to make sure that we recruit and empower them to get our message out there because they would be able to do it in the way that we could never imagine.

---

Special thanks to Candidio for their support of Something Else. 

What's missing from employee advocacy

A version of this post originally appeared on LinkedIn

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Employee advocacy is a popular topic in internal communication circles. And rightfully so. It makes a lot of business and marketing sense for companies to encourage employees to use their own social networks to share company news and information. All kinds of data point to the notion that we're more likely to trust information from people like us than companies.

But while employee advocacy is a relevant topic, it can also have an icky feeling. . . depending on how it's handled. If an employer is constantly pushing it on employees but the messages don't fit their network, it could strain the relationship.

In a recent episode of ICology, I interviewed Elizabeth Jurewicz (Liz to you and me) from Rackspace. They've built their employee advocacy program the right way. They started with a very grassroots effort where employees were in control and centered around their culture. They've taken the time to understand what employees like to share and where they like to share it. There's no reason to tell people to share on Twitter if they don't have a Twitter account. Communicators can find out from employees where their social networks exist. Think more "social enablement" and less "employee advocacy." For Rackspace's effort, no technology (currently) is involved other than the social channels employees use personally.

A point that came up in the podcast though is one that's a bit different from what I'm seeing in the large employee advocacy discussion. It's an element of advocacy that I don't see many companies focusing on. And it could be a great building block for an employee advocacy program for a company of any size.

It's social listening.

Employee advocacy should be about conversation. And a conversation should be two More of social media should be a conversation. You talk. I listen. I talk. You listen. Something like that.

So rather than tell employees which messages they should be sharing, encourage them to listen in on their networks. What are people saying about their company? The industry? Their profession? If there are articles that are relevant to the company or their department, communicators should develop a way for employees to share them with relevant audiences. This could be as simple as an email out to a group or something even more sophisticated.

Listening is something we should all be doing more of. And it's a worthwhile effort to encourage employees to search for new content. Let them discover what's being said and shared about the company and competitors. It could maybe even something as benign as an inspirational story. Or a lone data point that's interesting.

But by having them listen, they'll be more prepared to have the conversation companies want them to have.

ICology: One year later

ICology is available on iTunes as well as many other platforms and apps. 
Or you can simply listen to the media player above. 

---

Today ICology turns one year old. It was August 31, 2015 that the very first episode aired. I've had a great time since and this episode is my chance to say thanks to those who have helped make ICology what it is today. Because if internal comms is your passion, ICology is your podcast. 

New research highlights challenges & benefits of using ESNs [Marginalia]

Brexit's impact on internal communications

Earlier this year, I featured the Gatehouse Group on the ICology podcast with the release of their State of the Sector report. But in light of the turbulent times following the Brexit vote, they reached back out to internal communicators to find out what sort of impact Brexit has had, both before and after the vote.  They received responses from more than 20 different industries, with 82% of them having UK-based employees. 

From my perspective, the most troubling statistic for communicators is that only a third of organizations had prepared communications for all outcomes. Very smart for the third who were ready. Not so wise for those organizations who didn't prepare. Per Gatehouse's data, 59% prepared nothing, which led Gatehouse to believe this was a result of an overconfidence in the vote result or a general lack of poor planning and strategy. This is a great lesson for communicators abroad that could face communication challenges ahead of politics and government news. 

Overall, this State of the Sector: Brexit Special suggests internal communicators are clearly feeling the effects of uncertainty in the wake of the referendum. Demand for change communication expertise is expected to increase and internal communicators must be quick and decisive in their actions when details of the exit process and timings emerge. All of this only goes to underline the general sense of confusion.

Here are some of the interesting takeaways for organizations:

• 63% believe their leaders are unsure about the impact
• 63% say that their EU employees based in the UK are concerned about their future
• 17% think that their organization's strategy map may no longer be relevant

And when it comes to internal communication

• 59% increased the need for reactive communications
• 43% increased demand for change communication expertise
• 28% increased access to senior leaders

If you're interested in reading more, you can download the full report or check out the infographic they've prepared. You can also listen to the podcast I did with Rachel Miller from All Things IC the day after the vote was announced. 

