This image was on the front of a Happy New Year card that we recently sent to all of our clients.
In contains, albeit in a very abstract and metaphorical way, each and every one of the companies that we worked with in 2014. For example, the swarm of bees in the bottom right hand corner, shaped like the letter P, are of course BP!
Print it, share it, or get in touch if you want to know the answers.
Having stumbled across a version of Maslow’s pyramid that plotted an employees workplace engagement needs, we thought it would be interesting to create involved descriptions too.
Where would you plot yourself? How about the rest of your organisation? Too many “Passengers” and not enough “Potentials”?
• I take full ownership for helping my company to perform at its best
• I’m an enthusiastic ambassador and champion of my company’s vision and values
• I push myself to reach my full potential and inspire others to do the same
• I’m valued and respected by the business and take pride in what I do
• I know what doing a good job looks like
• I enjoy work, though wouldn’t pass up another job offer
• I understand What to do and Why, but haven’t been asked How
• I understand the company’s ambitions but am unsure of my role
• I’ve developed good team relationships but am not developing professionally
• I don’t like my job, but I get on with it satisfactorily
• I know what doing a good job looks like but plod along
• I have no great loyalty to my manager or my team but don’t want to rock the boat
• I take an active disinterest in the company and prioritise my own needs
• My company doesn’t value me and I hate working here
• I’m looking to take the money and run
Would you like to know more about our work? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Do your internal events deliver successfully on your organisation’s ‘business critical’ goals?
If used effectively, internal events can be used to influence ‘business critical’ measures such as employee engagement, revenue and profit.
Our latest research, though, shows that many CEO’s are not convinced.
We believe that this comes down to a lack of hard proof that internal events are delivering long-term behavioural change or hitting other significant indicators of success.
The INVOLVE Insight 2014 survey, published today (19/11/2014) spoke to 199 HR, Marketing and Communications Directors in large corporations with an events budget of over £100000, who are responsible for – or significantly involved in – the management of big internal conferences and events. We also spoke to 100 events managers in large corporations.
Our survey, based on research carried out in June and August 2014 by Illuma Research, found that almost half of all CEOs surveyed see internal events as a cost, rather than an investment. We also noticed a distinct disparity between the views of CEOs and employees:
“There is a clear disconnect between the CEO’s view of internal events and the views of the rest of the company.”
Jeremy Starling, Managing Director of INVOLVE
While only half of CEOs (51%) see internal events as an investment, two thirds of employees (67%) see their inherent value.Why can’t CEOs see the value in something that is clearly important to their workforce?
Although events are used to influence ‘business critical’ measures, corporates are not consistently measuring whether they are achieving goals.
To guarantee the long-term growth of this industry and determine whether internal events are truly effective, we need to be able to use robust measurements to track ROI. Only once we have acquired that positive empirical evidence can we prove the value of internal events categorically.
Only 54% of directors claim to robustly measure the ROI of internal events. Event managers, meanwhile , claim to be more committed to measurement, with 62% saying they do so very robustly. Not surprisingly perhaps, those with larger events spends claim to be better at evaluation (61% as opposed to 46%).
Until we can increase these percentages, we won’t be able to convince CEOs once and for all of the true value of internal events for communication and employee engagement.
The INVOLVE Insight 2014 report also looks into what makes a good events manager, the traits of a good internal events agency and what is likely to change in internal events in the next 2-3 years.
To read the full report, click here, or if you would like to know more about how we can help deliver ROI on your internal events, please get in touch!
A big thankyou to all delegates at the CIPD 2014 event in Manchester last week (5th & 6th November) that stopped by our coconut shy stand! Thank you all for your great photo sharing on Twitter, too.
@involve_uk pic.twitter.com/WRDqJ1FD0k
— Angus Crockett (@photgus) November 5, 2014
Every year, CIPD put on a networking event, with the sole purpose of sharing learning and knowledge between professionals in the HR and communications communities. There was a great turn out again this year, with each organisation putting up striking stalls and exhibitions to engage delegates.
This year, we wanted to exhibit in a way that got delegates actively involved with our offering. It was important that our stall facilitated in-depth conversations around delegates’ business objectives and challenges, as opposed to hearing a sales pitch and collecting a leaflet they’ll forget about in a week!
