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Thoughtware We welcome submissions for our Thoughtware section. Topics can broadly address issues that affect how organizations position themselves for growth and communicate to their many target audiences. Please contact us by e-mail with your ideas.
By Jeannette Paladino, Principal Belmont Communications Think about it. When was the last time someone told you he had curled up in bed with a good annual report to read? Not likely, unless sleep was the primary motivation. Annual reports can be real dullards. In an effort to avoid offending any of any of the organization's constituents, not step on the toes of regulators or in the rush to get the darn thing out, the people who produce them for a living often take the easy way out. Change the wording a little of last year's CEO's letter, revise the financial charts, drop in photos of the new trustees, add a dollop here and there of new initiatives, and that's it. It's time for a new take on these angst-producing documents that so often lie dormant in the organizations' storeroom after the initial distribution. Years later, musty copies are still taking up space. We need to look at the annual report more strategically. How can it advance the goals of the organization? How can it support the sales team or development director? Who should be involved in the process of defining the content? Who will most benefit from an annual report that demonstrates the dynamic nature of the organization, its vision, its role in society? Make it sell I recently had the rewarding experience of developing the annual report for a nonprofit health-related organization. The final document had a radically different design and approach to content than in previous years. From the beginning, my point of view, shared by the CEO, was that the report should very strategically position the organization as the leader in its space, developing new paradigms of patient care and educating future leaders. Of importance, it boasted a strong balance sheet. I worked closely with the director of development to understand his needs so we could present the financial results and new strategic initiatives in such a way that it would be easy for him in personal meetings to walk potential donors through the report, hitting the high spots to pique their interest and open their wallets. For example, I suggested that we graphically highlight the dramatic increase in the fund balance in a year when many nonprofits suffered a decline in their net assets. Through a "call-out" in the financials, we also pointed out that 82% of the organization's money went to programs and not overhead, a high figure for a nonprofit. Use Testimonials Knowing that many readers do not spend much time with the "front-of-the-book" content, I recommended that we use testimonials to bring the vision statement to life. Thus, in the very first two pages, readers could see a snapshot of the organization's main thrust with endorsements from its principal constituents, even if they never read further. So, if you're assigned to create next year's annual report, how do you ensure it accurately represents the organization and has a long, active life after it's been printed and distributed? Here are my suggestions:
While your readers may not take your annual report to bed, at least you can be confident they won't fall asleep at their
desks as they read it.
By Jeannette Paladino, Principal Belmont Communications Marketing and communications executives are being challenged by their CEOs to help chart the future of their organizations. It is their skills as conceptual thinkers that enable these communicators to envision the possibilities for supporting the organization’s goals. If this is the case, then why do so many chief executives resist the recommendations of the very people they have selected to help drive change throughout the organization? Of course, there can be many reasons, from ill-conceived ideas to lack of budget, to the indifference of line managers. But another reason may be the real culprit. While communicators may be conceptual thinkers, their CEOs are more likely ruled by logic and hard facts. They tend to approach problem solving in a linear fashion. Sound recommendations may fail because they aren’t organized the way CEOs think. That is why it’s so important to structure recommendations for marketing and communications programs that immediately demonstrate how they will benefit the organization because that’s the chief executive’s bottom line, especially during these tough economic times. Here are some tips for delivering a winning presentation to get approval for important recommendations:
Return to top The Hidden Value of Uncommunicated Good By Robert Moulthrop, Belmont Communictions The Trauma Continues . . . We pretty much get hammered every day now with people on high telling us things they want us to believe. The problem is . . . there's an awful lot of stuff being said in high places that - when we take the time to parse it with our individual truth-o-meters - just isn't true. From Ken Lay's pre-trial pitches to Jack Abramoff's assertions and the White House denials, from Katrina buck-passing to the latest statement from a boardroom, we know we need to use some kind of filter as we listen. If we want the truth. And it's difficult. And we think, sometimes, why bother? We are, as a public, terribly uncertain. Some of us have opted out. Others have cultivated a "what's the point" attitude. Others seem to feel that "everybody does it, so I'd better, too." We're all hurting. In business, where the focus is, as always, on bottom line improvement, there's danger that many are now moving back to the good old days of Chainsaw Al, when slash and burn seemed the sure-fire way to moving that profit chart up and to the right. In all this chaos, some calm is called for, some reflective time in which to think about the value of truth, and the hidden value of uncommunicated good.
Open Books and Back to Basics But to enable communications programs to provide the kind of service and support they can provide means going back to basics - finding just how a solid communications program can fit within each part of a company and within each part of its mission.
Back To Basics Trust is essential. "Trust: a firm belief in the reliability, truth, or strength of a person or thing;" a "confident expectation" that when A appears, B will follow. But we all seem to be living in a place where trust has evaporated. When the Chainsaws and Lays and WMDs cop the headlines, good news takes a back seat, and we all suffer the consequences. In negative times, when some of the news is bad, people think it's easier to believe everything's bad, so they won't get hurt.
