Employee Comms has long been seen as the poor relation of the corporate comms family, overshadowed by its more glamorous siblings in advertising and PR.
But as we evolve from the industrial economy to a creative economy in which companies need to become better, rather than just look better or sound better, it’s time for the rise of the red headed stepchild.
Employee comms needs to move beyond the world of sponsored walks, annual surveys and newsletters to become business partners that can help drive Talent Management, Business Innovation and Authentic Advocacy.
Employee Comms from the Industrial Economy
Employee Comms has traditionally focused on keeping employees informed:
Let them know how the company’s doing… present the new strategy… announce the re-org…tell employees what’s expected of them… rinse, repeat, and cascade through the ranks.
A sequence of data dumps, from the top-down and the center-out — with an annual survey thrown in to make sure everyone’s happy.
Today’s top talent is looking for more.
They don’t just want to be informed… they need to feel inspired… they demand to be involved… they aspire to improve.
- Command and control are out
- Coaching and collaboration are in
- Being better has replaced being bigger
- Doing good has replaced looking good
- Talent has replaced tenure
A New Mandate for Employee Comms in the Creative Economy
Inform
Inform every employee by moving from a “need to know” culture to a “need to share” culture, with an emphasis on communications design to avert information overload.
Inspire
Inspire the passion in every employee by articulating your purpose beyond profit and connecting the dots between the actions of every employee and the delight of every customer.
Involve
Involve employees in the strategy, marketing and operations of the organization through open dialogue, individual empowerment and crowd-sourcing ideation.
Improve
Improve the individual communications skills of every employee and the collaborative communications skills of the entire organization.
Chris Cox is a freelance consultant who grew up inspired by Mad Men, became the Creative Director at a global PR agency, before graduating to employee comms.
He works with clients and agency partners to design and deploy programs that inform, inspire, involve and improve employees; helping organizations and brands become better, rather than just look better or sound better.
He was born in the North of England, lives in Oakland, CA. and blogs at www.coxc.co
