The EuroComm Blog 2008

by Ulrike Bleistein

When they think of IT most people think of computer geeks who sit around in dark rooms, isolated from the rest of the world passionately investigating the inner landscape of computers. Of course, this is not the case. Today, Informatics in a pharmaceutical company is about the clever application of technology to business. Relationships with customers and understanding their needs are key. Communications has moved up the ranks and is today considered a critical capability for this new generation of IT professionals. However, coming from a technology environment, communications does not always come easily to them. As a former scientist with a strong interest in technology, I can bridge the gap. That’s where my job starts.

On joining Roche Pharma Informatics, I did an analysis to find out where communications are most needed to support the business effectively, where the biggest issues are, and I then decided on a step-wise approach as resources were limited.

As a first step, I wanted to get employee communications right as employees are the most important ambassadors of an organisation. Informatics had just started to globalize, coming from an environment where every site had its own IT department. There was an urgent need to create a common understanding of the Informatics strategy, goals, performance and issues. We introduced global web cast meetings, which at the time was a technological challenge for us and we had some hiccups at the beginning. Now they work really well and give us the feeling of being a single global community. Over time, more and more locations have joined the web cast and now we connect about 15 different sites at these meetings. We regularly invite speakers from other Pharma functions to help Informatics people better understand the pharmaceutical business.

The year after, I added activities aimed at the external world – articles in the trade media and speaking engagements at conferences, because we needed to attract additional talent. For a scientist, Roche is an obvious choice, but an IT professional will first think of big IT players as possible employers. Roche has exciting jobs for IT professionals, but this was not generally known or publicised.

At the same time we professionalized customer communications, rolling out communication packages on new Informatics services globally. This was highly appreciated by our colleagues around the world as it significantly reduced the resources needed for communications and helped us to speak with one voice to our end users.

At the moment our focus is on supporting middle management in communications. In many organisations middle managers struggle to explain the big picture to their employees. However, research tells us that understanding the business enhances employee performance. Lack of time, as the operational business is very demanding, as well as the need for training are some of the obvious reasons why it doesn’t happen. That’s where we are now in our journey.

Our survey data tells us that we’re a high-performance environment in terms of communicating with employees and the customer feedback on information about services is also very positive.

Ulrike Bleistein (Switzerland) is Head of Pharma Informatics Communications at Hoffman-La Roche. She established the
communications strategy for the Informatics department at Roche Pharma. Prior to this, she worked for Novartis Pharma, the World Exposition in Hanover, Germany, the Swiss Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape and as a journalist and communications consultant. Ulrike has a PhD in molecular neurobiology from the Swiss Institute of Technology and a degree in journalism.

Photo: thanks to Ulrike Bleistein

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Ulrike will be speaking at the EuroComm Conference. Details of her session are below.

Roche Pharma Global Informatics: The Power of Communications on the Road to Globalisation

This session will explore how the lobalisation of the Informatics department at Roche Pharma Global over the past five years required significant changes in leadership ehaviour, organisational design, as well as strategy. Targeted activities in the areas of employee, customer and change communications contributed significantly to the successful globalisation process, resulting in an organisation that is much more flexible and efficient than in the past.

Implemented changes included:

• Town Hall Meetings webcast globally with a common look and feel to create a sense of community,
• A CIO Award programme to recognise new leadership behaviour
• A project communications tool kit that supports managers in change activities
• Creative services communications to help increase usage of existing Informatics services
• A framework of measurement tools to proof communication effectiveness.

by Silvia Cambie

I wrote a while ago in my blog about my attempts to explain the virtues of communication to a US immigration officer. Our profession tends to be misunderstood.

But it’s not always that bad.

Actually, to quote Austin Powers (I know it’s childish, but I love him…), these are very groovy times to be in communications.

Top management is finally waking up to the idea that corporate communication is important. They know that what they need from us is strategic advice, not colourful brochures… And the reasons why they are waking up are

* Intangible assets (customer loyalty, brand equity, reputation, etc.) are becoming more and more important. They are difficult to imitate by competitors and investors look at them before deciding whether or not to put money into a company. Communicators are the masterminds behind reputation and brand recognition.

* Publics are becoming increasingly difficult to convince. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer , 44% of the people interviewed in nine EU countries trust conversations with friends and peers while only 33% (!) trust articles in newspapers.

* Gen Y. Seventy-five million young people born between 1977 and 1998 are slowly appearing on the corporate radar screen. They might be working as interns at the moment, but they are definitely the board faces of 2020. They have grown up on participatory sites like YouTube and MySpace. They are not as loyal to a company as their parents used to be. They will not accept sanitized corporate speak. In order to recruit and retain them, corporations will need top-notch internal communications

* New channels of global communications are being opened up by social media tools, bringing different cultures across the world together instantaneously. Culture is no longer about the culture of nations, it is created by networks of people coming together in new groupings and tribes. In this new environment, it is essential to pay attention to communication.

