The Democratized Internal Communications Platform - A Framework

Today, the corporate communication segment of an organization has a
wider role to play rather than mere PR & media handling, content management, collateral delivery or event management department. There are new frontiers to be discovered, fought and addressed as this segment re-orients itself
to the changes in market and digital space. 

Further, the internal communications function has gained a lot of momentum with

shifting times. From following traditional communication channels to a transparent multiple media enriched scenario, the internal communications platform has been gaining a lot of democracy with the coming of citizen journalists, employee bloggers and more.

The initiative to start up a current corporate communication segment thereby, requires strategizing of certain emerging trends and practices. And this is the way

it grows -

Re-orienting talent management and brand positioning

Re-thinking brand activation and talent pool along with internal communication platform has become the crux of the corporate agenda. The communication flowing within the cross-functional segments of an organization needs to be tapped into a think-tank corpus of best practices. The aim should be to collect opinions from subject matter expert, media analysts, consumers, influencers, buyers & sellers, financial experts and from our own employees. The idea being to refine the efficient knowledge coming in , defining it according to the specific requirement and then sharing it with the stakeholders. Build a strutured talent pool and reap the harvest. The recreation of the communication channels with the evolution of social media applications, online reputation management and digital tools has democratized the internal communications platforms. What we are facing right now is an autonomy corresponding between the employees and leadership. This brings an end to the tradional channels of employee PR and corporate communication where information was pushed and pulled to and fro.

The challenge is to build a collaborative workspace.The employee's perception about their workspace experience, their roles and responsibilities and overall standing in the organization structure matters significantly. An highly engaged workforce becomes the need of any organization with continous high yields, ROIs and productivity. The engagement of employees within their organzations in consistency with the internal communications platform is the mantra here. The emotions are at play here, that that is what does the trick. Sculpting the belongingness feature in the employees leads to re-thinking of the brand aspect. The satisfaction levels of the engaged employees then rolls out across the cross-functional channels towards the different stakeholders who inturn re-activate the brand of the company directly or indirectly. Thereby, the whole organization become the base of brand activation and this gives it an unique cultural identity.
           

Mapping employee engagement

Defining employee roles, engaging them at work and extending relationships beyond workspace is like embarking on a journey. The terrains you cover while mapping it helps you in developing an efficient employee engagement charter for practical application. The social ambience at workspace does influence the employer persona. Engaging employees in a 2-way conversation, creating shared workspaces enables developing a sense of ownership at workspace. A strategic visual approach to internal communication should be the focus here. Creating online employee connection centres using platforms like intranet, communicators, messaging tools helps tap on the creative side of the employees.  Placing engaging mechanisms with outlet options at workspace enables employees to express themselves and open up. This also pops up hidden talents and redundant profiles for taking further action. Organizations also set up innovations lab and idea generation systems and promote them by creating rewards and recognition programs. Defining the corporate culture simplifies the rigidity of relationships at work and helps in community building initiatives. Working out CSR programs to get aligned to the industry you are in, becomes imperative these days. Highlighting CSR initiatives intelligently as part of the online reputation management plan reaps unquestionable benefits. Further, employee engagement activities may also include voluteership by being part of the talent management team, mentorship or transfer programes, social service etc. Fun on the floor, weekend outings, food festivals, hobby ideas, employee oriented health campaigns are other prevalent engagement tactics. The challenge is to keep the spirit of the employees going making engagement as interactive and experimental as possible.

Employee communication methodology

The need of the hours is to monitor, analyze, influence and then focus on what is being said, what affects your brand, making the influencial interactions to eliminate negativities and then concentrate on the results for re-use. There is no end to the varied tactic tools to be put in use to materialize this MAIF methodology mentioned above. The social media innovates itself from time to time to offer a boutique of tools including platforms for employee conversations, community management house, interactive messaging boards and discussion forums, webinars, desktop alerts and newsfeeds, internal newsletter and blogger sections, online quiz and pop-up surveys, creativity lab, productivity tools like 'to do list', 'calender', 'organizer', 'notifications', 'Status updates' and more. The need is to make communication as accessable and transparent as possible and also plug-in monitoring agents to curb confidential disturbances.

Concluding, a corporate communication segment which gives autonomy and transparency to its work and that of the organization will accomplish its actual identity.

The Gomedakam

The corridors leading to my hostel cafeteria would not have been quite interesting except for two things. One,the caretaker who had an epitome of confidence that our conduct on that very ground is his right. Two, the intrinsic patterns forming on the floor as streaks of sunshine flows through the jali designed concrete windows. 

