How Can We Connect Better

to be More Effective and

Increase our Performance?
Lindsay Bogaard
 We are like islands

Isaac Singer (1904 - 1991) Polish-US novelist, short-story writer

“Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of non-knowledge”.

If you consider everyone as an island:

-we don’t have extra sensory perception

-We don’t share knowledge or experiences as ‘one’
-We are separate physical, spiritual and emotional entities

…then the question is:

How can we communicate better: to be more effective and increase our

performance?

Well to start with, apparently the magic number is 17

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Apparently, 17 people in a team based in one location can connect ‘naturally’:

If you have 17 people in a team, they can more or less keep in touch
with what’s happening inside the team without ‘extra’ support.

they don’t any need additional support to

keep abreast of what’s happening,

know where their connects are
and work together efficiently.

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17 people can connect with little effort..

But what if there are hundreds of people, or thousands – in the same organisation –
located in different countries?

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Do they all need to connect with each other to achieve some kind of supreme
unity?

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Of course not. It would take too much time.

But what are we talking about here?

It’s obvious but it’s often overlooked as a focus area:
But why bother ? What are the bottom line payoffs of good communication?

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 Why Bother?
Evidence from the 2005/2006 Communication ROI
Study by Watson Wyatt Worldwide:

“Companies that communicate effectively have a

19.4% higher market premium than companies
that do not.”

Another finding from the same report was that:

“Between 2000 – 2004, companies with the most effective communication programs
achieved a 91% TSR, while those with the least effective earned a 58% total return.”

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 So What is ‘Communication’?

Simply speaking, it is just 3 actions:

1. giving or receiving information;

2. co-creating ideas and plans;
3. discovering and resolving points of conflict.

Let’s consider every piece of valuable communication between two or more people
as an interaction. Success depends on the quality and sychnronicity of the many
interactions that take place between the people inside and outside of your business.

Call each one of these transactions a baton, if you will…

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 Connecting

… and you can conjure an image of hundreds, if not thousands of differently

coloured, shaped and sized batons flying around your offices; around your plants or
warehouses; being exchanged during your training; recruitment; at your point of
sale; with your customers; and up to your boardroom.

Every time a baton is dropped or misinterpreted then it’s value is lost. And it’s
incredibly difficult to measure lost value – things that didn’t go wrong - so maybe no
one really notices.

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 Dropping the Baton…
• Overlaps of work – people reinventing the wheel
• Missed integration opportunities
• Disconnects - non-awareness of synergies; ‘silo
thinking’; head moving quicker than the tail can keep up
with
• Experienced staff move on but don’t leave their
knowledge behind
• Lack of information about who’s doing what

Internal Communication is one of those things that you only really notice when it
doesn’t deliver what you expected – a bit like many other support disciplines: HR,
Learning, External Communication, even Logistics…

Let’s also look at what happens when communication works…

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 Communication when it Works

• Better mutual understanding

• Improved efficiency
• Increased innovation
• More shared learnings
• Less frustration and stress

It’s not rocket science.

We know this.
So why isn’t it happening?
Why do many organisations struggle to connect internally?

Let’s look at where communication really fits in.

Firstly - people define communications in different ways.
Some think it’s telephony, some think it’s mainly about the company website and
newsletter.

Let’s go through some ways of defining communication…

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 Different dimensions of communication

The central triangle represents the organisation and the people inside it:

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 Different dimensions of communication

• First - the small blue triangle stands communication activities that happen within
leadership groups:

These could be annual senior leadership team meetings; steering group meetings –
they are usually deep f2f preparation-based senior level engagements.

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 Different dimensions of communication

• Second – see the pink circles and ovals? Think of those as change projects.

There are always several of them going on simultaneously: A new software

programme roll-out; team restructures; skill building learning events for a new
strategy; launch of a new network…. are more change management pieces
that typically use a ‘marketing communication’ approach (lots of flyers,
giveaways, internal advertising etc) because hese projects need high awareness
levels to work.

