global perspective: what action can communicators take to guide a company through a prolonged slump?

Communication World, Nov-Dec, 2004

AUSTRALIA

I was working for a high-profile financial services company during the worst period in its 150-plus-year history. Share price plummeted after several poor strategic decisions. Relentless headlines caused a decline in investor confidence and made customers anxious, The most important communication step was to equip the CEO and managing directors to take the lead and be on the forefront of issues--not only with the media but also with employees. Employees were kept well informed of facts via the intranet and face-to-face meetings, All the communication departments worked together to ensure consistency of message. In a nutshell: a cooperative, strategic approach, and company leaders standing and delivering.

CATRIONA BYRNE

Mossman, Austria

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

TURKEY

When the going gets tough, employee morale is the first thing to follow. This is usually because employees don't have a lot of internal information about the situation. They get misleading and confusing information from the outside, and start gossiping and speculating. A few steps to turn the situation around:

* Talk to your employees. Get top management to tell them the truth about what's going on with your business. This will give employees a chance to understand the business and what management is doing to improve the situation.

* Ask for their insight. Not only will you get their support, but studies also show that employee morale is increased when employees feel that their input is valued.

* Keep communication consistent, Send your employees updates, give them talking points about how they can answer customers' concerns, set up an intranet site or e-mail address they can send questions to and make sure their questions are answered clearly and consistently.

GULDEN MESARA

Istanbul, Turkey

MEXICO

FWD Consultants recommends developing and implementing an integrated communication strategy:

* Communicate the positive results of the company, even if they are small, internally and externally.

* Implement a strong internal communication campaign emphasizing face-to-face communication and involving the CEO personally. Explain the situation and give realistic scenarios. Send specific messages for each audience.

* Be the best in performance and service, implementing promotions or discounts for the customers.

Maintain focus on the objectives, on achieving your goals, and above all, on the evaluation methods for each key audience to determine progress and identify what challenges lie ahead.

MARIA JOSE GADSDEN

Mexico City, Mexico

SWITZERLAND

Economic doomsday, with the bailiff at your doorstep and lights going out any minute, requires activities on several levels.

The controllers--in alliance with management--will automatically address the tangible issues such as figures, costs and structures. The communicator's job is to see beyond the obvious and to highlight the assets that are often dismissed as intangible elements.

What you would normally find in these situations is a lack of information and trustworthy messages, insecurity, suspicion and a loss of confidence. The information flow between your organization and your stakeholders has turned into a glutinous paste consisting of over-optimistic and irrelevant slogans.

With financial news of success still being the principal topic of communication, many companies switch to hibernation mode when their economic performance is cooling off. They create a downward spiral they can't escape.

The cure is in reversing that vicious cycle. If the company has any future at all, it will be based on whatever assets still exist: people, knowledge, brand and so on.

Open up, become proactive, create transparency and build bridges with your stakeholders, Develop messages that paint a realistic picture of both the status and the way forward. Remove secrecy labels from your strategies, Make your senior managers visible. Encourage them to demonstrate leadership by talking to people and promoting their vision. Seize the opportunity to (re)build your image internally and externally,

In addition, business communication should stimulate the organization to address the tangible and intangible elements in unison. Not only will your company better survive the current crisis, but it will also gain a competitive advantage with regard to its future economic predicament.

If you don't like it, use the alternative: Chapter 11.

HANNING KEMPE

Regensberg, Switzerland

WHAT'S YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

Question for a future issue: DESCRIBE A COMMUNICATION PROGRAM THAT INCREASED EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY. E-mail your perspective (in 125-150 words) to cwmagazine@iabc.com.