Creative Solutioning for Better Employee Communication

Every problem has a solution. You just have to be creative enough to find it. -?Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber

I recently had a fellow communications professional reach out to me for some advice on how to drive better employee communications. As a department of one, this peer was struggling to find creative solutions to drive engagement and organizational alignment on their own. When they heard about some work I had previously done to put together a robust community of representatives - Communications Business Partners to drive better internal communications they wanted to learn more. Specifically, they said, they wanted to know how I did it.

Furthermore, they commented on the prolific amount of (less-than-helpful) theoretical and high-level information that is freely available out there without any real examples or practical templates to translate information into action. After ending the call, I figured this person was not alone, so I decided to share the framework along with some practical tips and tricks on how you can drive better internal communications especially when resources to expand your team is not an option.

Background

Our organization had grown - A LOT! Pockets of culture were forming, employee communications weren't resonating, and information was getting stuck somewhere between top level leadership and those that needed it most - the front-line workers. We were a small internal communications team with big goals and big problems to solve, and not enough resources to head off the massive misalignment we saw sweeping across the organization.

I knew exactly what we needed - more hands! But where were we going to get them? The budget for new hires was going to other high priority project teams. In walks the Communications Business Partner model.

Communications Business Partners

I won't bore you with what a business partner is or any other high-level background information here—we can all Google it or look to the HR business partner model to better understand it. What I will do is tell you how I managed to get our leadership to appoint 18 individuals from across the business to sit it on one hour bi-weekly meetings to help our team drive better internal comms.

The Groundwork

First and foremost, I did my homework. I had my own personal perspective and my intuition to go on, but I didn't want to solely rely upon those things to come up with a solution that would have an impact on everyone. So, here is what I did next:

• Gather Data - We had previously conducted an employee pulse survey, but I wanted to go deeper so I set up a series of one-on-ones with my fellow employees from across the business and from all levels of the career ladder. This enabled me to get the heart of the issue(s) raised in the employee pulse survey and gain valuable insight into root cause and desired outcomes people wanted to see.
• Clearly Articulate Problem-Solution - Now that I had a deeper understanding of what the root cause of the communication breakdown was, I put in in writing. I clearly articulated the problem, supported my argument with data, and provided a solution with clear structure, governance, deliverables, and timelines.
• Align Vision with Key Decision Makers - No matter how good your idea is, if it doesn't align with the overarching vision and outcome objectives of leadership then chances are, your idea will be dead in the water. So, I made sure that when I presented the problem statement, I was also providing a solution that would help alleviate their pain points and promote achievement of their goals and not just mine.

Leadership liked my vision; felt I made a compelling argument and liked the framework I laid out to operationalize it. Now, to get the buy-in from my appointed teammates.

Activating my Coalition

Now that I had the backing of leadership and the names of leaders within their orgs to serve as representatives, I was left with the hard work of generating buy-in and the enthusiasm for the group to contribute in a meaningful and committed way. Here are the steps I followed:

• Connect - I knew it wasn't enough to send some generic email or Slack message letting them know they were nominated to blah blah blah. That was just going to translate into "oh great, more work!" I knew I had to personally connect with each new team member and to take their temperature on this new idea. So, I did! Before any kick-off meeting even occurred, I did my best to touch base with as many team-members as I could. I engaged them in casual chat about the state of internal communication and communicated what my vision was for IC and for the working group moving forward. I asked for feedback on my draft presentation and allowed individuals to help contribute to building the final vision I would soon roll out to the group.
• Align - My next step was to align the new group around our shared vision and purpose. I did this in our first kick-off meeting. Not only had I already soliciting feedback that allowed me to iterate in advance on my vision but while is session, I led the team though an exercise where all were allowed to have their voice hear. Everyone shared their "why" and what they wanted to see as outcomes from participating in the group. This further helped to create a shared vision and an understanding that, what we would be working on as a group were things designed to fix their specific pain points. Additionally, we took the time to set the ground rules for how we wanted to work together moving forward. I believe we all walked away from that kick-off with renewed vigor and commitment to help make the organization better.
• Produce - Now that we were a oneTeam, my next move was to get us into production mode. I didn't want our meetings to solely consist of us going around the table like eggheads debating the issues and solutions without ever producing anything tangible. So, while we definitely had some stretch goals to work on, rather than making those stretch goals the sole focus I also presented small projects that we could execute against for quick wins. In addition, I regularly brought in guest speakers from other parts of the organization to keep us all looped in and ensure we were seen as the go-to group for feedback on all things comms.

My parting though here is, when you are feeling stretched thin and perhaps even paralyzed by your long to-do list let your curiosity and the child-like experimenter in you take over. I came up with this solution because I was trying to figure out the 'what's possible' in an otherwise resource strapped environment. I started asking questions, started wondering what-if, and started imagining the power of many over the power of one. I also didn't try to execute this in a bubble. I pulled people in, bounced ideas off my team, and let others co-create the vision with me. The end result was 18 very dedicated people to making our small part of the world that much better.