The state of employee feedback systems

When I speak at events, I challenge communicators to become part of the customer experience conversation by owning the employee experience at their companies. And the current state of employee feedback is an opportunity to do so. 

Nearly four out of five frontline employees (78%) say that their leaders have made customer experience a priority. And this makes sense. But here's the rub. Nearly 60% of those same employees believe their own ideas on how to improve that experience fall silent. 

There's a new report from the Medallia Insitute reveals the value of both getting employee feedback AND responding to it. It's the "AND" that many companies forget about. Whether it's in retail, hospitality, healthcare or another vertical, the frontline employees own the customer interaction and have a lot of ideas on how to improve the customer experience. 

Looking at the responses on how likely they are to delight customers (61%), improve company processes & practices (56%), improve employee training & development (47%), and reduce company costs (43%), I'm sure these numbers are lower than they actually are. What Medallia found is that a third of frontline employees say that their company is "unlikely" or "very unlikely" to act on their feedback. This has to create a negative morale situation where even if employees have ideas, they aren't going to express them. 

So where does internal communications fit into all of this? By inserting itself into the employee feedback model. When it comes to improving employee feedback, Medallia recommends:

• Soliciting feedback regularly

• Ask the right questions

• Communicate the purpose of surveys, results and actions to be taken

• Guarantee confidentiality of responses to maintain trust

• Take continuous action based on employee feedback

In each of these areas, internal communicators have a tremendous and valuable impact on improving the state of employee feedback at their companies. It's a further way to inject themselves into more areas of the business. 

Why internal communicators should use social media more

When I speak at events, I stopped asking, "how many people have a Twitter account?" Why, because more than half of the room's hands shot up. The number of accounts is irrelevant. So now I ask, "How many USE Twitter?" This is a more direct question. 

And in a room of 50 communicators, you might only see five or six hands go up. I pull the soapbox out and begin preaching the value of Twitter to internal communicators. Though I doubt my rant is very effective at convincing others, it at least makes me feel better. 

By the very nature of the profession, internal communicators keep their minds internal. They are focused on what's going on INSIDE their company. And therefore so many are missing out on social media as an amazing professional resource. 

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, author Alexandra Samuel discusses using social media to build professional skills. Yes, social media can be used for a lot of reasons, in which the negative reasons seem to get brought up. But when it comes to advancing your learning and skills, it's tough to be what's available on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

As Alexandra points out, it's more than selfies and recipes. And if that's what you use social media for, the more power to you. But don't limit to just that if you want to get more value out of the time spent. She recommends asking yourself these three questions:

1. What do I want to learn?
   Perhaps you want to connect with a niche industry of peers within IC. Or your company is going through an acquisition and you want to learn from someone who's been through it. Whatever the reason, you'll find them, willing, eager and able to share advice.
   

2. When do I have time for learning?
   People ask me how I have time to do what I do. And I tell them, I make time. What I should say instead is that I maximize my time. But assume as you shut off time for learning new skills, habits or techniques, you might as well just turn off your career. But if you want to keep the lights on, there are resources available from people all over the world.
   

3. Whom do I want to learn from or with?
   And this is the true power of social - connecting people. You don't have to "follow" someone to see what they are sharing. But if you do follow, engage with them. Some of my best industry partnerships and friendships originated directly from Twitter or LinkedIn. Either they reached out to me or the other way around. But what matters now is that we are resources for each other. The #internalcomms hashtag on Twitter is a great place to start, in addition to your existing network.

For many communicators, attending several communication events a year just isn't a possible, whether it's time or budget. But with a little investigative work on social media, you'd be amazed at how many free and available resources are out there to advance your career. It's time you made the investment in yourself. 

12 ways to keep your internal comms content fresh

In this amazing and helpful infographic, Alive With Ideas comes up with 12 ways to keep your internal magazine content fresh. They recommend communicators:

1. Focus on people
2. Promote the way
3. Publish company goals and periodic updates
4. Feature individual roles
5. Share the big wins
6. Share employee survey results
7. Promote employee benefits
8. Circulate testimonials
9. Share employee wellness information
10. Feature key facts and figures
11. Support current campaigns
12. Promote career opportunities

With so many amazing channels available to internal communicators, it's still so vital to keep their content fresh. And these 12 tips extend far beyond even an internal magazine. Any content channel could use a good detox every now and then. Digital signage? ESN? Email newsletter? Yes. Yes. And yes. And other channels too. 

