#11ways Research - Does communication really make a difference?
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The research conducted by Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole, and Stephen Welch reveals significant disparities between high performing organizations and their average counterparts in terms of communication practices. High performers emphasize aligning communication with business strategy, understanding audience needs, and adopting new technologies, leading to a greater perception of communication effectiveness. Trends indicate a slight improvement in communication practices since 2014, but there remains a decline in overall business knowledge among communication professionals.
#11ways Research - Does communication really make a difference?
- 1. Powered by #11ways Part II - Does communication really make a difference? Research Conducted by Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch #11ways via Twitter 125 respondents covering over 100 organizations with over a million employees
- 2. Who we are Michael Ambjorn Passionate about helping leaders achieve purpose-driven impact - and willing to cross oceans to make it happen. Chair @IABC, Founder @alignyourorg, Director-at-Large @NearDesk LinkedIn Twitter: @michael_ambjorn Dana Poole Helping communicators understand the digital landscape and deliver business strategy and goals through Digital Literacy. Internal Communications and Social Media Consultant at Unilever LinkedIn Twitter: @dana_poole Stephen Welch Helping organizations improve their communications to support culture change, innovation, communication, leadership development. Leading the development of the Communications Department at Dialog Semiconductor LinkedIn Twitter: @stephenwelch11 2
- 3. #11WAYS RESEARCH INSIGHTS & TRENDS 3
- 4. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch High performers think “impact” Our research – covering over 100 organizations with over a million employees – tells us that there are some clear differences between high performing organizations and others in terms of their communications. 89% of high performers align communications and strategy, but only 58% of average companies do. High performing organizations are 3 times more likely to rate their communications as excellent or very good. A clear theme emerges in high performing organizations – a theme which is absent from the others: They think about impact, not just output. 4
- 5. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch High performers understand “business” In a high performing organisation, communicators are twice as likely to claim that they have strong business know-how and operational understanding. Less than one in five communicators in an average organization would say this. Those that do: Find it easier to get senior leader buy-in for budget and resources Show more agility in responding to change: adopting new technologies, influencing culture change, managing competing agendas Navigate complex and siloed organisational structure to achieve their goals 5
- 6. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch High performers think “audience” 53% of communicators surveyed keep their language simple and jargon free The high performer organisations are more likely to keep their language simple, make emotional connections, and think about communication from the audience’s point of view. In these organizations, we also see stronger connections between the communications team and the rest of the business: In an average company, only 12% of communicators rate the communication skills of line managers and business leaders as excellent or very good. This figure is 3x higher for high performing organisations. 6
- 7. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch High performers are fast adopters Most communicators surveyed have adopted new tools and technologies during the past year and almost 70% said this has been very helpful when engaging with stakeholders. We see the emergence of messaging apps (Microsoft Lync) and wider spread of webex/video conferencing (Skype for business, Google Hangouts)along the more traditional channels: intranet, social networks, online newsletters High performing organisation have developed staff capabilities and talent to not only adopt new tools and technologies but embed them through new ways of working and cross-silo governance models 7
- 8. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch High performers align communication to strategy 89% of high performing organisations align communications and business strategy Only 8% of the communicators surveyed said they measure the strength of their communication activities by organisation productivity. Perhaps is unsurprising then that the biggest barriers to improving communication were seen as: Lack of senior buy-in Leadership does not value comms 8
- 9. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Trends Since our 2014 survey, we’ve seen some positive trends: 71% (from 54%) now say they align communication strategy and goals 53% (from 32%) now aim for simple and jargon-free language 47% (from 31%) now have processes for creating great stories 53% (from 34%) now claim to regularly make emotional connections with audiences But the overall level of business knowledge and operational understanding of the communication professionals has worsened: 25% (from 31%) now claim to have an excellent or very good business knowledge 9
- 11. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Why conduct this research? Good communications practice and organizational performance are inextricably linked. Our 2014 survey of 81 organizations, across 10 countries with approx 390,000 employees identified 11 challenges that today's communicators are facing. We saw a link between some of the 11 factors identified and organizational underperformance. This year are updating the data in order to analyse year-on-year trends. 11
- 13. About the organisations surveyed No of employees No of employees in Communications 13 100 organizations with over a million employees 39% 16% 6% 8% 7% 11% 8% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 0-5 6-10 11-20 21-50 51-100 101-300 300+ 14.0% 7.0% 5.0% 9.0% 10.0% 23.0% 18.0% 14.0% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%
- 14. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch About the respondents surveyed Strategic Advisor - You coach and support business leaders, and are seen as a true partner to the business Generalist - You have a management role in your function to deliver programs and initiatives, working across channels and approaches Specialist - You work in a particular area of communications and are an expert in your organization Business Leader - You lead your function, have a view across the organization, and a role on the management team Foundation - None of these apply to you. Perhaps you have just started your career in communication 14 30.3% 28.3% 28.3% 9.1% 4.0% What role best describes your career at this point?
