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1
How to Get Management to Listen
Angela Sinickas, ABC
www.sinicom.com
NCA Communications Day27 March 27 2011
(It Helps if You Have Something to Say)
22365 El Toro Road, Ste. 139, Lake Forest, CA 92630TEL: 714/277-4130 FAX: 714/242-7049
2© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Why don’t they listen to us?
3© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
A couple of ideas…
• Connecting communication more closely to business results
• Qualitative research to support our recommendations
• Quantitative measures to prove our results
• How to present our findings to leaders
4
Connect Communication Adviceto Business Goals
5© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Why so many communications fail:Communicating for awareness or to inform
• Trying to “increase awareness” or “inform” people about a goal instead of communicating with them to achieve a behavior change
– Results in telling too many people too many things that are not relevant or actionable
– Audiences start tuning out all communications as just so much “noise”
• Ideal: Focus on what behaviors the new information should influence
6© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Typical communication messaging
• Organizational goals and performance results
– What leadership is trying to achieve
• Audience actions
– What should different stakeholders do more of or less of, or do differently in order to achieve the goals?
• Audience perceptions (knowledge and attitudes)
– What do stakeholders need to know in order to do the right things?
– What do stakeholders need to believe in order to do the right things
• Communication tactics
– Key messages about goals and results
7© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
More effective communication messaging based on research
• Organizational goals and performance results
– What leadership is trying to achieve
• Audience actions
– What should different stakeholders do more of or less of, or do differently in order to achieve the goals?
• Audience perceptions (knowledge and attitudes)
– What do stakeholders need to know in order to do the right things?
– What do stakeholders need to believe in order to do the right things?
• Communication tactics
– Key messages about goals and results leading to behavior change
8
Research to Ensure We Make the Right Recommendations
9© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
From informal to formal qualitative research
• Working your network as an “early warning system” for emerging needs or issues
• One-on-one interviews/phone calls where executives will be speaking
• Pre-testing proposed messages, from blog posts to strategy statements
– Walk-around testing of knowledge and attitudes
– “Sounding board” panel
– Focus groups
10© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Using an editorial board: Topics of employeeconcerns about new facility being built
TTooppiiccss
HHoouurrllyy EEmmppllooyyeeeess
MMoovviinngg
OOffffiiccee EEmmppllooyyeeeess
MMoovviinngg
EEmmppllooyyeeeess NNoott
MMoovviinngg
TTrraannssppoorrttaattiioonn
WWhhoo mmoovveess
FFoooodd
SShhoowweerrss
LLoocckkeerrss
SSeeccuurriittyy
Legend: = mentioned by 1/4 to 1/2 in this category.
= mentioned by less than 1/4 in this category
= mentioned, but only by a few people
= not mentioned at all
11© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Knowledge and attitudes: asked randomly of employees met during a week
A. Since we’re privately held, we’ve never communicated this information, but what percentage of profit do you think we made last year?
B. What percentage of profit do you think we should be making?
Results completely changed executives’ script in Town Hall meetings on profitability
12© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Focus group testing of strategy statements
Original statement on diversity:
“We need to become more highly diverse in our associate work force. Create an
environment where this is our strength .... Ten years from now, we will look a lot different. What do we need to do to take advantage of this?”
Focus group comments:
Generic word, meaningless; define diversity• Avoid words “we’ll look different,” which implies solely age, sex and ethnicity• Ten years is too long• Be aware that customers have diverse needs
Revised statement:“Create avenues for diversity to strengthen our organization. Diversity means
different things to different people: ethnicity, education, work experience, etc. All these can add to our strength, especially as our customer base is rapidly changing in its diversity as well.”
– Continue to attract associates from varied backgrounds
– Capture ideas to leverage our diverse backgrounds
13
Quantitative Measurements to Prove Progress on Results
14© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
From informal to formal quantitative research
• Track timing of business outcomes against communication inputs– Readers’ Digest: amazon.com book sales
– Bank of America: deposits vs. PR response
• Use different response URLs, addresses, phone numbers
– SCE: direct mail brochure
• Purposeful or accidental pilots
• Survey questions
– Outcomes from exposure to messages or channels
15© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Client’s Savings Plan enrollment campaign included brochures, meetings with videos; some plant managers chose not to “waste money and time” sending employees to voluntary meetings featuring videos
With Meetings/Videos
Without Meetings/Videos
Enrollment 65% 45%
Average contribution
5% of pay 3% of pay
Track outcomes vs. channels—a “retroactive pilot”
16© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Tracking employees’ attitudes on the need and readiness for change
“I believe XYZ needs to change to be the global leader in our industry.”