Changing the PNP Formula Large numbers of companies are doing what they've always done - making products, selling them, servicing them, making a profit, and doing right by their employees. The headline grabbing scandals account for a large percentage of the PNP (Perceptual National Product), but a very small percentage of the real GNP. Mid cap companies are the lifeblood of our country's economy. And these companies now hold hidden assets of great value that are not yet being put to use. In these companies (and the vast majority of large cap companies) management and workers show up every day, do their jobs, create quality products and services, and run their business along ethical lines. But this story of everyday goodness is unsung. It's what I call "uncommunicated good." And this good has tremendous value, especially in these times of post-millennial malaise. People have a yearning for The Good - want it, need it, want to be associated with it. By communicating what's good about your company, you're providing a compelling reason for current and potential customers and clients to do business with you. But how can these businesses tell their stories? How can they cut through the media clutter (a difficult job even in the best of times) to let people know? To take the first step, the public needs to know about your Good. That means going back to communications basics - using basic communications tools to do the kind of marketing, positioning, and communications programs that will help actualize the true capital value of your Uncommunicated Good.
Easy? No. Achievable? Absolutely. How? Easy. E. Linn Draper, Jr., chairman and CEO of American Electric Power, a large electricity generating and trading company in Columbus, Ohio, noted in a press interview in July 2002 that with AEP's stock price down 35 percent this year, he must repeat to analysts, investors, and credit-rating agencies that AEP does not rely disproportionately on energy trading for its profits and that his pay is not excessive. "It's clear that my job has changed since last year," Mr. Draper said. "I'm spending a lot more time talking to various constituents about what the company is about." Some communication is better than none. Early, consistent communication is best. People who are used to hearing from you know who you are; they've made some judgments. They know the value of your word.
Building the Bedrock People are hungry for goodness. And when it appears, they want to be a part of it. There was never a better time to reach out the clients and customers you have (so much easier to keep than to replace), creating a platform for outreach to prospects. Creating those keys means motivating employees. It means creating customers who will think so positively about you and your product they will become an integral part of your marketing program. It means delivering on the promised value of your brand. How do you create those keys? A major piece of the program has to be communication. Inside your business and outside to your clients and potential clients, constant, consistent communication can make the difference between stasis and growth. Whether you're an individual, a family, or a corporation, your actions (your communications or lack of them) are an integral part of your brand. Your business family - employees, customers, clients - want to be reached with your good news. But if the only time you communicate is when you're asking for something - a favor, cooperation on a policy change, a donation, a product recall - then you don't have a communications key in your program tool kit. And it may take a little time for your good news to get through.
How To Do It Perhaps your customers believe in your integrity already. But it these times, like Mr. Draper at AEP, they need to hear the facts again. They need your stories, told in your company's authentic voice. Some simple actions can begin to turn the tide. With today's sophisticated data management programs providing new ways to reach a customer base, a solid, loyalty-building communications program needs no more than a vision, the patience to keep at it, and a slight budget increase:
We know the good is there. But if the story isn't communicated, its value is nil.
By Mary Lynn Coyle and Jeannette Paladino It's been reported that more than half of all corporate change programs failed during the 1990s. The primary culprit: poor internal communication. Whether that's an exaggeration is open to question. What's not open to question is that no matter what your work environment or your industry, if communication with employees is broken, you will never realize your corporate vision. "Broken" can mean something as elementary as over-communicating…or under-communicating. If a company's internal communication program is broken, employee satisfaction suffers, which, in turn, hurts customer satisfaction. And, if that happens, the bottom line is bound to suffer as well. A 1998 Harvard Business Review article on the turnaround at Sears said that without anything else being done for customers, it is statistically predictable that a 5-unit increase in employee satisfaction will drive a 1.3-unit increase in customer satisfaction and, within three months, a 0.5% increase in revenue growth. Change programs can fail when management doesn't see the link between internal and external communications. It is employees who are most often the primary interface between the company and its targets. Customers are the most obvious and important external audience. Without them there is no business. But the media is an increasingly intrusive "partner" as reporters pounce on every bad piece of company news - often coming from the mouths of unhappy employees. Online chat rooms sponsored by Yahoo and Vault.com, among others, provide a public platform for employees to vent their grievances and the media and customers are tuning in. The global economy and new technologies are transforming the way organizations do business. To bring their vision of a new, highly competitive company to life, it is essential for management to build and nurture a total culture of communication that includes internal and external audiences. Employee communication is too often a stepchild in this process. It is not an overstatement to say that business transformation will only be accomplished by building a global culture of communication that gains the commitment of employees at all levels, driving growth and performance. The key to ensuring success is consistency of communications to the right people at the right time with the right messages. Internal communication efforts often fall short because:
Belmont Communications believes there are five components to a Culture of Communication. Trust is at the core- all communications must be reliable, truthful and contain the full story. At the heart of trust is:
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