Welcome to the fishbowl! Life as government communicators involves a higher responsibility to transparency and honesty than working in the private sector. We work for the public. And the public, including the media, has the absolute right to scrutinize our work. It’s a right they exercise frequently. Recognizing that truth is sacred; that providing public
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Communication skills are critical to being an effective leader, but they are seldom the reason people are promoted to leadership positions. Even the most personable and engaging leaders can benefit from knowing more about how to strategically use communications to advance their ideas or align their people around a common goal and drive them to
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The research on employee engagement supports what most of us already know intuitively: employees are more engaged when employers value their contributions and communicate that value in specific, visible ways. Engagement matters because engaged employees are more productive workers. Companies with successful engagement strategies enjoy 33% higher profits and 51% lower turnover rates. If higher
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It’s not hard to understand why an increasing number of companies are choosing to do away with annual performance reviews: according to one study, over 94 percent of employees would prefer their manager address feedback in real time rather then wait until the end of the year. But annual performance reviews aren’t all bad. Formal ratings provide a
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Why transparency is important For the past 22 years Habanero has been on a quest to become more transparent with our employees. And for good reason—transparency is directly related to employee happiness. In fact, according to 7 Vital Trends Disrupting Today’s Workplace*, management transparency is the top factor when determining employee happiness. One tried and
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Written by Masters In Communications.org In our hyper-technological world, communication methods change at an incredibly rapid pace. First there was email, then message boards, then instant messaging, then MySpace and Friendster, and now Facebook, Instagram, chatbots, Netflix, and dozens of other communication methods. There are always new technologies, and new ways for people to interact
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In times of change or uncertainty, organizations need leadership more than ever. That means the quality and amount of communications need to increase. I used to work for a manager who said, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Times of change are a litmus test for leadership, which means sharing with employees what
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Every company, no matter the industry, deals with difficult problems and issues each day. Starbucks’ issue of racial profiling in one of their stores; Southwest’s emergency landing resulting in the death of a passenger; countless produce companies having issues with E. coli and Chili’s data breach, to name a few. No industry or organization is
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Why you have to consider the negative when making ad decisions How did an Australian clothing company wind up sending thousands of customers a marketing email that threatened to release compromising photos of them “everywhere”? While the idea is shocking, the way it most likely came to happen isn’t unusual. We see it often –
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Written by Andre Eggert | Granicus With video increasingly becoming the content of choice for consumers, it’s important to make sure that information is accessible to everyone. A great way to do that is providing closed captioning on all of your video. Need more convincing? Here’s just a few reasons to consider it. It helps
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