About three years ago, Megan McCann, Vice President of Geneva Technical Services, and Jane Gilligan, Vice President of Professional Services at Harvey Nash, and I started a quarterly Executive Women’s Networking Dinner. It started as an informal group of women executives in the information technology (IT) industry gathering at our favorite restaurants in Chicago to relax and talk shop. It grew into something we never expected. Now drawing around 30 women ranging from CIOs to heads of professional services organizations, the connections we have made and opportunities we created have truly surprised and heartened all of us.

For our most recent dinner, on April 6th, I dug deep into my Journalism roots and came up with the idea for a special format: on-the-record with Brad Spirrison, Sun-Times Monday Tech Columnist and editor for Appolicious, and off-the-record with Jennifer Scanlon, Vice President and CIO of USG Corporation.

Over a delicious dinner at new restaurant Prairie Fire, Jennifer shared important career lessons, focusing most of her time on the absolute importance of communications. Here are three gems she shared with us:

• Form follows function.
When presenting to executives, skip all of the data and analysis up front and go straight to your recommendation. Of course have the information to back it up, but always make your opinion clear (and tell it often). And always give them a heads-up. This is important: You never want to surprise an executive; always, always give them fair warning before presenting something in a group environment. Jennifer mentioned a story about: Grandma’s on the roof! I won’t go into details, but essentially, sometimes before you get to the big news, you need to take a few baby steps first (element of surprise doesn’t work well in business!).

• Simple is elegant.
It’s been said that simplicity is the cornerstone of elegance. When sharing technical information, you need to state it in terms easy enough for your mom or dad to grasp. Business people don’t care about cloud computing and other IT jargon. Keep it simple. When writing, really think about what needs to be communicated to get your point across, and then eliminate everything else (very difficult for me to do as a writer, but the point is a good one). For more on this, Jennifer recommended “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide” by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway and Jon Warshawsky, and “Say It With Charts: The Executive’s Guide to Visual Communication” by Gene Zelazny.

• Confidence wins.
When speaking publicly, you have to project confidence. And if you don’t, do something about it—Toastmasters has been known to work miracles. Other simple tips you can use to your advantage when addressing an audience:

1. Write a script. You don’t have to memorize it; just having it to fall back on will help you combat the jitters.
2. Write your script BEFORE you tackle your PowerPoint presentation, will keep it on point!
3. Use quotes sparingly, definitely not back-to-back.
4. Know your style and use it effectively to make yourself memorable. Make a statement (and yes, sometimes a statement can be as simple as your shoes!).

It was no surprise that Brad came with his new toy in tow, an iPad that he obligingly showed off for everyone. Brad carried the communication theme through dessert (the best chocolate molten cake ever!) with an insightful discussion on social media, its impact on the business community and the different generations that are now occupying the same workplace.

Now the first and only honorary male member of our group, Brad returned the compliment with an observation that our dinner was the first networking event he had ever attended where no one tried to sell anything. I can’t imagine a better remark, as this is very much the atmosphere we have strived to create from the beginning: a close-knit gathering where we can relax and not worry about the “salesy” environment that is more often than not present at networking events.

The day after our event I read a CIO Magazine article, ironically, about “The Shrinking Female IT Workforce”, and was surprised to find: While male CIOs earned an average of $177,843 in 2009, female CIOs earned $148,965. This affirmed for me how important it is for women IT executives to support each other—as well as the upcoming generation. Whether it’s through networking associations or by reaching out as mentors or industry liaisons to female students about to enter the job market, building a supportive community starts with us.

Special thanks to Jennifer and Brad for the enlightening conversation. To the women in our group: Thanks for participating in our unique (and completely hush-hush) dinner group, and all of the wonderful opportunities you’ve presented to some of my closest colleagues. I cannot wait for our next dish together.

Did you hear about the recent faux pas the HR VP at Carat, Aegis Group’s media-buying company, committed?  I read about it in the article, Carat Missive Goes Astray, in the Wall Street Journal. Basically Carat’s senior management team had been preparing materials to announce a restructuring, including significant layoffs. Instead of sending the working drafts of the communications to its intended audience of select few, the VP of HR sent it to the entire company. It was recalled by the IT department, but the damage was done. In fact, the messaging documents have made their way outside the company and even been published online by Advertising Age.

