Editorial

Citation

Bajer, J. (2017), "Editorial", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 201-202. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-08-2017-0055

The new voice of communication

Dear Colleague,

We need to stop blaming “communication” and re-invent how we use it to truly drive engagement and performance in our organisations. Breaking the psychological contracts between our promises and the reality of our workplaces is no longer an option in the world of work.

Whatever it takes, communication needs to become a spin-free, two-way, integrity-driven regular exercise. We need to align our Beliefs, with our Intentions, with our Promises and our Actions, if we are to have people create sustainable value to society through what they do.

For this issue of Strategic HR Review, we are sharing a wide range of examples where communication has produced tangible and positive results.

In Bridging the Gap Between Employers and Students, James Uffindell explores the need for better communication strategies during the recruitment process – to bridge the divide between what employers and graduates are looking for.

In SoftServe’s Workplace Launch for Global Collaboration, Stuart Logan shows how his company launched a new tool aimed at making internal communications two-sided, more informal and easy – and the impacts it had on employee engagement.

In You’re Talking But Is Anyone Listening? Connecting and Communicating With Employees in a Hyper-Connected World, Lisa Sterling presents a case study that outlines the internal communication strategies, tools, techniques and messages that helped her organisation foster transparent, deliberate communication with employees.

In Thomson Reuters innovation case study, Victoria Silverman discusses an employee engagement campaign that relied on innovative communication strategies to excite employees around innovation, and have them think and act differently with the goal to enhance her company’s market reputation.

In Bridge the Gap from Strategy to Execution: Culture Change that Sticks, Suzanne Bates and Andy Atkins present a case study of how their organisation’s leadership sought to change their behaviour and communication strategies to drive an enterprise-wide transformation.

And in Want Successful Employee Communications? Think Like a Marketer, Pam Goncalves draws from survey data and lessons from the marketing world to develop best practices for internal corporate communications.

My hope is that you will be able to resist the “traditional” newsletter approach where someone shops around for content, often broadcasting distant pieces of information which are not helping those who are dealing with your customers.

In many cases, there is still a lot to do to change the way in which communications connects employees with the business. However, this is a very exciting journey which pays off rather quickly when we get it right.

Warmly,

Dr Javier Bajer Cultural Architect

Editor-in-Chief

Strategic HR Review