Internal communications - it's not rocket science

CSR - the secret tool of employee engagement

In the Chime group of companies we have a sister business - Corporate Citizenship - who are leaders in the field of sustainability and social responsibility.  And recently we held an evening seminar looking at the connections between better employee engagement and CSR.

The session was quite timely given how much has been said in the UK about the Big Society of late (it's a loose idea from the British government that citizens could be encouraged to do more for each other and rely less upon the state).  I have also seen a thoughtful recent paper from The Doughty Centre at Cranfield University on the connection between CSR and employee understanding. 

It was also partly prompted by the some work done by my colleagues for the Corporation of London in which they found that employees who get the chance to volunteer through their workplace report higher levels of personal commitment to their employers.

There does seem to be a real link to engagement generally - when people feel their organisation is doing the right thing they seem more willing to stick around.  I am looking for data to see how it impacts on advocacy and discretionary effort but intuitively one would suspect that there has to be a link.

In the conversation, a number of ideas emerged about how you ought to communicate around CSR.  In summary they were:

Make it a planned exercise - not just some ad hoc stories on the intranet.

Focus on what people can do to get involved - not just reporting things that other people have done

Make it a conversation - not just telling people what you want them to do...what do they think you should be doing?

It's about stories - bring it to life with real case studes about the work people have done and what they have learnt from the expereince - don't peopl drown in data and dull exhortations.

Leaders need to lead - if people don't see the bosses taking part, they're not going to join in.

It has to be compelling and exciting - not just worthy.

Talk about challenges as much as successes - no one believes you're perfect and it's more credible if you explain the journey...

Take time to measure the impact of communications.

If anyone is interested in seeing the materials we presented at the session - do get in touch.

Liam

An engaging read

I'm really enjoying a great read at the moment.

It's Julie Gebauer and Don Lowman's 'Closing the engagement gap - how great companies unlock employee potential for superior results'.  

Drawing on years of consulting experience and research, the book explores the impact that employee engagement can have on business performance.  It looks at the drivers for engagement and the strategies that different organisations employ to win over employees.

The list of drivers includes (my paraphrasing):

• A chance to develop my career
• Making a difference to customers' lives
• Interesting work
• A chance to input on work issues
• Good relationships with my supervisor
• Social responsibility
• A culture that encourages innovation
• A chance to develop my skills
• Employee authority to do a great job
• Sincere interest in employee well-being

And although many of these things are firmly in the domain of HR, it is clearly the role of communications to ensure that employees understand the intent of their organisations. There's not much use having a fantastic training programme if no one knows about it!

However, it is communications that owns some crucial components.  For example it is our role to ensure that senior leaders get to demonstrate their interest in employees or celebrate the impact that the organisation makes on the lives of customers or service users.

And the thing I am finding particularly interesting is how organisations involve or ignore their staff when it comes to sustainability or CSR programmes.  Clearly community or environmental action are things that motivate and bind (or indeed repulse) employees.  It therefore makes considerable sense that CSR programmes are intimately tied into an engagement strategy.

But how many CSR teams sit in HR or Comms?  Very few I suspect.

Liam

CSR - building employee engagement

I've blathered on before about my theory that there are four generic sources of employee pride:

• Their jobs are intrinsicly worthwhile (think nurses, fire-fighters, social workers)
• Their employer is successful and doing well 
• Their employer is trying the change the world (which also seems to be generic brand strategy 101 these days as well)
• Their employer is trying to do the right thing (e.g they have a clear sustainability or CSR policy)

There may be more but I find that having nice wide categories in a hypothesis allows you to claim that you've anticipated any additions and so look very clever.

Well, I was chatting to Andrew Wilson, a colleague in our sister business Corporate Citizenship and he told me about a research project they have completed for The Corporation of London which looked at the benefits of encouraging staff volunteering.

One of the findings is that people who have had the opportunity to get involved in their community report higher levels of engagement at work.

I recommend the report - it's a good read with some interesting food for thought in there.

I have also stumbled over this report about the importance to CEO's of sustainability.  Equally good reading.

Liam