- 15. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q1 - How would you rate? 15 23% 66% 10% 20% 61% 18% 25% 66% 6% 0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 250% Excellent + Very Good Good/Fair Poor/Terrible The overall level of business knowledge and operational understanding of the communication professionals across your organization The general communication skills of the leaders and managers in your organization The overall effectiveness of communications in your organization
- 16. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q2: How much do you agree or disagree with each of these statements about communications in your organization? July 19, 2015 16 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1. All of our communication is aligned to our organizational strategy and goals 2. Corporate messages are generally devised and written by senior executives 3. In general we try to pack a lot of messages into our communications 4. In our communication to external and internal audiences, we talk a lot about ourselves 5. Our organization regularly invests in new tools and technologies to improve communication 6. Our senior managers think they are good communicators 7. We always keep our language simple and jargon-free 8. We have a process for creating great corporate stories 9. We regularly make emotional connections with our audiences 10. We regularly think about communication from the audience’s perspective 11. When planning communication, we give a lot of thought to who delivers what messages 12. We measure the outcome rather than communication activities Strongly /Tend to agree Neutral Tend to/Strongly disagree Don't Know
- 17. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q3: What new technologies, if any, have you introduced in the last year for your communication activities? 17
- 18. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Top 5 Tools & Technologies adopted by communicators 18
- 19. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q3: What new technologies, if any, have you introduced in the last year for your communication activities? July 19, 2015 19 New devices for teams in every store, a global digital magazine, an online portal for recognition, an online repository for information Messaging apps - Microsoft Lync is being extended to all countries Intranets – Sharepoint Office 365 New integrated intranet linking formerly unaligned parts of the organization. Leadership video and written blogs and messages (tweets) for internal audiences. More collaboration groups online to connect geographically spread out teams. More online newsletters. Also moved a magazine to a digital format w/ rich content and interactive tools and links. More use of Google Hangouts with our executives Social networks - Yammer, Chatter Email - Newsweaver Social Media Apps Shorter, professional video Webex - Townhalls
- 20. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q4: How helpful have these new technologies been in helping you to engage with new or existing stakeholders? 20
- 21. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q5: What methods do you use to measure the strength of your communication activities (internal and/or external)? 21 Website/Intranet analytics Survey results Social media monitoring Number/growth of Twitter followers / Facebook likes Email open rate Reputation benchmarking Award programs (won/entered) Employee retention rate PR "Advertising Value Equivalent" Sales & profit Organizational productivity
- 22. Q6: What would you say is the biggest obstacle to improving the performance of your organizational communications? “Lack of Management buy-in, lack of investment in new channels.” “Too much noise/too many initiatives both in the business and communications teams, internally and externally.” “Getting line managers to become better communicators.” Time - people just don't have time to read, absorb are where necessary act on the communications. The sheer volume of messages also doesn't help.” “1a) Apathy/participation amongst audience 1b) "I'm good at it, it’s everyone else".” “Most members of the Communications and Social Media teams have no background in Communications; they've been simply growing inside the company. The age-range is also older, and non-updated, leaving most of the team counting on outdated tools and strategies.” “To prove the ROI of communications to executives, managers and investments decision makers.” “Head of organisation dismissive of involving staff, senior advisers not trusting staff.” “Managers who think they are doing a good job of communicating but in actuality, they have a different perception of themselves than what others have. Also, outdated technology plays a part in ineffectiveness. (We still use pagers, flip cell phones, computer based telephony that is not very reliable...)” “Even our communications team-leader and director don't understand the need for communications planning. We just do stuff. Even for advertising, we buy ads without any sort of goals in mind or understanding what the need might be.” “As a board member for a not for profit - lack of easy communication KPI's” “Seeing the opportunities not obstacles. Most discussions end up repeating what is wrong or what won't work rather than trialling solutions. We need less pilot programmes and more experiments.” “The complexity of our organisation often means we have to communicate to the masses vs. communicating clear messaging to the right audience, this will improve as we implement a better process for managing our people data. Change fatigue is also a challenge, we've had so much change over the last 3 years people are growing weary.” “There is not enough belief in the purpose this would serve, it can't be expressed in extra income..” “Lack of exec buy in, not enough face to face comm.” “Capabilities and talent of our Communications team.” “Having everyone on the same level of technology. Not everyone was given the tools at the same time. While some are enjoying the great benefits, others are frustrated.” 22
- 23. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch 23 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Lack of buy-in - Budget, resources, vision Leadership does not value comms Complex and siloed organisational structure Capabilities and talent Competing messages and initiatives Social, digital & technology adoption Lack of time Q6: What would you say is the biggest obstacle to improving the performance of your organizational communications?
- 24. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Q7: Finally, compared to the strategic goals for the year, how would you rate the overall performance of your organization in the last 12 months? 24
- 25. #11ways Benchmarking Report Michael Ambjorn, Dana Poole and Stephen Welch Copyright 25 A note about how to use this content: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. In plain language this means you’re free to: Use the outlined concepts – including excerpts in blog posts, presentations, podcasts etc. as long as you share alike – and attribute accordingly. If you want to use it commercially, please get in touch with the authors.
- 26. More about #11ways Twitter Search for hashtag #11ways Articles 2015 • 11ways Part 2 • We are all storytellers • 11 ways to get comms wrong and achieve underperformance • Do you really make a difference? • Are you dazzled by comms bling? • 11 ways strategic communications impacts organizational performance 2014 11 ways session at IABC 14 Do you create or destroy value? Video 26 SlideShare Download PPT