Cross-border challenge

written by Paul Wood, Head of Communications, Cable and Wireless International

Working across frontiers is a challenge faced by most internal communications professionals at some time. In my own role, which involves an employee audience of 8,000 people across 33 countries, I’m frequently working with teams in different time zones, whose first language is not English, and whose outlook may be very different from my own. All these factors can be barriers to building two-way engagement.

However, I believe there are key principles which have helped me establish good communications in my first few months, and which may help anyone else facing a similar challenge.

First, ensure you always stay clear and precise about your desired outcomes.

Ask yourself, what is the point of this communication? Are you looking to simply convey information, build employee engagement or create a sense of community across borders? Knowing what you want to achieve is what should determine how your message is delivered and who should receive it.

Second, make sure the right communication tools are in place. For example, when I joined this company, our intranet was still at a development stage. Each national business unit had its own intranet site, but there was no clear way of sharing information between them. Now we have created an intranet hub that everyone can access from their own business unit.

Third, you need to think about the language of your communications. Using clear, simple language, and cutting back on jargon, is always the best way of putting your message across. It’s especially important when you’re communicating in English with an international audience, for many of whom English is a second language.

Fourth, work to minimise the difficulties of working with geographically disparate teams.

For example, doing cross-border communication almost inevitably involves regular teleconferences.

My main tip here would be to ensure that, for any meeting you arrange, there is an agenda that all participants have seen. If you’re talking with colleagues from across the world, rather than across the desk, they’re much less likely to be aware of what you want to talk about unless you tell them.

Fifth, you need to ensure that you monitor the impact of your communications. Within C&W International, for example, we have introduced Gallup Q12, a survey which gauges levels of employee engagement within the organisation by asking each team member 12 simple questions, and using their answers to create a scorecard for the whole team.

Above all, enjoy what you do. I get a real buzz from the range and complexity of issues that cross my desk and a sense of achievement in working with my colleagues on creative comms solutions.