We decided that the best way to engage delegates with our offering was to centre our stall around our favourite three-letter word – yes, you’ve guessed it – FUN! We went for a fairground coconut shy concept, replacing coconuts with balls of the typical ‘change challenges’ that we are helping our current clients with – Engage, Vision, Values, Culture & Brand.
Depending on initial conversations when approaching our stand, we then encouraged delegates to ‘smash their key challenges,’ or simply hit the challenge that they were most interested in. We had a popcorn giveaway containing our business card for all delegates, though offered surplus popcorn prizes for successfully hitting the balls off the stands.
Focused on hitting those #EmployeeEngagement & #ChangeComms targets at our funfair stand! #CIPD14 @CIPD_Events pic.twitter.com/FNxdIE3R6g — INVOLVE (@involve_uk) November 5, 2014
Unsurprisingly, we found that most of the delegates aimed at the ‘Values’ ball (aggressively!) We had a lot of interesting conversations around the ‘value in values’ and how successfully embedding them is a prerequisite to achieving the desired company culture, internal brand and ultimate bottom line business impact. We learnt that a lot of companies are still finding it particularly difficult to engage Gen-Y and remote workers and break down internal silos. We were also reminded just how much the delegates love a little healthy competition and free food!
@CIPD @involve_uk This is probably the best-looking stand I’ve seen so far! Love it. #CIPD14 — Ashley Andrews (@Ashley_Activia) November 5, 2014
Passing delegates were intrigued by the eye catching, involving and fun nature of our stall’s theme, sparking a lot of great conversations about what we do at INVOLVE and their own respective company’s current objectives and challenges. Everybody really got into the fun and energetic spirit of the game, and even became super competitive with their colleagues! Many commented on how collaborative, co-creative and participative they found the experience.
Having fun with the chaps @involve_uk pic.twitter.com/pwGFEGjd5h — Amanda Arrowsmith (@Pontecarloblue) November 5, 2014
We have received a lot of positive feedback, both verbally and through social media. We hope that our stall was illustrative of our company values, and demonstrated how we use fun and energy to involve our clients in their change programs.
Would you like to know more about our work? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
A big thanks to CIPD for hosting the event again this year, we always find it to be a really valuable way to network and engage delegates with our mission.
Between Tuesday and Thursday last week, we gathered once again to celebrate smarter internal communication at the Melcrum Summit & Awards 2014, at the Excel in London.
Every year, this is a great chance for us to get a better idea of the changing role of IC, share thoughts, ideas and expertise with other professionals in the industry and broaden our network of peers. It is three days of “carefully curated inspiration” in the form of talks, webinars, presentations and brainstorming sessions. All of which helps us to improve the services we can provide, and allows us catch up with some old friends from the world of IC and employee engagement!
We were blown away this year by the quality and insight of what was on show at the summit. Each presentation offered valuable and groundbreaking insights into the role of structure, strategy and storytelling in internal communication, and what trends to expect in 2015. Often using their own experiences as a guide, attendees shared with their peers what they had learnt about the role of internal comms in today’s business.
Presentations included an interesting lightning talk by Victoria James from employee engagement award-winning AstraZeneca on how they engaged a global workforce with video, Tom Barton of Capgemini on how he tries to align internal and external comms messages and Paul Dolan of Happiness by Design on how we can better observe employee behaviour.
Candid camera shots, captivating content, visually-inspiring videos and interesting infographics captured all the action, and all the best stuff was shared live, moment by exciting moment on Twitter using the popular and trending hashtag #melcrumsummit! Follow us on twitter or check out our Google+ page to see the action as it happened, or for a summary of all the talks, check out Melcrum’s Live Video blog from the event.
On the last day, the INVOLVE team put on our own brainstorming session at the event, encouraging the audience to develop their own SMART solutions to the most relevant comms challenges highlighted at the Summit. We identified these challenges as:
Working with leaders
Catalysing change through digital
Increasing brand value through IC
Changing behaviour, not minds
The role of IC – development & management
We grabbed the audience’s attention with free goody-bags, and held it with quick fire discussions and a fun and innovative game of Get SMART Trumps! In our fun version of the popular card game, each comms solution became it’s own top trumps card, and was given a score out of ten for each category on the S.M.A.R.T scale:
Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-based
It was a fun and involving way to get attendees thinking about what good looks like, using the 2014 Award Nominations as stimulus, and then using that to create SMART solutions to the challenges above. Thanks goes to everyone involved with the organisation of this year’s Summit. Thank you to Melcrum, and to all the speakers, attendees and organisers for another great event, and congratulations to all the deserving award winners! See you all next year!