At EuroComm 2008 we will be discussing these topics and more.

I look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!

Silvia Cambié is the Chair of EuroComm 2008 and the director of Chanda Communications, a London-based consultancy specialised in reputation management and social media. She also serves as director on IABC’s International Executive Board.

Photo: thanks to Silvia Cambie

by Alan Lane

Ten years ago Britain mourned the death of Princess Diana, with an unprecedented emotional outburst. The events of the week that followed led many to ask: are those holding the reins of power really in touch with the public taste? Alan Lane looks at how her untimely death in Paris on 31 August 1997 left a legacy of debate for those advising on communication.

The news filtered through in the early hours of a quiet Sunday morning. Diana, Queen of Hearts, the People’s Princess, was dead.

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a brutal Paris car crash, left a mixture of emotions. More than that, it left a debate in many circles on the complexities of modern life.

To some, the passing of the mother of the heir to the British throne opened deep cracks in the relationship between those in power and the people. To others, it was a death too soon at the age of 36; a caring, emotionally mixed-up shooting star who lived life on the edge, had been finally hounded to her grave by a posse of media monsters and a perceived indifferent Establishment.

Arguably the most famous, most photographed woman in the world represented a parable of our modern times. Her death opened up a whole new chapter on the term ‘relations with the public.’

An extraordinary week began to unfold. Close to two million people attended her funeral, which was watched on television by millions around the world.

Diana’s passing had for some a Shakespearean tragic element. The friend of kings, queens, millionaire playboys, of victims of landmines and AIDS had been snuffed out – ‘like a candle in the wind,’ as pop star Elton John had sung to an obviously moved funeral congregation.

Diana’s ability to touch public feeling across the world could not be denied. As one wry columnist and TV presenter said in a tribute: ‘she wasn’t just beautiful, it was like the sun coming up.’

Perhaps that was the real issue; her ability to be in touch with modern public taste.

Extraordinary response

Ten years on, it is worth asking what really was behind this extraordinary response to the death of a princess.

For sure, it signalled irreversible change in public opinion on what would be tolerated.

Thousands of mourners gathered around the Queen’s London residence Buckingham Palace cast the first stone of public dissent. They became restive, wanting a more public showing of mourning from the House of Windsor. The media responded, generating live street interviews and headlines reflecting this public discontent.

This whipped up pressure on the Royal Family, withdrawn from the public eye in mourning with Diana’s sons, William and Harry, at their Balmoral estate in Scotland. Being hundreds of miles from where Diana’s body lay in London, they were seen, perhaps unfairly, to be ‘out of touch’ with events.

One media columnist spoke of a ‘geological pressure exerted on the Royal Family by the media in the name of the people.’

What became clear was that a major shift had taken place in the public’s view on the role and authority of the monarch. An opinion poll showed only one Briton in eight wanted the monarch to carry on as at present. Eight out of ten thought the Royal Family had lost touch with the people. It was easy to suggest revolution could be in the air.

Many believed that without doubt, those advising the Royal Family had clearly failed.

Damage limitation

We can assess in hindsight how the Royal Family moved quickly towards damage limitation, advised in part by newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair – himself a natural communicator.

Prince Charles talked of greater accessibility to the monarchy and wide-ranging reforms to regain public support lost. Opinion research bravely commissioned by the House of Windsor after the funeral was used to test public feelings. Its findings were perhaps not surprising, reporting that the royals were seen as ‘remote, out of touch, wasteful, not genuine, lacking in understanding, poor value for money and badly advised.’

The Queen and Royal Family came south to London early, went on walkabout amid the flowers, and extended the funeral route so more people could take part. In a hastily arranged live broadcast, the Queen addressed the nation.

What had become clear is that a tragic death in a Paris underpass had in many ways, forced the hand of those in power.

Lessons in communication practice

Looking back, some would say public response to Diana’s death was a fleeting reaction which has not stood the test of time; that her grip on the national consciousness is a fading memory.

Yet her death has left many lessons for those advising on communication practice – including a Royal Family which no longer appears to look decades behind the times.

The world has changed. Public dissatisfaction with the Royal Family predates Diana’s death, but it was magnified by her passing in a way totally unforeseen. People of all colours, creeds and walks of life showed their ‘personal agenda’ can become the ‘public agenda’ if the support is there. Diana stood for a world challenging a power system seen as antiquated and outdated, a system run, as she put it, ‘by men in grey suits.’ Honesty and openness is now confronting evasion and secrecy; people want more control over their lives and what affects them.