Yikes! My initial, knee-jerk reaction was not unlike those who posted messages in response to the AdAge.com article. How careless? How could she? It immediately reminded me of a similar situation. In August 2006, RadioShack communicated layoff announcements by e-mail. Approximately 400 employees walked into work on August 29 and received the following message in their inbox: “The workforce reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.” 

However, having been the author of layoff messaging in a past life, and one of a handful of individuals with the technical permissions to distribute company-wide e-mails to several thousand employees, I quickly began to empathize with Carat’s VP. After all, one false slip of a keystroke and that could just as easily have happened to me. I don’t believe she maliciously distributed the draft documents by e-mail in advance of a planned formal announcement. It was most certainly an accident.

And that’s when it struck me. The RadioShack and Carat layoff situations are actually quite different. Though both companies, it appears, developed thorough communications plans and messaging to share the unfortunate news, RadioShack purposefully chose e-mail as its method for making the announcement. RadioShack’s decision to alert affected employees that their positions were eliminated by e-mail resulted in a number of not-so-positive headlines.  RadioShack defended its actions saying it had forewarned employees at its Fort Worth headquarters about the impending layoffs and that they had told employees they would learn about their job status via e-mail.  Given the open office environment, RadioShack felt it was the best way to preserve the person’s privacy and dignity, as opposed to walking through cubicles and tapping people on the shoulder to call them into the office.

Many of the outplacement experts cited in the numerous articles written on the topic said the approach was inappropriate. In a New York Times article, Derrick D’Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of employees being notified about a layoff electronically.  He said it could be seen as dehumanizing.  “If I put myself in their shoes,” Mr. D’Souza said.  “I’d say, ‘Didn’t they have a few minutes to tell me?”’

I believe most workers have come to accept that workforce reductions are part of the normal course of business.  While it still won’t be easy for the employee being let go, the person delivering the news, or those left behind, taking a timely, honest, personal approach will do a great deal to minimize animosity.  No matter how large or small your organization is, creating a cohesive internal communications plan that addresses how, when and to whom you’ll make your announcements will allow you to coordinate the organizational changes face-to-face affording employees the dignity they deserve.

As you would expect, Carat has received some harsh criticism in the press.  While it’s still too early to tell what the exact fallout will be from the Carat VP’s mistake, I doubt it will be much more than a stomach flip at the thought of it happening to you and a reminder to always double and triple check the To:, Cc: and Bcc: boxes of your e-mail when distributing sensitive documents.  RadioShack on the other hand continues to serve as a good example of how not to communicate workforce reductions to employees.

Jessica Elliott
Marketing Director
ClearEdge Marketing

I just ended a phone conversation with a colleague.  We were discussing the Yin/Yang of public relations activities.  As a long-time PR person and a journalist, I have a nuanced view of media coverage and it is best described as the Yin and the Yang.

Let me explain.

The Yin
Good PR people often counsel their clients against pursuing the one-off “big story.”  You know the “I-want-to-be-in-the-Wall-Street-Journal” story.  And the reason is simple, most clients are not very happy the first time their company is covered in the Wall Street Journal precisely because the reporter has done a good and fair job. 

I know this from experience.  In the 1990s, I was a PR director at a large IT services company and when we finally got the CEO quoted in the local business journal, all hell broke loose.  To say the CEO was angry was an understatement.  He was furious because the story was “fair” and it covered the market, not just us.  He knew the scope of the story going into the interview, but somewhere along the way, he thought that the story would make us look like angels and the others like the devil. 

In reality, the story was good, and we did come off well, but it wasn’t exactly as he would have worded it, more importantly many of our competitors came off well too. 

It’s important to understand when we undertake a proactive media campaign that the story will — NEVER, I repeat, NEVER — read exactly as we hoped it would. 

The Yang
With practice and realistic expectations, we can reverse this perspective and find ourselves very satisfied with a story EVEN when the reporter doesn’t include all our “best stuff.” 

The key to being satisfied, even happy, with an article is simple. 

