Back again. Let's see how long this round lasts but I have a hunch it might be a little longer, maybe as long as Blogger lasts? We'll see.
Anyway, as I like to do yet get to do very little, here goes a stream of consciousness.
I am feeling very beaten-down right now. Before I go down that path, however, I will be the first to acknowledge that I have a lot to be grateful for, in life. Be it a great family, a wonderful home or a good employer that challenges me and simultaneously allows me the time to explore my ideas and interests. I even signed up to volunteer so that I could develop my communication and social media skills more than my internal communications job might allow. So, why do I feel defeated?
And the answer, as first-world as it may seem, is that I don't think I get the recognition I deserve at work. Is it because I occupy the margins--I am brown in a white-skinned world? No, that can't be true. I do diversity communications and I 'know' big companies don't operate like that. Is it because I am not based in a 'central' location for the company and don't have the ability to pop into bosses' offices? Could be, but I don't want to believe that. Surely the quality of my work overcomes the need to make sure the big bosses remember what I look like.
Or is it something else? Since I just came out of a two-day culture workshop that my company flew me out for, I am going to believe that the reason lies elsewhere. Maybe it lies with me, in my inability to 'sell' myself hard enough because I am not sure I have the right proof points.
Let me explain.
As I learned during that same workshop, I am an analyzer. I trust data and base my decisions on data. While that doesn't sound so bad on the surface (I mean the rest of the data-crazy world can't be wrong, correct?), I am a relative anomaly in the world of internal communications. While some of us are stepping off the beaten path, traditionally, a lot of internal communications practitioners have been firm believers in 'give them the content and they will come'.
Umm, no, it doesn't work that way, screams my 'analytical' brain.
Sending out an email on behalf of a leader or posting a blog entry DOES NOT mean the audience has received the message. As media planners have done in advertising and marketing for eons, you have to know where that message landed, whom it reached and try to understand, who (if anybody) did what you had asked them to do. Only then will you have some understanding of whether or not you achieved what you had started out to do.
But it's also wise to know that measurement is only one element of your communications plan. And depending on what tools you have, measurement will give you a limited amount of information and therefore, limited understanding of your audience. So, what do you do?
Well, I think, you still measure. Use that measurement as your first listening outpost. Then you talk to your leaders and members of your audience. You work hard to find out who your audience is, maybe build personas. And then you build a communications plan with multiple channels to try and get the leader's message to those different personas.
Ok, you say, but other than the persona bit, what is new? Internal communications has always used multiple channels. Yes, we have but have we been able to tell you much about what the impact of those channels is? Whether an email sent at 2pm has a different readership compared to one sent at 8am, so you should pick one time slot over the other. Have we been able to tell you if your blog title made a difference to your readership? No, and well, it's internal right? Nobody's buying our product based on internal communications, so why does it matter. And you are right, sometimes it doesn't matter.
But at other times, it does. It matters when your engagement scores dip and you are not delivering the best you can to your customers. It matters when you don't really know how to tackle the morale issues that seem to abound in your company. I think a little understanding courtesy measurement would help at that point. Because, that understanding will help break your 'mass of employees' down into understandable types. While people are more complex than a 'type' or a readership score, getting a glimpse of that type and a hold of that score would be a start. It might help you decide which of your multiple channels could help you reach that person who sits a million miles away and is culturally a complete mystery to you. Or so it seems to me!
Anyway, trying to rein in the rambling here. So, why am I feeling 'unrecognized'. I think the answer lies in my rambling. Because understanding is so important to me, I often chase rainbows. While they are sparkly and understanding the font of colours at the ends might be really cool, I do need to focus on the rainbows I absolutely must understand. To do that, I have to force myself to hone in on what's most important to my employer and how I can use my skills to address those needs.
And outside of work, I have to hone in on what's most important to me in life. And maybe, once I have both of those things figured out, I will be able to truly understand what I need to do to be recognized the way I think I should be.
Anyway, as I like to do yet get to do very little, here goes a stream of consciousness.
I am feeling very beaten-down right now. Before I go down that path, however, I will be the first to acknowledge that I have a lot to be grateful for, in life. Be it a great family, a wonderful home or a good employer that challenges me and simultaneously allows me the time to explore my ideas and interests. I even signed up to volunteer so that I could develop my communication and social media skills more than my internal communications job might allow. So, why do I feel defeated?
And the answer, as first-world as it may seem, is that I don't think I get the recognition I deserve at work. Is it because I occupy the margins--I am brown in a white-skinned world? No, that can't be true. I do diversity communications and I 'know' big companies don't operate like that. Is it because I am not based in a 'central' location for the company and don't have the ability to pop into bosses' offices? Could be, but I don't want to believe that. Surely the quality of my work overcomes the need to make sure the big bosses remember what I look like.
Or is it something else? Since I just came out of a two-day culture workshop that my company flew me out for, I am going to believe that the reason lies elsewhere. Maybe it lies with me, in my inability to 'sell' myself hard enough because I am not sure I have the right proof points.
Let me explain.
As I learned during that same workshop, I am an analyzer. I trust data and base my decisions on data. While that doesn't sound so bad on the surface (I mean the rest of the data-crazy world can't be wrong, correct?), I am a relative anomaly in the world of internal communications. While some of us are stepping off the beaten path, traditionally, a lot of internal communications practitioners have been firm believers in 'give them the content and they will come'.
Umm, no, it doesn't work that way, screams my 'analytical' brain.
Sending out an email on behalf of a leader or posting a blog entry DOES NOT mean the audience has received the message. As media planners have done in advertising and marketing for eons, you have to know where that message landed, whom it reached and try to understand, who (if anybody) did what you had asked them to do. Only then will you have some understanding of whether or not you achieved what you had started out to do.
But it's also wise to know that measurement is only one element of your communications plan. And depending on what tools you have, measurement will give you a limited amount of information and therefore, limited understanding of your audience. So, what do you do?
Well, I think, you still measure. Use that measurement as your first listening outpost. Then you talk to your leaders and members of your audience. You work hard to find out who your audience is, maybe build personas. And then you build a communications plan with multiple channels to try and get the leader's message to those different personas.
Ok, you say, but other than the persona bit, what is new? Internal communications has always used multiple channels. Yes, we have but have we been able to tell you much about what the impact of those channels is? Whether an email sent at 2pm has a different readership compared to one sent at 8am, so you should pick one time slot over the other. Have we been able to tell you if your blog title made a difference to your readership? No, and well, it's internal right? Nobody's buying our product based on internal communications, so why does it matter. And you are right, sometimes it doesn't matter.
But at other times, it does. It matters when your engagement scores dip and you are not delivering the best you can to your customers. It matters when you don't really know how to tackle the morale issues that seem to abound in your company. I think a little understanding courtesy measurement would help at that point. Because, that understanding will help break your 'mass of employees' down into understandable types. While people are more complex than a 'type' or a readership score, getting a glimpse of that type and a hold of that score would be a start. It might help you decide which of your multiple channels could help you reach that person who sits a million miles away and is culturally a complete mystery to you. Or so it seems to me!
Anyway, trying to rein in the rambling here. So, why am I feeling 'unrecognized'. I think the answer lies in my rambling. Because understanding is so important to me, I often chase rainbows. While they are sparkly and understanding the font of colours at the ends might be really cool, I do need to focus on the rainbows I absolutely must understand. To do that, I have to force myself to hone in on what's most important to my employer and how I can use my skills to address those needs.
And outside of work, I have to hone in on what's most important to me in life. And maybe, once I have both of those things figured out, I will be able to truly understand what I need to do to be recognized the way I think I should be.
No comments:
Post a Comment