How about some internal talking?

It has been said before, and by now it should be obvious to everyone – organisations are structured around principles that no longer apply.

What are these principles?

  1. Departments have different P&L’s hence functioning as silos
  2. Companies have job titles that ensures everyone knows their role and the parameters in which they operate
  3. Organisations have geographical breakdowns with each country fighting for resources and power

I could go on….

I’m sure no-one would dispute that this is not conducive to collaboration, lateral thinking, innovation, integrated solutions, and customer service.

Dilbert

However changing any of these principles is not an over night exercise, and doing so would be quite disruptive to business, in addition to prohibitively expensive.

I’m convinced that there is an easier way to achieve immediate change which would lead to collective thinking, cross functional cooperation, and solutions that do not only benefit the entire organisation but also customers. I’m referring to a tool that is systematically underused – internal communications.

Sharing information, ensuring knowledge for everyone, and increasing the level of understanding does not only break down barriers between departments, but it improves the quality and speed of decision-making. Creating a unity through common understanding between employees leads to products and solutions that benefit everyone involved, internally and externally.

Imagine working in an organisation where the WW CEO of 30,000+ people leaves a voice mail to the entire organisation explaining why he has just bought a company, what he expects to achieve through the acquisition, and the potential risks he has just taken by doing so.

Imagine working in an organisation where you are regularly informed of changes and challenges in all departments ensuring that you understand the working of the organisation’s value chain, from manufacturing to customer service.

Imagine working in an organisation where by using the power of the word, and all communication tools available to them, senior management ensures everyone is aware of, and understands, the goals, aspirations, opportunities and threats of the organisation in real time.

I had the pleasure of working in such an organisation in the late 90’s; I had the pleasure of working at Cisco Systems.

In this environment I learned so much about business my subsequent MBA felt a bit like a waste of time.

In this environment I made a decision costing my department $6,000 a month because I understood that if I didn’t it would cost the manufacturing department $30,000 a month.

In this environment I never doubted what the organisation was trying to achieve and what was expected of me, nor did I ever speak to anyone who did not have the same clarity.

Cisco TelepresenceEmployeeMeeting

Yet. Cisco had job titles like most companies, Cisco had a manufacturing, logistics, sales, marketing, customer service department like most companies, and Cisco had offices all over the world…but through the power of communication they ensured we thought and worked as one company – and what a great company it was!

It makes me wonder why internal communications is not seen as one of the most strategic activities of an organisation – I have no doubt it played a critical role (if not the key role) in making Cisco the most successful company of its time.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a title I would gladly adopt if I was an organisation.

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2009
11/20
CATEGORY
Internal Communications
Thoughts
1 comment

  1. As with business, so too with government!

    The disconnection between different levels, and the top and the bottom, seems to be behind the unhappiness of employees in bad businesses as well as behind the discontented apathy of so many electorates in modern governments.

    Perhaps this explains the unwillingness of so many good people to pursue a life in politics?

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