Misreading the public mood. The outpouring of emotion following Diana’s death mirrored a world of people unafraid to show how they feel. The British usually avoid public displays of emotion. This time, they threw the rule book away. Some 70 per cent of the public who signed the books of remembrance set out by the Royal Family were women. A subtle feminising of public response suggests old standards of behaviour are no longer acceptable or at least have to change. As one public affairs commentator pointed out: ‘They (the Royal Family) have to understand that the duty, protocol and heritage thing is dead. The stiff upper lip went out of the window years ago.’

People want a figurehead. In a confusing, constantly-changing world, people look for role-models or assurances that their concerns are understood. Diana was a potent communicator who had enormous effect – whether attacking the Royal Family on television, or helping the poor and the sick. She was in touch with the changing public mood. Dazzling but flawed and vulnerable, she appeared to understand and more important, represent the problems of ordinary people. Said one columnist: ‘Princess Diana was so unbelievably popular because she had a perfect understanding of these things.’ Another said: ‘People want leaders to look up to and respect at a time of crisis and they don’t have at the moment.’

Figureheads need to go public. Those in positions of power can no longer retreat into their world and withdraw from accountability. People want to see them reacting and responding to public concern. One columnist suggested that the Royal Family ‘have to view themselves as any other sort of brand which interfaces with the public.’ Another said: ‘The palace initially misinterpreted the public mood. They didn’t see that protocol must be overruled by common sense and have been forced to perform a very public U-turn.’

A revolution in attitudes to authority. The public view of governments, corporations and even the monarchy has changed in many cultures. Long established respect and deference is being questioned. It now has to be earned by clearly demonstrated behaviour and effective communication. Exxon found that out when the Valdez tanker went aground in Alaska causing a major oil spill, while public unrest over Pan American’s handling of the Lockerbie air disaster was partly responsible for the airline’s demise.

What you say (or don’t say) is all important. By assessing the public mood and planning its communication much earlier, The House of Windsor could have offset much of the criticism it faced.

Don’t ignore the messages. The media is not always a true barometer of the public mood. Sometimes it mischievously and irresponsibly tries to create it. But its power to reflect what is being thought or said should never be underestimated.

We live in a visual age. Television has become the global messenger. People want to see their fantasy or reality. Diana provided the best of both – her life became public property; a TV soap with all the drama that was watched around the world. Television is a world of intrusion, where no human emotion or situation is so private or precious that it should not go on public display for the rest of us. It therefore needs to be handled with care.

Turning point

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was a turning point as well as being, according to media tracking sources, the biggest news story in terms of coverage for more than 100 years.

It reflected people wanting change and demanding a response from those with influence. It ushered in wide-ranging reforms on the practices of the media, driven by public opinion. Perhaps more important, it held up the mirror up to reflect changes in public expectations and how society had moved on.

Time will tell whether this change has any lasting effect; whether public opinion has made a seismic shift or whether it was just part of a blip in a nation’s emotional consciousness; whether those in power will continue to heed any lessons learned.

Yet at the time, in communication terms and in so many words, people were saying to the House of Windsor: ‘welcome to the 21st century.’

Alan Lane is founder and chief executive of VASGAMA providing reputation management consulting to international corporations and government. Alan is a member of IABC.

© Copyright
Alan Lane
VASGAMA

Photo: thanks to Floyd Nello from flickr.com (CCL)

by Velin Velkov

Lately I have been thinking about how our profession will look like 5 to 10 years from now. If we look back within the same time horizon we will see how many things have changed. We now have so many new communications channels – wikis, blogs, podcasts and so on. They have profoundly influenced the way we communicate. Who can predict how communicators will work in 10 years? Your guess is as good as mine. One thing, however, will remain the same – communication is all about human beings.

From my experience working in the software business, I can testify to the power of the innovative technology to revolutionalize the way companies operate and communicate. This is important to us, because we professional communicators have to innovate too. The reason is that should we not do it, we will be hardly pressed to get our message across. Take employee communication for example. Unlike in the past, our employees have the opportunity to plug in to alternative communication channels, which may or may not support the official company line. For this reason we start blogs, wikis and all those social-media platforms. Again, the key word is social, meaning being interactive with other humans.

In my practice I often see communication for communication’s sake. Well, the results are far from sterling. If you get your strategic basics wrong, the coolest technology will not help your professional reputation. The challenge, therefore, is not to get carried away by the possibilities offered by innovation, but to harness this innovation in the achievement of your communication goals.

The role of professional bodies like the IABC is to drive forward innovative thinking in our profession. I see the upcoming EuroComm conference as one of the venues for this. One of the good things at these conferences is the possibility of getting together with like-minded professionals from throughout the region and even from other continents. As a volunteer leader of IABC this lets me stay in touch to the association’s members and reminds me of the importance of the human element in communication.

I hope to see you all in Barcelona.

Velin Velkov is the IABC Europe & Middle East Chairman and the Communications Manager in SAP Research, Heidelberg, Germany.