Businesses in the North-east are facing a communications dilemma. How do they keep teams and customers on-side while making potentially unpopular decisions to navigate the downturn?
Having a workforce that’s able to cope under pressure and is geared up to tackle difficulties is critical. It not only encourages greater innovation but it motivates people to stay focused on delivering essential business activity.
Likewise, maintaining strong customer relationships and open dialogue builds trust and loyalty when the going gets tough.
Yet, it can be a fine line to walk. Not sharing enough information leaves you open to the rumour mill, while badly executed communications can be equally as damaging.
Having a sustainable employee and customer engagement strategy that focuses on regular communication and discussion will build effective relationships that help sustain the business.
Consider the following as part of your engagement plan:
Focused on ‘the plan’
One of the quickest ways people become disengaged is when they have little or no understanding of the company’s strategy and how it impacts them.
Providing succinct short and long term business objectives will provide memorable signposts that can be expanded on by managers and customers’ contacts. It also offers reassurance that the leadership is in control and is ready to manage challenging periods.
Line managers play a key role in improving engagement levels. Getting teams together on a regular basis, discussing the strategy and underlining their team’s role in achieving that helps give people focus and also a sense of achievement.
Avoid creating a vacuum
When faced with making hard decisions, it can be difficult to know what information to share and how to share it. Staying quiet only allows gossip and uncertainty to fill the void.
Making sure people hear news from you first provides reassurance and understanding. That said, care needs to be taken. An ill phrased announcement or discussion can do more harm than good. That doesn’t mean putting a positive spin on everything, it just means being careful not to cause unnecessary offense or ambiguity.
Be authentic
People do business with people they trust. They don’t want to hear a corporate line trotted out. They want to hear from the same people they usually speak to in language that they usually use.
That means giving extra consideration to how managers are going to engage with their teams and customers. They need to work with their communications advisors to ensure they’re fully briefed and comfortable with core messages so that they can make them their own.
Part of the discussion
Traditionally, employee communications was all about broadcasting corporate messages with little room for discussion or sharing ideas. Employee and customer engagement needs a different approach.
While publishing a newsletter, updates on the intranet or website, and emails from the Managing Director are all still valuable, looking people in the eye and talking to them as the respected professionals they are is more powerful still.
Answering questions directly and avoiding shying away from difficult subjects will help build trust and loyalty.
You don’t need to have huge budgets to improve employee and customer engagement. What you do need is a clear strategy, lots of enthusiasm and commitment from leaders and managers.
There’s no doubt achieving high levels of engagement takes more effort than arranging an away day, but all that extra effort will pay off.
Alison Ellis is the founding director of Korero, a bespoke Aberdeen-based communications consultancy specialising in public relations, internal communications, marketing and events. She has more than 15 years’ experience and has worked as a journalist, for global PR agencies and in-house for an international oil and gas operator. Find out more at www.korero.co.uk.