I couldn’t help notice the sarcasm when I read today’s Economic Times article which asked if Satyam is doing more damage to India than Lakshar-e-Toiba, the dreaded terrorist organization claimed to be behind many of the attacks in the country. Though all is not lost for outsourcing to India.
I first heard of the Satyam fraud case when I received a forwarded email sharing a copy of the letter written by the ex-CEO to the Board. I thought it was a hoax till my eyes picked up the seal on the letter. This wasn’t the first case of internal communication leaking out and getting carried by the press; interesting challenge I would think for internal communicators who can’t really control news staying in. We had instances of Tata’s letter to his Directors talking of the slowdown and cost management measures and more recent Azim Premji’s letter to Wiproites explaining the World Bank’s decision to debar them for a few years.
While Satyam’s new board is doing its bit to salvage what it can (interestingly the website is updated with recent announcements), these are trying times for internal communicators and the leadership to convince employees to hang on and see the crisis through.
Research points to two aspects which can impact internal communication at this stage – trust and organizational identification. One research mentions that employee communications affects Organizational Identification (OI) more than perceived external prestige (PEP). Communication climate, one aspect of internal communication plays a vital role. Therefore how communication is done is more critical than what is communicated. Trust in senior leadership is also eroding globally as a trend and it may be much lower at Satyam considering how many employees are actively seeking employment outside. Despite a vote of confidence from Narayan Murthy of Infosys on the quality of professionals at Satyam, it is an uphill task for those at the organization to keep morale and confidence up.
I would point internal communicators to a Blessing White survey on the State of Employee Engagement which talks of leveraging managers and aligning employees to the big picture. Here are some important trends: ‘Three in four (75%) employees trust their immediate managers. Only about half (53%) of employees trust their organization’s senior leaders’.
This is also probably a good time to share good news on client satisfaction rates which continue to be high – a reflection of employees’ commitment even under stress. The internal communicator needs to provide guidance and tools for managers to speak with their teams on a regular basis – briefing them on the changes and next steps for the organization.
I think Satyam is too big a name to fail – not just for Indian IT but for India as a nation.
The 6 big names in IT were known as SWITCH (Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and HCL) and holds 2.4% of global IT outsourcing ($667 billion). [Source: That was IT in 2008, Sadagopan S., Education Times, Times of India, January 5, 2009 – page 4]. With the World Bank barring both Satyam and Wipro for the wrong reasons, you can only hope that the acronym does not get any smaller!
Satyam is clearly a communicators nightmare. Fortunately we don’t have to deal with Satyam like situations every week! In my belief it’s only time that will tell and impact the brand positively. There is no amount of communicating or coaxing that will help. I am not suggesting for a moment that we should stop communicating; indeed we need to ramp it up significantly considering the column centimetres and air time it is occupying.
The only thing that will turn around shattered employees in this case is credible evidence of a stable and professional management, low customer attrition and customer satisfaction and most importantly tangible roles for them to play in the organization.
The focus of internal communication at this time should be to start highlighting all the positive news especially any coming from the external stakeholders.
Satyam – the internal communicator’s nightmare or exciting challenge?
The fact that such instances are a lot more today than a couple of years makes me and all of us professional’s think that its definetly a challenge and maybe a “pre-requisite” in times to come to be able to manage not just internal communications but a company’s brand in such instances. Hats off to the employees in Satyam who choose to stay and ensure they ride this storm!!
This is way too big for any comms dept to handle. The chief has fallen… the biggest brand ambassador of the company has defaulted. What can Internal Communications or (External) do in a situation like this!!!
The only thing IMO is for all Satyam employees to put their heads down and carry on… over deliver on projects…slowly rebuild the confidence of clients, investors and analysts.
If I were in internal comms at Satyam…I would speak from my heart “Shit happens friends, lets buckle up and do our jobs the best we can and win our credibility back”.
Anisu
I agree with John partly. Right now, most of the stuff that the employees are reading is from the lay and business press who, in my opinion, are completely off the track.
For instance, the major issue seems to be: is this going to dent India’s image in our markets? Of course it will not. One Enron did not make anyone lose faith in the US system. And by the looks of it, neither is one Lehmann Brothers, or one AIG, or one Meryll Lynch, or one WaMu, or one GM, or one Chrysler…you get what I mean. Even the US porn industry is asking for a 5 billion dollar bailout! Does that mean you and I (ok, maybe just you) will stop watching porn?
I think the real challenge for internal communicators will begin once all the fuss dies down and the public loses interest. With the elections coming up soon, no prizes for guessing where media attention will be.
At any other time, a lot of rats (read: techies) would have deserted the sinking ship, but this may not be true in these depressed times. The main purpose of Satyam communicators will be to motivate those who stay back and also to attract new talent. With the depression on, this may not be as difficult as you think.
By the way, Satyam is a client of mine and like any other company it has both competent and incompetent communicators. I have already got a couple of resumes from the latter. My belief is that the competent will stay behind and tackle this challenge head on.
This is a huge opportunity for anyone, and I would love to be working in Satyam today. The good people in Satyam will get this company running again, because they do have the capability. The Deepak Parekhs and the Kiran Karniks can only do so much, the real job has to be done by lesser people.
Why am I so confident Satyam will turn around? I have no choice but to remain optimistic; there are still a few bills to be settled!
🙂
Deviah
Aniisu…
Nice play of words on the SWITCH acronym!
And I know that SWITCH is here to stay. India’s IT industry (and India) wants Satyam to stay and continue to occupy the niche that it has built for itself.
Over the years, I’ve found these ways of ‘overcommunicating’ beneficial to organizations facing turbulence:
– Begin every day with leadership meetings that agree on the message for the day.
– Devote 2 hours a day to stepping out into your workspaces and speaking to your Company’s scared employees. Tell them what they need to know and tell them what they can tell everyone else.
– Create and sustain a daily communique with messages of hope and positive change from the leadership. It will be the Star by which you navigate your storm.
– Celebrate the small wins and big victories.
– Though it may sound counterintuitive, encourage your employees in time to step out into community initiatives that rebuild hope and establish your brand’s resilience within your communities.
– Finally, remember your moments of resilience and share them in the story of your Company’s life…for they will inspire the next generation!
– Joseph Fernandez
See this article, it has an alternate perspective on th organisation during the crisis ..http://shishya77.blogspot.com/