angela sinickas

1

How to Get Management to Listen

Angela Sinickas, ABC

www.sinicom.com

NCA Communications Day27 March 27 2011

(It Helps if You Have Something to Say)

22365 El Toro Road, Ste. 139, Lake Forest, CA 92630TEL: 714/277-4130 FAX: 714/242-7049

2© 2012, Sinickas Communications, Inc.

Why don’t they listen to us?


A couple of ideas…

• Connecting communication more closely to business results

• Qualitative research to support our recommendations

• Quantitative measures to prove our results

• How to present our findings to leaders

4

Connect Communication Adviceto Business Goals


Why so many communications fail:Communicating for awareness or to inform

• Trying to “increase awareness” or “inform” people about a goal instead of communicating with them to achieve a behavior change

– Results in telling too many people too many things that are not relevant or actionable

– Audiences start tuning out all communications as just so much “noise”

• Ideal: Focus on what behaviors the new information should influence


Typical communication messaging

• Organizational goals and performance results

– What leadership is trying to achieve

• Audience actions

– What should different stakeholders do more of or less of, or do differently in order to achieve the goals?

• Audience perceptions (knowledge and attitudes)

– What do stakeholders need to know in order to do the right things?

– What do stakeholders need to believe in order to do the right things

• Communication tactics

– Key messages about goals and results


More effective communication messaging based on research

• Organizational goals and performance results

– What leadership is trying to achieve

• Audience actions

– What should different stakeholders do more of or less of, or do differently in order to achieve the goals?

• Audience perceptions (knowledge and attitudes)

– What do stakeholders need to know in order to do the right things?

– What do stakeholders need to believe in order to do the right things?

• Communication tactics

– Key messages about goals and results leading to behavior change

8

Research to Ensure We Make the Right Recommendations


From informal to formal qualitative research

• Working your network as an “early warning system” for emerging needs or issues

• One-on-one interviews/phone calls where executives will be speaking

• Pre-testing proposed messages, from blog posts to strategy statements

– Walk-around testing of knowledge and attitudes

– “Sounding board” panel

– Focus groups


Using an editorial board: Topics of employeeconcerns about new facility being built

TTooppiiccss

HHoouurrllyy EEmmppllooyyeeeess

MMoovviinngg

OOffffiiccee EEmmppllooyyeeeess

MMoovviinngg

EEmmppllooyyeeeess NNoott

MMoovviinngg

TTrraannssppoorrttaattiioonn

WWhhoo mmoovveess

FFoooodd

SShhoowweerrss

LLoocckkeerrss

SSeeccuurriittyy

Legend: = mentioned by 1/4 to 1/2 in this category.

= mentioned by less than 1/4 in this category

= mentioned, but only by a few people

= not mentioned at all


Knowledge and attitudes: asked randomly of employees met during a week

A. Since we’re privately held, we’ve never communicated this information, but what percentage of profit do you think we made last year?

B. What percentage of profit do you think we should be making?

Results completely changed executives’ script in Town Hall meetings on profitability


Focus group testing of strategy statements

Original statement on diversity:

“We need to become more highly diverse in our associate work force. Create an

environment where this is our strength .... Ten years from now, we will look a lot different. What do we need to do to take advantage of this?”

Focus group comments:

Generic word, meaningless; define diversity• Avoid words “we’ll look different,” which implies solely age, sex and ethnicity• Ten years is too long• Be aware that customers have diverse needs

Revised statement:“Create avenues for diversity to strengthen our organization. Diversity means

different things to different people: ethnicity, education, work experience, etc. All these can add to our strength, especially as our customer base is rapidly changing in its diversity as well.”

– Continue to attract associates from varied backgrounds

– Capture ideas to leverage our diverse backgrounds

13

Quantitative Measurements to Prove Progress on Results


From informal to formal quantitative research

• Track timing of business outcomes against communication inputs– Readers’ Digest: amazon.com book sales

– Bank of America: deposits vs. PR response

• Use different response URLs, addresses, phone numbers

– SCE: direct mail brochure

• Purposeful or accidental pilots

• Survey questions

– Outcomes from exposure to messages or channels


• Client’s Savings Plan enrollment campaign included brochures, meetings with videos; some plant managers chose not to “waste money and time” sending employees to voluntary meetings featuring videos

With Meetings/Videos

Without Meetings/Videos

Enrollment 65% 45%

Average contribution

5% of pay 3% of pay

Track outcomes vs. channels—a “retroactive pilot”


Tracking employees’ attitudes on the need and readiness for change

“I believe XYZ needs to change to be the global leader in our industry.”

