Case Study 4: Improving the Listening Skills of Managers at Procter & Gamble

Introduction

The managers of Procter & Gamble (P&G) are highly trained professionals. They work under heavy time pressures and tight deadlines. As a result of this, the managers were not listening effectively to customers and co-workers.

LEAD group

To improve the listening skills of the employees and managers, the Research and Development (R&D) department conducted a programme for middle managers and technical leaders. A group ‘Leaders Effect A Difference (LEAD)’ was formed to attend that programme. The objective of the LEAD group was to increase innovation and build lasting relationships to increase long-term networking.

The participants of the LEAD group could obtain the following benefits:

• Recognize the complexities of work issues.
• Accept the senior management expectation.
• Recognize the importance of helping others to solve their work issues.

The programme for a LEAD group begins with a 45 minute introduction to LEAD process and is followed by building in-depth listening skills. Listening is the main point of coaching; hence it plays a critical role in developing coaching.

The lead group was structured into groups of six persons. Participants were asked to play the role of helper and observer. Each member of the group was assigned the role of seeker for one of the six LEAD sessions.

The seeker was assigned the role of practicing the skills of helping others on work issues. The helper was assigned the role of practicing listening and training skills with the aim of assisting the seeker to think, feel, and plan.

Outcome of the LEAD group

Over time, the LEAD group programme was effective in motivating listening skills of managers.

The LEAD group approach met the business need for improved coaching by managers and was successful in establishing communication with broader network of employees.

Case Study 3: Strategic Internal Communication at UBS Wealth Management

Introduction 

UBS is one of the leading global wealth managers and largest global asset managers. The wealth management business of UBS desired to strengthen client relationships by communicating a new brand promise: 'you and us'.

A company ‘Workwise Communication’ helped UBS Wealth Management to develop their internal communications department to facilitate a centralised, world-wide communication network. UBS wanted to develop a more strategic function transforming from being 'order takers' to ‘business partners’.

Training program approach:

The internal communication development programme had a three stage approach. The three different stages were:

1. Pre-work
2. Two day development workshop
3. Telephone coaching

In the first stage, the participants were provided with appropriate best practice case studies and asked to consider three queries based on the case studies. The weekly conducted conference call allowed the participants to discuss their responses and learning. In the second stage, the participants were asked take part in a two day development workshop. In the third stage, the participants who wished to take new and challenging projects were provided telephone coaching. Work wise Communication also worked with the participants to develop an internal communication toolkit.

Internal communication team's new organisational structure

The participants initiated action plans and assigned projects to strengthen the learning process at workplace. The participants were more confident in their new roles. The initial review of the new organisational structure showed that the individual coaching helped the participants in introducing new initiatives. A relationship manager helped senior communication team members who needed to manage one or two functional areas.

Supporting a leadership visibility programme

Workwise Communication established a senior leadership visibility programme for the senior team that conducted more meetings and travelled to other locations. The communications teams helped the leaders by providing required materials for events like town hall meetings. The relationship manager supported face-to-face and one-to-few communications with streamlined internal messaging instead of mass communication.

Case Study 2: Improving Dells’ Corporate Communication

Many of Dell's participants consider Dell as very good example of how a company should manage its functionalities and communicate with its participants. Corporate communication must be closely related to a company's overall vision and strategy.

Issue

Dell has to align its identity with its image and become independent of technology. If a company depends more on technology, along with bridging the gap between image and identity, it needs to be attentive to technology changes.

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell computers initiated a primary work environment which depends on e-mail. E-mail can be an effective communication type across time zones. E-mail also helps managers and employees communicate effectively and thereby increase the productivity.

However, Dell's increasing dependence on technology based communication may negatively impact the relational development. If Dell's management does not improve the ways of communication existing in the company, the company may not grow in a changing corporate environment.

Solution

To improve its communications, Dell's upper management can work more effectively with the departments which communicate with marketing constituencies and create a stronger corporate mission.

The publicity of any product depends on how a marketing department communicates with customers and deals with customers' activities. Increased e-mail dependence can cause information overload for employees. As e-mail is an informal channel of communication, it isolates employees and prevents them from interacting with others. This issue can be solved by adopting face-to-face communications through meetings, team building activities, and company outings.

Dell should communicate closely with the entities that deal with marketing and involve face-to-face communications within the company. Increased internal and external communication can help Dell to align its image with identity and help to improve relationships to become a successful company in the changing corporate environment.

Case Study 1: Nomura Group's Global Communication

Introduction

Nomura Group is one of the largest financial service organisations in Japan. It comprises a group of companies that includes Nomura Securities Co. Ltd, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd, and Joinvest Securities Co. Ltd. It also has overseas subsidiaries in the U.S, Europe and Asia.

Issue

Earlier, Nomura group used laptops as a main tool for communication. As the laptops were not easy to carry and they also required complicated configuration, Nomura was looking for a secure and convenient mobile solution that would free them from these stresses.

Nomura group required a global communication environment which allowed employees to access their enterprise network from anywhere in the world and work as if they were in office.

Reasons for selecting BlackBerry Solution

The convenience and high security of the solution made Nomura group to opt for BlackBerry smartphones. The overseas subsidiaries of the Nomura Group had already benefited by the usage of BlackBerry smartphones. The introduction of BlackBerry solution facilitated the daily communication in the business.

The BlackBerry solution is widely used in the financial world and the Nomura group appreciated the convenience and high security of the BlackBerry solution.
The key functions of BlackBerry that appealed to Nomura were message encryption and uniform device management . The BlackBerry Enterprise Server default functions allowed Nomura to adhere to the existing security policy.

Results


Nomura group enhanced their internal device management systems for introducing BlackBerry 8707h smartphone. It set up a user support desk and a network for wireless distribution of applications. It was able to distribute the Bloomberg application to convey important financial information to their securities business. Employees were able to get real-time news updates throughout the business day. The BlackBerry solution allowed employees to check emails, view attachments, and manage their schedule.