Pictures are more attractive

The more people understand purpose, vision and strategy, and appreciate how they support these, the more likely it is that the organisation will deliver effectively.   This makes intuitive sense and is borne out by consistent correlations between employee engagement and performance.  Understanding of purpose and strategy, and my contribution, is a recurring theme in employee engagement metrics.

 

But how to make this high-level communication engaging, so that people feel inspired and motivated to participate, and to take ownership of higher-level goals?  The advantage of a visual approach is that it is more attractive and engaging.

 

Contrast the two images below.  The first is an outline that shows a vision built on three core themes supported by specific objectives (some of the detail has been omitted to protect confidentiality).  The one that follows is a picture telling a story featuring vision, strategy, objectives and tactics.

TUI Communicating strategic goals

 

Numerous businesses use imagery like the first above: a house, a temple with pillars, a pyramid, or a series of circles.     These images conceptualise at a high level and aim to convey the linkages between these different concepts; e.g., how the objectives support different strategies; how values underpin behaviours etc.

In contrast the second image – the island picture – conveys a narrative telling a story for this travel business of the company’s history, why it needs to change, the key themes in its strategy, how different parts of the business contribute, the high-level objectives and the vision.

The visual looks different and is more colourful and appealing.  It draws people in to examine detail.  There is no jargon in the picture, no “corporate speak” and because it is visual it works across language barriers.  Because it is more accessible it works across multiple levels and provides an ideal platform for talking about the story that it illustrates.  Moreover, by asking simple questions managers can involve people in thinking about their own stories and how they fit in this bigger picture.

A picture also reduces cognitive load for people because it makes the concepts more tangible.  It illustrates, for example: what competitiveness looks like; how customers will interact with future systems; what HR policies will deliver to employees; what capital investments will deliver to the business, etc.

Because the visual and narrative engages multiple circuits in our brains, it increases the likelihood that people will empathise with whoever is leading the conversation.  A manager presenting bullet points and words is more likely to encourage critical responses and resistance; a picture and story triggers emotions and helps people see different perspectives.

We have found visualising purpose, vision and strategy helps to involve people in conversations about the heritage, purpose and future of the business, and that this approach works well in many different types of organisation.  For example:

  • A global engineering business visualised its vision for new ways of working post-pandemic to involve leaders and managers in discussions about how to shift to new operating models
  • A global charity visualised its culture to engage employees in discussions about behaviours and ethics
  • A global travel business involved 70,000 employees in head office, airline and destination locations to explore how they all contributed to supporting the achievement of global objectives
  • A global medical devices business conducted virtual and face to face conversations for 9,000 employees working from home and in manufacturing operations to share a new strategy and explore actions teams could take to support the goals

Lessons from this include that a central visual is important because it is more memorable and the conversations people have around it creates line of sight as teams discuss their role in delivering the objectives.   The questions managers pose help focus inquiry, and people find a visual approach attractive.  It makes it easier for people to discuss by making intangible concepts real and relevant, helping people to devote more energy to considering the implications of strategy for the work that they do, and how they support the strategy.

I’d like to acknowledge David Gifford from Inscript Designs for his great cartoon at the top of this post!

 

 

 

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Visualise your strategy to help people remember it

Leading organisations requires aligning people behind purpose and common goals.  This essential task also meets employees increasing desire to know the purpose of the organisations they work for1, and customers are increasingly likely to expect employers to demonstrate social responsibility including consideration of the knowledge and welfare of their people.  To meet these needs, leaders need to cut through and provide this information in ways that are relevant, appealing and easy to communicate.

 

Creating a picture that conveys purpose, vision, strategy and operational plans provides an effective tool for learning and a platform for conversations that can be far more effective and impactful than traditional approaches involving telling people about strategy.

 

One of the reasons is that our brains are better at remembering information that has been delivered using visuals as opposed to text or verbal communication.  The Picture Superiority Effect is well established in psychology and refers to the likelihood that people will remember pictures and images better than words.

 

If we hear a piece of information, we will tend to remember 10% of it three days later. But if the information is delivered using a picture as well, we will tend to remember 65% of it three days later.2  Explanations for this differ but include the argument that our brains find it easier to encode and recall pictures, and that abstract concepts presented as more concrete and tangible images are easier to remember.

