Pupils at Tang Hall Primary School, in York were in for a treat when they returned from their half-term break after David and Lance took part in the ‘York Cares Community Challenge’.  The three-day challenge gave a ‘Ground Force’ style makeover to the outdoor educational and recreational areas of the school.

The volunteers have:

• created new nature zones
• given an upgrade to the reading area including new storytelling chairs and carvings
• created new vegetable and flower beds
• decorated outdoor areas including bright new murals and a new bike path and train area

The event saw 15 young people taking part in an apprentice style challenge.  Split into two teams, they each had to design  and renovate an area of the school grounds presenting their plans and budgets to ‘Nick and Margaret’ (David and Lance).  With coaching and guidance from the two Rambutan’s they had to deliver the project on time and within budget. Once complete they unveiled the new look areas to ‘Sir Alan Sugar’ (Ian Hall) and gathered friends and guests including the Lord Mayor of York.

Our very own Nick and Margaret aka David and Lance

Deputy Head of Tang Hall Primary School, Bev Pawson says…

“We can’t believe it!  The children were so excited when they saw their new look play area.  It has made such a difference to the playground and allows the children to let of steam in a fun and safe environment before returning to their lessons.”

Ahhhhh!!

“Companies that communicate with courage, innovation and discipline, especially during times of economic challenge and change, are most effective at engaging employees and achieving desired business results.  Our research has consistently found the firms that communicate effectively with employees are also the best financial performers”……Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Well we’ve been saying this for ages and those of you who have worked with us are already experiencing the organisational benefits of this belief.  As a result of a report commissioned by Watson Wyatt Worldwide we actually have statistical evidence that the most successful global organisations share our view that internal communications will help deliver superior business results.

The full title of the report is;

2009/2010 Communication ROI Study Report – Capitalising on Effective Communication: How Courage, Innovation and Discipline Drive Results in Challenging Times.

It can be found here but in true Rambutan style, we’ve extracted the juiciest bits for you.

Organisations that communicate effectively with their employees are the best financial performers and they:

• articulate their employee value proposition
• use social media to reach employees in real time
• treat their line managers as a special audience
• focus on the customer
• measure behaviour change and business outcomes

Effective internal communications can keep employees engaged in the business and help companies retain key talent, provide consistent value to customers and deliver superior financial performance. Highly effective communicators have the courage to talk about what their employees want to hear. They are being innovative (i.e., use of social media) so that they can move ahead quickly when the business environment improves, and they measure progress.

Watson Wyatt research confirms that employees who understand their organisation are more likely to be satisfied and remain loyal even during times of change. The impact of effective communication is bigger than the impact of additional spending on the communication programme itself.

Leaders and managers need to be able to communicate with integrity through times of change and organisations must prepare and train them to ensure they have the right skills to be effective communicators too.

Results of the Watson Wyatt 2008/2009 Work USA Survey found that keeping employees engaged correlates to an average 26% higher productivity rate, they have fewer days off and are three times more likely to exceed performance expectations.

Highly effective communicators are using social media to engage employees and already have processes in place to measure its effectiveness.

High performing organisations understand the value of having a documented communication strategy and build in measurement to assess its effectiveness. Metrics are a critical tool to improve and redefine future communication and organisations that communicate effectively, formalise these metrics by including them in a corporate scorecard.

During challenging times, companies are forced to make tough decisions. This report found that high performing organisations make communication a priority and use every tool available to reach their employees. In the absence of a consistent message employees will fill the void with rumour and speculation. It takes ten times the effort to correct misinformation than it does to deliver the correct message in the first place.

Employees are always looking to the organisation to put changes into perspective. Highly effective communicators say more, not less and acknowledge the change.

Organisations need to be disciplined by establishing metrics and holding the communication function accountable for results tied to the business strategy.

By adopting these best practices for communication organisations will be better equipped for success.

So what’s Rambutans view on this report?  Well, in the style of a teenager, we say “See, told ya…!”

If you ever want to refresh the way that you think about problems and how to solve them, then take some time to observe children trying to work things out.  They’re masters at it – they talk to each other, take turns, listen, try out all sorts of possibilities, then jump for joy when a great solution is found… how very refreshing! 

One recent example that Sarah saw was when two friends aged 9 were trying to figure out how they could both jump across a field in the same sack without falling over – and eventually they did it, hurrah!  She still has no idea why they should have chosen such an activity, but she’s very glad they did because it inspired this blog entry…

(PS. make sure that they don’t notice that you’re watching and listening or the magic will be over in a flash!)

One of our friends was travelling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently and took these fantastic photos of rambutans and sent them into us.  So, thanks Michelle – your photos are beautiful!

Wednesday 4th November was the official launch day of New Brand Tribalism (NBT).  Over a 100 guests, representing companies ranging from premiership football clubs to solicitors, arrived at London’s Floridita to be inspired by the NBT model.

Throughout the day constant reference to actual real life events highlighted the compelling case for NBT with the humorous and informative presentations from;

• Prof Jonathan Schroder
• Tim Pointer – HR Director at Diesel
• Sue Yell – HR Director at Iceland
• Tanya Channing – HR Director Burger King
• Lynne Arrowsmith – Head of Internal Brand, Communication and Culture at Orange
• Steve Harrington – Social Media
• Rohit Talwar – Future Beliefs

It became clear that tribalism is out there, it’s happening now and successful organisations are planning their future around developing their own tribe.

From a poll of all guests, 93% believed that NBT was the answer when asked the question “How might you go about getting everyone in your organisation to share your belief about the challenges you face and your solution.”

At 15:55 on Wednesday 4th November 2009 David Scott closed the day and OPENED THE TRIBE.

Comments from guests were;

“I’m inspired”
“I feel so energised”
“if I take this back will I get fired?”
“amazing, I really need to think this through”
“count me in”

Join the tribe now at http://www.newbrandtribalism.com/ and help shape the future.