We designed and delivered a one-day course on ‘planning for strategic communication’ in London last week.Set-up for the African and Middle East region of a major global Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) client, the majority of employees were flown in from Cairo. The session was intended to make their employees more strategic at planning their internal communication. After the success of the day, The Loop has been commissioned to develop the course for the European arm of the client.

The Loop were delighted to sponsor the “Excellence In Internal Communications” category at this year’s prestigious HPMA Awards on June 12th. Held at The Royal Garden Hotel, London, the North Mersey Health Informatics Service won the award for the development and delivery of an internal communications strategy. Kirstie Hills, Senior Consultant at The Loop and one of the judges on the day, thought the winner was an excellent example of innovative thinking, tackling a big issue head on and demonstrating an impressive range of activities. The senior management team at HIS (Health Informatics Service) recognised that delivering the new organisation’s vision and strategy would require a fully engaged and motivated workforce.

A project to develop and implement an effective internal communications strategy was needed to communicate clearly to staff the reasons for the change and the benefits of a shared service. It needed to instil a sense of identity and belonging to the HIS and ensure that all staff had the opportunity to be involved in the organisational development and be engaged in the pending restructure. This needed an effective communications network to counteract the problems of staff being based at multiple sites.

The project team has delivered:-

- Key communicator briefings (KCB) – produced every 4 weeks, focused on business and operational news, and cascaded down through the organisation through face-to-face briefing sessions

- Weekly Director’s updates – to highlight successes, the contribution of staff and the engagement of staff in strategic development

- The Big HISsue – a light-hearted quarterly staff newsletter to instil a sense of belonging to the HIS community.

Participation in staff surveys has increased and results show that the effectiveness and popularity of the various initiatives are improving. Last year the first annual HIS staff satisfaction survey enabled them to set targets for improving staff engagement and motivation, and to monitor performance. A recent customer survey showed that 90% of users were satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received from the HIS when they last contacted the service desk. This indicates that, despite the major organisational change, staff remain motivated and dedicated.

This year our client, a global engineering company, decided to conduct their president’s roadshow via Web-Ex and we were on hand to help. This web-based application allows users across the world to dial in simultaneously to listen to the event live, as well as view the PowerPoint presentation. The Loop provided consultancy for the messaging of this event, produced a roadshow video for their intranet and collected, collated and analysed the feedback. The event reached over 2000 employees from across the globe, and feedback was very positive. Overall it was a big success, and we are looking forward to 2009.