The Brief
Knowledge is rapidly becoming a key part of an organisation’s capital. This is especially true in a Research Laboratory, like Unilever’s, where a huge amount of information is now available. Here the challenge is to get the right knowledge to individuals on time. Equally important is the need to keep the many project teams abreast of the current business strategy, in a way that makes sense to each team.

The Solution
We were asked by the ‘Head of Lab’ to work closely with the Internal Communications Manager in developing a new communications strategy, that was both effective and robust. This was based upon two key principles:

* We couldn’t pick and choose, it required consistency and continuity. This is no game for fair-weather players. The managers had to be there with effective communications week in, week out, on good news days and bad news days if they wanted to be taken seriously.

* You have a greater impact on others by the way you listen than by the way you talk. An integral part of the internal communications programme was the emphasis upon ‘listening devices’ so that managers receive a stream of feedback – again, consistently.

The implementation was supported with training/coaching for the management team, a refreshing new method of cascading information and a choice of feedback channels.