“As a male CEO, I have been asked what kind of car I drive and what type of music I like, but never how I balance the demands of being both a dad and a CEO.”
Max Schireson’s resignation letter
CEO of billion-dollar database company MungoDB just stood down to spend more time with his family, and it has rocked the HR and business worlds.
In a post on his blog, entitled, “Why I’m Leaving The Best Job I Ever Had”, Max Schireson detailed how travelling 300,000 miles a year, and commuting from Palo Alto, California to New York ever 2-3 weeks was depriving him of any time with his ‘3 wonderful kids’ and his ‘brilliant’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘infinitely patient’ wife.
In his resignation letter, he extols the virtues of a ‘special company’ with ‘amazing customers’ ‘a great product’ and ‘the strongest team.’ He acknowledges, too, that this decision may cost him his high-powered career and millions of dollars in potential earnings. For Schireson, though, it is simple.
Family must come first.
His break from the accepted mould of a male CEO, and his heartfelt resignation has gone viral across the web, and prompted us to think about leadership and how it can be balanced with family.
Balancing Leadership and Family
“Time for work and for family are both very important components of a full, meaningful life.”
Max Schireson decided that to have a fulfilled family life, he had to give up high powered leadership. But does it always have to be a choice of one or the other? Can leadership and family be balanced in well-rounded life?
The first mistake leaders make is to see work and family as opposing forces, each draining time and energy from the other. It is important to manage your time so that when work ebbs, you are proactively fitting in meaningful family time, and vice versa. Sometimes work will have to take priority, which is okay, as long as family takes priority other times.
Do you have any secrets for balancing leadership and family effectively? We’d love to hear about them.
According to a recent study by Forbes, there is good news for those of us working in corporate communications – we make the top ten list of professions with the best work life balance!
A successful product launch opens up new markets, brings in new customers and increases business with the existing ones.
Successful internal brand and product launches depend on three things: planning, preparation and employee involvement.
Success relies on employees understanding the key selling points and advantages of the new brand or product, and being able to communicate those benefits to customers with passion, personality and confidence.
“A high proportion of product launches fail because of poor planning”
Prepare an in-depth and detailed launch plan, including a clearly defined budget. Don’t leave any aspect of the launch to chance. Control expenditure, and assign one person with the task of keeping the launch on track.
Be prepared.
Make sure employees and sales representatives are thoroughly briefed on the product, the target market and the benefits of the product or brand that they are launching. Make sure they are aware of the aims, goals and benchmarks of the launch.
Have your press releases prepared and invite the key journalists and members of the press. Launch your advertising campaign well in advance and make sure existing customers are informed of the new brand or product.
Most importantly, create buzz, excitement and enthusiasm around your launch.
“Typically, if someone feels ownership in a product, he tends to take pride in its success.”
How do you involve your employees in an internal brand or product launch?
As we have discussed a lot in the past, involvement is about taking ownership of and pride in your work. Involved employees means productive employees, which also means happy customers. The same applies to internal brand and product launches. If you can get your employees involved in the success of the launch, then the chance of success is much greater.
The first step is to make sure that your employees know the product or new brand inside out. Immerse your employees in the product until they are confidently able to champion it to others. Show them that they are valued by implementing their thoughts and ideas, rather than prescribing a new set of guidelines that must be followed.
Empower your employees to market the new product or brand launch through social media, and through their individual roles. By allowing your employees to post pictures, information and tell others about the brand or product launch, they’ll spread the word without any extra cost to you.
Gamify the launch process, and offer incentives to those who show the most commitment to the success of the launch. Leaderboards, incentives and prizes have a proven effect on involvement.
If you would like to know more, or read about how we helped major companies nail their internal brand and product launches, then click here.
How would you feel waking up in the same room as your boss? Brushing your teeth together? Sharing breakfast?
Weird, right?
Well, it’s a little unorthodox, but the Wholefoods approach to employee engagement is having a huge impact on their company culture – and their bottom line.
“I know this sounds weird, but there’s something about sleeping in the same house and then fixing breakfast or dinner together that is very much a bonding experience”
For Wholefoods Chief Executive and founder John Mackey, escaping the constraints of the office and spending time with colleagues in a more personal setting is the best way to build up a trusting relationship. He believes that it allows workers to connect on a deeper level, and become more involved.
