Author: Jon

Jon https://jweedon.wordpress.com
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How I see Internal Communications

I love words. Writing is a major part of what I do. Ironically the two most pervasive posts on this blog are those with the least number of words. Employee engagement in pictures and it’s sequel continue to attract hits every day, when some of what I consider to be my finest work remains virtually unread.

So for the next few weeks I am going to explore how much truth there is in the old saying. Can a picture really paint a thousand words? To help me I have enlisted the photographic talents of my 15 year old daughter to help me illustrate some of the most important tenets that drive my own personal approach to Internal Communications.

I hope you enjoy my “How I see IC” album, which starts below. A new entry will be added daily until I run out of inspiration – and photos…

  1. Message in a bottle
  2. Actions speak louder than words
  3. Applying a filter to transparancy
  4. Respect other people’s time
  5. Make it personal 
  6. Loyalty must be earned
  7. Be measured
  8. Stand out from the crowd
  9. Avoid the void
  10. Talk to the hand
  11. Share the credit
  12. Comfort zone
  13. Show some enthusiasm
  14. Pick your battles
  15. Focus on objectives

A nice cup of e and a biscuit

Office workers who walk away from their desk to make a cuppa or have a chat with a colleague – even those who sneak out for the occasional ciggy are not robbing their employer of wages.

The idea that presenteeism should be used a baseline for productivity is not just crazy, it is pernicious. Peddlers of such nonsense need to be put straight immediately to stop them causing any more damage to their companies.

Most employers accept this and don’t seek to curtail it. They realise that short regular breaks are good for maintaining focus and mental agility. Unlike the occasional piece of ludicrous ‘research’ there is simply nothing to be gained by adding up the time taken by employees to clear their heads and regain focus.

However, remove the tea from the equation and all of a sudden, things look somewhat different.

Tea breaks pale into insignificance when compared to eBreaks. One survey last year suggests that nearly 2 million British workers spend over an hour every day on social media websites. More than half of the UK’s working population now accesses social media whilst at work, with a third of those (roughly six million) are spending more than 30 minutes on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Is this any worse than the good old fashioned tea break? Clearly many employers think so. According the Mark Ragan, 57% of US companies block employee access to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But I bet they don’t have such issues with the humble tea break.

Well I think they are making the wrong call – and so does the Great Place to Work Institute. The essence of a great place to work is trust. Thirty years of experience working with the most successful organisations in the world leads the Institute to conclude that the foundation of every great workplace is trust between employees and management.

The organisational and financial benefits to any organisation of being a high trust environment are well documented. Companies that appear in the annual 100 Great Places to Work consistently outperform their peers. And according to Erin Lieberman Moran, senior VP at the Great Places to Work Institute, these companies are not blocking staff access to social media.

In a recent interview with Ragan Lieberman Moran says:

“If you are hiring great talent then you need to trust them to make the right decisions. If you’re holding them accountable to their performance, when and how they get their work done should be less important than the actual results they are delivering to the organisation”.

Brings us back to presenteeism. If you trust people and manage them well – and by that I mean keep them busy with challenging and meaningful work – their value should be measured by their results not by their presence.

I take quite a few eBreaks during my working day. OK, so my working day may be extended by a few hours beyond those stipulated in my contract in order to ensure my work never suffers, but that is my choice and quite frankly, I would not have it any other way.

I love my job, I love my profession and I love my company. Without my regular eBreaks, I suspect I’d find it difficult to maintain this level of intensity and I’m sure our relationship would suffer.

Customer Service Shocker

Last Friday I ordered a printed T shirt online from www.garmentprinting.co.uk

I have encountered poor customer service before – I’m sure we all have. But have you ever seen a company willing to record such a shocking attitude towards their customer in writing?

My experience when ordering a printed T Shirt online last week surely takes the biscuit.

First an email chronology to set the scene:

11:04 – my online request for a quote is acknowledged
11:09 – confirmation that same day service can be achieved
11:38 – quote received
11:57 – order acknowledged and invoice for “Printing x 1 GD31 – Mens Polo Shirt” received
12:33 – link to approve design & artwork received
12:40 – acknowledgement of my approval received
12:54 – email received providing details of where and when to collect my order

All very good up until this point. Then things took a turn for the worse.

Enter Garment Printing’s Gavin Drake (@garmentprinting on Twitter).

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Visual Proof – Jon Weedon – Order Ref: GP 5262
To: Garment Printing <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

Hi there

I just noticed from the visual this is a crew neck. I’m sure I ordered a polo! Is it too late to change?

Jon

Sent from my iPhone

From: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Visual Proof – Jon Weedon – Order Ref: GP 5262
To: Jon Weedon

I stated that we only has the ability to do tshirts in the quote and in the emails

Thats all we can do, so sorry you missed this bit of info and yes its already gone to process and print

Sorry

Gavin Drake
Garment Printing
http://www.garmentprinting.co.uk
A “Print This Print That” Company

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Visual Proof – Jon Weedon – Order Ref: GP 5262
To: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

No worries I missed that as I’m on my iPhone. All good,

Jon

Sent from my iPhone

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Visual Proof – Jon Weedon – Order Ref: GP 5262
To: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

Hi Gavin

Now that I’m back at my PC I have checked all of the emails including the quote and cannot see any mention of T shirt versus Polo. Am I missing something?

Jon

From: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Visual Proof – Jon Weedon – Order Ref: GP 5262
To: Jon Weedon

look at original quote

Gavin Drake
Garment Printing
http://www.garmentprinting.co.uk
A “Print This Print That” Company

From: Garment Printing <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 2:56 PM
Subject: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Jon Weedon

I sent you this at the very beginning before any quote

Hello Jon Weedon,

We can supply a tshirt today, printed in our Kingston Print House

Can you collect from there.

Otherwise its £20 for the top + same day delivery

Many thanks,

Garment Printing
www.garmentprinting.co.uk

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 3:38 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Garment Printing <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

Ah I see. Very subtle! Not exactly “I stated that we only has the ability to do tshirts in the quote and in the emails” is it?

May I suggest next time you spell it out with a bit more clarity rather than seeking to blame your customers for missing the info.

Anyway, thanks for getting this done so quickly.

Jon

From: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 3:42
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Jon Weedon

OK

look at your quote.

its says £25 (black tshirt)

I think it was clear and thanks for your feedback

Gavin Drake

Garment Printing
http://www.garmentprinting.co.uk
A “Print This Print That” Company

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

You are missing the point here.

A t shirt to most people is a generic term that could include a crew neck, V neck, polo whatever. I’m not really interested in whether you think your communication was clear – the fact that as a customer I am saying it was not clear should be all you need to concern yourself with so you can avoid future misunderstandings.

Anyway, your attitude alone is such that I will not be using your services again.

Shame because I am genuinely happy with everything else you guys have done for me today.

Regards,

Jon

From: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 4:15 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Jon Weedon

are you having a bad day?

Gavin Drake
Garment Printing
http://www.garmentprinting.co.uk
A “Print This Print That” Company

From: Jon Weedon
Date: Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: Garment Printing – Jon Weedon – Ref: GP 5262�
To: Garment Printing – Sales Team <sales.team@garmentprinting.co.uk>

Yes actually. Got to Mark’s and the T shirt was not ready. Have to go back in half an hour. Still, no doubt that does not warrant an apology either.

All the best,

Jon

By the time I got back from my second visit to Garment Printing’s local agent I guess Gavin had gone home for the weekend as the communication ceased.

“are you having a bad day?” – can you believe that?