Thursday, December 23, 2010

Communication is the key to organizational success

The late Peter Drucker, the well respected management consultant, said that communication is one of the most fundamental and pervasive of all management activities. “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” Drucker said. He also said that communication is what the listener does.

One of the most important skills in leading any organization is crafting a strategic vision that achieves your organization’s goals and enhances its effectiveness. Turning this aspiration into a reality means creating and sustaining a unifying sense of purpose on the part of all people within your organization and communicating this vision to your outside audiences.

Organizational communication can be divided into two components: internal communication and external communication. Internal communication is between employees within the organization itself. External communication is from the organization to its external audiences.

Internal communication 
The most effective leaders and managers are those individuals who spend a great deal of  time communicating in their organizations to create meaning, share visions, and build a common focus for all members of the organization. Research shows that improving internal communication brings significant benefits to an organization.

One study found that good interpersonal relationships between managers and staff was three times more powerful in predicting profitability in 40 major companies over a five-year period than the four next most powerful variables combined -- market share, capital intensity, firm size, and sales growth rate.

Another study concluded that the benefits of quality internal communications include:
   ·  improved productivity;
·  reduced absenteeism;
·  high quality (of services and products);
·  fewer strikes; and
·  reduced costs.

Many organizational problems are the product of poor communication policies. For example, employees may seek jobs in another organization if they believe they will have a better opportunity to be heard and contribute ideas there. In addition, levels of organizational innovation may be low because key players in different departments poorly communicate with one another, or worse yet, fail to communicate at all.

External communications

Good relationships and communication with customers and stakeholders is essential to business or organizational success. Good communication plays an important role in maintaining customer loyalty, which brings good will to organizations and increased profits for businesses.
 
Customers welcome information from the businesses with which they deal, leading to “relationship marketing,” where the primary importance is creating quality of relationships between customers and companies.

Reputation is a vital barometer of the health of an organization. One study that looked at the impact of bad news about an organization found that perceived levels of trustworthiness is the first and biggest casualty of negative publicity. Like money, trust is hard to acquire but easily squandered.

Research suggests that most businesses underestimate the importance of evaluating their communications with customers. One study found that U.S. companies lose 50 percent of their customers every five years and that most of them make little effort to find out why. Additional research shows that it costs six times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.

So, effective external communications with an organization's outside audiences -- whether it is the form of marketing, branding, public relations, or some other communication vehicle -- is of utmost importance for an organization's success. 

Communication assessments

So, how does an organization determine what it needs to do to improve its communication efforts? The most effective way is through communication assessments, also known as communication audits.

Communication assessments are used to identify communication issues within an organization and reward good communication practices, prepare for storms sooner rather than later, and improve business and organizational performance. Communication assessments also can help identify symptoms of discontent, before these symptoms lead to a loss of employees and customers, and they help achieve the organization's strategic goals.

In my next blog, I  will discuss with more depth the way that communication assessments can help organizations become more effective.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Measurements Matter


This blog article is the first in a series of five articles discussing basic social media strategy.
When I was growing up, I was only able to visit my grandmother once a year.  One of the first things she did after we’d arrived, after presenting the freshly baked cookies from the oven, was to line the four of us up and mark our heights on the doorframe of her kitchen entranceway.  Eighteen years of marks miraculously never faded or disappeared.  We always walked away smiling and standing taller, proud of her compliments and admiration for how much we had managed to grow since the last time we’d come to see her.  It was always something we managed to do well.
When setting up your marketing and social media strategy, that same kind of measurement is equally important. Technology has now given us the ability to create vast networks interacting in real time.  We are now where our friends are, 24/7, and today for more than 75 percent of the planet, our friends are all connected to us through phone, text, email, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.  Outcomes from each social media channel must be monitored and analyzed to make sure you are connecting with your intended audiences and reaching your goals.

Many business leaders still do not take social media seriously to expend this kind of effort.  Customers take it very seriously, however.  As everyone knows, customer opinions are a business’ lifeline.  As has always been the case, a person’s strongest opinions are formed through interaction with friends, family, and co-workers.  Now that these social interactions have expanded to the Web, social networks are becoming increasingly important in influencing customer decisions, communications, and preferences.  In the same way, diligent measurement is more important than ever.
The impressions made in these channels are fast, far-reaching, and indelible.  Starting in the right place is critical.  But that must be determined by where you want to go and how you want to get there.  It should also be determined in part by how you plan to measure your results and justify your decisions as a business person.
By continuously monitoring performance and outcomes, you can also make adjustments and keep your market response as flexible as possible in the long run, thereby reducing your risk of failure with social networking endeavors.
From that perspective, there are four critical success factors for social media strategic planning:
I.           A foundation built upon clear business objectives
II.          Relevant key performance indicators (KPIs).
III.         Social media channels chosen to leverage KPIs to their full potential.
IV.        Outcome measurement and strategy realignment.
Some general principles at work in this approach include:
  • Build your social media plan strategically, one careful step at a time.
  • Always start with your objectives, add the proper methods for measurement, and proceed from there.
  • Your objectives must be customer-centered, building upon the foundations of sound marketing and effective customer-relationship management (CRM).
  • Create a diverse, interactive channel selection, built up congruently over time, which is critical for your business to obtain its furthest reach.
  • Measureable business objectives provide opportunities to learn about your customers, their preferred interactions, their understanding of your brand, and value received from your product or service.
  • The data gathered in this process will also help you take more decisive, effective action for change as your strategy moves forward.
  • Leverage these assets for a competitive advantage by differentiating yourself and making yourself more flexible and responsive than your competitors.  You will be able to measure, assess, and enhance your performance.
  • Measuring outcomes will also help reveal opportunities to maximize the effectiveness of your process and workflow relative to your social networking goals.
For most organizations, these four goals are the key components of a successful social networking strategy:
  • Dialogue – get people to talk to you.
  • Advocacy – get people to talk about you.
  • Resolution – make sure you are listening and you talk back.
  • Innovation – ask your customers what they want.

Once you are able to accomplish these things, your customers will be naturally compelled to engage with you and seek out your products and/or services on their initiative – your ultimate goal in any marketing or public relations endeavor.
Article 2 of this blog series will discuss Key Performance Indicators and the things you should look for to measure your progress.
Article 3 will present measurement tools available for basic media channels.
Article 4 will discuss strategy realignment and possible issues you may encounter as you engage your customers.
Finally, we will present some ideas for giving your customers added incentives to engage with your company and ultimately seek out your products and/or services.
In the meantime, keep making those marks on the wall, and be proud of the progress you are making!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Welcome to the Strategic Adviser blog

In this blog, four strategists -- Patrick Crowley, John Jay Fossett, Maureen Donnellon, and Jeffrey Sanders -- will provide their thoughts and ideas on four different subject matters within their areas of expertise.


Crowley, a former newspaper reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer and other publications who is now a principal at Strategic Advisers, will write a blog about policy and politics.


Fossett -- a former journalist, lawyer, and city administrator who is now a principal at Strategic Advisers -- will write a blog about leadership and organizational issues.


Donnellon, a marketing and communications specialist with Strategic Advisers, creates and implements social media tactics that are integrated into new and existing marketing and public relations strategies.


Sanders, a former staff attorney with the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, is an environmental lawyer in private practice in Covington, Kentucky.


Alternating days, these individuals will provide blog entries about thoughts, ideas, and new developments in their respective areas of expertise.