Charlie Pownall 查理·保诺

Economic uncertainty abounds, jobs for life have disappeared, companies gobble each other at the drop of a hat.

Change may be a constant in many people’s working lives, yet most (70%, according to studies by John Kotter and McKinsey (pdf) – a figure since disputed) major change management programs fail.

Why?

Failure to communicate effectively is one major reason and, according to a recent panel discussion of change communications specialists at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, much of that failure is down to an over-emphasis on leadership communications and a lack of willingness to understand and act on employee concerns and motivations.

Get senior management out of the way

Rather, the real key to successful change communications is for line managers to act as the primary change agents. Research studies show that employees trust their line managers much more than they trust senior management. The CEO town hall does not cut it when it comes to communicating major change.

Yet even line managers have their work cut out, for employees trust their fellow colleagues more than their immediate bosses, something that is likely to have been deepened by the availability of social media within the workplace. Far from killing office water-cooler chat, social media has put employee word of mouth on steroids.

How should organisations communicate with rank and file employees on social media during major change initiatives?

Don’t control the conversation

According to the panellists, organisations should:

NNot attempt to control the conversation
Set expectations and carefully manage conversation parameters
Create a constructive environment by encouraging employees to share concerns but also potential solutions
Look for the underlying issues as many employees will not share their main concerns
Make sure to listen and respond quickly, openly and thoroughly.

Sound advice.

To square the circle, I would add that both company leaders and managers need to be actively involved in these conversations.

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Disclaimer: I chair the Chamber’s Communications & Marketing Committee that helped organise the session.

A new study by McKinsey has some revealing findings on the state of reputation management worldwide.

Here’s the skinny:

Products/services are seen as the prime driver of corporate reputation. Innovation and good governance are also critical
Over half of firms, especially telecoms, pharma and financial, have experienced a reputation threat in the past 2 to 3 years
Two-thirds of companies, notably healthcare and telecoms players, expect an increase in the level of external scrutiny in coming years
Yet only a fifth of firms feel they are managing their reputation effectively
Fair pricing is rarely regarded as a top reputation driver by companies but is highly valued by their customers.

The authors note that the focus on product as the key driver of reputation and value has resulted in a lack of focus on other stakeholders, not least the fair treatment of employees, which only half of the respondents view as a top driver of reputation.

The treatment of employees can have a major impact on a company’s reputation, enabling it to be seen as an employer of choice. It can also result in lower recruitment and retention costs and a more productive workforce.

Happy and engaged employees can also be great ambassadors for their firm and its products, fueling positive and authentic word of mouth amongst communities, customers and other stakeholders, a benefit that can be enhanced through social media.

Having spoken to a large number of international and local firms across Asia in recent months about their approaches to reputation building and management, it is striking that employee communications and engagement has not been focused on or leveraged to anything like the same degree that is the case in more developed markets.

In a more command and control business environment dominated by manufacturing, few organisations have considered letting employees other than prescribed marketing or communications professionals loose on Twitter or weibo to extol their firm.

This is sensible – positive, authentic advocacy will only stem from fair treatment and substantive engagement.

As VMA Group (disclosure: business partner) highlighted in their recent report on Corporate Communications in Asia, companies are increasingly turning their attention to how to retain footloose Gen Y staff, and are hiring specialist employee communications professionals.

Those firms which treat their people well, listen to their requirements and ideas and involve them in decision-making, and which trust them to speak objectively and in a professional manner externally, the impact on their reputations can be significantly enhanced.