Engaging and exciting staff about their role
in the business startegy of the teriary
institution
Dr Amanda Hamilton-Attwell
CEO Business DNA
November 2013
What is your single biggest problem with
employee communication?
…research showed that 43% of the companies that
experienced share price falls in the last few years, had a poor
communication strategy…
…companies with an effective communications strategy enjoy
an 8% premium relative to other companies in the same
sector…
What is your role in the organisation?
The role of the Communication Professional
The communication professional:
 Represents the voice of an organisation as he/she
interacts with customers, clients, employees,
partners, shareholders, competitors and the
community
 Brings the organisation to life with a brand voice that
aligns its verbal, visual and digital messages and
activities with its mission and vision
 By clarifying the brand, helps ensure the organisation
runs efficiently and effectively
The role of the Communication Professional
The Communication professional:
 builds a strategic communication plan based on thorough
research
 communicates with a variety of audiences in a range of styles
 develops and edits content
 assesses where and how to communicate and how to evaluate
the results of their work
 acts as the organisation’s conscience and
 strives for financial, social and environmental sustainability
Remember
You are a specialist in the packaging and the
transportation of content
The Business Strategy - Know what to focus on
Potential communication
impact
High
Low
Low
Potential impact of business focus
High
area on stakeholders
Know your stakeholders
Stakeholder group Behaviour
Messages
Channels/timing
Name
Current
knowledge
Current
Current
What their stake is
Research
Current attitudes
Ideal
Ideal knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
9
10
Our people differ
 Groupies
 Empire builders
 Cubists
 Wheelers and dealers
 Teddy bears
 Greenies
The 7 principles of engagement – for
the communication professional
Fair
Trade
Build Reputation and Inspire
Trust
 Create an environment that
1




encourages a sense of being
welcome
Encourage opinions
Treat people equally
Involve people in decision
making
Make people feel they
matter/ feel they are
treated fairly
2
Inspire a Cause
 Create an emotional
commitment
 Build an understanding of
the future
 Make people feel what they
are doing makes a
difference
 Let individuals contribute
creatively towards a
sustainable goal
3
Create Collaboration
 Encourage team work
 We win or lose together
 Collaborative problem
solving
 Collaborative decision
making
 Obtain commitment
through collaboration
Eliminate Doubt/Boost
Confidence
 Provide adequate resources
4
 Establish free flowing




communication and open
feedback channels
Inspire creativity
Build credibility among
peers and subordinates
Encourage mutual interests
Get involved
5
Build the spirit of Ubuntu
 Get connected with people
and make them feel worthy
 Build friendships and
working relationships
 Listen and understand
because when you speak
you will also be understood
 Connecting with people
gives meaning to life
6
Mastering Capabilities
 Understand team members
strengths and weaknesses
 Invest in your development
 Mentor
 Align efforts and reward the
result – celebrate!
 Build a team with capable
people
 Show their involvement in
the future
Cultivating Freedom
 Build a free functioning
7




organisation
Provide freedom to innovate
and make decisions
Give freedom to an opinion
Encourage free thinking and
sharing of ideas
Give people freedom to agree
or disagree and to have FUN
If you can get people laughing, you can
get people listening,” Perry Noble
Consider the kind of humour that happens at the Zappos
corporate headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. The online
shoe store has a list of core values that include No. 3:
“Create fun and a little weirdness.”
 Wherever you go, across this country or anywhere in
the world, people sound exactly the same when they
laugh,” Noble said. “You can get two people together,
and if they can share a laugh, they find something in
common.”
Have a plan to engage and energise
 Your mandate – what you are paid to do
 Your vision – what you dream of achieving
 Your strategic focus areas
 Your key and supporting messages
 Your channel platform
 Your resources
 Your tactics
 Your measurements
Strategise everything!
Business objective (Step 1)
What business objective are you supporting with this communication intervention?
Target audience (Step 2)
For that business objective, who is the target audience(s( you need to consider and
influence?
Communication Objective (Step 3)
For your selected business objective, what do you want to target audience to DO, THINK,
REMEMBER and/or TELL OTHERS?
Intervention (Step
4)
What tactics or
activities will you
pursue?
Channel (Step 5)
Owner(s) and
Timelines (Step 6)
What is the best
• Who is responsible
channel for achieving
for owning this
your desired
activity?
objective?
• What’s the target
date for
completion?
Metrics (Step 7)
How will you
measure the success
of your activity and
link it to your
objective.? In what
time frame?
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The answers to your questions
How to engage and energise?
Do not be order-takers, be strategic partners