Getting the word out internal communications and culture change at Auckland Libraries

Getting the word out internal communications and culture change at Auckland Libraries Dobbie, Allison 1 ; LaHatte, Louise 1 ; Morgan, Greg 1 Libraries & Information, Auckland Council, Auckland, New Zealand 1 Abstract What do you do when you are suddenly part of an organisation of over 1300 people, in approximately 60 locations, and with no one way of communicating with everybody? Where team members are dispersed across the region? Where there are as many different hopes and expectations as there are people? And where Skype is prohibited? This is the situation that faced the new Auckland Libraries in November 2010. An employee engagement survey in February 2011 indicated that only 60.1% of people felt informed about the organisation and its activities. Only 64% felt a sense of belonging. We had much to learn to do this well. We recognised that good internal communications were critical to building the new Auckland Libraries, to remove any sense of boundaries and distance and to establish a shared language and understanding. Good internal communications would help achieve the transformation necessary to be one library system for the people of Auckland. Auckland Libraries has recently developed an internal communications framework as the basis of this transformation. It is based on extensive consultation with library staff, and on our learnings over the first year of our existence. It puts in place a number of fundamental principles that will be applied in all our communications. Number one conversations matter, talk to people whenever possible. This new framework builds on a range of techniques and channels including social media, and reflects the shift in management style that is necessary to lead teams remotely. Conversations, story telling, newsletters, email conventions, discussion forums, messaging, ideas sharing, meetings, celebrations all form part of a planned approach to improving communications and building a sense of common purpose and belonging. Page 1

The challenge When the new Auckland Council opened its doors for business on 1 November 2010, library staff found themselves in a department of over 1300 people in approximately 60 locations, with no one way of communicating quickly with everybody. Many staff across the region were part-timers, casuals or volunteers and some teams included staff based at different locations. For many the experience was a curious one of the familiar and the different - same customers but new teams, new managers and team leaders, and processes that were sometimes familiar, sometimes unfamiliar and often unclear or non-existent. We had no access to Skype or similar technologies for corporate use, and no library intranet. Staff IT access and email applications were still organised by legacy council domains and policies, and access to shared directories depended on your location and which legacy council you had worked for previously. Many months passed before we could create email groups that would reliably reach staff in their new structures the first email to Libraries All was not possible until September 2011! Even then not all staff had log-ons or access to a PC. In the meantime we relied on overloaded team leaders to act as conduits for every email message that needed to be distributed. In the midst of a 10% increase in customer use of library services, we held meetings when we could fit them in and invited lots of people, without being clear about the purpose or what we needed to achieve. In short, being able to communicate directly and easily with library staff was proving to be very challenging. At the same time, we were trying to build a sense of belonging to one organisation. Setting the scale of Auckland aside, we faced the same sorts of issues that arise in any organisation that is undergoing significant change: As many different hopes and expectations as there were paid staff and volunteers A widespread sense that information from the top down was inadequate People managers at all levels feeling they weren't being told what they needed to know (information upwards lacking, information downwards poor) Far too much email going round - the fear of under-communication generated an unmanageable level of one-way messages. It quickly became clear that we were not doing well at internal communication and had much to learn. A council wide workforce engagement survey conducted in February 2011, four months into the life of the new council, indicated that only 60.1% of library staff felt informed about the organisation and its activities. Just 64.2% of library staff felt a sense of belonging. This confirmed the feedback from staff members who spoke up in staff meetings about communication problems they perceived. It also confirmed that good communication is a key driver of staff engagement and belonging. We needed to act. The response a communications framework Our first response was to recognise the opportunity of starting from scratch to establish a coordinated and holistic internal communications approach. We started by asking staff for their views: what aspects of internal communications do we do well and what do you like about it? What is missing or not done so well? What kinds of information do you need to do your job? What are the obstacles? What is the single thing that you would change? What do you do to get the information you need? Page 2

