This blog post briefly summarizes Chapter 14 of the book Engaging Employees Through Strategic Communication by Mark Dollins and Jon Stemmle. Visit engage-employees.com to grab your copy today.
Current and Future Forces Shaping Employee Communications
This blog post briefly summarizes chapter seven of the book Engaging Employees Through Strategic Communication by Mark Dollins and Jon Stemmle. Visit engage-employees.com to grab your copy today.
While there is an infinite number of potential influences on what employee communicators will be required to address in the years ahead, the largest among them already are making their mark on the discipline.
In this blog post, we’ll examine three of the biggest forces that will demand time, energy, focus and strategic assessment for employee communicators: technology, the rising voice of the employee and the influence of distance (with more remote workers) on how communications to employees are conceived and executed. Each of these influences exist in today’s marketplace, and will continue to grow in scale and importance.
Technology
It’s no secret that technology is the ultimate modern-day disrupter in about any industry, but for employee communicators, the implications of new technologies – both communication-focused and not – are arguably even more significant. We must learn to use them efficiently with the practice of communicating and/or understand how their introduction into the work environment will shape the strategies and tools we use.
Cloud computing has been the single biggest enabler for organizations to adopt new communication technologies. With on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, and requiring no direct active management by the user, the Cloud has become a game changer. As organizations grow in confidence with the security of cloud-enabled technologies, one of the biggest previous hurdles for employee communicators to clear – the security firewall – is significantly smaller.
These technologies have direct implications for not only how employee communicators will reach their stakeholders, but how they will reshape the organizations themselves. Those that, for example, result in fewer total employees, more employees working more remotely or lead to more contract, or “gig,” employees, will have profound implications on everything from the channels we choose, to the content we select and the emphasis we place on issues like culture and values.
New communication technologies that focus on content distribution versus more traditional content creation on the part of employee communicators will drive new definitions for our roles. With the growing, and continued evolution of employee-generated content, communicators’ roles inside organizations may well become closer to an orchestrator than a craftsperson of content. From self-made training videos to employee-generated documents on best practices, smart phones have equipped employees with new tools that place unprecedented power to communicate in their hands.
As the technologies take greater hold, they will prompt a continuous evolution, versus more dramatic change for employee communications. Running parallel to digital transformation efforts across enterprises, the common denominator is that data increasingly is being put in the hands of all employees simultaneously; and it’s being done in ways that are easier and more intuitive for them to use. While this represents a big culture change for many organizations as they empower employees to make better decisions based on good data, it also demands increasing trust on the part of the enterprise, and deeper analytical skills on the part of employees.
More broadly in the world of technology, there are two forces that are shaping, and will continue to shape, the workforce: artificial intelligence and blockchain.
Want to learn more about how those technologies are shaping the future of employee communication, and how employee activism and remote/hybrid working present new challenges?
Get Your Copy Of The Engaging Employees Through Strategic Communication Book Or Contact North Star Communications Today
The diagram above shows the different topics covered in the book. Take advantage of the opportunity to enhance your organizational communication strategy and engage your employees effectively by getting your hands on the highly recommended book, Engaging Employees Through Strategic Communication by Mark Dollins and Jon Stemmle. Piqued your curiosity? Want to know why change communications, Block Chain, Artificial Intelligence and employee activism will shape our near-term future? Visit engage-employees.com to grab your copy today.
If you’re looking for expert guidance in implementing change communications, talent development, and coaching in your organization, look no further than North Star Communications Consulting. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and take the first step toward transforming your organizational communication approach.
