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Arrow Communications
- 1. Communications “Pointing you in the right direction” Bombardier: Tuesday 6 December 2011
- 2. Fastest growing internal agency in Northern Ireland. Specialists in public relations, communic ation consultancy and training. Delivering excellence by innovative solutions.
- 3. Our team Arrow Communications combines a unique skill set of communications expertise, as well as detailed knowledge of Northern Ireland. Straight talking and efficient in bringing you strategic thinking and innovative solutions. Our experience and specialism enables us to focus sharply on the issues which really matter to our clients, which matter to Northern Ireland and matter to us.
- 4. Central to strategic decision making. Skilled, two way communication. Audits create reports, strategy, implementation theory and solutions. “Auditing Communication involves the assessment of current practice (diagnosis) in order to determine what steps are required to secure improvements (prescription).” Hargie & Tourish, 2000
- 5. Intangible methods by quantitative and qualitative means. Focus groups. Surveys. Face to face structured and semi structured interviews. Listening and engaging with Bombardier employees. Method Time to Nonprofit Cost Information Yield Interviews 30-60 minutes each Moderately Qualitative in-depth expensive (time data to conduct, analyse ) Surveys 20-30 minutes Moderately Standardised data expensive Participant Variable Expensive (time) Process flow Observation Document None Expensive (time) Material, message Review evaluation Focus 1-2 hours Moderately Qualitative in-depth Groups expensive Data ; specific (depends on examples
- 7. Feedback on how well I do my job 2.5000 2.0000 1.5000 1.0000 .5000 .0000
- 8. Sources of the information I receive that will change my duties 2.5000 2.0000 1.5000 1.0000 .5000 .0000 Senior Immediate HR Other Colleagues and Trade union Grapevine -.5000 management manager representative departments peers team -1.0000 -1.5000 -2.0000 -2.5000 Share information. Explain what’s going on. Keep your door open. Don’t react. Control the grapevine. Use the grapevine. Detrimental effect.
- 9. Desired goals and objectives of my team 4.0000 3.5000 3.0000 2.5000 2.0000 1.5000 1.0000 .5000 .0000
- 10. My manager doesn’t listen to me. I am sick of hearing things through the grapevine. I would love the opportunity to dedicate some of my time to my personal development within Bombardier. There are opportunities available that no one knows about. My employer engages with the work, but not with their employees. Mistakes are condemned and good work unrewarded. I need to feel more valued. I need to advance my career. I wouldn’t know the CEO if he walked past me out on the floor. One to one sessions would definitely be beneficial. Morale needs to be increased.
- 11. There are solutions; face to face consultancy. Engage with employees. Personal development programmes. Staff representation. Internal publications. Intranet. Interactive communication. Digital screens.
- 12. Recommendation Purpose Action/Issues Develop a clear To help managers Management set of deliver key Development communication organisational Framework guidelines and messages effectively starting to identify support for all and develop different managers, superv communication communication isors and project skills. skills and training managers. needs required. To help project managers plan Assess communications and practicalities of identify issues. applying Plain English principles.
- 13. Recommendation Purpose Action/Issues Review the To improve consistency Establish focus Induction process and effectiveness of groups amongst and its application Induction across relevant HR staff in all departments Bombardier. and Head of Departments in To ensure that all needs order to review of new/transferring how best to staff members, improve and including an publicise understanding of induction Bombardier objectives processes, and and priorities. As well clarify as encouragement to understanding of access relevant job department roles. information.
- 14. Recommendation Purpose Action/Issues Develop and To create internal There will be an improve existing publications which internal review of staff bombardier inform and engage requirements to publications, such with staff and meet enable departments to as the newsletter their needs as assess effectiveness of and magazine. internal existing staff channels. Overview, and stakeholders. Set objectives and work with other guidelines to ensure department understanding of newsletters to employer. share best practice and information. Differentiate between information needed and information overload.
- 15. Communications Conclusion. Thank you for listening. Are there any questions?
Editor's Notes
- Welcome
- Interviews – Arrow Communicationsinterviewed a range of staff beginning with senior managers progressing to production line leaders so as to better understand communications-related work processes within Bombardier. Interviews allowed respondents to provide a rich qualitative sense of how practices are performed and how the organisation manages its communication channels.Subsequently,quantitative surveys were disseminated amongst staff enablingstandardisation and comparison of responses. The methods were shaped by a critical incident analysis approach – staff were asked to describe, through the interviews and surveys, specific effective and ineffective experiences with communications in Bombardier. The purpose was to collect examples of experiences in order to gauge how communications practices were performed within situational contexts. Participant observation – arrow communications participated in organisational activities involving communications in order to see how and when practices are performed. Day at each site over two weeks audit duration.Document review – Communications documents (e.g. publications, campaign materials, press releases, etc.) were reviewed to assess the development and targeting of materials as a communications practice. Focus Groups – Five groups fifteen people met in a moderated discussion and responded to open-ended questions about communications practices, inspiring the respondents taking part to react to and built on one another’s responses.