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 Different dimensions of communication

• Now look at the arrows going down and back up again. This is ‘employee
communication’ – what the business world generally refers to as ‘internal
communication’.

It’s the regular magazine; mass ALL STAFF email; presentations to staff: - it’s mass
information dissemination – usually one way sharing because it’s difficult to
interact using mass communication media.

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 Different dimensions of communication

Finally, that purple triangle is the last part. It’s where connections happen at the
team and individual level - where anyone at any level can make a big difference.
It’s where people interact; connect; display communication behaviours; use tools
and processes.
This bit is ‘done’ by everyone – and it’s unavoidable because we’re all involved in
sending, passing on, initiating, actioning, filing or reshaping messages with our
colleagues dozens of times a day.

It’s passing the batons – where the gaps between islands are bridged.
Let’s go back to the baton analogy.

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An interaction.

Does it need your input?

Is it confidential?
Is it Debateable?
Is it urgent?
Is it important for you or someone else?

Does it need to be passed on?

What are you expected to to with it?
Do you understand it?
Does the person you’re interacting with understand what you mean?

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But of course, we’re all different.
Sharing meaning with words across timezones, cultures, countries – through
different lenses – especially when we’re working virtually - is a huge challenge.

There are so many choices around how we can interact with each other.

So how much effective communication ain’t about WHAT we do, but the WAY we do
it?
How much of our results are influenced by the way we communicate?
What can we do differently than we are already doing?

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 Communication Behaviours
• Appreciating the impact of our communication behaviours
• Thinking carefully about how we interact with others
• Taking the time to confirm meaning
• Speaking up with our thoughts and ideas
• Opening up to hear others’ perspectives
• Thinking ‘sideways’ - not in silos – about opportunities to
‘join up’
• Working with existing communication resources
• Slowing down to connect as a means of speeding up
longer term efficiency

Here are some effective communication behaviours I’ve picked up that make a big
difference….

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 Choices of Media
One-way
video or Large Small
Letter
Reports, Online satellite Video- Group Group Face-to-Face,
or Email Telephone
Hard data Meeting broadcast conference Meeting Meeting One-on-One
Memo

Connecting Around ‘People’ Issues

(to clarify a situation, reach an agreement,

negotiate solutions, listen, deal with uncertainty)

Connecting Around ‘Data’ Issues

(to share information, to ask or give answers to
specific questions)

This chart shows how different media can be best suited to different circumstances
– very often, you have a choice

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 Connections aren’t just about
behaviour…

• Culture
• Infrastructure
• Leadership

Cultural barriers can be

•Self-protectionism – information is power

•Personal career prioritisation – I will only get ahead by spending time on my own
agenda so I don’t need to invest time in connecting with others unless necessary
•A reluctance to point out improvement areas for fear of damaging relationships.

Infrastructural barriers to good connections are more practical, where for example
there could be a lack of:
•clarity around who does what (website)
•awareness about ‘how’ to deliver mass communication (channel awareness,
availability and accessibility)
•a system to distribute and remove hard copy materials in various locations
•a means of accessing and uploading management information
•reward and recognition for repeated good ‘communication’ practice

What about leaders. What’s their impact?

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 Did you know that…

Up to 65% of employees make sense of

their work world by observing their bosses.

Edgar Schein (Professor at MIT)

But because leaders usually have to communicate with large numbers of people –
what do they do?
They hire in communicators.

But if their employees are learning by example (about ‘the way we communicate
around here’), the messages they pick up around that are:

1. Communications people ‘Do’ communication

2. We communicate using ‘mass media’, like email and internet
3. Our communications are formal
4. We don’t take much time to communicate
5. We don’t prioritise two way feedback

What’s happening here is that the 4 dimensions of communication we looked at

earlier, are becoming confused. The same principles don’t apply to all of them.
Ie. ‘Top down’ communication is an entirely different animal from change
communication; and from connectivity amongst employees.
The five ‘approaches to communication’ I’ve just listed only apply to that third area –
with the arrows - if there is a lack of time and if the news is factual.

