Internal Comms Teams Showcase Employee Engagement Best Practice
This article was first published on Response Source, 26 March 2015. Read the original article here.
A unique peer-to-peer best practice sharing event and award, showcasing innovative employee engagement projects from multi-sector internal communications teams, has drawn acclaim from participants. The fifth IC Showcase, hosted by the internal communications practice of specialist communications recruiter VMA GROUP, attracted 13 teams from various sectors, including financial services, utilities, charities, life sciences, telecoms, publishing, IT, and engineering.
Showcasing Success Stories
Each team had the opportunity to present their biggest success story from the previous 12 months. These were peer-judged against three criteria: contribution to overall business strategy, contribution to the increase of impact and influence of internal comms within the organization, and the style of the presentation itself.
The winner was NN Group for their project “How to make an IPO relevant for employees.” This project charted the internal communications team’s challenge to engage a global workforce of 12,000 employees in 18 countries during an IPO.
As Head of Internal Communications Marije Scholma explained, “An IPO is a very complex process. It is also the result of the hard work of everybody in the business, so we tried to engage all our employees by communicating every single milestone.”
NN Group, the Insurance and Investment business of the former ING Group, had undergone significant changes, including a new name and brand. They aimed to involve every employee in one of the largest European IPOs in 20 years. Working with 18 internal communications teams worldwide, they developed a campaign culminating in a unique live broadcast from Euronext, the stock exchange in Amsterdam, allowing all 12,000 employees to celebrate simultaneously.
Peer-to-Peer Learning and Networking
Marije Scholma emphasized the uniqueness of peer-to-peer voting, stating, “It’s really interesting to see what others in your field are achieving, and it’s also a great learning and networking opportunity.” Her sentiments were echoed by Deborah de Satge, Head of Internal Communications at AXA PPP Healthcare, who noted the value of hearing case studies firsthand from those responsible for implementing them.
Northumbrian Water was the runner-up with its storybook presentation on building its internal communications team from one person to a high-performing team delivering integrated employee communications to 3,000 employees in 12 months. Third place went to LV for the design and development of its bespoke interactive company intranet.
The Value of Sharing Best Practices
Andrew Harvey, Director of VMA’s Internal Communications Practice, sees the event as a valuable opportunity for internal communications teams to invest in professional development. “It’s a real opportunity for internal communications teams to invest some time in professional development for themselves as individuals, for their teams, and for their businesses by sharing best practice ideas with each other in an informal, fun – yet professional environment,” he stated.
He added, “There’s such a wealth of fantastic work out there, and so we thought why not give a platform for it to be showcased – and then be judged by peers. We make it a fun day, and the atmosphere is collaborative as well as competitive. We’re looking forward to next year’s already!”
