The Melcrum Blog

The portable plinth: the answer to invisible execs

2009-07-06T13:09:52+01:00

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Just over three hours ago sculptor Anthony Gormley’s One and Other “human statue” project got underway in London’s Trafalgar Square.

The premise of the live art experiment is simple. The fourth plinth, built in 1841 was originally intended for an equestrian statue but has lain empty over the years with only a collection of sporadic exhibits adorning the northern most corner of the square.

Gormley’s project, however has given the public their opportunity to populate the plinth, quite literally, and, in London mayor Boris Johnson’s words, to “democratise art”. Every hour, on the hour, a different person will stand high on the large stone slab and demonstrate their ‘art’. Rachel Wardell, 35, was the first "living statue" to take part at 9am this morning.

Wardell was followed at 10am by Jason Clark, a 41-year-old nurse from Brighton. Other people to take to the stage include Heather Pringle who will be celebrating her 20th birthday on the plinth, while the oldest among July's 615 participants is pensioner Gwynneth Pedler, 83, from Oxford, who plans to signal with semaphore flags. Luckily the river Thames is no longer used by large cargo carrying vessels so Gwynneth can safely wave in peace at the crowd of three watching, rather than directing a cruise liner into the London Eye.

But this got me thinking about how this could work in the corporate world. My first instinct was that the plinth would be the ideal platform for a modern day version of the stocks where disgraced or perhaps invisible executives would be individually winched onto the plinth and paraded in front of a jeering, salivating, recession-riddled public. Free packs of sharpened darts would be handed out 25 feet from a trembling, pinstriped pariah (to give him a fighting chance) and a dance of the darts would then ensue. His only protection would be a moth eaten annual report, while the only escape route would be to leap off the plinth onto the solid concrete below, risking severe injury and potentially crawling away into the distance only to be hit by an on coming red double decker London bus.

The other, far less gladiatorial option, would be for internal communicators to use this idea at company meetings or workshops where a portable replica plinth would be transported around the country for various internal events. This would then be used by executives to stand on for a minimum of an hour, giving passing employees the opportunity to ask their superiors questions. No darts or sharp objects allowed. There would naturally be no hiding place or thankfully no buses. The plinth would be too high to jump from, there would be no ladders to help you clamber down, the only thing you can do is to face the music and be give an honest answer. Don’t get me wrong. This would not a form of punishment or some kind of corporate copycat David Blaine type stunt, it would merely act as an open air forum where you would give an influential company figure the opportunity to literally stand up and be counted. It would take a brave man or woman to do it but, as with Gormley’s One and Other project, it would instantly democratise your business and give employees and employers the chance to get to know each other better.

If you are listening Mr Gormley, once the project is over, please give me a call so we can patent the idea. Give it six months and trust me, there will be plinths in company car parks across Britain. No darts I promise.

Bold execs need IC experts to help companies recover

2009-06-30T11:40:45+01:00

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Company executives who seize the initiative over the next two years as Britain emerges from recession can dominate the business landscape for a decade, according to research by accounting firm Deloitte.

The firm says those who keep their heads down and wait for a recovery will lose out, while those who are prepared to take bold decisions can put themselves in a winning position.

It cites Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, and Sir Martin Sorrell, head of advertising, marketing and PR giant WPP, whose “strength of conviction” in the 1990s recession put their businesses in positions of great strength.

Deloitte suggest that to be successful companies should instill a process that begins with strengthening the balance sheet in order to have the capacity to take opportunities, rather than a reckless sprint to get to the finish line. According to the firm this involves optimising performance, not just on costs, but also on having the right size and shape of business to survive. It also means building confidence among shareholders so the support is there once the time comes to build new markets and make acquisitions.

I hate to say it but there’s one thing missing here - who is going to do drive and engage the employees in order to optimise performance? Who is going to enable the CEO and his executive team to have the right internal structure and shape for the business to survive and push on? And who is going to build confidence among shareholders and stakeholders by heading up, pushing through and achieving internal business goals?

If all this is to be achieved then Deloitte has missed a key human element to corporate recovery. Sadly I can only offer two words of advice, but luckily they are the right combination to enable bold leaders to seize the initiative and take UK plc out of the gloom and back into the boom. The first word begins with ‘i’, the second with ‘c’. Guessed it yet?

Internal communications.

I’ll leave the rest to the thousands of expert practitioners and consultants out there working hard with their leaders and companies everyday to take the necessary bold and brave decisions that will eventually lead us out of the red and back into the black. You may have been forgotten by some but not by us.