I worked with Alive With Ideas on the Elements of IC. I recommend you follow them on Twitter at @alivewithideas and check out their blog, too. 

Infographic: Detoxing your employee magazine from Alive With Ideas

The biggest mistake we've made in employee engagement

At a previous company I worked at I had zero input into the quarterly employee engagement survey HR rolled out. And I'm glad. It followed an acquisition as a way to show we were all "one company." Every employee was asked about 20 questions that were completely ambivalent to what the company did or the market we competed in. And each employee was asked the same 20 questions every single quarter.

When the first one came out, HR celebrated 87% employee engagement. I asked, "what does this mean?" The answer was that 87% of our employees answered agree, mostly agree or strongly agree on the questions asked. Huh. The next quarter? 82%. The next quarter? 75%. The next quarter? 70%. 

"Anything above 60% is world class," HR touted.

"World class what?" I replied. "But by the time you figure it out, we'll be below 60% anyway." 

Why the decline? Nothing happened. Participation was high but the feedback didn't change anything. The focus was on the engagement percentage. It was deemed a success. But we know it wasn't successful. There's a difference. 

The engagement mistake isn't in the effort

I've been on a bit of an employee engagement rant of late. I've become a skeptic - not to the act of employee engagement. I genuinely believe that most employees do work hard and want to do the right things and (most) leaders act in the same way. Reports show that engaged employees are safer, more productive, impactful to the bottom line and can even increase shareholder return, among many other positive outcomes.

But we already knew that deep down, didn't we? We know that employees who cared for the company's and their coworkers' well-being are willing to put forth extra effort. They don't take the "that's not my job stance," like some of their disengaged counterparts. We knew that, yet we needed Gallup, Edelman and so forth to tell us. We knew that just by working with people who the engaged ones were and the ones that weren't.

The engagement mistake is in the number

The mistake is in the number. It's the lie companies tell themselves when they report employee engagement statistics. Company A will say, "we have 90% engagement." Company B will say, "we have 45% engagement."

Does this mean that Company A has twice the engagement of Company B? 

Does this mean that Company A's employees care more than Company B's? 

Not at all. Here's why. 

It's because we don't even know what these numbers mean. Employees at companies A and B have taken completely different surveys where completely different employees in completely different environments are asked completely different questions. And these questions are also likely being asked on a 1-5 scale that has no other meaning than a 1-5 scale or the ever popular "strongly disagree to strongly agree" sliding scale. One person's 4 is another person's 2. Yet we are summing them all up into one big convenient number for companies and leaders to trot out. All of the answers are being aggregated into one simple convenient number that has no meaning whatsoever. 

I cringe when these numbers are shared or bragged about. It's not that there's any ill intent by sharing. But when I hear that companies are world class in engagement based on a score, I assume this company also has rainbows and unicorns roaming the campus. I need to see it to believe it. 

With regards to gathering feedback, there's nothing wrong with asking employees questions and taking an interest in their answers. This should be quite helpful to leadership AND employees. If you're not familiar with the Hawthorne Effect, it's a helpful demonstration to how feedback and interest alone can boost productivity. Sometimes just the act of asking can have an engaging effect but employees also become skeptical when their thoughts are not acted upon. 

Corporate patriotism?

To me, assigning an employee engagement percentage is like assigning a number to patriotism. I think we can agree for the most part that people like their native country. So can you assign a number to show how patriotic a neighborhood, city or state might be?

Some people would express patriotism by having a tattoo. Others might proudly fly a flag at their home. Others make sure they stand and remove their hats for the national anthem. Some cheer during the Olympics. And others perhaps take the grandest of efforts and serve in the military. Which is the most patriotic? Which boxes have you checked? If you checked more boxes, does this make you more patriotic?