 

Vision is by far our most dominant sense, taking up an estimated 50% of our brain’s resources.3  The brain we have and use today evolved hundreds of thousands of years before writing evolved and is wired to process visual information more rapidly than text or language.  Pictorial information takes less cognitive effort to process and is more attractive to our brains; it is a more efficient way to convey information.

The power of visuals is well illustrated by iconic images that stick in the mind.  Witness “Earthrise” taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts or US ironworkers lunching perilously on a beam at the RCA Building in Manhattan.

 

Educators, health communicators and advertisers use imagery all the time, and it is becoming increasingly popular in the communication of strategy.  A visual of the strategy typically captures:

  • Legacy and heritage such as founders’ stories and previous milestones
  • Why change is necessary which may include external forces, customer needs and issues about the way the business currently operates
  • The vision for the future and how the organisation will help key groups
  • The journey to the vision which often brings together and illustrates how different things fit, including for example strategic themes, brand and positioning, values and transformation programmes
  • What happens if we do not change?

There will be exceptions where the precision provided by technical language or mathematical equations may be required.  But for the most part explaining the key elements of how an organisation exists to benefit customers or others, and the main thrusts of a strategic plan, can usually be captured visually.  Once done so, this picture becomes an effective way of involving people in conversations about the business that will be more memorable and involving.

 

Using a picture provides a platform that allows people to discuss its significance for them and how they can support the strategy.  The evidence that it is more memorable comes from before and after tests with employees.  In one study we found that only 1 in 5 employees could name just one of the major business goals of a major travel business.  Three months after using a picture to illustrate the strategy and involving employees in talking about it, over 50% could recall unprompted all of the major business goals involved in the strategy.

 

Cartoon: David Gifford, Inscript Designs

 

Notes

  1. McKinsey & Co; April 2021; Help your employees find purpose or watch them leave
  2. Stenberg, G (2006); Conceptual and perceptual factors in the picture superiority effect; European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 18(6): 813 – 847)
  3. John Medina; Brain Rules; Pear Press, 2014

 

 

 

 

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Deep listening organisations

 

 

Five things that differentiate great listening organisations

Recent global research I conducted with Howard Krais, Dr Kevin Ruck and the IABC Foundation established that in over 550 organisations effective listening delivers more innovation, better change management and the creation of a sense of fairness. As we emerge from the pandemic these outcomes are going to be critical for all employers.

We also found that the large scale annual survey represented the default approach to listening to employees. In our webinars we’ve been arguing that people are overlooking the value of qualitative approaches like focus groups and interviews.

To test that assertion I’ve looked at what differentiates the few organisations that do use focus groups – both face to face and online – on an ongoing basis and compared them to all others. The results suggest these companies are “stellar listeners”, illustrating that the use of tools like focus groups are symptomatic of a deeper cultural approach that values listening more highly and that generates more value from listening activities. Five key insights emerge about how they plan, measure, mitigate bias, adopt a listening mindset and create deep listening cultures.

  1. Planning

Planning to listen was identified as a relative weakness in the research we conducted. Many organisations talk about having an open mindset and valuing employee voice but less than half said that they actually plan carefully to ensure listening happens throughout their organisation. Our stellar listeners appear very different with 84% saying that they plan listening carefully and 88% (vs 54%) balancing messaging and listening within communication plans. As one of the respondents put it:

“A dedicated working group made up of volunteers across the business and led by our Head of Comms and Engagement is currently working on our new engagement eco-system taking feedback into account.”

  1. Measurement

Over 80% of our sub-group measure satisfaction with listening (86%) and claim that they use data from listening to improve performance ( 84%). The average figure is 54% and 57% respectively.

  1. Mitigate bias

One of the challenges about listening to employees is the problem of bias. How do you prevent negative views dominating feedback and reach through to ensure that the voice heard represents the – often silent – majority? The sub-group we identified stand out for employing a range of methods to ensure that they collect views across the spectrum of employees. They not only use focus groups but also are much greater users of

  • Large (hence the ability to measure) and ‘pulse’ surveys (e.g. 15% of companies use short pulse surveys on specific topics on an ongoing basis, but 47% of the stellar listeners do)
  • Monitoring discussions on internal digital platforms (59% of stellar listeners do this, only 32% of others)
  • 40% of those who use online focus groups regularly also run online leadership events to listen to employees. For most organisations the contrast is that only 9% use online leadership events on an ongoing basis.