Scouts

Disagree

“I believe XYZ is prepared to change”

Agree

Disagree Agree

Pioneers

Worriers

Fence-Sitters

Depressives

Hopeless3%

13% 25%

7%

39%9%


How reading the employee publication affects employees’ jobsHow reading the employee publication affects employees’ jobs

• The green bars show how many respondents agreed or strongly agreed with each statement about the publication

• Over half said the publication has helped them do their jobs better, with 80% saying it has helped them talk with customers and other outsiders more knowledgeably

• Numbers were even stronger for sales employees

81% 80%

65%

53%

83%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Un

ders

tan

d o

ur

bu

sin

ess s

trate

gy

Feel p

osit

ive a

bo

ut

wo

rkin

g f

or

the

co

mp

an

y

Talk

w/

cu

sto

mers

/oth

ers

kn

ow

led

geab

ly

Un

ders

tan

d h

ow

I

can

co

ntr

ibu

te t

o

str

ate

gy

Do

my jo

b b

ett

er

% Agree or Strongly Agree


How the intranet helps employees do their jobsHow the intranet helps employees do their jobs

25%

24%

27%

35%

46%

34%

35%

34%

32%

30%

40%

41%

39%

33%

24%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Save company money

Avoid making mistakes

Talk with customers more

knowledgeably

Do job more efficiently

Find tools and resources I need to

do my job

% Agree Neutral Option % Disagree

The intranet has helped me:


How much time the new Portal saves

• Answered by 1,376 people who said the portal helps save time, out of sample size of 14,082 (or about 10%), which means these numbers could be projected to 10% of the entire 100,000-person workforce, or about 10,000 employees

58%29%

9%4%

1-15

16-30

31-60

Over 1 hour

Minutes the portal saves in my work each

week


Productivity savings due to portal for about 10,000 employees (10%)

58% (5,800) x average of 7.5 minutes

29% (2,900) x average of 22.5 minutes

9% (900) x average of 45 minutes

4% (400) x average of 60 minutes

725 hrs/wk

1,088 hrs/wk

675 hrs/wk

+ 400 hrs/wk

Total hours saved per week 2,888 hrs/wk

X 49 wks worked

Hours of productivity saved each year

Convert hours to weeks

Average salary per day

141,512 hrs/yr

3,538 weeks/yr

X $1,500 pay/wk

Total productivity savings from portal $5,306,700

21

Presenting results to management in a way that gets results


Present data to management in ways that get their attention

• Assess value of campaigns, communication channels

• Track progress over time

• Identify gaps between what is and what should be

• Dive deep into data and make useful comparisons with business results

Comms Project

Status

Branding

Product launch

Safety

Merger


Create a dashboard of key metrics for execs

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

6/1

7

7/1

7/1

5

7/2

9

8/1

2

8/2

6

9/9

9/2

3

10/7

10/2

1

11/4

11/1

8

12/2

12/1

6

12/3

0

1/1

3

1/2

7

2/1

0

2/2

4

3/1

0

3/2

4

4/7

4/2

1

5/5

5/1

9

6/2

6/1

6

6/3

0

7/1

4

7/2

8

8/1

1

8/2

5

9/8

9/2

2

10/6

10/2

0

Weekly vistis Trend line

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Innovation Reputation Trust

Aware of ads Not aware of ads

23%

42%

35%

Relative Coverage Overall

Baseline

Actual

Target

Comms Project Status

Branding

Product launch

Safety

Merger


What employees at one company thought CEO’s vision of “doubling the company’s value” meantWhat employees at one company thought CEO’s vision of “doubling the company’s value” meant

75%

74%

61%

58%

30%

12%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Increase no. of contracts

Increase no. of customers

Increase revenue by acquisitions

Increase revenue from time-sold

Increase no. of large projects not relying on

time-sold

I'm not sure

� The right answer


Also evaluate how frequently leaders at different levels demonstrate communication behaviors…

AAllll oorr

AAllmmoosstt AAllll ooff tthhee

TTiimmee

MMoosstt ooff tthhee TTiimmee

SSoommee ooff tthhee TTiimmee

HHaarrddllyy EEvveerr

NNeevveerr

11.. MMyy ssuuppeerrvviissoorr rreeaallllyy lliisstteennss wwhheenn II ssppeeaakk ttoo hhiimm oorr hheerr..

