Aligning employees with change

Because what good is a strategy or brand if your associates don’t know how to deliver on it?. A strong brand is grounded by a clear purpose and a strategy that translates it to internal

ALIGNING

EMPLOYEES

WITH CHANGE

A Communicator’s Point of View

Bill Faust

Managing Partner

@ologie

@williamfaust

Internal Communications

Every year, organizations spend millions to extend their messages through external

media like advertising and public relations.

Strong brands, however, also communicate from the inside out Because what good is

a strategy or brand if your associates don’t know how to deliver on it? Or why they

should care?

A strong brand is grounded by a clear purpose

and a strategy that translates it to internal and

external audiences.

The strategy:

• informs employees about the

purpose (mindset)

• engages associates by helping

them understand their role (skill set)

• inspires associates by making

the purpose tangible and

meaningful (motivation)

This approach ensures consistent

delivery of the strategy and

strengthens employee engagement.

Working from the Inside Out

PURPOSE

INTERNAL AUDIENCE EXT ERNAL AUDIENCE

STR ATEGY

A Word about Purpose

To make life easier

and more fun

through innovation

To be hospitable

To be a relentless ally for every investor

To be a place to meet, work, relax, and enjoy

To enable people to experience the joy

of driving

To give people the freedom to fly

To create happiness for people of all ages

To save people money so that they can live better

To fuel the athlete

in everyone

To provide choices for nurturing the body, the community, and the planet

Creating Alignment

Philosophical

Alignment

(Mindset)

About the strategy

Purpose

Vision Values

Behavioral Alignment

(Skill set)

About their actions

Experience Brand Story

Emotional Alignment

(Motivation)

About their role

Engagement Inspiration Incentive Above all else, internal communications create alignment

across all segmenta of the employee population:

Bottom line: Strong internal alignment is closely linked to business performance And associates want it

High associate engagement can improve

employee performance by 20%.

A global survey on employee engagement shows that:

• 33% of employees feel satisfied with their level of engagement today

• 92% say they want to improve their performance

• 82% want to better understand their company’s vision

• 87% want to know what role they can play in helping the company realize its vision

Creating Alignment

Employee Value Proposition

Some internal communication programs include a

promise to employees That promise is the Employee

Value Proposition (EVP) It defines the commitment

between employee and company, and strives to balance

the needs of both

Balance the needs of company and employees

EVP

Create a great place to work

What’s in it for me?

(The reason I work here) What’s expected of me?

(My role in delivering the brand promise and executing the business strategy)

Deliver the experience externally

But is interpreted as:

• Reorganization

• Streamlining

• Business as usual

Most common question: Is my job safe?

mentality reactions

Change Communication

Tends to focus on:

• Technology investments

• Process changes

• Structure changes

TOP-DOWN BOTTOM-UP

When We Listen To Our Teams

We Learn Some Interesting Things:

• Most people want

to change

• They crave collaboration

• They are open to

new ideas

• They want to

be proactive

• But they don’t feel

empowered

• But they are siloed

• But aren’t used to

• But are used to being reactive

We Also See Some Common

Subcultures Within Companies:

HAND-RAISERS

FENCE-SITTERS

SKEPTICS

“We can do this Let me help.”

“I'm going to wait and see.”

“We will never change.”

+

+–

–

The Big Takeaway

Don’t

over-emphasize underAnd don’t -emphasize

+

SKILL SET MINDSET

To create meaningful change, we need BOTH.

Communicating Internally

Through a systematic approach, a strategy can be reinforced

at every turn Over time, it grows stronger, even more

authentic, and self-reinforcing as it’s translated to:

1 FUNCTIONAL TOOLS

PNC brand video (embedded)

1 FUNCTIONAL TOOLS

2 BEHAVIORAL TOOLS

2 BEHAVIORAL TOOLS

3 INSPIRATIONAL TOOLS

3 INSPIRATIONAL TOOLS

univita brand video

(embedded)

In Summary, Internal Communicators Need to Consider:

THE BIG 4

thank you