I am often amazed how some companies have a very robust, even passionate, marketing campaign touting the fabulousness of their product or service to an external audience, while keeping their own employees in the dark about overall company direction and their role in that direction.
Don’t get me wrong. There are a number of exceptions. I doubt you would find many Coke employees drinking Pepsi even on their own time. But some companies fall woefully short when successfully marketing to their own employees.
Based on 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, I believe there are three reasons organizations fail at this very basic ingredient of organizational success. First, employees are sometimes viewed as a captive audience who should be grateful to have a job. Second, organizations see good communications as a luxury they will get around to when they have the time and resources, and third, many companies simply don’t know how to develop an environment that cultivates meaningful dialogue with their employees.
I tell clients it is critical to handle internal communications as if they are selling soap to their employees. Most people buy soap (at least I hope so). But because there are so many choices, people may switch back and forth between brands. That’s why Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark pull out all the stops to make sure they are building lasting brands that are somewhat immune to a consumer’s whims. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have the market presence they now enjoy.
Let’s consider the company that views employees as a captive audience. Although this view is fortunately going the way of the dinosaur, there remain companies that fall into this category (hopefully, yours is not one of them). This company promotes a paternalistic culture and way of doing things. While some employees are in the know, most are not. Those employees who really push for answers are often told they should be grateful to have a job. At some point, this company will be forced to face reality and communicate with their employees in a meaningful way in order to maintain their market edge. If not, they will be in danger of becoming irrelevant.
The other kind of company is the one with the best intentions in the world regarding good employee communications, but no commitment to actually facilitating a change. They say the right things, but never give communications a seat at the senior level table. As a result, communications is seen as a luxury that is funded when things are good, but is severely cut back when things are bad. Ironically, it’s during those bad times that employees need solid communications the most. If not corrected, this company tends to lose its best people during a crisis and often find themselves scrambling to find quality people once (and if) the crisis is averted.
The third kind of company is the one where leaders simply don’t know how to communicate with employees. This environment holds the most promise. If leadership is willing to acknowledge they need help, that’s half the battle.
It’s when companies realize they need to cultivate an environment that encourages two-way communications with employees that real change begins. The same commitment that went into selling the soap to the external target audience is now internally focused. This new focus ensures that employees not only know the direction of the company, but are also well equipped to understand their role in that direction and positioned to be valuable brand ambassadors.