Scouts
Disagree
“I believe XYZ is prepared to change”
Agree
Disagree Agree
Pioneers
Worriers
Fence-Sitters
Depressives
Hopeless3%
13% 25%
7%
39%9%
17© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
How reading the employee publication affects employees’ jobsHow reading the employee publication affects employees’ jobs
• The green bars show how many respondents agreed or strongly agreed with each statement about the publication
• Over half said the publication has helped them do their jobs better, with 80% saying it has helped them talk with customers and other outsiders more knowledgeably
• Numbers were even stronger for sales employees
81% 80%
65%
53%
83%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Un
ders
tan
d o
ur
bu
sin
ess s
trate
gy
Feel p
osit
ive a
bo
ut
wo
rkin
g f
or
the
co
mp
an
y
Talk
w/
cu
sto
mers
/oth
ers
kn
ow
led
geab
ly
Un
ders
tan
d h
ow
I
can
co
ntr
ibu
te t
o
str
ate
gy
Do
my jo
b b
ett
er
% Agree or Strongly Agree
18© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
How the intranet helps employees do their jobsHow the intranet helps employees do their jobs
25%
24%
27%
35%
46%
34%
35%
34%
32%
30%
40%
41%
39%
33%
24%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Save company money
Avoid making mistakes
Talk with customers more
knowledgeably
Do job more efficiently
Find tools and resources I need to
do my job
% Agree Neutral Option % Disagree
The intranet has helped me:
19© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
How much time the new Portal saves
• Answered by 1,376 people who said the portal helps save time, out of sample size of 14,082 (or about 10%), which means these numbers could be projected to 10% of the entire 100,000-person workforce, or about 10,000 employees
58%29%
9%4%
1-15
16-30
31-60
Over 1 hour
Minutes the portal saves in my work each
week
20© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Productivity savings due to portal for about 10,000 employees (10%)
58% (5,800) x average of 7.5 minutes
29% (2,900) x average of 22.5 minutes
9% (900) x average of 45 minutes
4% (400) x average of 60 minutes
725 hrs/wk
1,088 hrs/wk
675 hrs/wk
+ 400 hrs/wk
Total hours saved per week 2,888 hrs/wk
X 49 wks worked
Hours of productivity saved each year
Convert hours to weeks
Average salary per day
141,512 hrs/yr
3,538 weeks/yr
X $1,500 pay/wk
Total productivity savings from portal $5,306,700
21
Presenting results to management in a way that gets results
22© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Present data to management in ways that get their attention
• Assess value of campaigns, communication channels
• Track progress over time
• Identify gaps between what is and what should be
• Dive deep into data and make useful comparisons with business results
Comms Project
Status
Branding
Product launch
Safety
Merger
23© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Create a dashboard of key metrics for execs
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
6/1
7
7/1
7/1
5
7/2
9
8/1
2
8/2
6
9/9
9/2
3
10/7
10/2
1
11/4
11/1
8
12/2
12/1
6
12/3
0
1/1
3
1/2
7
2/1
0
2/2
4
3/1
0
3/2
4
4/7
4/2
1
5/5
5/1
9
6/2
6/1
6
6/3
0
7/1
4
7/2
8
8/1
1
8/2
5
9/8
9/2
2
10/6
10/2
0
Weekly vistis Trend line
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Innovation Reputation Trust
Aware of ads Not aware of ads
23%
42%
35%
Relative Coverage Overall
Baseline
Actual
Target
Comms Project Status
Branding
Product launch
Safety
Merger
24© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
What employees at one company thought CEO’s vision of “doubling the company’s value” meantWhat employees at one company thought CEO’s vision of “doubling the company’s value” meant
75%
74%
61%
58%
30%
12%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Increase no. of contracts
Increase no. of customers
Increase revenue by acquisitions
Increase revenue from time-sold
Increase no. of large projects not relying on
time-sold
I'm not sure
� The right answer
25© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Also evaluate how frequently leaders at different levels demonstrate communication behaviors…
AAllll oorr
AAllmmoosstt AAllll ooff tthhee
TTiimmee
MMoosstt ooff tthhee TTiimmee
SSoommee ooff tthhee TTiimmee
HHaarrddllyy EEvveerr
NNeevveerr
11.. MMyy ssuuppeerrvviissoorr rreeaallllyy lliisstteennss wwhheenn II ssppeeaakk ttoo hhiimm oorr hheerr..
