Communication Management

Adding Value, Communication Management, Communication Measurement, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement, Performance Management, Sustainable Outcomes

Measure What Matters

August 8, 2017 Comment

What gets measured gets done. Even though we’ve heard that a gazillion times, many organizations are still managing the wrong measures. Consequently, they’re getting the wrong results. Too many leaders today don’t give enough thought to what they’re measuring. The leader of a large U.S operation once suggested  that training should be measured by how… Read more

Adding Value, Communication Management, Leadership Report, Social Media, Strategic Advisor

Strategic Advisers Make Money or Save Money

July 11, 2017 Comment

Are your communication people stuck in their ways, or measurably contributing to the health of your business? More and more communication professionals are getting the point where they need to shift their roles from tactical doers to strategic advisers; those who add value to their organizations by removing communication breakdowns impeding organizational performance.  Communication professionals… Read more

Adding Value, Business Literacy, Communication Management, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement, Performance Management

Back at the Office

June 20, 2017 Comment

It’s one thing to listen to a speaker. It’s another thing to do something about what you learned when you return to the office—assuming the speaker said something worth doing. Last week I delivered three presentations to communication professionals attending a world conference in Washington, D.C. One was a three-hour workshop focused on reinventing the… Read more

Adding Value, Business Literacy, Communication Management, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement, Social Media, Sustainable Outcomes, Trusted Advisor, value to cost assessment

Give Value or Give Notice

June 7, 2017 Comment

It’s been a decade since human resources guru David Ulrich told HR professionals they needed to give value or give notice. That same message needs to be directed at communication professionals, who today produce activity often at the expense of results. Ulrich, a University of Michigan business school professor and author on numerous HR-related books,… Read more

Adding Value, Communication Management, Information sharing, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement, Performance Management, Sustainable Outcomes

Doing These Five Things Will Add More Value To Your Job

May 16, 2017 Comment

Why are you continuing to push out information when shifting your focus to where communication process breaks down can add so much more value? Internal communication functions have enormous opportunities to change their role from activity producing cost centers to results generating value creators. How does your communication function make the shift—from sending out news… Read more

Business Literacy, Communication Management, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Leadership Report, Open Book Management, Performance Improvement, Performance Management

Mixing a Powerful Results Cocktail

April 18, 2017 Comment

There’s a tremendous amount of stress today on organizations to communicate well. The pace of change continues to escalate, putting pressure on people and teams to move the right information quickly, accurately, clearly and in multiple directions. Earlier this year, I discussed how we addressed a client’s poor performance using two different solutions. One was… Read more

Communication, Communication Management, Employee Engagement, Information sharing, Leadership Report, Line of Sight, Performance Improvement, Performance Management

Information Is Critical to Peak Performance

March 21, 2017 Comment

A recent Leadership Report discussed employee engagement and specific conditions that need to be met for people to achieve peak performance. Those conditions are: Line of sight, or the ability to connect my work to results I can affect; Autonomy and involvement, or my ability to take action needed to improve results; Information sharing (there… Read more

Adding Value, Autonomy, Communication Management, Employee Engagement, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement

Autonomy and Involvement: Creating Ownership in Better Solutions

March 7, 2017 Comment

One of my recent Leadership Reports generated interest in open book management and discussed four conditions that are required for employees to be engaged. They are: Line of sight, which I addressed in my last Leadership Report Autonomy and involvement Information sharing WIIFM or what’s in it for me? A brief pause for those who… Read more

Adding Value, Communication Management, Communication Measurement, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Engagement, Leadership Report, Performance Improvement, Social Media, Sustainable Outcomes

Social Media is Missing the Point

January 24, 2017 2 Comments

When you don’t know what to measure, you should know you’re in trouble. Many in the social media world might be wise to consider themselves in trouble. Not long ago I interviewed the head of marketing for a $20 billion company. “Our communication people are worried about the wrong things,” he told me. “I explain… Read more

Adding Value, Communication Management, Communication Measurement, Leadership, Leadership Report, Performance Management

Business Strategy Drives Communication Strategy

November 22, 2016 1 Comment

Communication measures must be aligned with an organization’s measures. Why should the two entities work at what could be cross purposes? Communication should be managed to improve results that the company, its customers and ultimately shareholders care about? And, it needs to do so with an acceptable return on investment, meaning the cost to create… Read more