How the world is changing: an increasing opportunity for employee engagement.
Technological advances have created increased opportunity for collaboration. This means we now have the opportunity for more involvement in matters that affect us, from sharing a bad experience on holiday, to letting the world know our opinions on anything, to shouting about a great place to work.
Our conversations are now global and more democratic. In addition, how and where we place our trust is different, if we want the lowdown on a company or politician we no longer go to the official site for information but we listen to opinions of others, of people like us.
We also need to be aware the way in which we engage people varies significantly. Baby boomers, generation X and Y and the upcoming net generation all have different expectations and needs, which impact on how we engage them.
This view of the world is generally accepted, so it is remarkable that organisations
are slow to see the opportunity it presents in creating a competitive advantage.
The evolution of internal communication and employee engagement
We believe the role of internal communication is changing. It’s moved from tactical
message delivery, responding to immediate business needs, to a more strategic
discipline, aligned with business strategy. In recent years organisations have woken up to the need to focus on a more holistic employee engagement approach.
The result of this change is that internal communication professionals and functions
are being asked to deliver increasing value, play a strategic role, be responsible for
employee engagement and get involved in more and more projects.
Externally, both the current economic climate and the democratisation of
communication are having far reaching implications for the internal communicator.
The challenge is growing. There is a need to reposition the function, step up to the
challenges of the external environment, support the change agenda whilst still
delivering day-to-day channels, support and advice.
We believe internal communication needs to play in a new space, viewing the world
from an employee engagement perspective, translating strategy into action. This is why the communications lab came into being,
to make employee engagement happen.
