Friday, January 16th, 2009
We often think that public relations and perception are for the outside world–but we all need a good does of internal PR.
Does your company have a core message, mission and culture? Are you communicating adequately to your employees? It’s time to go above creating a mission statement on the whiteboard.
Here are some things we’ve done at TodaysMama to keep our company communicating and on the same page:
- Quarterly Business Plans and Reviews: Many people save this for once a year; we do it every quarter. This is a great opportunity to review goals, track progress, make sure we are on the same page, get new ideas and show appreciation.
- Company Culture/Company Ethics Document: Because we are a virtual office and we all come from different workplace experiences it was important for us to outline our ethical expectations as well as the goals for creating the culture of our company. Because we are a virtual office it can be hard to have a company culture. But we’ve gone so far as to outline the things that are important to us so that we all know what to expect from each other. For instance–in our company culture document (which is more lighthearted) I spelled out the fact that we are not a CMA business (Cover My A**) and I don’t want us to operate as such. Everyone should feel comfortable raising their hand in a meeting and admitting to a mistake and focusing on a solution. Everyone needs to know what their expectations for interactions are and it helps to actually let them know!
- Annual Message: I also like to kick off the year with an uplifting message to our staff and partners outlining the progress of the previous year and goals for the next. I think it helps set the tone for a new year with a clear message and road map.
- Weekly Time Sheets: What? I’m a Gen Y entrepreneur! Isn’t that micromanagement? No. Because we’re a virtual office it helps me see what everyone is doing on a weekly basis whether she’s full time or hourly. I also leave a blank space at the bottom of the time sheet for people to summarize any outstanding questions they might have for me or needs they have in their position. It’s a great opportunity to keep the communication lines open.
These are just a few of the strategies we’ve implemented to keep communication and messaging clear within our company. What are you doing? How do you keep everyone on the same page? How do your reinforce your internal messaging? Please share.