Just a week into this new settlement, the best expectations were glares, glances and
then A GLEAM, it was followed by a honey-burnt voice which said "hello"! It took me an entire second to acknowledge it and meanwhile, I was mesmerized! There was something so different about the face which widened its smile as I looked on. Exchanging hellos take fraction of seconds, however, this moment was prolonged. Dressed in an enthusiastic orange, she looked raring to live the day. We spent a few more seconds to know each others name and which route we take to work, before I uttered the word 'bye'! She gave me her sincere smile again and we turned around to except our path. 

I stepped out of my campus, got into an auto. Her face still lingered in my thoughts,
something about it I could'nt figure out! It was an unusually hectic day at work, and there was no room for any personal space of mind or so I thought. I suppose, we all have these demarcations set for our personal and professional lives. However, every now and then one gains hand over the other. And, it's normal to be so or so we think.

It was ticking to be ten when I got back to the hostel and one of our routine meetings was coming to an end. Spotting our synod head, I figured out that I had just missed
an important message. As, all the girls moved into there respective rooms, the 
musings and sobings were more clear.

It came as a jolt! It does wake you up and makes you accept its gratification by taking away the kn-own.

The same morning in one of the busy lanes of thousand lights area, she lay, gasping for breathe. We heard there were onlookers too, who left things to be the way they looked. It was too late for her wounds to heal, when they delivered her to the medics.

The days which followed were all the more horrondous, an accident being converted into a niche story by the un-ruling government of the state. Politicizing a death! These are times when you start questioning the value of life. A world of selfishness, ruthlessness and cruelness.

You, thou Agnes left the warmth of your smile with me forever. I heard from the girls your love for nature; your thoughtfulness makes our garden green to this day. I have been told that if a change of any kind is needed in life, just burn an orange candle for seven nights. You wore orange that day and left your family, friends and us burning for the rest of our lives.

I now understand what I could'nt figure out that day, it was the content for life
on your face. There was not a trace of unsatisfaction. A contrast to the times
we live in.

Agnes's father runs a diamond business in Tiruchi, TN. He lost his most precious gem then, and as a rememberance gave each of us girls a precious gem. What came to me is a Gomedakam, it gives a orange hue and a honey-burnt tinge.

I think it is a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.
- Vladimir Nabokov

On behalf of -
The Daisy Gopal Ratnam Working Women’s Hostel
CSI Synod,
Whites road, Royapettah,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Reference-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-07-16/chennai/27922394_1_lorry-road-worker-software-engineer

 

Moving from migration to trafficking - "The plight of domestic workers in India"

The tribal areas of eastern India has seen their youth migrating to the cities for a decade and more now. The search for jobs and livelihood opportunities lures young maidens to take a hard journey to a contrasting world.

Going by estimates available from the Domestic Workers Forum there are over 3,00,000 tribal girls in Delhi alone! These domestic working girls come mainly from the eastern tribal belts of Indian states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam. The push and pull factors do operate in the process of migration. While poverty and unemployment are the push factors that make young girls leave their parental and cultural security; job expectation and allurement of better life in the city, operate as pull factors.

  

These young girls who come from interior villages are exposed to a metropolitan setting full of vulnerability and unforeseen dangers.  And because these girls by their very nature are non-judgmental, straightforward and unsuspecting, they become victims of physical, mental, and emotional abuse from their own employers. Thousands of girl are being trafficked to neighbouring states like Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, sometimes even to other gulf countries. The domestic workers are sold and re-sold to employers without their consent, reducing their status to bonded labourers denying even the basic human rights and freedom of expression. Lack of awareness and support systems make these girls undergo an ordeal of miseries and sufferings. Due to absence of adequate shelter, just wages, right working hours, proper holidays, and other rights related to the domestic workers this section of the society suffers in silence. It is disheartening to see how their own people, who work as middle men/placement agencies, exploit these women for the sake of money.

The question is are these young girls  slaves for eternity?

‘No wonder the ILO commended domestic work as modern kind of slavery!’

"The last time I was in a super market, I saw a 7 year old, chocolate coloured but, without a trace of smiling lines. And then I saw a 5 year old, all peaches & plums without a trace of smiling lines again. I broadened my view and spotted a skinny woman, in her twenty something,  who I figured out to be the young mother! Now, peaches & plums wants to ride the cycle and asks her mother, however, she was mistaken. She is supposed to ask the 7 year old! why? Because the chocolate coloured one is called a domestic worker who is suppose to take over from a twenty something because she needs to do other things - go to the MAC boutique, enjoy her coffee @ the bar and spend some quality time with a old woman who I figured out to be her mother. I cud'nt stand beyond this and choose to forget the scene before me. However, inquisitiveness troubled me and the next I see is Peaches & plums ordering her way into chocolate coloured's life. I understood why both of them do not have smiling lines."