Every interview deserves a planned, disciplined PR approach.  The PR person should vet the reporter and determine the nature of the story.  The PR person should talk with the spokesperson in advance to ensure that he/she has all of the information needed and a precise way of stating it.  The PR person can/should sit in on the interview (physically or by phone) and clarify or offer additional information as needed.  And post interview, the PR person can and should check in with the reporter to see if anything was missing or more detail is needed.

Preparing for a media interview is as important as preparing for a job interview.  You get one chance to make a good impression and simultaneously present relevant information.  It’s an opportunity and a challenge and should be viewed as such.

Laura Field
PR Director
ClearEdge Marketing

While studying Communications in college I worked part-time for a nationwide retail company. Our store manager would hold monthly meetings to go through the laundry list of directives being handed down from corporate. All of these important “must do’s” were supposed to support the company’s goals. What were our goals? I’m sure I read about them in a training manual at some point, but I can’t recall ever hearing about them again.

Fast forward to present day and I’m still amazed at how infrequently companies discuss their business goals. I know many companies spend months creating them, send out an e-mail about them at the beginning of the year and then don’t talk about them again until the end of year—when it’s time to tell their employees they didn’t achieve them. Employees don’t intuitively know what management has committed to achieving. You have to tell them. And tell them again. And again.

Given the multiple priorities of today’s employee, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger objective and get caught up in oiling the squeaky wheels. In most cases, your employees want to help the company succeed. Not only is there a personal sense of pride in having been a part of that success, there is also a strong motivation in the form of job security. It’s up to business leaders to ensure their employees know what they can do to meet the obligations that have been made to customers, the financial community, the board of directors and other important stakeholders.

In my communications and marketing roles, I’ve been able to make good on a personal commitment I made to myself back in my college days, “If I ever get the chance, I will make sure employees in the field don’t feel isolated.” What I’ve learned in practice is:

• Inject the company’s objectives into every relevant communication that goes out from senior management. You can use different language to make it feel fresh, but don’t assume that because it’s getting old and repetitive to you, that everyone shares that feeling. At the very least, employee turnover is enough of a reason to repeat the message.

• Consider the office that’s furthest from your company’s headquarters. They don’t have daily, weekly, monthly or in some cases yearly access to the company’s leadership team. The employees in that office want to know that you have them in mind when you talk about where the company is headed.

• In every communication effectiveness survey I’ve conducted, employees look to their managers first and foremost for information about the company, their role and how the two come together. Look to your managers to deliver on the expectation.

• Managers will filter the message. If you want the whole message delivered, you have to remind managers that employees aren’t “in the know.” It’s their job to connect the dots and to help employees understand the company’s goals and where employees fit into that picture.

As you approach the end of the first quarter of 2008, consider the effectiveness you’ve had in discussing where you want to be at the end of the year. Is everyone on the same page? If numbers are off, if customers are unhappy, if partnerships are strained, perhaps the lack of a shared focus is a symptom. If it is, the remedy isn’t all that hard to administer. 

Jessica Elliott
Marketing Director
ClearEdge Marketing

Hypersociality is a term I read about in a Network World article by Mark Gibbs, and it’s one that immediately reminded me of the impact technology is having on our daily personal and business interactions. Gibbs’ article does a good job exploring how mobile technologies designed to facilitate communications are transforming how we socialize and even creating some antisocial behavior. Along the same lines, but from a business perspective, I feel it’s critical that businesses consider how compulsive and unrestrained use of mobile technologies could damage their sales and business networks.

For example, I have recently had several clients relate stories of how key business contacts were lost and/or untraceable because the business development professional was using text messaging to communicate with a prospect. Because retrieving content from cell phones is a limited function, key interactions and records easily vanish when texting is the communications mode of choice. While not necessarily the norm today, this method of client interaction does seem to be increasing.

And while I can personally testify to the value of BlackBerry and PDA tools that allow for greater accessibility and mobility, I can also testify to the inefficiency they can bring to business communications. Professionals writing in transit or between meetings often reply so fast and with such little thought to wording that their messages are indecipherable and often come across as being curt. Some people go as far as putting disclaimers in their BlackBerry signature lines alerting recipients that the message was sent from a BlackBerry, as if it’s an excuse for typos and misunderstood messages. I once received the following reply to an e-mail request for a meeting:

“Good be can’t for noon. See then 5. Be great.”