11 22 33 44 55

22.. MMyy ssuuppeerrvviissoorr kkeeeeppss mmee iinnffoorrmmeedd aabboouutt tthhiinnggss tthhaatt aarree iimmppoorrttaanntt..

11 22 33 44 55


…and provide feedback on how effectively each leader is communicating…


…preferably in an interactive, personalized way


Dive deep: Differences in information levels on strategy by different retail geographic areas

Most informed

74%

Least informed

55%64%

Average

1 4

367

28 9 1011 12

513

Also is the most profitable retail

geographic area

Also are among the least profitable retail

geographic areas


Magazine

�Sales reps seem to overestimate the usefulness of social events, compared to how much influence clients say social events have on them.

�Sales reps are strongly underestimating how useful several key communications may be for them based on how influential clients say these communications are:

� Two marketing brochures

� Website� Client newsletter� Industry speeches� Press releases� Ads

Compare clients’ vs. sales reps’ perceptions of how much influence communication had in the sales processCompare clients’ vs. sales reps’ perceptions of how much influence communication had in the sales process

100%

75%

50%

25%

40%0% 60%

% of sales reps saying a source is influential

Avera

ge %

of

cli

en

ts s

ayin

g a

so

urc

e in

flu

en

ces t

hem

•Website

20%

0%

White papers

100%80%

•

Ads/sponsored articles

•

•

•

•

•Fact sheets

“JKL” brochure

Company presentations

•“XYZ” brochure

•

Financial highlights

•

Press releases •Social events

•Business events

•

Speeches

Sponsorship

•


• Start with the total financial value of new sales, increase in share price, improved productivity, reduced accidents, etc.

• Take credit for a percentage of the financial value based on the impact your audience attributes to the communication

• Divide by the cost of communication

• Result is a rough estimate of your ROI

• Work with Finance Dept. to see how they calculate ROI

Learn to calculate ROI: the financial value of changed audience behaviors vs. cost of communication


ROI Ex.: Communication impact on long-distance dialing costs

• Situation: Employees were dialing long-distance calls directly instead of using a string of pre-dialing numbers that reduced the cost

• Solution: Humorous internal communications campaign over three-month period using e-mails and the intranet; repeated every few months to alert new hires and remind back-sliders

• Outcome: Company long-distance costs reduced over $20,000 per month with the same call volume


ROI Ex.: Calculating communication ROI on long-distance cost savings

• Annual long-distance savings(12 x $20,000) $240,000

• Annual salary and benefits for one communicator - $ 86,000

• Net annual cost saving $154,000

• Cost of comm. salary/benefits ÷ $ 86,000

• Annual ROI = 179%


Isolate the role communication plays in achieving desired outcomes

• Pilot the change in only some locations; track the change in outcomes at your pilot locations against closely matched pairs at control group locations– Ask other managers involved in the issue to not do

anything differently at only some locations

OR

• Measure levels or outcomes before and afteryour communication intervention– Try to correct for any other major changes at the same

time

– Ask the people making the change to what extent the communication affected their behaviors


Whenever appropriate, sprinkle precise numbers into your conversations

• Percentages of relevant demographic distinctions among your stakeholders

• Numbers from customer and employee surveys that help prove your point

• Specific sales or cost figures that show you’re on top of relevant business issues

• Measurable results of communication—survey ratings, return on investment for specific campaigns, variations between pilot and control groups

• Measurable outputs of communication that led to the results—content analysis percentages, reading grade level scores, number of page views on a Website/intranet related to your discussion, number of people attending a communication event


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