My point being is that these are all discretionary efforts. We all give back and do more in unique and personal ways. Some people demonstrate employee engagement by referring to new job candidates. Others by showing up early and/or staying late. Some employees show up and simply do the best job they can each and every single day. Does one of these express engagement more than the other?

So what now?

Well nothing I write is going to change CEOs and HR leaders bragging about their employee engagement percentages. You'll still hear engagement numbers being used in recruiting efforts and justifications for certain projects.

But I think a more helpful approach to employee engagement would be one that provides more perspective to employees to let each individual define their own engagement. That score that likes to be shared? That's on an annual basis at a certain time of the year. We know that don't feel the same way about our leaders and employees the same way every year. So why do we let that one survey define something that we know can change even on a daily basis. 

What if there was a way for each of us as employees to define our own engagement and then learn when we are becoming more engaged or less engaged? And what would build into this newfound personal engagement? Activities? Sentiment? Feedback? I'm not sure. 

The risk here would be if a gamification element was added. We've seen in the social media world what can happen when "scores" are applied to individual efforts. And not that gamification is bad, but if people become competitive around it, we know thatethics may come into question. Employees could be engaged, but perhaps in the wrong activities. 

In my "Physics of Employee Engagement" presentation, I identify three main drivers of employee engagement:

1. Relationship with immediate supervisor
2. Belief in leadership
3. Belief in the company

These are just my opinion but they are all very personal to each individual employee. The next time your company has an employee engagement discussion, think about ways you can make employee engagement a more personal topic for your coworkers. 

A year or so ago, IABC asked me for a simple definition of employee engagement. My answer? "Employee engagement is when people give a damn. They care about their company, their coworkers and doing the right thing. You can't assign a number to this and it's entirely personal. Let's bring this into the employee engagement discussion. . . and not a percentage. 

The changing world of internal communications (SocialChorus)

The way we communicate everyday is changing. It is now easier than ever to get the right information in front of the right people. However, internal employee communication is not seeing the same technological advances. Employers are still relying on outdated communication methods. SocialChorus recently published a report focused on the technology gap in corporate communications. 

Speaking about the study is Sonia Fiorenza, the vice president of content and engagement strategies for SocialChorus. She has a strong background in corporate communications at Gap, Amgen and SunAmerica and works directly with SocialChorus customers. 

This text originally appeared on the SocialChorus site. 

The most recent episode of ICology featured Sonia Fiorenza at SocialChorus regarding data from a recent survey of Communication and HR professionals. The data addressed several different challenges that communicators face but the data that was most overwhelming was around the use of technology in internal communications.

Sonia explained that SocialChorus conducted this survey to understand the challenges that internal communicators face. She knows from personal experience that often times internal comms needs to make a business case for any type of internal communication platform investment. Sometimes communicators have a hunch about how employees want to receive information but there needs to be data to back up those thoughts. Making assumptions in the world of internal comms about what employees want to hear and how they want to hear it can be damaging.

The data from the survey confirmed a lot of thoughts for Sonia and confirmed what she knew communicators were thinking and feeling. She commented that technology has completely changed how people interact with each other in their personal lives. Internal communication tools do not reflect the communication technology that is used everyday. In turn, internal communication teams have not overcome technology obstacles and are not meeting employees with how they want to be communicated with. Employees now have a much higher expectation when it comes to technology and communications.

Email was a brought up frequently during the survey. It was noted that email is the most frequently used method of communication. Sonia commented that email is what a lot of people in corporate America are comfortable with and used to. However the data also showed that ⅓ of employees do not have access to a computer and are out in the field. Email is missing a huge portion of the audience. Not to mention there is a new generation of millennials coming into the workforce who do not use email as a primary communication method.

Another growing problem for communicators that the survey touched on was engaging a remote workforce. Employees are not always in the office and organizations are increasingly becoming complex and distributed. The survey pointed out that this was a primary challenge for communicators. Sonia commented that employees who are on the front line don’t always have the tools they need to get the most accurate information from leadership and sometimes organization changes are not communicated quickly enough. The same technology that made it possible to have remote and on-the-go employees is the technology that organizations are lacking when it comes to communicating with employees. It was also noted that it is important as communicators to move past old assumptions when it comes to internal communication and look closer at how technology is shaping the way people communicate.

