Black Belt Dojo (Australia)

Black Belt Brisbane is in full swing

2010-10-06T05:18:55+01:00

Sixteen of the best from road to rail and beyond, have gathered for 3 days of sharing and learning at our Black Belt program. It's day two and after surviving measures! the team have crafted great messages to match their audience and now just applying those effective channels..

Creative bunch with some great play doh models and very good audience segmentation with, Bazza, Wazza, Shazza or something like that!

We have already cracked open the Flake's (Chocolate that is). The Play Doh talent is certainly worthy of a mention.

New 2010 Black Belt dates

2010-08-03T02:15:33+01:00

Apologies everyone for sadly neglecting this blog. There are always many excuses for such things, and most of them are boring, so I won't bother going there. Instead, I'll get straight into announcing the exciting news for Black Belt for the remainder of 2010.

If you've missed out on a spot in our sold-out Melbourne and Sydney courses, there are now more chances for you to attend!

Black Belt will be coming to Brisbane for the first time from 5-7 October. That is your last chance to do a Black Belt program in Australia until our 2011 dates are announced, so give Melcrum a call soon to make sure you don't miss out.

After the success of Black Belt in Singapore back in May, we're holding another Asian program, this time in Hong Kong from 16-18 November.

The other big news for Black Belt is the launch of the first ever Black Belt Advanced program, which will be held in Sydney from 31 August to 2 September. The Advanced program is designed for anyone who is the lead internal communicator in the organisation, who has significant experience, perhaps leads a team, and is looking to take the next step in their career. Contact Melcrum for more information.

Adrian and I look forward to seeing you on a Black Belt program soon, or for our alumni, on our Linked In group.

Cheers,
Melissa

Social Media Policies

2009-09-21T00:17:59+01:00

Hi everyone,

I just saw a tweet this morning from Steve Rubel that I had to share. Steve found a link to a database full of real, live examples of social media policies - including Australia's Telstra! How exciting is that? Seeing as it is one of the most-often asked question at Black Belt, I just thought I would share.

Cheers,
Melissa

The creativity continues at Black Belt

2009-08-06T00:52:10+01:00

Only day one of the Melbourne Black Belt program and the Play Doh talent is showing.. Wow what an advanced group we have..hehehe

Oh and lot's of learning sharing and development happening as our group of telented Internal Communication managers head towards being our next Black Belt graduates.

Enjoy the program team

Exciting news - Black Belt crosses the Tasman!

2009-07-28T07:19:08+01:00

It's very exciting - we're taking Black Belt to Wellington, New Zealand! Both Adrian and I have had the good fortune to visit Wellington a couple of times and to have some lovely friends and colleagues in the Wellington Chapter of IABC.

In October we'll be visiting again - this time with Black Belt!

The three-day intensive program in Wellington is going to be hard work - but we guarantee lots of fun and learning along the way.

For all you Australian alumni, don't forget to pass this news on to your Kiwi colleagues.

More information about the course is available here.

2009 Black Belt in full swing

2009-04-08T00:46:24+01:00

Here we are again, Melcrum's Black Belt program is in full swing, new format, new team and as usual plenty of fun. We are now in to day two of module one.. So far we have explored 'The case for internal communication' and 'Connecting internal communication with the business strategy' and right now Melissa is working through 'What Channels' keeping everyone laughing with the Deloitte film festival video.

I am just knocking glasses off the table and disrupting the Melissa's flow...yeah right!

As always we capture a group photo of our new Black Belter's what a great looking group they are too.

Good luck team... Enjoy Black Belt 2009

Maintaining engagement through change

2009-04-01T05:14:25+01:00

At today’s Melcrum Change Communication Conference, we ran an interactive session asking all attendees to consider the challenges and solutions we face in keeping employees engaged through the change process.

We talked about the change curve, and the stages employees typically move through during organisational change. They are: shock, reaction, acceptance, action and commitment.

Small groups convened to discuss the challenges and solutions (ideas) for communicating through these stages in order to support employees and move them through the curve as quickly as possible.

