Author: Nailia Tasseel

What has Silent Witness got to do with connecting an organisation to their business story?

The BBC series involves a team of forensic pathologists, lead by a Professor Leo Dalton. The basic storyline involves the police finding one or more dead bodies, and the ‘paths’ then have to figure out who the murderer is. On a rational level this has a certain interest, as the clues emerge and the audience is asked to guess ‘who done it’.

But the challenge is that forensic experts are detached from the crime. They are dealing with facts from dead bodies on a shiny metal table. It’s hardly the scene to get a hanky out.

So, the writers add an emotional connection. In the last episode this involved Leo knowing the mother of one of the victims (an old flame), and the crime taking place in Sheffield, where Leo’s partner and daughter were tragically killed. Now he’s personally, as well as professionally involved. And because storytelling creates empathy, so are we.

In creating the narrative of a business journey, we and our clients can often seem like forensic pathologists, searching for the rational argument that links together the why, what and how. But if you can bring that rational story to life by linking it to the people involved: employees, customers, suppliers, and show how it related to their personal desires, challenges, ambitions etc. Then you’ve got the making of a really compelling story.

In 2002, my brother joined the army as an officer after graduating from university with an MA and then passing out of Sandhurst. After passing out he was immediately sent on active duty, and has since served, in various roles, for almost a decade. His original commission is now up and he is waiting today to find out whether he still has a job. He will find out from a website.

In so many ways the web has made life easier in the 21st century: creating business opportunities, internet shopping, keeping in touch with distant friends and family, sharing photos, democratising the media… and replacing difficult conversations with impersonal electronic communication.

Nobody wants to have to tell someone they no longer have a job.  That's hard.  And, right before Christmas, isn't great timing.  But, come on!  It has to be done by a person and not through a website or an email.  That is unacceptable and it's lazy.

We all know that public spending cuts are going to be painful and are likely to result in public sector redundancies across the board.  That being the case managers in the public sector need to know how to communicate both with those who are staying and those who aren't, in human and respectful ways.  There is no quicker way to lose the trust and effort of employees than to treat colleagues as if they are simply assets on a spreadsheet.  And there's no quicker way to undermine the credibility of leaders than by bypassing them in the communication of such sensitive information.

Websites and email can be great tools for providing supporting information and advice, but it is vital that managers (in both public and private sector) have the communication skills and confidence to hold difficult conversations with their workforce.  If organisations are not willing to train leaders to talk honestly with their employees, then chances are those leaders are not managing difficult conversations around poor performance or career development effectively either.

I'm sure there's a very good legal excuse why my brother's announcement is being made through a website, but when we expect so much from our armed forces – and civil servants – we owe it to them to talk to them the old-fashioned, face-to-face way.

Sorensen, who died last week, was arguably one of the greatest modern speech writers.  As one of JFK's closest aids, he co-wrote his inaugural speech in 1961, and was credited with the famous line: 'ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.'

His death reminds us of the contribution that these men and women of words make.  'The right speech,' Sorensen said, 'on the right topic, delivered by the right speaker, at the right moment, can ignite a fire, change men's minds, open their eyes, alter their votes, bring hope to their lives, and, in all these ways, change the world.  I know.  I saw it happen.'

So have we…

It was a whirlwind week last week, with a stimulating couple of days at Melcrum’s Strategic Communications Management Summit.  Some strong themes emerged, but one in particular stood out….the increasing need for dialogue and involvement in organisations.

I usually come away from this event feeling that the biggest issue is always the same issue – that of the problems encountered at middle management level in communicating vital strategic messages.  This still exists of course, but this year the spotlight seemed to veer away from this tier of management to focus on the subject of dialogue at every level of the organisation.

We have been promoting the concept of dialogue, innovation and involvement as key to a high-performing culture for years.  It’s vital for engaging a workforce and the key to stimulating a sense of ownership, which unlocks the inertia that often challenges change.  I never cease to be surprised, however, at the number of large organisations that are still relatively paternalistic and command-control in their culture, driven from the top.  Ironically these organisations are often the ones which have performed well over the years, with no obvious burning platform. So why bother?

We are encountering more and more examples – particularly in the world of financial services – where this is the case.  Yet platforms are beginning to smoke.  Consumer expectations are changing. Employee profiles are changing.  Technology is changing.  The world is changing.  What, in fact, isn’t changing?   What has made these organisations successful in the past are not the ingredients for success in the future. Add to this a different generation of workers whose expectations and attitudes are wildly different from the ‘employee lifers’ that have existed in the past.  Mix into this the loss of pride and trust in leadership that has come with the recession and media battering over the last couple of years.  If these organisations don’t start to change their working practices and culture now, their position in the market place may come as a shock in three or four years time, together with a heavy recruitment and training bill.

