Making belief believable: a European perspective

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Internal Communication specialists understand employee value systems and produce inspiring dialogue – or do they? Jonathan Steffen argues that when dealing with a multi-cultural audience, we are in danger of confusing the message.

Before speculating about the values of others, we should perhaps first reflect on our own. Consider if you will the following propositions:

If you answered predominantly in the negative, you are probably British. If your answers by contrast were mainly in the affirmative, then you are probably continental. If you are British and you mainly answered with “yes”, then you are likely to be pro-European. If you are not British but found yourself chiefly answering “no”, then your attitudes have been anglicised – we will not ask how. Whatever the outcome, you are probably feeling confused by now, if not outright offended (are you Irish?) and you are beginning to doubt the value of analysing your own or anyone else’s values at all.

Who needs values anyway?
Unfortunately, it has to be done. Ever since the dying days of the Cold War, when the capitalist/communist value struggle that had dominated the globe for forty years was transforming itself into an irrelevancy, the corporate world has been obsessed with values. It started in the 1980s in the US, hit Europe in the 1990s following the obligatory decade’s delay and is now a standard component of every corporate website in the world. Our values are teamwork, honesty and integrity. Our values our integrity, teamwork and innovation. Our values are innovation, teamwork and honesty!

It is easy to mock – and even easier to sneer – at the religious vocabulary which is enlisted to propagate the CEO’s latest thing. We must “convert” the “unenlightened”. We must “live out” our “vision”. We must “evangelise”, “go forth” on a “mission”, and take the “good news” to the “furthest corners” of the organisation. It is indeed easy to sneer. It is much harder to do anything constructive, either for one’s own or for a client organisation. None the less, this is the task of internal communication specialists, be they in-house staff or consultants, and it is more necessary now than ever before.

The reason for this necessity is not simply because every contemporary business leader feels obliged to have what George Bush Senior once off-handedly termed “the vision thing”. It is because globalisation is engendering cross-border business organisations whilst, at the same time, consumerism is fostering unlimited choice for the individual. People who are increasingly expecting to lead their lives based on personal preference, expressed through the purchase of goods and services, are increasingly working for organisations that must construct a collective sense of identity. This is essential if they are to make themselves intelligible to their customers. Juan in London, Johannes, in Italy and John in Belgium (yes, it is confusing) have to give their customers a standard experience of drinking a cup of coffee, performing and oil change, or making a phone call, and we have to help their staff to succeed.

We have all made mistakes in that endeavour. In the belief that what we do badly teaches us, and at least as much as what we do well, let us here reflect on the best ways of getting it wrong.

Seven communication oubliettes
There are probably more than seven ways of ensuring that your company’s vision, mission and values are consigned to the dark regions of corporate history and without demonstrable benefit to anyone. The following seven make a good starting-point.

1. Mix your concepts
   This is a handy one to commence with as everyone from CEO to office junior can have fun with it: use “vision” and “mission” interchangeably. Interrupt the course of meetings by inquiring: “but are we talking about mission or are we talking about values? I thought they were the same. Well, they are, of course – aren’t they?” Introduce neologisms like visionmissionvalues, or simply “VMV”. Use sentences such as “Peter, I think we need to VMV. Are you free around four?”
   
   
2. Ram it down their throats
   This is an excellent idea for anyone with the responsibility for communications: print it on mouse mats, coffee mugs and pencils; use posters, notice boards, the website, the intranet, in-house newsletters, and remember that everyone has to visit the toilet at least once a day – an ideal advertising space. For maximum effect, do not remove old mouse mats, posters etc. thus propagating the previous corporate vision.
   
   
3. Undermine it
   Less of an option for communicators (professionally hazardous), this one is ideal for other board members and managers tasked with communicating the vision throughout the organisation. Describe it as “Lucy’s vision thing” or “this new initiative we’re supposed to be doing”. Turn up to brief employees without the presentation that has been provided for your use. Say, “this project requires our total commitment.” Then scratch your nose and look at the ceiling.
   
   
4. Make it bland
   Roll out those Latinate words ending in”-ion”. Collaboration is good, integration is good, and innovation is better. Do not forget those trusty workhorses: “leadership” and “team work”. Ensure, of course, that there is no programme to back up any of these words.
   
   
5. Leave out the business
   Focus on the “people” aspect: Mary in “Reception” or Ali in “Accounts Receivable”. Talk about innovation, teamwork etc. without making any reference to what people actually do at work and how this affects their customers. For maximum effect, do an employee road show and then complain about low productivity levels for the period.
   
   
6. Say, “Er …”
   The perfect one for CEO’s, but can also be very effectively used by all company spokespeople, project sponsors, integration team leaders and the like: simply say, “Our – er – vision for the company is to …”. This can be strengthened by the use of the possessive singular.
   
   
7. Take a national standard – then roll it out.
   This is an ideal concept for communicating within a European business context. It worked in Slough – why should it not work in Madrid? They all speak English anyway. Why, incidentally, did no one tell me that Thursday is a Catholic holiday in Spain?
   

The five-finger test
We are in the business of making belief believable, and it is my personal belief that we should take this challenge as our starting-point. Let us use mouse mats if we have to and, by all means, let us set up an interactive intranet page and commission a series of posters. All elements in the communications mix have their place in a multi-media internal communications environment. However, let us try, at every turn, to challenge any corporate vision we are asked to communicate by posing the following questions that can be counted on the fingers of one hand:

• Is it authentic?
• Is it distinctive?
• Is it credible?
• Is it put into practice by its advocates?
• Is it designed to further the organisation’s business objectives?

If we do not ask these basic questions, then we are not fulfilling our responsibilities as communicators, not only to the CEO but also to Mary in “Reception” or Ali in “Accounts Receivable”. Oh, and not forgetting Sven in Madrid – the expatriate Buddhist who takes full advantage of every Catholic holiday in sunny España.

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