When immediate internal communications are required

In my job, there is seldom a need for emergency internal communications. Currently, I have the luxury of relatively long lead times and suffer drawn-out sign-off procedures.

But as I sit at Fenchurch Street station, I’m reminded that there are some companies that need to get communication out to their staff very quickly when things go wrong.

Tonight, I believe, there has been a fire at Barking which has caused chaos on our c2c line as well as parts of the London Underground. Trains are delayed or cancelled and everyone is asking generally the same question: how do I get home?

The problem is that there is little information seemingly being passed from Control to the front-line staff. They are doing their best to advise people (I have to say the staff at Fen Street are pretty good) but there’s nothing being fed to them.

As an IC professional, I really feel for these people. Sure, it technically comes under “operational communications” but it’s still a branch of Internal Comms. At times when their customers at the station are asking questions of them (invariably with the preconception of “they’re all useless”), the station and train staff need to be able to give nice clear and calm messages, instead of “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on,” which is what I was hearing.

How do communications get to the station staff in these situations? Do they simply rely on what comes through on the radio, or are there other more sophisticated channels such as a Twitter-like technology which could be used?

Whatever the method, it needs to be improved so that latest information can be fed to the front-line station and train staff as quickly as possible.

Know your audience

There are many arguments for ensuring that communications are tailored to each audience segment within your total audience. Different age groups, professions, statures and experience levels have different communication needs. The more diverse a company, the more tailored the message should be.

It’s the same where I work – some of my internal audience are professional writers, some work in sales, some are technology specialists, others financial bods and then we have a not insignificant number of production workers, whose requirements change because they don’t have access to a computer 95% of the time.

Last weekend, my wife and I went to Hyde Park to see Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, among other bands. At the end of the gigs on each night, the Met Police were on hand to ensure everyone was shepharded safely down to the tube or onto night buses etc. There was one policeman on a loud speaker talking to and directing the crowd.

And it was a classic example of tailoring communication to your audience.

The tone was friendly, humorous, at times sarcastic and he also ribbed the crowd a little. He used phrases such as “please follow the instructions of the officers as you cross the road – gives them something to do and justifies their wages, eh?” and “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” (then when people clapped, he called us all sheep and there was much laughter.)

This sort of good-natured communication meant that I’m sure there were fewer problems and people left in as high spirits as they were in as they heard the music at the gig.

You often get really good examples of tailored Comms but I thought this was a particularly good demonstration of how communications can be honed to really hit the mark with an audience.

Keep it short and simple: the new KISS

There are many senior managers who consider themselves to be good communicators simply because of the position they hold – I report to someone who is not a particularly great communicator.  In fact, some of his team – the HR department – think he “doesn’t make the effort” and “isn’t visible enough.”  As a member of the ExCo, he sits on a different floor so being visible is a bit of a problem for the guy.  And as for “doesn’t make the effort” to communicate, it’s all about perception, but that’s the subject for a whole other post.

When it comes to sorting out Road Show-style presentations, where the CEO and/or members of the ExCo get up in front of a large audience and give an update on the business, I’ve been running into the issue of the “more is more” mentality, instead of “less is more.”  As these sorts of business updates happen so infrequently, the mindset of my director is to squeeze as much into the presentation as possible, thereby flooding the update with multiple messages and too much information.

One of the struggles I’m having at the moment is getting these senior people to see that others around the business are not really concerned with everything going on, but want to hear from the top of the company about some key themes and to have the opportunity to ask questions or voice opinions.

I’m not saying that we need to scale everything down or only focus on one part of the business, but after speaking to some of my contacts around the business, there are some hot topics – which are also big news in our company – about which people are curious.

By combining the face-to-face presence of the CEO and the ExCo with an update on the hot topics, I feel that far more REAL information would be passed on to – and understood by – the internal audience.  If there are other areas of interest, they can be included in the monthly news bulletin or in other regular communications.

Anyone with a similar issue?