About this Wiki

Why should organizations invest in Employee Communication? The profession, through advocates in associations and consultancies, have for years made the argument that formal internal communication aligns employees with organizational objectives. It provides "line of sight," helping employees understand how their jobs and their performance fits into the big picture and contributes to the bottom line. When employee communication is managed, employee satisfaction is higher, productivity improves and turnover is low.

According to a recent study conducted by Accenture, however, executives believe the opposite is the case. When asked if three-fourths of their employees understood the company's goals, only 26% said yes. Only 11% are satisfied with their organizations' efforts to align employees with business goals. Only 12% think their companies deal effectively with change.

The reasons for these findings are undoubtedly many, but there is no shirking from the responsibility of the employee communications function. Communicators lament their lack of a seat at the management table, yet management would be hard-pressed to tout significant results from their communicator's efforts.

What's wrong with employee communications?

Certainly there are employee communication successes. Many organizations can attribute financial success, in part, to the results of internal communication efforts. In general, though, the Accenture results suggest that there must be problems with the execution of internal communications.

One of the most significant problems -- and the reason for this wiki -- is that people hired into employee communication roles do not bring a common set of tools, knowledge and understanding to the job. Think about it. Every lawyer who starts a job with a law firm or public agency has common knowledge about the law. Accountants share common understanding about balancing books. Even public relations practitioners know the basics of public relations as taught in universities and espoused in PR textbooks.

But where would one go to learn the fundamentals of employee communications?

Now they can come here

This wiki is meant to serve as a resource for employee communicators, particularly those new to internal communications. Because it is written collectively by people who have been there and done that, learned from their mistakes, seen the successes that result from strategic planning, it can be a living, breating document that evolves over time.

It can also serve as a foundation for educators who teach internal communications at the college level, leading ultimately (one hopes) to a common curriculum, ensuring that anybody who studies employee communications, regardless of the school, graduates with the same core set of tools as any other graduate -- the tools companies need communicators to have in order to make a meaningful contribution to the company's success.

Why not just read a book?

You should. There are many good books out there, and you'll find many of them listed in the Resources Directory under Books. But a book is one person's perspective and it can't cover everything. This wiki, on the other hand, offers the collected wisdom and experiences of a community of communicators. It also is not a fixed document like a book. As the business world changes, so will this wiki.

Who's behind this wiki?

Shel Holtz, ABC, started this wiki and maintains it on his server. Shel is an independent communications consultant and author of several books on communication and technology. You can learn more about Shel at his Web site and by reading his blog.