Trust is the currency of good business: a new study from EY

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Trust is one of those workplace components that we can see and feel but have difficulty measuring. It can take months or years to build but can be destroyed in seconds. In a recent survey from EY, they talked to 9,800 full-time workers around the world about trust in the workplace.

What did they find? Less than half (46%) place a "great deal of trust" in their employers. While 15% said they have "very little" or "no trust at all." That leaves 39% in the middle. That's a big group of employees who are wavering on trust. 

Among those 15% who don't trust their employer, they listed five reasons:

1. Employee compensation isn't fair

2. Employer doesn't provide equal opportunity for pay and promotion

3. A lack of strong leadership

4. Too much employee turnover

5. A lack of collaboration

While communicators hands might be tied on a few of those, they can have a positive impact on improving the visibility of leadership and collaboration opportunities. But when it comes to promoting trust, internal communicators can leverage their skills. 

The leading aspects in promoting trust are:

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1. Delivers on promises

2. Provides job security

3. Provides fair compensation and good benefits

4. Communicates openly and transparently

And it's the last one that should ring home with communicators. You have a direct opportunity and, some might say, responsibility to promote open communication. Transparency is relative but I believe what employees are really searching for is honesty in communication. 

Other interesting items in the study:

Americans are more likely to "place a great deal of trust" in their boss (50%) than their company (38%). China, Germany and the UK have the highest level of trust in their employers. 

When it comes to generational differences, it's not the beloved millennials who are lacking in trust. It's Generation X. Only 41% of that generation responded they had a great deal of trust in their company. 

To learn more you can read the entire study, check out this quick read or check out the infographic. 

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If you'd like to listen to a conversation on trust in the workplace, check out this episode of ICology with Nick Howard from Edelman. We discussed their 2016 Trust Barometer. 

Can Snapchat be an effective internal communications channel?

The one social channel I've been spending more and more time with in 2016 has been Snapchat. I will admit that I was one of those people who initially didn't see the value in it. But as Snapchat continues to roll out new features, it's becoming part of my daily social activities.

From a UI standpoint, Snapchat is really unlike any other social network/media out there. This is why it's important for you to understand how it works before rushing to judgment (like I did). How it's different is that the content in stories is sorted by user and then chronological. You can respond to individual snaps or view people's stories. This is dramatically different than the algorithms and viewing experiences on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others.

Just this week, Snapchat launched Chat 2.0 on the platform. It's now a multi-function communication platform, including video chats, "phone calls" and audio notes. And the sound and video quality are quite good. It opens itself up as a pretty impressive communication platform. Not perfect, but impressive with what you can do in an app. You probably have employees using it right now. 

Perhaps you don't think your employees are on Snapchat. Have you asked them? Just look at the demographics and compare them to your own workforce.

• In 2015, Snapchat grew its 18-24 base by 56%, while its 25-34 year old users increased 103% and, most notably, its over-35 user base grew 84% according to comScore.
• According to Snapchat, 12% of its almost 50 million daily users in the U.S. are between 35 and 54.

It was last summer that I read an article about a company who declared "Snapchat Day." As a way to force employees to learn more about the app, they could only communicate to other employees through Snapchat. No emails. No phone calls. No messaging. Just Snapchat. The company learned a lot about the app and employee dynamics during the day, but it seeded a thought in my head about whether or not Snapchat could be an effective internal communications channel. 

And I think it can. Here's four reasons why. . .

It's visual

Communicators know that visual elements only enhance communication. This is one of the many reasons that video has become more prevalent. But Snapchat is all visual, with minimal text. It can be a picture. It can be video. And there are limits to how long the video can be or how long the image can stay on the screen. There are more than 8 billion videos viewed every day on Snapchat. Amazing. We know employees respond to visual elements so embrace this core nature of Snapchat. And perhaps most important for employees, it requires communications to get to the point.