The verbatim outputs from each group is available below. In summary, some of the key themes to come out of the discussion were:

Shock to reaction

Challenge: the complexity of messages, what information is available to be shared and when, and how to keep things as simple and clear as possible while employees are still absorbing the news

Solutions: having a plan, engaging early, being authentic and being honest and frank

Reaction to acceptance

Challenges: getting people to listen, getting consensus, leadership doing what you need them to do, acknowledging emotions

Solutions: providing avenues for listening and feedback, communicating quick wins, holding venting sessions (saying goodbye to the past), constant reinforcement of the why and WIIFM

Acceptance to action

Challenges: developing and maintaining a common understanding of the future state, bringing everyone along for the journey, demystifying and adding more detail/facts

Solutions: providing and articulating a clear roadmap, ensuring people have a role in the change, focus on the symbols, structures, systems and routines

Action to commitment

Challenges: keeping up momentum, moving from talk to action, continuing to see the possibilities, ensuring a long-term vision throughout the organisation, managing the danger of unrealistic expectations if things don’t happen as quickly as expected

Solutions: celebrate success, share stories, make it fun and energetic, focus on the long-term vision

We had a very enjoyable time facilitating the session and hope everyone has a great final day of conference!

Cheers,
Adrian and Melissa

Shock to Reaction

telling phase: why, how, overview of future
denial, blocking, anger

Challenges

timing everything
how much do we share?
managing managers authentically
pre-involving internal comms
takes time for news to sink in
don’t focus on squeaky wheels
manage message complexity
productivity decline may impact business
facts/transparency/timing
acknowledging human emotion
lack of trust in senior management
mixed messages – media vs internal
keeping ahead of media
collective resistance

Solutions

Timing:
o get a plan
o THINK
o get key stakeholders together
o pre-position as many core messages as possible
o it may change
Authenticity:
o believe what you’re selling
o facts and data build a strong ‘why’ story
o role-play for managers who have to deliver messages
IC Role:
o get in early!
o position ourselves as partners
Messaging:
o WIIFM
o bite-sized narrative
o honest and personal
o stand up to scrutiny
o ask for commitment
stay focused, acknowledge reaction
communicate the good with the bad for credibility
use plain English
clear plans and timelines
think outside square – channels
establish credible source of info/voice (peers/leadership/CEO)
define and engage key influential stakeholders (unions)
clear facts and WIIFM and context and expectations (or, what does it mean to me?)
people assigned to listen, two-way communications (collect feedback – intranet – focus groups)
provide support/counselling – acknowledging people’s feelings
media responses ready – employees first
internal and external comms aligned
some people may need to go – with respect

Reaction to Acceptance

Challenges

getting people to listen
getting people (managers) to be open to listening/feedback
rebuilding trust
honest/frank
senior management not listening (steamroller approach)
managing the rumour mill
convincing management to allow open and honest communication
getting regular information out in a timely manner – sustaining momentum
getting everyone on the same page – one size does not fit all
getting staff to participate
disinterest
lack of understanding of staff needs
dealing with unexpected reactions from staff – factors unforeseen
leadership
time/ budget/resource constraints

Solutions

celebrate positives
venting sessions (emo ball – everyone dresses in black!)
announce issues – employer ask for solutions
introduce quick wins to gain staff confidence
constantly reinforce vision and staff benefits and values
involve staff at all levels of organisation – clear feedback mechanisms
blog site for staff to ask questions
be honest and realistic
incentives to change behaviour
do your research – understand your audiences
plan ahead – comms strategy

Acceptance to Action

Challenges

challenge around role definition – change management vs change communication
is change dictated/imposed or do they own?
need to show/demonstrate action
period of confusion
risk of bounce-back – revert to previous behaviour
how do you get voices heard?
lead them towards exploring – provide management level with information
need to identify where people are – to tailor information
might leave people behind by moving into positive too quickly
managing those who are way ahead of the pack (e.g. leaders)
developing common understanding and maintaining consistent messages
managing the pace for everyone
need to give tangible evidence
getting practical – what do I need it to do?
shift from why to how
differing levels of support and required skills, common knowledge, applying them
managing expectations for everyone including boundary management, sober selling – not the silver bullet
availability of channels and appropriateness
protecting the ‘acceptors’ and continued support
trust – building and maintaining
maintaining acceptance

Solutions

communicate structure and steps – be clear provide certainty
provide room for staff to find their own actions
acknowledge emotions
provide a language for change
provide forum for questions/clarification
ongoing pulse survey to identify who and what
stay connected
tailored information
trust-promoting behaviours (say/do)
simple road map
make the first step easy and personal
demonstrate what has been done already – role modelling
ensure/encourage buy-in by action
form committees of influence/opinion leaders
change language – e.g. “no longer in transformation, we are now one business”
pulse polling – qualitative and quantitative
regular updates
take up permission to lead
reps from each group involved together in a team with a real outcome with clarity around their role
solution development component in the program to involve different groups
feedback process with actual conversation, face to face, live and active
tapping into existing forums, intranet
ongoing and management support backed up by actions
“model office” set up scenario and bring people in to experience how it works
changes to policy and procedures – core documents reflect the new state
clear scope statement and key messages that is constantly referred to
continue to bust myths and sell benefits
demonstrate with actual examples that should now be happening
issues management process
role definition and clarity, accountabilities
coaching in preparation for actions for sponsors
identify opinion leaders and champions and harnessing them
maintain active communications, momentum

