REWARD COMMUNICATIONS
Embedding your values to drive performance
Effective employee communication actively markets a company to its employees, and that means far more than churning out HR and reward information. That’s the view of Chris Hopkins, managing director at Caburn Hope.
Writing in the Caburn Hope blog, Hopkins said that it is possible to design an employee communication strategy that will sell the company’s message - its values, aspirations and ambitions - across all channels and at every vital “touch-point throughout the employee lifecycle”. But he warned that it’s not all plain sailing. “Performance-driving communication takes effort and imagination to plan and execute because one size won’t fit all, but what’s important is that its impact can be measured - you can see the results unfolding.”
%ADVERT%
For Hopkins, you now need - more than ever - to be proactive about how your company values are communicated. “Through recruitment and training, reward and benefits literature, face-to-face meetings, performance metrics, and any other point of contact, your values can be turned from being wallpaper to a mechanism to support performance management.”
But it’s vital to bring values to life through leadership style and line manager behaviour. As Hopkins explained: “In this way you give values resonance in what employees are doing day-to-day, and provide the vital emotional connection that will lead to engagement.”
He added: “It’s about showing values in action and backing that up with consistent messages delivered through exciting and impactful media. Ask yourself: What’s going to inspire them to deliver the performance of their lives? Just as marketing shows customers what’s great about your product or service, the same principles must be applied internally to show your staff why they’re working somewhere amazing.”
Employee communication strategy checklist
Hopkins reckons that there are six things you will need to consider in 2011 to boost employee engagement levels, and drive up productivity and performance:
1. Define journey
2. Carry out an audit or review
3. Set out a framework and an identity
4. Define a consistent style
5. Design a robust communication plan
6. Ensure you have the correct tools to deliver.
Hopkins concluded: “Switched-on organisations now realise that employee engagement drives business performance, so having the right values, and a communication strategy in place to embed those values, is vital. But it can be a daunting prospect, with many HR professionals unsure where to start, or how to make the business case to their executive boards.”
Want to know more?
Title: :Embedding your values - drives performance", by Chris Hopkins, 3 November 2010, Caburn Hope blog.
Availability: Read the Caburn Hope blog at www.caburnhope.co.uk/wordpress.
Caburn Hope will be running a series of workshops next year that will introduce the six stages listed above to companies “who want to update their communication strategy, and begin to sell their employer value proposition more effectively to employees”.
Caburn Hope is a full-service employee communications agency. It says: “Supporting clients in HR, employee reward and benefits, recognition, and corporate communications, we complement and extend in-house skills and resources to deliver compelling employee communications.” To find out more visit www.caburnhope.co.uk.