“His approach stresses the importance of emotionally involved leadership and creating a culture that allows workers to flourish.”
Mackey’s main goal is to make a job with Wholefoods mean more than just a payslip. His aim is to foster a team who feel like they matter. That’s why Wholefoods are currently ranked 44th in Fortune magazine’s 100 best companies to work for.
Founded in 1980 from just one store, Wholefoods now has 80,000 staff across 373 shops in the USA, Canada and the UK. In 2013, they reported the best sales in the company’s history, with a sales increase of 12%, to £7.8 billion.
So as barmy as you might think their engagement strategies sound, they are clearly working!
Wholefoods emphasise a strategy of “caring leadership” from the top down. Team members are nurtured and developed and leadership make a conscious effort not to promote “jerks.” New employees start their life at Wholefoods on a two-month probationary period, and only when they achieve a 66% approval rate among their colleagues by secret ballot can they be kept on permanently.
This approach to development and recruitment ensures that all permanent team members fit with the company culture, and are on message with the values and goals of the company.
Wholefoods have engineered a model example of a decentralised leadership structure, and of encouraging employees to self-manage. Pay is egalitarian, and no one earns more than 19 times the average pay of a full-time worker. All meetings are ended with “appreciations” – expressions of gratitude for specific contributions staff members have made to the firm.
These initiatives have had a revolutionary impact on staff relations, and have created a more dynamic and involved workforce.
If you want to know more about the Wholefoods culture from the chief executives, watch this video. Or to find out how we could help you get your workforce more involved, please just give us a call.
Do we need coffee to be productive? The 1.6 billion cups of coffee we collectively consume every day says we do!
Many of us can’t function without that first hit of caffeine in the morning.
However you take your black gold, it has long been the belief that coffee makes you more productive.
According to a survey carried out by Life Hack:
“46% of workers claim they are overall less productive without their java. 20% of coffee drinkers claim that it allows them to better socialise with their co-workers and 10% say that it helped them focus before giving a presentation.”
Those figures are far from conclusive.
The question we want to ask, is whether it is the coffee that increases productivity, or the break itself that allows space for fresh ideas and creativity?
“Coffee breaks were associated with higher fatigue, not lower.”
Many working people will turn to caffeine, when their eyelids begin to droop and their concentration lapses, to help them mine a few more hours from the day. Caffeine is a stimulant, and is proven to keep you awake and allow you to work longer hours.
But does working longer hours mean greater productivity?
“Longer hours do not make you more productive, and can in fact have the opposite effect”
The International Labour Organisation
The logic that the more hours we work, the more work we get done is what made us pull all-nighters at University, and why your boss pulls you into work at weekends. In fact, the opposite has been proven to be true. You’ll get less done, and the work you do will be of poorer quality.
But what is really important, is not whether coffee can keep you awake at your desk for longer, but whether taking a break can improve creativity, collaboration and engagement.
“Our brains do need to have a little rest – they just can’t be on all the time. And it’s often in the breaks where you get your creative ideas.”
Dr. Suzy Green, HR Daily
Some of our best ideas and brightest flashes of creativity come to us in the shower, in the car, or while sitting over a coffee. It is amazing what can happen when your mind is allowed to wander.
A growing body of evidence shows that taking regular breaks from mental tasks improves productivity and creativity — and that skipping them can lead to stress and exhaustion.
When it comes to fresh ideas, putting some distance between you and your work, can improve productivity dramatically. Removing yourself from the coalface for a while means that you will return to it recharged and refreshed.
“The simple act of sharing a coffee break is an opportunity to sit down, listen and learn”
Sitting over a coffee as a means of socialising, catching up on the issues of the day and sharing information is a social convention that dates back centuries. Some of the greatest ideas and movements in history were born in coffee shops.
The coffee break offers the opportunity to brainstorm ideas and speak freely without fear of scrutiny by managers and superiors. In a time when face-to-face interaction is becoming more rare, the chance to communicate in person is precious – it is always more effective than email, phone calls or video conferencing for exchanging information quickly and clearly.
People from different teams come together, encouraging cross-fertilisation of ideas.
Think about that the next time you are feeling guilty about popping out with a colleague for a quick espresso hit!
CEO Mark Sebba thought he was just turning up to another ordinary day at work.
However our client asked us to create this incredible surprise and tribute to say “thank you” for 11 years of having him at the helm.
He may be the boss, but they clearly love him to bits!