Action to Commitment

Challenges

maintain momentum of change
continue to see possibilities
move from talk to action and ownership
alignment across organisation to maintain learnings
understanding long-term view throughout organisation, especially managers, that the process is about ongoing engagement
ensure action is focused on the right things in the right way
people may want to move back to the “old”
maintaining the compelling vision
lose momentum/enthusiasm
longer term benefit?
no choice – resentment and resistance
time and resource to act
unrealistic expectations – not delivering
change of staff
toxic employeee

Solutions

communicate small wins/success stories
use successful roles models in all areas of the organisation
maintain frequency and consistency of comms
encourage people to tell their own stories: on screen savers, newsletter, wikis, blogs, video
face to face meetings in teams and one on ones
celebrate wins
recognition (personal)
tangible evidence that the change is better than the old (e.g. gifts)
under promise – over deliver
make it fun/energetic – through involvement to create impact
one on one formal sessions
quiz to reinforce message (humour, interactive)
symbolic activity – shed old, put on the new
acknowledge past/old
permission to make mistakes (loosen reins)
be flexible, creative with comms of same messages
choice with the new
maintain focus of leadership team
top down team building
what’s in it for me!
clarity on benefits/opportunities
reward/recognition
leadership roadshows: progress, milestones, outcomes, results
feedback – surveys, focus groups
incentives/meaningful
celebrate success
long term vision – visual map
internal brand – project
clarity of roles
customer feedback: endorsement, vox pops, stories
doing good deeds
internal competition

Black Belt in 2009

2009-03-02T06:14:29+00:00

Hi all,

The dates for Black Belt in 2009 are now available. The four day Internal Communication course will be held:

7-8 April and 4-5 May, UNSW CBD Campus, Sydney
5-6 August and 19-20 August, MBS Carlton Campus, Melbourne

In response to feedback from participants, this year, the course is not residential. We hope this makes the course more affordable for some people who have been keen to attend but have been held back by budget restrictions.

There are also a number of Masterclasses being held during 2009.

The "Making Managers Better Communicators" Masterclasses were held in Feb (and you can view my blog for an overview on what happened there).

Writing and Editing will be held in May in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Communicating Change will be held in June/July in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

Check out Melcrum for all the details.

You can also see Adrian and I presenting at the Change Communication Conference in Melbourne in April. We'll be running a workshop and a session during the conference itself.

Hope to see you sometime this year and for all our Melcrum alumni, give us a shout to let us know how 2009 is unfolding for you!

Cheers, Melissa

Creative Communicators at Black Belt Sydney

2008-12-04T03:26:29+00:00

Well here we are in Sydney MGSM for the last of our 2008 Black Belt programs.. What a great group of Internal Communicators from Queensland, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand).. Don't mention the rugby!

A sunny and warm couple of days, just to make our English counterparts jealous of course. But the hidden talents that we talked about on day one, were nothing compared to the creative talents displayed by participants during Module 2.. Play Doh rocks!

Our lovely group enjoying the sun in Sydney.

Some creative Play Doh'ers

Congratulations to our latest Black Belt graduates! it was wonderful working with you.

To all our Black Belt Graduates during 2008. Have a happy and safe Christmas and look forward to blogging again!

Our latest graduates

2008-10-28T03:55:24+00:00

What a nice little group of new graduate 'Black Belter's' Melissa Dark and I are finishing up with one of our smallest groups and 4 new graduates of the Black Belt Internal Communications program. While Melissa is presenting on Social Media, I am sitting at the back of the room setting up Twitter for the first time and updating of course the Dojo.

Here are the lovely people from the program - Congratulations new Black Belter's and my hope is to have them all go on and do their accreditation to add yet another valuable string to their bow as professional communicators

Of course quite a topic of conversation was the current climate and what this means to communicators showing their value in organisations, as well as the challenges of managing change within organisations. More on that later anyway for now if you want to Twitter me i am at acropley. Yeah boring name!