Collecting data across a range of approaches mitigates the risk of hearing biased perspectives. Asked about the benefits of listening

  • One of our respondents commented that it: “Minimises resistance, mitigates risk and helps implement change more smoothly.” 
  • Another commented that their range of listening activities generate “Greater variety of ideas and opinions.” 
  • Many talked about the importance of listening ensuring more effective management of diversity and creating a more inclusive way of working: “You get a greater sense of the company working as a team (hard with 60,000 employees in over 30 countries) and feel closer to the decision making.”
  1. A listening mindset

The most striking difference is not the channels that great listening organisations use, but the mindset and culture that have developed and shaped the use of the channels. Compare these responses:

  • 90% of respondents from the good listening organisations agree that senior managers in their organisations respond to what employees say – the figure is 66% elsewhere
  • When asked about listening out for the emotional content of feedback there is a positive difference of 31% in favour of those organisations that are good listeners
  • 74% of respondents in good listening organisations say that they ensure senior leaders are effective listeners vs 44% amongst others
  • On average 26% of our respondents thought that their managers are more comfortable in listening to employees on digital platforms than in other settings. For regular users of on line focus groups the figure was 48%. This is important because our research established that employees are more comfortable speaking up on digital platforms than others. In other words, managers in these organisations appear more tuned in to the way listening needs to evolve to meet the changing needs of employees who are more comfortable using digital media at work.
  1. Stellar listeners are deep listeners

We characterised a listening spectrum covering different listening styles in our earlier report: passive, active, sensitive and deep listening styles. There is more on this here. Deep listening supports the facilitation of change and reflects a more co-creative style of leadership.

I found that the biggest differences between most of the respondents and the good listeners concerned questions about deep listening. For example, in good listeners 83% agree that they involve employees in important decisions about the future and 90% listen to improve how the business is run. The comparative figures are 39% and 55%.

One of the good listeners described their approach as follows:

“Regular crowdsourcing of ideas via Workplace. We’ve had a couple now. One to help shape our 5 and 10 year strategies and one to help our post-Covid ways of working (what we’ve learned,and how to implement it going forward). In each case the thousands of responses were available to all for support and comment and Senior Leaders were each given a topic areas to supervise and report on.”

Another described how a new Chief People Officer approached the leadership of change:

“Through working out loud and working sessions (open to volunteers) she was able to create a whole change programme, which has been entirely led by our people. The changes are massive, yet the business is happy to undergo them as they were involved on every step of the way and had more than once the chance to provide feedback or help shape the new solutions.”

Lessons

As we emerge from the pandemic the pressure for growth is becoming intense again. Listening is a critical enabler of change and good listeners use a variety to approaches to engage their people in the process. We can learn from these approaches and use qualitative and digital listening to help deliver much greater insights into how well our organisations are working and how effective communication is. The depth and the frequency of the way we listen provides an important indicator of the leadership culture and mindset. Listening helps to generate new ideas, create good places to work and drive change. Listening is not just the preserve of leadership but needs to be planned in at all levels of the business to reap significant benefits.

 

Mike Pounsford

www.couravel.com

mikep@couravel.com

I help design and lead conversations for change. Some of the tools that develop more effective listening practices are:

  • Listening Audit to benchmark strengths and weaknesses
  • “Listen up” – a workshop to build listening capability amongst leaders and managers; and that can be adapted to develop listening champions
  • Insight Groups to train others to lead Deep Dives into organisational issues such as improving quality, compliance, communication, engagement or other key topics

Other approaches that help support change include:

  • Engagement Cafés and Ideas Exchange to involve people in developing solutions
  • Visioning Workshops to co-create future visions and strategy
  • Hot Spots which is a process for transforming performance from the bottom up
  • Big Conversation to build line of sight to strategy
  • Bushcraft – a set of tools to equip change agents with skills

 

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Third Listening Report published

Here is our latest Listening Report that features the results of our Global Research into how organisations listen to their employees.  Conducted with Howard Krais and Dr Kevin Ruck the report is based on the views of over 500 organisations.