- Feedback on how well I do my Job- Everyone wants to know how they are performing at work. Communication is based upon feedback specifically two way performance feedback which can be seen to affect the basic deficiency needs as outlined. If basic needs such as safety, belonging and esteem cannot be actualised then it can be surmised that self-actualisation will not be attained. Self-actualisation in work can be viewed as quality job performance. Feedback for employees on their performance in work is essential, from the graph we can see that employees are getting sufficient feedback when they participate in team efforts however, they don’t feel they get feedback on individual performance. Employees need to know that their work is being appreciated and that they are doing it the most effective way they can which can increase their confidence and self-esteem. As well as being beneficial for employees performance appraisals can offer benefits for the organisation, by assisting in aligning job performance with goals and objectives.This feedback should be timely, specific and frequent and should consist of the following:Expressing constructive critisism that look at how a job could be performed differently or more effectively instead of focusing on how the employee needs to improve.Showing employees how they have contributed significantly towards the organisation meeting its objectivesRecognising their work achievements and their strengthsProviding a formal opportunity for employees to inform managers/supervisors about barriers that are preventing them form doing their job effectivelyProviding the opportunity to give feedback or present new ideas to the manager/supervisor.�Recognising that the employee is putting in extra effort at work and may be eligible for a pay increase or career/skill advancement opportunity Career Advancement and Development Opportunities- see third graph advice
- Grapevine - The grapevine is an important source of information for managers, executives or owners. It provides the information you may not have otherwise heard. Although it is a valuable source to gaining insight about employees it is also a trusted source for the employees who tend to believe what they hear as true. This is mainly down to the fact that management are not usually involved in this method of communication. Here we can see that employees are receiving a large amount of their information via the grapevine, which has the downside of becoming an out of control source that can have knock on effects for the organisation In the long term this could result in a decrease in employee morale as they may be unsure about the direction of the organisation. This leaves room for gossip and rumours that can spread fast and will not be an accurate portrayal of the true information. Saying this, not all employees will take the information in the way intended which can become upsetting, for example the news of a merger with another company or possibilities of layoffs and so on. Bombardier advice:Although you cannot get rid of the Grapevine there are ways of controlling it.Firstly Share information. Providing your employees information on something happening with the company helps to reduce what flows along the grapevine. Yes, they will still talk within the grapevine, but at least you have provided them accurate information that helps to alleviate their concerns.Explain why something is going on. If a decision has been made that seems to be inconsistent with past decisions or unfair, explain the reasoning behind the decision.Keep your office door open. Ensure employees feel that they can come to management with questions, suggestions, ideas or concerns.Don’t react. Don’t get upset, angry or lash out if you hear about something going around the grapevine that isn’t quite accurate or that should have been confidential. Address the issue by providing information to the employees to correct any misperceptions or give details decrease worry. Then – learn from what happened so next time you don’t have to make a correction.Use the grapevine. When there is news to report, get the word out. Don’t keep it to yourself or assume that someone else will spread the news.What can we do?....Train managers how to do the above possibly?
- Formal One to One sessions-from the graph we can see that their is a huge desire from employees to have formal chats with their management. Employees may feel that there are specific issues or problems they need to resolve but may not get the time in their busy working environment to speak with management or vice versa. In these circumstances it is vital that time is put aside for employees to talk through their concerns with someone who can offer guidance and support without the employee feeling rushed or embarrassed about not knowing the answer themselves. This could be done once a month, in neutral circumstances to put the employee at ease and the reassurance that anything they bring to attention will be treated confidentially and will not affect their status within the organisation.It can also be advantageous for management as they can evaluate the level of awareness employees have or their engagement with the company so they can help improve morale, solve particular employee problems and work ethic.Our advice: Set up a formal internal company mentoring program which will benefit the employees and the company. This program will increase commitment to the company and increase sharing of skills and knowledge which will build teamwork and companionship among employees.This is also considered a useful method of communication if new employees are finding it hard to adjust to the new environment in which they have been placed or there are a number of management/leaders retiring/leaving within the next 3-5 years and these roles need filled. From the first graph it can be seen that employees currently desire more Career advancement and development opportunities and this could also be resolved through the use of our mentor program. For example if Bombardier did not wish to create new titles within the company they can simply offer employees the opportunity to become a mentor or to be a mentee in order to work together to enhance skills, teamwork and a supportive environment for staff development and possibly future career advancement for those who take partBenefits include:Increased retention rate of employees through enabling them to more rapidly adapt to their new role and the company culture.Building trust among new employees and current employees so they come to rely on each other to accomplish their jobs and work effectively as a team.Strengthening and further develop the team-based environment.Ensuring that all new employees have access to the resources they needed to be successfulin their roles.Provide new employees guidance to find their way around the organization and access the resources they needed to be effective.
- Managers spend more than three fourths of their time in communicating – exchanging information.Communication is found to make the biggest relative contribution to the effectiveness of managers but the scenario above is a prime example of ineffective communication and not fully utilising communication channels; regardless of how good managers are as communicators
- There are solutions. What exactly can be done for Bombardier and what we can do for you…
- Purpose 1 - To help managers deliver key organisational messages effectively and to develop their skills in communicating with teams and staff. To help project managers to plan their communications and identify any issues prior to project implementation Action 1 - The Management Development Framework developed by HR has started to identify the different communication skills and training needs required. Assess the practicalities of applying Plain English principles where appropriate.Purpose 3 - To create internal publications which inform and engage with staff and meet their needs as internal stakeholders. Action 3 - An internal review of staff requirements will help departments to assess the effectiveness of existing staff channels. A clear set of communication objectives and guidelines will help all editors of internal publications understand how to support the employer brand. Differentiate between information needed and information overload
- Purpose 2 - To improve consistency and effectiveness of Induction across Bombardier. To ensure that Induction meets all the needs of new staff members and those transferring across departments, including a broad understanding of Bombardierscurrent objectives and priorities, and encouragement to access whatever more detailed information is relevant to their jobs.Action 2 - A focus group between the relevant HR staff and HoDs to review how best to improve and publicise the process, and clarify understanding of the role of departments
- Clear set ofcommunication objectives and guidelines to ensure understanding of employer brand support.