Our viewpoint on the new realities of internal communications follows, yet it’s just a taste of insights and opinion from some of the most talented communications professionals in the industry. Download the entire eBook — for free — by clicking here (PDF).
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- How a Peer-To-Peer Model Drives Employee Engagement -
Organizations seeking to improve their market positions
typically begin searching for external solutions among customers,
prospects, distributors, retailers and suppliers. They look to their
communications and marketing teams to refine and amplif y messages.
They take another glance at burgeoning digital media efforts, perhaps
placing some additional budget allocation against promising programs.
That’s expected and most certainly fair.
Some companies, though, are tapping into a method often hidden
in plain sight: reinvigorating and sometimes reinventing their
internal communications function to better align employees against
the challenges at hand. This goes beyond refreshing an internal
newsletter, placing some lipstick on the intranet site or increasing
the frequency of senior leadership messages to their teams. Savvy
executive teams are developing and executing plans to deploy peer-to-peer
communications skills – and instill the desire to use them – across all
levels of the company.
Doesn’t this amount to a decentralization of the employee
communications infrastructure? In many ways, yes. The peer-to-peer
model is what our associates are experiencing every day beyond
the office, through increased personal use of digital media – social
sites, blog posting and commenting and even that old killer app called
email. Unfortunately, in the corporate setting, there continues to be
an over-reliance on messages emanating from the center.
Moving to a peer-to-peer model – one in which the company’s
communications professionals become the educators, evangelists,
and mentors – presents myriad business advantages that can drive
measurable market impact. Information moves more quickly among
teams and individuals, creating a more nimble culture that can rapidly
adapt to changing conditions. Strategic concepts are given added
context by those in the trenches, helping promote understanding
of how business decisions will directly affect employees if executed
as planned. Feedback originates from all levels, bringing to light new
viewpoints and potentially game-changing innovation. Collaboration
reaches new heights, especially among groups once separated by
power silos that were deemed impenetrable. Combined, these
benefits tap the knowledge of the entire organization to form new,
powerful insights on a more frequent basis.
Establishing a differentiated internal communications model isn’t
easy. It isn’t immediate. And it isn’t always fun, at least during
the early stages. But the peer-to-peer construct is the future of
how companies will develop and nurture optimum organizational
performance that translates into market success. What we give up
in control we’ll more than earn back in engaged and empowered
employees across the enterprise.
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Download the entire eBook — for free — by clicking here (PDF).
