The Real Business Cost of a Toxic Company Culture
Tuesday, 20 August 2019 / Vaughan Reed
Tuesday, 20 August 2019 / Vaughan Reed
Have you ever been to a workshop for a full day of learning only to scratch your head when someone asks you just days later what you
learnt? Long term retention of key learning is the biggest challenge organisations face when it comes to using traditional methods of
learning and development such as face to face training, online workshops and online learning systems.
Until recently, companies have overlooked how the changing work environment, through digital advancement, has created communication
challenges that traditional methods are not equipped to handle. How antiquated is information on a staff noticeboard; how inundated are we
with emails; how much workplace clutter is created with posters around the office and how easy is it for rumours to spread when people hear
inaccurate information via unofficial sources? A platform for consistent, effective communication has been missing – no wonder employees
feel uninformed!
One thing driving a great company culture is open and transparent communication. This does not happen by accident; a team of inspiring leaders help their employees understand how they fit into the bigger picture through a deliberate communication strategy. An essential ingredient of an excellent communication strategy is effective targeting. Understanding an audience, knowing the right messages, timing and methods of delivering them are all critical in getting employees to take notice and ‘give a damn’.
Companies with a healthy culture are the ones who don’t just keep doing what they’ve always done; they recognise the need to move away from
the traditional means of communication to tell their stories more effectively and meet the demands of their ‘increasingly digital’
audiences. They know that visual communications are more powerful and understand the connections between communication, employee
satisfaction, customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability.
Some companies are now paying more attention to what we know about the power of visual communication and are using it to improve their internal communications outcomes.
Here are a few considerations that create compelling reasons for companies to switch to more visually-based communication methods to inform, motivate and engage their employees:
The use of symbols and similar visual communication tools date way back; to times when cavemen communicated through wall paintings. Although visual communication is by no means a new phenomenon outside the workplace, it has received little specific attention from employers wanting to tell their stories and get their messages across to employees until recently.
Why would you expect 20th Century modes of communication to be effective in a workplace where employees’ everyday lives are occupied with 21st Century technology that delivers information visually, instantly and in small bites that grab and hold their attention? Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn – how could the widespread use of these things not create an appetite for organisations to change the way they communicate to their employees and achieve the cut-through they desire?
‘Excited’ is the best way to describe how clients feel when they discovered Vibe, a visual communications platform developed by Auckland-based tech company, Vibe.fyi Limited.
Finally, they had found a platform to mimic the impact of the visual, bite-size, instant messages audiences experience through social media. Vibe promised to be ‘an innovative way to transform the way companies share knowledge, tell stories and inspire workforces’ and so far, it is doing just that by elevating its employee communications – making them more visible. Vaughan Reed, Vibe.fyi’s Managing Director, confirms this visibility and impact is exactly what Vibe was created to do – in fact, “Amplifying Employee Communications” is Vibe’s tagline.
Our clients have recognised the need to develop their culture and create a more connected, productive environment
“Our clients have recognised the need to develop their culture and create a more connected, productive environment where employees care not only for themselves and the work they do, but also about each other and their environments. These better connections are external as well as internal and improving the customer experience is a key measure of improving their company culture.”
“One of the things our clients love about Vibe is how flexible it is to work in a variety of settings – our clients’ workforce is generally spread across the country and are very mobile, so the challenge to create unity is complex. Vibe allows us to overcome a lot of those communication hurdles.” explains Vaughan.
Article By Vaughan Reed [LinkedIn]
Vaughan is the Managing Director @ Vibe.fyi. Making it easy for organisations to communicate business
critical information in a way that will inspire today’s workforce.
I like having the ability to control what content is displayed on each screen with playlists.
We have screens across two different locations with a different audience requirement for each one.
Vibe has worked during COVID-19; and beyond.
As an essential service, needed Vibe in all Distribution Centres during the first lockdown to provide H&S information. It's been the solution we needed to reach all of our staff in a timely manner.
We are now able to share general company information and specific site information to large groups of people.
It suits our teams and contractors in different locations, which in the past has been difficult to communicate with.
We started with COVID messages, but by mid-Nov we were communicating other business events on site.
We're using Vibe for EVERYTHING. Facebook groups, café menus, surveys (with a QR code), internal videos, welcoming our summer interns, Christmas messaging from our CEO + more!
We're saving time and increasing team efficiency!
Vibe.fyi has had a positive impact on team meetings – the duration of meetings has reduced by approximately 30% because of not needing to cover the tracking of core services.
It has helped raise awareness around services we offer.
The screens have not only been a great visual aid for residents, they have also been an excellent marketing and sales tool.
There was a lot of printing of flyers and posters which is both costly and environmentally unfriendly.
With Vibe's on-screen format it’s easy to make changes instantly on the fly without the need for a reprint. No more excuses from staff not reading internal emails. Messaging is right there, on the screen.
