Internal stakeholders often have a point of view on internal communications and prefer calling the shots when it comes to defining what works for employees. Unless handled adroitly it can get difficult for internal communicators who want the best outcomes from campaigns they front-end. Faced such situations?
Here is a case study where Kiran, a team leader for a business division at Miliband, a mobile development agency and Keerthi , the organization’s internal communicator discuss the launch of an employee learning initiative aimed at educating them on career paths. Kiran’s and Keerthi’s organization has over 5000 skilled mobile technology experts as employees and has locations in 4 locations in Mumbai. Apart from an intranet the company also has an internal social media platform that caters to the youthful population.
Kiran: “Thanks for making time for this meeting Keerthi. I am excited by the potential of this campaign – Your Career in Your Hands. Hope you got a chance to look at the cool quotes we gathered from numerous thought leaders. I am sure it will be a hit.”
Keerthi: “Yes, Kiran. I am as excited by what this campaign promises. Can I understand more about your intentions of sending quotes from leaders on careers and learning?”
Kiran: “Look Keerthi – we have a young bunch of colleagues, mostly under 25. We need to make the workplace look exciting and the campaign must appeal. Therefore we must jazz it up.”
Keerthi: “Huh? Jazz it up?”
Kiran: “I meant send out teasers like those quotes and fun stuff”
Keerthi: “How will it help?”
Kiran: “They will like to see these quotes from famous people and get energized.”
Keerthi: “Kiran, we are probably missing the point here. Do these quotes lead to anything useful they can do? Will it inform them of actions they can take?”
Kiran: “This is just the start. They will soon get text messages on their mobile phones and lots of e-mails explaining the program.”
Keerthi: “When will it be? When will you finally let them know of the program and what they need to do?”
Kiran: “Very soon. After three rounds of teaser mails.”
Keethi isn’t amused and decides to get more clarity on what Kiran is trying to do. She knows that this campaign will only get her brickbats than bouquets. She decides to think more about the situation and come back to Kiran on the campaign.
- Is there an issue with the way Kiran is approaching his campaign?
- How do you think Keerthi can help Kiran revisit his plan?
- Are teasers needed in a campaign? If yes, how else can they be framed? If not, what can be done to create buzz for the initiative?
Interested to hear from you. Do post your comments here.
Over communicating is better than under communicating definitely.
However, teasers make no sense unless they are for fun activities. I think it’s a great idea to use quotes from leaders in the organization (especially if they are well-known and respected), but it would be even better to use the quote only as part of the communication, which should contain all the information at one go. Most people have patience for just one mail/ communication hence all information need to be given at one shot.
What Keerthi can do is – 1) Understand the program & its objectives really well 2) Gauge the seriousness etc 3) Put together an effective communication plan which covers all essential mediums especially orienting managers etc. and then explain to Kiran that jazzing up a learning module will take the seriousness out of the program & teasers will dilute the information.
In themselves, teasers are not a bad approach to building interest. In this case, since it is an employee learning initiative, it might be prudent to think of it as building interest and not hype. ‘Jazzing up’ is perhaps not the way to go considering it is a learning programme.
Kiran is essentially seeing it one-dimensionally. However, there is no harm is using the quotes from thought leaders in the roll out. However, they cannot be the only thing. The quotes might be most useful if they have the substance to anchor the communication – in terms of demonstrating to the audience that the leaders see value in employee learning. Even so, the communication roll out must also contain important information. It can be done in two rounds. The first round should aim to draw attention to it – it can include the quotes, and give definite details on what to expect next or some definite initial information. The second round can carry all requisite details, including how interested employees can sign up – the action element must be strong in Round 2.
Keerthi can plan this whole roll out and then discuss it with Kiran, in all dimensions – and explain that there will have to be other elements involved, other than the quotes. Keerthi also needs to explain to him that ‘jazzing it up’ is not the ideal approach for a learning initiative, but a thoughtful interest-creation is definitely useful.