As much as I love a good riddle, this is ridiculous. Communications that devolve to this level for the sake of efficiency are only breeding inefficiency. I had to e-mail again twice to get a coherent response, which meant three times the work necessary for both of us. And don’t get me wrong. As a business owner, I don’t leave home without my BlackBerry. I am often abusing BlackBerry etiquette in public places (restaurants, movie theatres, etc.) for the sake of communicating with a client. But, over time, I too have learned when to put the BlackBerry down and wait for my laptop back at the office.

In the article mentioned above, Gibbs argues that too much technology-enabled communication enables antisocial interactions. I see evidence of this in business communications every day. In attempts to work faster and more flexibly, we are losing our ability to communicate efficiently and with admirable professionalism.

For maintaining strong sales channel communications, we at ClearEdge always recommend regular documentation of client and prospect interactions (or what we in marketing call “touches”). Thanks to technology, outstanding and cost-effective tools for managing sales communications and progress are available. If a client or prospect is sent a text message invitation, meeting request or piece of information, that interaction needs to be centrally documented so that other team members can trace the communication path. That way if a sales person leaves or must take a leave of absence, other staff members can step in and pick up the process. The critical process is ensuring that prospect contacts and lead generation activities are being recorded centrally (where the business can access them) and regularly.

When it comes to making sure written communications (whether in phone calls, letters, e-mails or texts) uphold professional standards, businesses need to focus on training and mentoring. Too many businesses look at the younger generations of workers and say, “It’s just the way they’ve learned to use technology. They are redefining workplace communications.”

My response? Only if you let them. Workers of all ages are open to learning and skills enhancement, but when it comes to high-tech tools, many people tend to default to the younger generation as knowing the best way to use gadgets today. In terms of speed, maybe. In terms of using PDAs and mobile phones with professional grace, we can all use some help in refining our skills. In the coming months, writers and the communications specialist from our ClearEdge team will share their insights on how to combat falling standards of professionalism while in a gadget-happy, speed-addicted, extraordinarily mobile work world. We look forward to reading and hearing your thoughts on the subject.

Leslie Vickrey
President & Founder
ClearEdge Marketing

I just read an article from CIO online titled, “How to Communicate in a Crisis” by Kathleen Carr. Carr reported what Edward Flynn, the former Massachusetts public safety secretary, told CSO magazine in 2005 shortly after he handled a media crisis related to a potential dirty bomb in Boston. All of what Flynn said is right, but what struck me was what he didn’t say. I have practiced corporate PR for 25 years and had my share of communications crises (environmental spills, accidental deaths, outraged community activists and angry shareholders). Flynn is right to say, provide accurate information, answer questions, tell the truth, be prepared, get involved, but in my opinion, he left out several very important steps. I would add to Flynn’s list: Set up a shadow crisis Web site in advance. When your company is in the midst of the situation, your web team can put it up and provide real-time updates. The recent Virginia Tech crisis is a good example. Journalism students kept the site up to date and the site became one of the primary communications tools for students, parents, professors and interested parties.

Set regular times for media updates. Schedule press conferences and let your media contacts know that you’ll provide updates hourly, twice a day, daily or whatever the situation calls for. Make the schedule widely known so that others in the company or in the situation can tell reporters when they will receive an update. Post the schedule on the Web site.

Name in advance who your spokespeople will be. Have a minimum of four or five identified. Tightly coordinate activities between spokespeople and information gathers and fact checkers.

Apologize. My legal friends will call me out on this, but if the situation is in any way your company’s fault, APOLOGIZE, completely and sincerely. If the incident results in human harm, contact immediately the families and friends, and apologize face-to-face, offer all the help you can to mitigate their pain and loss. There are many documented cases of the affected parties forgiving companies that admit to mistakes and correct them, the Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol crisis for example. What the public will not tolerate is a company that refuses to acknowledge responsibility.

I’m sure that there are more tips for crisis situations but these were the ones that stood out to me. The most important advice that Flynn and I agree on is to BE PREPARED. It’s not just for the Boy Scouts. Companies that have a crisis communications plan will recover more quickly and more completely from a crisis than companies that haven’t planned ahead.

Laura Field
Public Relations Director
ClearEdge Marketing