Large companies with offices around the world often face the challenge of creating a sense of community within their workforce. Employees simply don’t have the opportunity to meet or get to know each other.
One way to build cooperative connections is to create employee profiles on an intranet. This introduces colleagues and enables people to post comments, questions or share information.
These profiles, written by the individual employees, were part of an editorial news flow for Danone’s intranet. My challenge was to edit for clarity and professionalism, yet keep a sense of personality in the text and let each person tell his story in his own way.
Nicolas – France
I’m responsible for organization and competencies development, as well as internal communication and press relations. I’d compare my job to managing a football team in training for the European Championship: you need to inspire ambition, nurture a unique culture, design an agile organization and ensure that you have a full commitment.
I think that no activity can be successful without considering the importance of communication. In our rapidly changing world, it’s necessary to respond quickly, wisely and clearly. In our CBU’s, Management committees exploit internal communication to accelerate decision implementation. I experienced a powerful example of this when I was working as Industrial Relations Manager and Transformation Programs Director.
I was in charge of restructuring programs and I had to inform workers that their factory was going to shutdown but that I would help them with finding a new job. The assembly meeting was more like a rugby match – whistles blowing and some strong emotions! But the meeting concluded positively, with handshaking. It was the first sign that we had succeeded.
I learned from this situation that beyond your words, it is your attitude that communicates, and it says a lot more. That’s the real test of good communication.
Troy - Indonesia
I joined the Danone community in January 2009, and I think of the company as my ‘lucky star.’ I admire Danone’s strong multinational foundation and its mission to bring health to people through nutrition. Our company’s commitment to people and sustainable development is also very important to me.
My duties are building relationships with all stakeholders, including the media and external partners, while informing and motivating employees. Aqua Indonesia has 14 plants and 19 distribution depots, so our Corporate Communication team has to connect with 11,000 employees – at all different jobs levels. Maturity, teamwork and credibility are essential.
To build teamwork, I join colleagues from the CSR department and we plant trees near Salak Mountain in West Java, Indonesia. This is a cooperative effort with the community, government and a school. It’s providing a reference for how CSR team building, in partnership with multi-stakeholders, can benefit a local community.
I enjoy communicating with Danoners in other countries and at the Paris headquarters – I’d like Danone Indonesia to have an even more active role in our borderless global community!
Could I help you to create intranet content that communicates and builds connections between people? I welcome your query.
patricia (add @) patriciaphilbin.net
