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Communication Strategy to Enable Inclusive Employee Engagement
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Middle managers hold the keys to ACTION and success
at every company.
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So how do we engage middle managers?
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Tina Hawkins• 18 years helping companies effectively
communicate with employees• Advised over 50 large global
companies• Winner of IABC Silver Quill Awards
and Hermes Creative Awards• Regularly partner with PR firms and
HR consulting firms• Certified Educator
Employee Communication
Enthusiast
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Today, we’ll discuss…
Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging to Support D & I
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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You’ll walk away equipped to…
• Adjust your messaging to make a bigger impact
• Use existing tactics in more innovative, effective ways
• Introduce new tactics
• Train your managers to communicate
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Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging to Support D & I
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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Managers Experience Tension Trying to Balance Priorities• The company’s needs
• Their team’s needs
• How they’ll support individuals on their team
• Their own individual needs
This makes them ideal communicators.
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They’re Equipped to Play a Key Role
• Often longer tenure within the organization
• Familiar with daily operations
• Networks of relationships
• Understand the “real” organization
• Best translators into language and concepts that are meaningful to employees
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Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging to Support D & I
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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Diversity is the mix. Inclusion is making the
mix work. Caroline Wanga
Director, Diversity and Inclusion
Target
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Engaging Managers in D&I
• Managers can be hard to engage if they:
– Don’t buy into the business case
– Are uncomfortable with the topic
– Assume that diversity and inclusion has nothing to do with them
– There’s no accountability / it’s easy to hide
– Are good practitioners but not good people managers
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SolutionsManagers don’t buy into the business case
• Change is easier to digest if you know the why
– Meets psychological needs for novelty and challenge
– Be as transparent as possible
• Share the why in a hands-on way
– Not an email!
– Meeting, training, web conference
• Encourage conversation and input
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SolutionsManagers are uncomfortable with the topic
• Acknowledge the potential discomfort
• Include a recent convert when presenting the business case
• Use informational, non-controlling style and tone
– Controlling is ineffective in the U.S. culture
• Offer resources and regular touchpoints
• Make sure the message is ironclad from the leadership
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SolutionsManagers assume diversity and inclusion has nothing to
do with them
• With education, add a personal touch, like ambassadors
–Run role-plays
–Give scripts
• Create interactions to discuss D&I:
– Ask for suggestions and input
– Feature leaders discussing business case on webinars, videos, blog posts, podcasts
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SolutionsThere’s no accountability / it’s easy to hide
• Realize that acquiescence doesn’t mean agreement
– Create a model that adds a personal touch, like ambassadors
• Empower them with authority
• Provide expectations, goals, consequences
• Tie into their goals
• Incentivize results
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SolutionsAre good practitioners but not good people managers
• Offer hands-on leadership training
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Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging to Support D & I
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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Most Effective Communication Channels
EmailIntranet
Line managers
21
3
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Appeal to All Ages
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7Communication Tactics
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1 Town Halls
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Townhalls THEN
• Extended planning effort
• Mobilizing employees to locations; rental space
• Always a business topic
• 90% content / 10% questions (at best)
• Carefully curated questions
• Limited presenters
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Townhalls NOW
• Ad hoc based on need
• Virtual participation
• Use it to reinforce company core values
• 50% of the time on questions, some real-time
• Focus on the conversation, not just the message
• Multiple presenters
WHAT’S WORKING
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Townhalls NOW
EXAMPLE 1 – AD HOC
WHAT’S WORKING
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Townhalls NOW
EXAMPLE 1
WHAT’S WORKING
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Townhalls NOW
EXAMPLE 2
• Townhall one week after U.S. election
• Email announcement w/request to submit questions
• Virtual participation
• Real-time questions
• Provided one action employees can do immediately
WHAT’S WORKING
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2 Huddles & One-on-Ones
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Huddles & One-on-Ones
THEN
• Managers asked to communicate but not told how
• Managers skip the topics that make them uncomfortable
• Messages aren’t connected to the business
• Announcements with no context
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Huddles & One-on-Ones
NOW
• Invest the time in this as one of the most effective ways to communicate and build relationships
• Provide detailed scripts to guide talks with employees
WHAT’S WORKING
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Huddles & One-on-Ones
NOW
EXAMPLE 1
During a time of uncertainty in the company (e.g., rumored layoffs) or country (e.g., protests); word-by-word scripts so that they can communicate with employees via:
