^^

:0 I was working for a high-profile financial services company during

ilii^i^iil^ the worst period in its 150-plus-year history. Share price plummeted after
several poor strategic decisions. Relentless headlines caused a decline
in investor confidence and made customers anxious. The most important
communication step was to equip the CEO and managing directors to
take the lead and be on the forefront of issues—not only with the
media but also with employees. Employees were kept well informed of
facts via the intranet and face-to-face meetings. All the communication
departments worked together to ensure consistency of message. In a
nutshell: a cooperative, strategic approach, and company leaders
standing and delivering.

CATRIONA BYRNE
Mossman, Australia
When the going gets tough, employee morale is the
first thing to follow. This is usually because
employees don't have a lot of internal information
about the sifuation. They gef misleading and confusing
information from the outside, and start gossiping and
speculating. A few steps to turn the situation around:
> Talk to your employees. Get top management to
tell them the truth about what's going on with
your business. This will give employees a chance
to understand the business and what management
is doing to improve the situation.
> Ask for their insight. Not only will you get their
support, but studies also show that employee
morale is increased when employees feel that
their input is valued.
> Keep communication consistent. Send your
employees updates, give them talking points
about how they can answer customers' concerns,
set up an intranet site or e-mail address they can
send questions to and make sure their questions
are answered clearly and consistently.
GULDEN MESARA
Istanbul, Turkey
FWD Consultants recommends developing and
implementing an integrated communication strategy:
> Communicate the positive results of the company,
even if they are small, internally and externally.
> Implement a strong internal communication
campaign emphasizing face-to-face
communication and involving the CEO personally.
Explain the situation and give realistic scenarios.
Send specific messages for each audience.
> Be the best in performance and service, imple-
menting promotions or discounts for the customers.
Maintain focus on the objectives, on achieving
your goals, and above all, on the evaluation
methods for each key audience to determine
progress and identify what challenges lie ahead.
M A R I A JOSE GADSDEN
Mexico City, Mexico
WHAT'S YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
Q uestion for a future issue: DESCRIBE A COMMUNICATION PROGRAM THAT INCREASED EMPLOYEE
MOTIVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY. E-mail your perspective (in 125-150 words) to cwmagazine@iabc.com.
Economic doomsday, with the bailiff at your
doorstep and lights going out any minute, requires
activities on several levels.
The controllers—in alliance with management—
will automatically address the tangible issues
such as figures, costs and structures. The
communicator's job is to see beyond the obvious
and to highlight the assets that are often
dismissed as intangible elements.
What you would normally find in these situations
is a lack of information and trustworthy messages,
insecurity, suspicion and a loss of confidence. The
information flow between your organization and
your stakeholders has turned into a glutinous paste
consisting of over-optimistic and irrelevant slogans.
With financial news of success still being the
principal topic of communication, many companies
switch to hibernation mode when their economic
performance is cooling off. They create a downward
spiral they can't escape.
The cure is in reversing that vicious cycle. If
the company has any future at all, it will be based
on whatever assets still exist: people, knowledge,
brand and so on.
Open up, become proactive, create transparency
and build bridges with your stakeholders. Develop
messages that paint a realistic picture of both the
status and the way forward. Remove secrecy labels
from your strategies. Make your senior managers
visible. Encourage them to demonstrate leadership
by talking to people and promoting their vision.
Seize the opportunity to (re)build your image
internally and externally.
In addition, business communication should
stimulate the organization to address the tangible
and intangible elements in unison. Not only will
your company better survive the current crisis, but
it will also gain a competitive advantage with
regard to its future economic predicament.
If you don't like it, use the alternative: Chapter 11.
HANNING KEMPE
Regensberg, Switzerland