Talk Internal Communication

Your next Town Hall meeting is marked in your CEO’s calendar – that in itself may be an accomplishment – but how to you make the town hall exciting. How to you get employees to leave their desks, come to the venue and engage in the session? Getting employees to actually want to attend is the role of manager’s throughout the organisation but you as communicator can help. Here’s are some tips: Plan ahead. Start planning about 4-5 weeks before a quarterly meeting. Identify front-line and middle managers who are opinion leaders and can act as communication champions. These managers are key to encouraging employees attendance. Outline the purpose of the meeting. Define the purpose for the upcoming meeting and set a participation goal – no less than 90 percent. Write a personalised email from the CEO to the identified managers about the purpose of the meeting. Canvas staff opinion. Canvas staff for key topics that staff would like covered at the town hall meeting. This ensures tha

The Book “Tell to Win” by Peter Guber, Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group , details how storytelling can be used as a power tool to move employees to action. Gruber explains that his background in the movie business, ‘the emotional transportation business’, taught him how to find words that demonstrate the power and passion he had for this work. He believes that if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it, and you will fail. His book is a very interesting read for all involved in communication. Here’s a short interview with Guber conducted by Forbes. http://video.forbes.com/fvn/business/tell-to-win

In recent months several high-level leaders have mysteriously lost their way. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund and a leading French politician, was arraigned on charges of sexual assault. Before that David Sokol, rumored to be Warren Buffett's successor, was forced to resign for trading in Lubrizol stock prior to recommending that Berkshire Hathaway purchase the company. This article in the Harvard Business reviews "Why Leaders Fail". http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6741.html

Excerpts from Jonah Lehrer's speech, "How We Decide: The New Science of Decision Making," at the IABC World Conference on June 12, 2011, in San Diego, California. Jonah Lehrer is the author of two books, Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide . http://www.youtube.com/user/BillSpaniel?feature=mhum

In San Diego at IABC World conference. Lots of interesting information. Will have newsletter with the key learnings from the conference. Let me know if you'd like to receive it.