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 Typical Results from a
Communication Survey
conducted in a Large Organisation

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 How do you receive information?

• 77% = "all staff" emails

• 75% = conversations with colleagues
• 74% = intranet site
• 58% = external media
• 56% = regular team meetings
• 49% = from Senior Exec presentations
• 34% = 1 on 1 line manager
• 30% = via the company magazine
• 28% = conferences, workshops etc
• 22% = an online newsletter

Information is typically received in these ways….

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 Communications Survey
Rate the eight most useful

• Conversations with line manager = 92%

• Conferences, workshops, training sessions = 92%
• Team meetings = 89%
• Intranet = 85%
• Presentations from Senior Execs = 89%
• All staff emails = 86%
• Conversations with other colleagues = 88%
• Virtual teaming teleconferencing software = 83%

Here are the most useful.

What do you see coming out of this?

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 2004 Shell Communications Survey
Rate the eight most useful

• Conversations with line manager = 92%

• Conferences, workshops, training sessions = 92%
• Team meetings = 89%
• Intranet = 85%
• Presentations from Senior Execs = 89%
• All staff emails = 86%
• Conversations with other colleagues = 88%
• Virtual teaming teleconferencing software = 83%

Yep – face to face engagements are rated as the most useful.

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Electric communication will never be a
substitute for the face of someone who
with their soul encourages another
person to be brave and true.

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)

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Question:
How can we approach communication given all
these dimensions – and our organisational
challenges:
- autonomy in the regions
- competing objectives between centre & regions

Answer:
Find the interaction gaps: what is not connecting?

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 Gap statement examples from
a Logistics Department

overall mission = to be the

safest and most efficient in the industry

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 Gap Statement Example 1

Internal customers don't exactly know

what logistics can deliver for them

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 Gap Statement Example 2

Internal customers, need to know how

to engage with Logistics staff to optimise
their results (specifically, to involve logistics
early in planning phases).

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 Gap Statement Example 3

Logistics learning for new and

experienced hires needs updating

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 So how is the Logistics Department
meeting its communication gaps?

Here’s an example from one of those gaps

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 Gap 1. Customers Don’t Know What Logistics Can
Deliver for them

Approach = build a Logistics identity customers can use as an ‘umbrella’;

produce collateral for people in the Logistics community to distribute

Primary Actions Secondary Actions

• Create a Logistics Department
identity and strap line
• Create and disseminate Logistics
Department templates to embed
the identity (ppt, word, web etc)
• Create a global intranet site linked
to regional logistics webpages
• Produce exhibition stands and
information / presentation packs
for use and dissemination in the
Regions

What’s your reaction to this approach?

1) This will build the profile and professionalism of the Logistics community
2) It will also help the logistics community with it’s second gap: Internal customers, need to
know how to engage with Logistics staff to optimise their results (specifically, to involve logistics early in planning phases).

This approach relies on:

The logistics community to use and share materials with their customers
The logistics community to manage their customer relationships more proactively
A network to pass out and embed the new identity / materials.

So what are the implementation pitfalls and what tactics would you use to combat
them.

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 Different kinds of gaps

need different kinds of solutions

Obviously,
Going back to the benefits of good communication, typical gaps and the
communication responses to those will be around gaining one or more of the
benefits. That last gap addressed the first and the fourth:

1. Better mutual understanding

2. Improved efficiency
3. Increased innovation
4. More shared learnings
5. Less frustration and stress

By plugging the gap we just saw – how much

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In summary:

How can we communicate better

to be more effective and increase
our performance?

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1. By recognising what type of
communication gaps there are and
working proactively to meet them

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2.By improving the quality of our
interactions
- between leaders and team members
- and within teams

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3.By adopting best practice
communication behaviours

- and leading the behaviours of

others around us by example

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4.By developing the necessary
organisational support (IT / processes
/ co-ordination)

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5.By monitoring, feeding back and
rewarding positive outcomes.

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Questions

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