Best viral campaign in the world?

2009-06-24T05:21:36+01:00

With a viral campaign that spawned around 200,000 blogs, more than 40,000 news stories and more than $200 million worth of global publicity, Tourism Queensland was responsible for one of the most successful and talked-about media/viral campaigns in recent history - The Best Job In The World. And they’ve got the awards to prove it – they scored two Grand Prixs at this weeks Cannes Lions Festival – the ad world’s equivalent of the Oscars.

Last week, whilst chairing the Strategic Communication Research Forum groups quarterly meeting (Shangri-La, Sydney) I got a behind-the-scenes look into the campaign’s highs and lows.

Danielle Koopman, General Manager Corporate and Government Relations shared some key findings from this campaign including:
* Expect controversy. As you’re always one step removed – it’s really out of your hands and with social media (especially blogs), the campaign will always have a mind of it’s own
* Always be prepared to be honest and admit your mistakes. Faced with some unusual applications (spoof Osama bin Laden entrant) and a web/communication malfunction which saw the winner’s name uploaded onto the web before the official announcement – Tourism QLD didn’t try to make excuses but honestly fessed up to their blunders
* Double-check your resources. Due to overwhelming applications their website shut down and wouldn’t accept any more (it had reached the unknown cut-off quota of 30,000) causing a mild panic for the team.

Another example of a great recent viral campaign was the Deloitte Film Festival, check it out if you’re yet to view.

Thanks again to all our members for your input into this meeting, there were some really great benchmarking discussions and case studies around viral comms. See you all in September when we tackle senior leadership with our special guest expert – Bill Quirke!

Katrina

P.S. Don’t forget Danielle Koopman is keynoting day two of our upcoming Strategic Communication Management Summit, Sydney. A great opportunity to hear this story, plus 14 others! See you all there.

The Job Search Juice - communicators in Washington DC ask the hard questions

2009-06-18T16:20:13+01:00

"In today’s job market, is it OK to accept a role with a lower salary and less prestigious title? Are you hurting your career by doing so?"

That was the question posed to a panel of recruiters and employers at a recent Washington DC gathering of corporate communicators, organized by the Capital Communicators Group. Here’s a summary of what the experts had to say:

It’s fine as long as there are compensatory benefits – you’re learning a new skill, traveling less/more, greater opportunities for advancement.

That said, if there is a significant discrepancy between your previous pay and the new job, you should make a point to explain to the employer why you are willing to accept it. Otherwise, the hiring manager may be suspicious that you’re considering the role as a brief stepping stone on the path to something else.

Finally, be realistic about what it takes to maintain your financial well-being and your dignity. If you stray too far, you will likely regret it.

Resumes were another hot topic. Remember that writing class you took ages ago – the one that said good writing is about showing, not telling. Well, the same principle applies to your resume. Just because employers are looking for creativity, flexibility and strategic thinking doesn’t mean you can say “creative, flexible, strategic communicator” and call it a day. Instead, articulate the outcomes of your work so that those qualities are reflected. Likewise, quantify wherever possible. Give hard numbers to back up statements like “improved” or “transformed.”

And just to make things more complicated, a word about the word strategy. One of the panelists made a great point about the competing and slightly contradictory attitude held by employers regarding strategic planning. On one hand, organizations are hungry for a candidate who “gets” strategy. On the other hand, employers can mistakenly think that if you’ve been heavily involved in strategic planning then you must have been removed from the day-to-day reality. Your head has been in the clouds.

There was a lot of nodding agreement in the room. But I would caution us as communicators to not lose ourselves in “doing.” Yes, organizations are leaner than ever. Yes, the demand for immediate results is high. But we must continue to show our leaders, colleagues and teams that communication effort without rigorous thought is a road that leads nowhere.

Melcrum is continuing its commitment to help you navigate both the tactical and strategic terrain as smoothly possible. So we're thrilled to announce we have new Black Belt dates for North America. In October 20-22, we'll be in Toronto and on November 2-4, we're in Washington DC. Find out more by visiting http://www.melcrum.com/products/training_courses/bb-international/index.html

The Melcrum Blog

The portable plinth: the answer to invisible execs

Bold execs need IC experts to help companies recover

Top video interview tips from Melcrum's Social Media workshop

Best viral campaign in the world?

The Job Search Juice - communicators in Washington DC ask the hard questions