The responses helped us to shape an internal communications framework. The framework has been developed over time and includes: A clear communications intent - facilitating the exchange of information so that Libraries staff feel more informed and valued, can carry out their roles more effectively and have a greater sense of belonging and common purpose ; Objectives and principles A practical toolkit to assist those who need to communicate, including guidance on selecting the best channel, whom to communicate with, and when As a result our communications approach is now many faceted and planned. It is based on two monthly newsletters, one called All Yours which covers library direction, activities and achievements, including personal achievement, the other called Traction which provides updates on all projects. Never more than two pages and designed to drive content and readers to the Libraries team site, which is part of the wider council intranet. However this written material only works in the context of a number of wider principles which are the real basis of our communications approach. Our communications approach 1. Communication starts with me We have established the principle that communication is everyone s responsibility, and that to be effective it has to happen upwards, downwards and sideways. Managers from across the business have work-shopped communication maps that reinforce this approach for everybody to put into practice. It starts with me is the first principle of council s customer strategy, Every Interaction Counts - it applies as much to internal customers and internal communication as it does to external customer service. 2. Communication needs clear leadership Having said that communication is everyone s responsibility, we also realised that there does need to be one person taking a leadership view of all internal communications to guide its planning and track its effectiveness. The council's shared service model means that Auckland Libraries does not have staff dedicated to internal communications. We therefore decided to appoint one of the lead team managers to hold a portfolio that champions the development of thinking, channels and tools to get us there. Assigning this responsibility has been a critical step in moving ahead. 3. Conversations matter We learned quickly that internal communications and engagement would never be successful without a commitment to conversations and hearing each other, even though this can take more planning. Therefore all managers and team leaders are encouraged to create opportunities informally and at team meetings to talk about current issues and changes. We often reinforce the dialogue approach by asking team leaders to pass on feedback from their teams - feedback gathered in this way has informed our employee engagement action plan and business planning. We hold region-wide meetings of people leaders throughout the year and the feedback we receive is always instructive. For example, feedback quickly made it plain that a leadership forum that defaults to talking head presentations does not meet the needs of the wider Page 3

group, and consequently we make a conscious effort to include workshop and interactive elements at every meeting. The region-wide meetings of managers and team leaders are certainly about the business, but each one incorporates time for networking and conversation over refreshments. The emphasis on the power of conversation has helped to build a culture that values in-person contact and dialogue. Recently the lead team has created a record of which manager visits which of the 60 team sites as a way of ensuring that over time no one team feels overlooked. The department manager maintains a schedule of visiting all parts of the network in rotation, and she and her direct reports make it a priority to take part in the Welcome to Auckland Libraries day, region-wide meetings of people leaders and the quarterly awards events, to enable conversations and the visibility of leaders. 4. Good communication creates opportunities and is intentional We have established a number of events and activities that have a deliberate communications and culture building focus. People who come to us as new employees join Auckland Libraries without the baggage of legacy ways of thinking - we aim to encourage newcomers to remind us all that we are looking ahead, not back. Six times a year we hold a Welcome to Auckland Libraries day for new staff. This full-day programme takes place in our special learning space, the Whare Wānanga. The day opens with a mihi whakatau in which new people are welcomed as manuhiri and become tangata whenua, includes a talk by the department manager, morning tea and conversation with the lead team, and incorporates sessions on values and building common purpose, and making every interaction count for the customer and for each other. Unlike most induction or orientation days, the day concentrates not on imparting information but on making each new staff member feel they belong to a team in which they are valued and their ideas will be respected. Evaluations are conducted each time, and the success scores are very high - 93% of the participants in the last business year would recommend the day to colleagues. We also run bus tours to show new staff a selection of libraries in the region and build networks: last year 99% of participants said they would recommend the tour. In 2011 we held a Christmas event open to all staff and an end of business year event this July for people leaders. These have been opportunities for the lead team to display hospitality, for celebrating our progress as one library system and for delivering key messages kanohi ki te kanohi. Fun and food have been essential components of each occasion. When we celebrated the end of the financial year, business units presented creatively and humorously on the achievements of the previous twelve months. Assorted props, music and gags helped to celebrate the passion library staff bring to their work and the successes we achieve by working together. Each quarter a staff awards event recognises staff who have been nominated by colleagues for demonstrating the organisation's values in action. Award winners are featured on the intranet and receive certificates at a lunchtime event held in a different part of Auckland each time. Much of the success of these awards lies in the peer selection and in bringing together the winners, their managers and nominators to hear the citations read and to enjoy colleagues' company over lunch. We ve made small innovations each time to refresh the concept - last time, for instance, we included a virtual pat on the back award that went up on the intranet site following the awards event to acknowledge the input of various staff members and teams to a service delivered by a large number of staff in several teams. Unexpected recognition delights the recipients and does not need a lot of budget. Moving the event around different Page 4