So at Melcrum’s conference I was encouraged to hear more and more examples of companies who have deliberately involved their employees in shaping the culture and direction of the business;  Maersk, Volvo Trucks and Merseytravel to name just a few.   Whether it be through surveys, focus groups, via social media or other interactive communications channels it seems that more organisations are taking this very seriously.  Dialogue begins at the top, with a visible and accessible Executive presence.  Enter the CEO blog…

There was a lot of talk about doing away with cascades too, although I must say that in my view the word ‘cascade’ (ie top down communication) has its place.  The ideal is to wrap dialogue and conversation around the cascade, perhaps with the help of ambassadors, change agents or influencers.  Leaders and managers still have an important role in communicating strategic and operational messages, especially when you take into account the fact that trust lies with the line manager, not the most senior managers at the top of the tree.  Hierarchy still counts.  It’s how you make the human element of hierarchy work that matters.

Good on Melcrum for an excellent conference.  As spending cuts loom, it’ll be fascinating to see what the hot topic will be this time next year.

I was mildly incensed the other day.  There you are….an immediate oxymoron, but it’s deliberate so doesn’t count.  The point I’m about to make is that I fear that we are becoming increasingly lazy and ignorant when it comes to our language – both written and verbal.

I don’t normally pay much attention to announcements on trains as they tend to be intrusive, repetitive, unnecessary and usually hard to decipher.  That is, with the exception of a very nice Spanish gentleman who works on First Great Western who’s a pleasure to listen to.  Anyway, for some reason, on my daily commute at the end of last week, I heard the train manager say “we will not be platforming this train at Twyford”.  Platforming this train? Since when has the verb ‘to platform’ entered our vocabulary? Did it make it in with ‘onboarding’ staff, or ‘medalling’ at the Olympics?

I was quite tempted to go and find the said gentleman to explain the correct way of helping his passengers understand that they wouldn’t be getting off the train at Twyford.  The train would not be opening its doors.  The doors would remain locked.   Passengers would neither be allowed to get off, get on, leave or exit the train, nor descend to the platform.  The train doors were not going to open.  Getting off at Twyford, in fact, was simply not going to be an option for any of those passengers on the 18.47 to Swansea.  But never let it be said that it might not ‘platform’ there.

Turning a noun into a verb is annoying, but so is putting apostrophes where they shouldn’t be, and not putting apostrophes where they should.  So are rogue commas before the word ‘however’ when there should be a full stop.  I know, I know, we all have the occasional lapse in concentration every now and again, but you’d think that professional communications people would get it right.  All too often they don’t.

Okay folks, I know I’m going to be lambasted by my team the very next time I make a grammatical mistake.  But please let’s remember what our English teachers taught us, and while we accept that language evolves over time, let’s not get lazy or complacent, and just make up new rules because we can’t be bothered to stick to the current ones.

Lecture over.  I’m now going to kettle some tea.

David Macleod, author of The Macleod Review, has again called for every business to underpin its employee engagement efforts with a ’simple, clear and compelling narrative’ that articulates the journey the organisation is on, articulating where the business has come from, where it’s going and why.

This widely reported piece of research, which brought together the opinions and examples of best practice from dozens of some of the most respected business leaders, has received wide acclaim from business journalists and leaders across the globe since it was published in 2009.  Macleod, who was speaking at Osney Media’s Employee Engagement and Employer Brand conference in London, was accompanied by his co-author, Nita Clarke, and opened the conference by reiterating the need for a narrative and an ‘aligned senior team’ to drive engagement through the organisation.

Macleod’s recommendation was endorsed at the same conference in an articulate and passionate presentation by Andrew Powell, MD Human Resources at Colt.  Powell explained how Colt, which has gone through momentous change in transforming itself from a product-led organisation (with a heritage of expertise in fibre-optic cables) to one providing a network and IT infrastructure with expertise in IT managed services, networking and communication solutions, drove rapid, momentous change through the organisation starting with a clear, simple narrative or Story that explained what people needed to do differently and why.

The change that took place in a matter of months was astonishing, driven by a truly invigorated and united workforce that worked together to demonstrate that it really could change the way it worked – and quickly.  Powell made repeated references to the role played by the senior leadership team in driving this change, saying that had they not achieved alignment behind this Story and the change that was needed, it simply wouldn’t have happened.  Engagement scores have improved, behaviours have changed, and leadership understanding and commitment universal.  Interestingly, the role of ambassadors has played a critical role too in supporting managers in engaging their teams.

A simple narrative and an aligned senior team – two critical success factors to change which have been amply demonstrated by Colt.  The Storytellers are proud to have played our part in building this narrative and providing an effective methodology to cascade the Story to 34 cities throughout Europe and India.  Change often takes time – and relentless energy from the business – but with the pride, passion, understanding and business-wide alignment it seems that it can be done in a relatively short space of time.