 

Key themes are that:

  • Good listening is linked to the effective management of change and innovation
  • Organisations still rely on surveys and miss the value of insights from conversational approaches
  • The potential for digital listening is significant yet undeveloped
  • Leadership listening is more strongly associated with positive outcomes than line manager listening – leaders set the tone and make the difference
  • We tend to think we are better at listening than we are

Click here to download the report.

 

 

 

 

 

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Listening podcast – why listening matters

During the research we conducted into Listening across Europe, we became increasingly convinced that:

 

  1. Effective listening has a direct impact on both the performance of a business and the wellbeing of the people who work within it
  2. Listening has to be developed at a systemic level, rather than adopting ad hoc approaches
  3. Communicators have the opportunity to make a significant difference by shifting the balance from an emphasis on transmitting messages to an emphasis on receiving and understanding the voice of employees

 

We were invited by Lansons Communications to discuss our work for their podcast.  Here is a recording of the conversation between Megan Murray-Jones, Howard Krais, Mike Pounsford, and Dr. Kevin Ruck.

 

Click here to hear the recording

 

 

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The Listening Project and new online course

The Listening Project is a collaboration with Howard Krais and Dr. Kevin Ruck.  As well as our reports (see two recent conversations on this site), the survey across Europe, Middle East and Africa and various webinars and workshops we are shortly launching a global Listening Survey.

 

What motivates us is the belief that organisations can improve performance, innovation, resilience, and wellbeing by listening effectively to their people.  Our work with the IABC Foundation is helping supply the evidence and stories to back up the claim.

PR Academy and Couravel are running an online course commencing July 2020 and repeating a number of times for experienced communicators and HR professionals to develop the Listening Capabilities of their organisations.

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Good Listening Practice

Link to report: –

Couravel_Listening_Report_Project_2_Good Practice

I’m delighted to share the results of the second report that Howard Krais, Dr. Kevin Ruck and I have published.  With the help of the IABC Foundation we have spoken to serial winners of the Gold Quill, a rigorously evaluated International Communicators’ Award.  To win a Gold Quill entrants have to demonstrate how their work is grounded in a thorough analysis of audience and business needs.  Serial winners represent an excellent proxy for organisations that excel at listening to their people.

 

This report summarises the stories and principles we learned from them.  It also provides a comprehensive overview of Listening Tools that people can use to generate great conversations within their businesses.

 

We also feature the Listening Spectrum to help think about the kind of approach to take given different objectives.

 

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Exploring how organisations listen to employees

Who’s listening?

 

A small scale research project exploring how organisations listen to employees

 

“Who’s Listening?” features the results of the research that we conducted into the state of organisational listening across EMENA with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and PR Academy.

The report’s insights include:

  1. Effective listening to employees is seen to deliver a more competitive organisation, a greater sense of employee engagement and advocacy (reducing reputational risk), more trust in leadership, greater innovation and openness to change, resilience, learning and well-being
  2. “Fear” is a major barrier to listening for both employees and leaders.  It is not just speaking truth to power that can inhibit employees.  Some leaders and managers avoid creating important listening opportunities because they fear exposure to uncertainty and questions that they feel they cannot but should be able to answer
  3. Listening that focuses on strategic and operational goals will enhance traction for listening initiatives.  In other words, to gain support for listening activities they need to focus on drivers of growth and performance, or on factors that could reduce risk (e.g. how to increase compliance).  This helps build leaders’ confidence in the importance and value of listening.
  4. At the same time leaders that create face to face sessions to meet and talk without set agendas build employees’ confidence in leadership and trust in the business
  5. Surveys need visible and transparent feedback and response mechanisms that demonstrate the impact that they are having.  Surveys have become common place and in some cases a scorecard rather than a positive tool to increase effectiveness

Download your copy of the report here.

Employee listening research report

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Developing Listening Organisations for the 21st Century

Developing listening organisations for the 21st Century Listening matters Listening is important. 98% of people agree listening to stakeholder groups is a critical communication competence and 89% say the insights they bring from listening are of strategic importance.1 Listening matters for: Responsiveness and survival2 The speed at which industries and markets are changing means we need […]

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