locations changes the host-guest dynamic and helps staff to visit a library they may not have been to previously. 5. Communication can change mindsets The fact that our people leaders are so often located at a distance from their team members means that we have needed to develop new ways of working - a team leader who travels across Auckland for a meeting might afterwards hot desk at that location for the rest of the day and not return to his or her base. Phone calls and emails are often a substitute for face-toface contact, so what form should they take? What are reasonable timeframes for following up on issues that might require an in-person conversation? Such questions led us to offer virtual (remote) team management training to some of our leaders. They thought about the need to change traditional desk-bound, site-specific behaviours and learned a number of practical techniques to use in working with teams based in a number of locations. This included becoming more considered in the use of email and making better use of subject line protocols ('Action Required,' 'No Reply Necessary'). When it comes to creating new mindsets, not every learning opportunity needs extra dollars behind it. Intentionally facilitating dialogue goes a long way. For example, one of our libraries runs a programme where staff take turns to present on a particular information resource. This is a stretch for some people not used to presenting, and so staff buddy up to grow confidence and skill. Giving a staff award to the team that uses this technique became an opportunity to tell others about it and encourage other teams to do the same. Auckland Libraries is part of Auckland Council's Operations division. Operations has embarked on an internal culture initiative called Every Interaction Counts (Understand the [external or internal] customer, Act in the customer's interest, Deliver an outstanding customer experience). Every Interaction Counts uses story telling as a way to build understanding and achieve positive change. Sharing stories of customer experiences and outcomes, both positive and negative, across our library network and across council has been a powerful way of establishing dialogue. 6. Communication builds engagement Auckland Libraries has developed an employee engagement plan to help raise engagement scores. The plan, recently refreshed for 2012-2013, draws on wide staff input and is structured around building a sense of belonging, celebrating success, demonstrating leadership, incorporating fun into everything we do and making every interaction count. Good internal communication is key. The plan drives a host of activities including morning tea chats with leaders, promoting tikanga, valuing the diversity of our staff and a staff wellness programme to promote work-life balance and thinking about personal health and well-being. 7. Communication reinforces our values and direction Our communications approach deliberately highlights and builds understanding of council s values and wider business direction to provide context for working together. Prior to the commencement of the new council, staff of the previous library systems took part in an exercise to identify behaviours we would keep, stop or start in the new organisation. It happened that the results of that exercise closely reflected the values of the new Auckland Council: Service, Accountability, Teamwork, Respect, Innovation and Pride. To help staff see the linkage, we created brief descriptions to show how each value applies in a library context. We checked back with staff to see whether this was helpful; the straightforward explanation of the values in action was very positively received. Page 5

Now the values remain part of our annual one page business plan, and we reference them in our awards. Every news item in our newsletters references graphically the relevant value or business focus area to reinforce this connection. 8. Multiple audiences need multiple channels Our staff research reinforced the obvious that different people prefer different communication methods for different purposes, therefore variety and multiple options are important. Communication channels we now identify include team and cross-team meetings; regular gatherings of people leaders across the region; business planning activities; monthly business reporting; staff awards events; emails; written memos; news delivered via the intranet site; project communications; conversations face to face and by phone; the social networking software Yammer; file sharing via the intranet and shared directories; and a wide range of project related meetings and interviews. (We still await the opportunity of Skype or extended video-conferencing.) Thinking about audience also helped us to clarify the purpose and tone of our staff newsletters and project communications. We revamped the department manager s staff newsletter so that each month it shows progress on our business objectives and features successes. A separate monthly newsletter to update staff on key projects encourages them to read more about projects on the intranet - this was a direct response to feedback that people found it hard to know what was going on and how they could get involved in positive change. Each newsletter carries an invitation for people to find out more, contribute ideas or ask questions. The newsletters are delivered via an email which takes people to the intranet site, but there is an easily printable version for staffroom notice boards and to give to those staff who have less access to work email. We have created opportunities to raise staff awareness of various communications channels, such as council s internal social media tool Yammer. Libraries recently ran a Friday haiku challenge for staff, not only to see how 17 syllables could include mention of their site, but to encourage more librarians to opt into Yammer. Staff use Yammer to tell colleagues about library activities, share links to innovative developments featured in professional literature and on the web, report on conferences and so on. Yammer is an ideal space for creating online communities of practice and for getting words, images and multi-media to colleagues in a fast and engaging way. The software supports quick endorsements (LIKE), conversation threads and re-posting, polls and the assigning of praise (in the form of a trophy image). The outcomes We are making progress. In 2011, 60.1% of library staff felt informed about the organisation and its values and 64.2 felt a sense of belonging to this organisation. In the 2012 survey these figures rose to 65.7% and 66.2% respectively - a very significant increase in terms of the measurement tool. We still have a lot to do and lots of room for improvement. Within the communications framework, the toolkit was soft launched via the department's intranet site and is in use. However, we need more conversations for the tools to be more widely used and improved through collaboration. Our vision is for an internal crowd-sourcing scenario in which staff are constantly adding to and refining the communications toolkit. Page 6

We still don't get communications right every time, and probably never will. There is of course still too much email and not enough information reaches everyone who needs to know something every time. Some of the initiatives we have implemented take time to bed in, and we still grapple with the question of how to resource communications effectively and sustainably. What have we learned? We have learned the critical importance of internal communication in building engagement and a sense of belonging, and in being an effective organisation. We have come to understand that communicating well has to be worked at, and has to be planned and intentional. It requires commitment, effort and the willingness to ask for feedback and make changes in response. Effective internal communication is not rocket science and beyond our reach. A communications framework needs to be a framework for communicating more than it is about the perfect piece of communication. The job of communicating better does not end. It is simply something we need to work at every day. Page 7