It's mobile

Yes, not everyone has a smartphone. . . but it's getting pretty close. But again, don't look at those who don't/can't take advantage of mobile. Look at those who do.Those are the leaders. And sure it's cliche to talk about how we are slaves to our phones. And perhaps it's true. So why not take advantage?! The only way (minus a workaround) to view Snapchat content is through the app. And while employees are on their phones (for both work and personal reasons), why not integrate your IC into a social channel. They can't be forced to subscribe. But if your content is great, my hunch says they will.

It's employee advocacy

And this where I think the smart companies will take Snapchat. Whether you know it or not, you have employees sending "snaps" while they are at work. This is no different than them sending Tweets or emails. But they are sending them. And in Snapchat, companies could include custom geolocated filters.

These filters add a graphic element to pictures and videos. Think about the possibility of your employees choosing to brand their snaps with a corporate feel. If the filter is designed well, people will want to add them. And the company gets their branded message sent to a larger audience when employees add them to their own stories. Just recently, Snapchat announced on-demand custom geofilters (for pay) that users can submit that are only good for a certain time. Imagine a custom filter for a big employee event? Or a recruitment campaign? And the only people who can use are those physically located at your company locations. 

It's storytelling

People love stories. And there are a few companies on Snapchat that are getting very creative with storytelling. Both GE and Taco Bell come to mind. Their content is certainly geared toward customers, but I'm sure it's also quite helpful for employees. And there is a lot of thought that goes into some of these stories told, one picture and video at a time. But with this planning, Snapchat can be very spur of the moment. Imagine helping to tell a great employee recognition story through Snapchat. It could be a great "behind the scenes" tool to show leaders at a new location where perhaps others can't visit. Again, so many great opportunities to tell stories in a unique way to inform and engage employees. 

And the images and video don't have to be perfect. There's no way to upload content into Snapchat. It's taken and used right then so there's definitely a very organic feel to it. And the content is gone in 24 hours. See with Snapchat, it's all about right now. Now what happened a day ago. Or a week ago. Or more. 

So what now?

I'm not suggesting that every single company and brand go create a Snapchat account and being publishing internal content. All I'm saying is "think about it." Think about how your IC team could engage employees in a brand new way. Take the time to learn about the channel before you rush to judgment. 

Look at the Discover section on the app. I know many hardcore users don't like it but it can be helpful to see how big brands are telling stories in a simple and interactive way. There are organizations like CNN, ESPN, Wall Street Journal and others are a part of Discover. I'm not debating if Discover is successful or not for Snapchat, but I am arguing that the way stories are being told is worth taking a look at. 

There will be some naysayers out there that claim not everyone will use Snapchat. And they are right. But when you look at the full spread of internal communication channels, they aren't all used 100% by anyone (except for maybe communicators). There will be some who never visit the intranet. There will be some who never log on to the ESN. And that's okay. That's why communicators have to go where employees are. 

And right now, that growing channel is Snapchat. The demographics don't lie. 

If you're willing to invest the time and learn more about Snapchat, you can add me at https://www.snapchat.com/add/chuckgose.

(Originally published March 31, 2016) 

Gauging Pokemon Go's impact on the workplace

UPDATED: Boeing has banned Pokemon Go. Executives cited safety concerns and bandwidth use as the reason for the ban. 

I'm absolutely amazed by the Pokemon Go craze. . . and I'm not even playing. People's response to it is almost as amazing as the technology itself. This app is probably one of the first accurate uses of the word "disruptive" -- with the use of gamification, augmented reality, mobility and nostalgia all wrapped up. 

But people respond to disruptions in many ways. Some embrace it. Others rage against it. And companies are no different. I'm looking to hear from communicators who have issued communications or organized activities around Pokemon Go. It's cool to hear that people are being active and exploring their communities. But it's another thing when theHolocaust Museum has to advise visitors against playing while on site. 

A friend on Facebook shared a picture of this note. I can't confirm its validity but I wouldn't be surprised if companies responded to Pokemon Go players (their employees) in a negative or harsh way. I'm not judging those who are playing or aren't playing. What I'm trying to find out is whether or not your company has encouraged or discouraged Pokemon Go play while at work. 

Please comment in the section below or contribute to the IABC group conversation I've started to share what your company is communicating about Pokemon Go.