• Text
• Chat
• Talk
WHAT’S WORKING
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Huddles & One-on-Ones
NOW
EXAMPLE 1 (CONT)
• Suggest exactly what to say
• They can adapt to their own style, but this provides a place to start
• Provide guidelines, not rules
WHAT’S WORKING
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Huddles & One-on-Ones
NOW
EXAMPLE 2
Provide manager training on more detailed initiatives:
• Webinars
• FAQs and toolkits
• Direct contacts
• Create networks of managers to support each other - Slack, Yammer and similar tools
WHAT’S WORKING
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3 Video
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Video THEN
• Tightly scripted edited and or use of teleprompter
• Slick/high-production
• High-cost
• Not timely
• Limited use of technology to support it
• Around 5-7 minutes as ideal length
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Video NOW
• Creating a culture of pocket-driven video experiences
– Immediacy
– Realness
– Transparency
• Less-scripted
• Less production
• Leaders and managers of any level, any size team
• 5 minutes max
WHAT’S WORKING
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Video NOW
EXAMPLES
• Unscripted “Man-on-the-street" videos
• Smartphone videos wherever leaders are
– Conference rooms / offices
– Walking through the office
– Tradeshows, clients
• Feature other employees
WHAT’S WORKING
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4 Enterprise Social Media Solutions
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Enterprise Social Media
THEN
• SharePoint
• Yammer (because it’s free)
• No clear business case
• Uneven adoption across the organization
• Often unused
• Inconsistent use of leadership blogs, often ghostwritten
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Enterprise Social Media
NOW
• Pick a purpose
– Have better conversations
– Create collaboration
– Engage employees
– Create more employee leaders
• Leverage features to support D & I
– Employee resource groups
– Manager support
WHAT’S WORKING
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Enterprise Social Media
NOW
EXAMPLE – Manager Engagement
• Weekly content provided by managers
– Blogs
– Photos
– Success stories
– Challenges
– Polls
• Invites to D&I events
WHAT’S WORKING
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Enterprise Social Media
NOW
EXAMPLE – Manager Engagement (CONT)
• Message board
• Scripts
• Even if no one is using the platform, it’s ok to use it for this dedicated purpose
– Preload w/materials
– Offer a way to contact/ask for help
WHAT’S WORKING
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5 Mobile
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The average user
spends 2 hours, 38
minutes on their
mobile devices daily...
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...and checks it
around 150
times a day.
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MobileTHEN
• Vendor apps
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MobileNOW
• Access on personal devices (BYOD)
• Daily-use systems
– Intranet
– Internal communication apps
– Mobile sites
– Cloud-based information
• Podcasts
WHAT’S WORKING
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6 Text Messaging
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Text Messaging
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Text Messaging
Manager to Employee or Team
Match your style to the employee
Use to build relationships
Company to Employee
Requires permission!
Reserve for important or urgent issues
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7 Infographics
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Infographics
• Replacing written content
• Visually present complicated content
• Raises an emotional response
• Great for dashboards and stats, too
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InfographicsEXAMPLE
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Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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Group Activity
1. Divide into groups 2. Develop a communication
approach that would be effective for the scenario you have
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Report back on solutions!
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SCENARIO 1
You have new inclusion target and plan to create a few new employee resource groups and other programs to reach the target.
Your leadership team doesn’t represent diversity.
What is your communication approach?
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SCENARIO 2
A tragedy or social issue has impacted your headquarter city/state. Many employees in those locations are impacted due to heighten emotions and conversations around social issues.
How do you use communication to handle this situation at headquarters? What about other office locations?
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SCENARIO 3An employee of your company was involved in a high-profile misuse of social media and has been fired. The story was covered on traditional media.
How do you deal with this? Keep in mind that you should concentrate only on the INTERNAL (employee-facing) communication needs. Assume that PR will handle the external needs.
What is your communication approach?
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SCENARIO 4Managers are acting resistant to the request to increase diversity hires. They have reported that no qualified diversity candidates are coming across their desks.
How could you use communication to help this situation?
Which messaging and tactics would you use?
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SCENARIO 5You would like managers to attend employee resource group programming at their locations.
How do you use communication to make that happen?
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Manager’s Unique Point of View
How to Engage: Messaging
How to Engage: Tactics
Activity
Wrap-Up & Questions
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Questions?
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References
• http://www.inc.com/alison-davis/7-reasons-your-employee-town-hall-needs-an-extreme-makeover.html
• http://www.worktolive.info/blog/how-to-get-employees-to-buy-in-to-change-because-they-want-to
• https://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html
• http://www.Resourcefulmanager.com
• www.diversityinc.com/news/engaging-middle-management-in-diversity-and-inclusion