11 22 33 44 55
22.. MMyy ssuuppeerrvviissoorr kkeeeeppss mmee iinnffoorrmmeedd aabboouutt tthhiinnggss tthhaatt aarree iimmppoorrttaanntt..
11 22 33 44 55
26© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
…and provide feedback on how effectively each leader is communicating…
27© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
…preferably in an interactive, personalized way
28© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Dive deep: Differences in information levels on strategy by different retail geographic areas
Most informed
74%
Least informed
55%64%
Average
1 4
367
28 9 1011 12
513
Also is the most profitable retail
geographic area
Also are among the least profitable retail
geographic areas
29© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Magazine
�Sales reps seem to overestimate the usefulness of social events, compared to how much influence clients say social events have on them.
�Sales reps are strongly underestimating how useful several key communications may be for them based on how influential clients say these communications are:
� Two marketing brochures
� Website� Client newsletter� Industry speeches� Press releases� Ads
Compare clients’ vs. sales reps’ perceptions of how much influence communication had in the sales processCompare clients’ vs. sales reps’ perceptions of how much influence communication had in the sales process
100%
75%
50%
25%
40%0% 60%
% of sales reps saying a source is influential
Avera
ge %
of
cli
en
ts s
ayin
g a
so
urc
e in
flu
en
ces t
hem
•Website
20%
0%
White papers
100%80%
•
Ads/sponsored articles
•
•
•
•
•Fact sheets
“JKL” brochure
Company presentations
•“XYZ” brochure
•
Financial highlights
•
Press releases •Social events
•Business events
•
Speeches
Sponsorship
•
30© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Start with the total financial value of new sales, increase in share price, improved productivity, reduced accidents, etc.
• Take credit for a percentage of the financial value based on the impact your audience attributes to the communication
• Divide by the cost of communication
• Result is a rough estimate of your ROI
• Work with Finance Dept. to see how they calculate ROI
Learn to calculate ROI: the financial value of changed audience behaviors vs. cost of communication
31© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
ROI Ex.: Communication impact on long-distance dialing costs
• Situation: Employees were dialing long-distance calls directly instead of using a string of pre-dialing numbers that reduced the cost
• Solution: Humorous internal communications campaign over three-month period using e-mails and the intranet; repeated every few months to alert new hires and remind back-sliders
• Outcome: Company long-distance costs reduced over $20,000 per month with the same call volume
32© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
ROI Ex.: Calculating communication ROI on long-distance cost savings
• Annual long-distance savings(12 x $20,000) $240,000
• Annual salary and benefits for one communicator - $ 86,000
• Net annual cost saving $154,000
• Cost of comm. salary/benefits ÷ $ 86,000
• Annual ROI = 179%
33© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Isolate the role communication plays in achieving desired outcomes
• Pilot the change in only some locations; track the change in outcomes at your pilot locations against closely matched pairs at control group locations– Ask other managers involved in the issue to not do
anything differently at only some locations
OR
• Measure levels or outcomes before and afteryour communication intervention– Try to correct for any other major changes at the same
time
– Ask the people making the change to what extent the communication affected their behaviors
34© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Whenever appropriate, sprinkle precise numbers into your conversations
• Percentages of relevant demographic distinctions among your stakeholders
• Numbers from customer and employee surveys that help prove your point
• Specific sales or cost figures that show you’re on top of relevant business issues
• Measurable results of communication—survey ratings, return on investment for specific campaigns, variations between pilot and control groups
• Measurable outputs of communication that led to the results—content analysis percentages, reading grade level scores, number of page views on a Website/intranet related to your discussion, number of people attending a communication event
35© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
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