One of our favourite features is the ability to show social media feeds - with Yammer.
Our people can keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening and they don't have to be stuck behind their desks all day.
When choosing a product, Vibe.fyi ticked all the boxes.
Vibe was head and shoulders above the rest, because it offered the best and simplest application.
Vibe provides a way of supporting the key messages around safety, wellbeing, operational updates and employee recognition.
The flexibility of the Vibe.fyi solution impressed our project team
Some screens show events; others display news, weather and quizzes; and others a ‘personal touch’, with birthdays and anniversaries.
We originally needed a mechanism to push out health and safety information to all of our people.
After a few years, we now use the screens for Health & Safety, general notices, reporting dashboards, news, financial and wellness programs.
It's very cool and a great way to communicate with and engage my non-wired employees.
The digital templates are extensive and the Vibe team support is outstanding. The feedback I get from my team tells me we're on the right track.
Being a construction project we also use Vibe to show our office-bound staff what’s happening out on site.
This helps promote a greater understanding of progress and gives a feel of inclusion.
Vibe has been a hit from the beginning! Better collaboration, visibility, sharing and accountability.
We’ve also experienced a 60% increase in awareness of upcoming events in the business calendar and were able to celebrate at least five times more staff achievements than we could have using email.
With uncertain times, we have another communication channel to ensure our business key messages are been seen.
Specifically for those that communicate with our customers.
If we took it away now, there would be a riot!
Being able to set all the screens up differently is fantastic. It provides a real 'feel-good' factor for residents.
The Vibe team are great to work with - super proactive, super helpful.
Infact we haven't needed them too much because it's really easy to use and very simple and effective.
Vibe gets cut-through
Vibe is now officially part of our channel mix and is becoming one of our main channels of communication (and has the potential to become the main channel).
Vibe is a great tool for bringing staff together and sharing news and event footage internally.
Really great for providing snackable and understandable content, it’s visually a great way to communicate.
The impact when people see our big digital wall at reception is great.
People love Vibe. I would say using Vibe.fyi has been 100% effective!
Employees stop and look at the screens. Our deskless workforce say they feel more informed, as they saw something before their team leader told them.
Their customer service is exceptional.
From our very first introductory meeting, they have always been on hand to offer information and support. They proactively step-in to find ways to make things work. Friendly, knowledgeable and very responsive!
The results have surpassed our own expectations.
Our key stakeholders have wanted to know how we implemented such a stunning platform. Our CEO has been raving about it!
It saves us time, plus it's a very modern solution and it helps engage and inspire our people.
This software has helped stop geographical office separation and team silos.
Meetings are shorter. We get immediate reporting to the whole business on performance without having to send more emails to get the data required.
I'm not an IT person at all, but the Vibe system is super easy to use, requiring minimal input.
The screens are fabulous and have been a great tool for improving the accuracy of information, removing a lot of frustration around the village.
I haven't seen a solution this powerful before!
Our people absolutely love it and it's helped us transform how we communicate.
Great way to engage with our team. Different to standard notice boards where the team don't look at it.
Keeps areas noise-free and are able to just have a tv screen with rolling information.
We can easily share information to staff across New Zealand that isn't always available to them.
The different templates are a bonus - there's always a layout that works with what you want to share.
Vibe is a great internal communications tool that is user-friendly and customised to our business.
Their customer service team is friendly and quick to get in touch if you have a query or issue.
We have found Vibe very effective as an implementation model for dashboard content.
It helps us visualise data. It’s a great system and I would definitely recommend it.
Vibe helps us get internal messaging to staff in a fun, graphic format.
As well as the serious stuff, slideshows of staff events are very popular. Plus, promote our outward-facing social media content inwardly to staff and visitors.
Vibe helps us drive engagement. Definitely a very positive tool!
It has enabled us to display life-saving rules, incentive tracking and information that hasn't been available to non-wired staff previously.
It's a really simple and effective way to help communicate key messages to all workers on our construction sites.
Rather than settling for basic posters that don't get updated often, Vibe's moving imagery and fun colors catches the eye.
Our people love the wellbeing program content!
Our people are impressed that we are providing them with communication that is timely and will help improve their safety, health and wellbeing.
Vibe.fyi has helped the team improve resident engagement
The MATV feed is hugely popular with residents who don't have to leave the comfort of their own room to access information about what's going on in the village.
We’ve experienced a 20% reduction in volume of emails.
With an obviously more positive, interactive, connected and engaged workforce, who appear a lot happier!
It's transformed our communications for our non-wired staff.
The comm's tools we used previously for our non-wired employees weren’t up to the same level as those for wired.
You can just have it all on Vibe.
Even when you’re at home, you can have these snackable bits of content you can retain, instead of having to check an email, look at an announcement, go from one platform to another.
