COMMUNICATING. ALL EMPLOYEES REQUIRE TECHNICAL AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS.
Communicating Financial results to Employees
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© 2010 IBM Corporation Ethan McCarty Manager, IBM Workforce Enablement & Alumni Relations Intranet Editor in Chief Communicating financial results to employees
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I presented this material at the annual meeting for the Council for Communications Management in Philadelphia, Spring 2010. https://www.ccmconnection.com/
Transcript of Communicating Financial results to Employees
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Ethan McCartyManager, IBM Workforce Enablement & Alumni RelationsIntranet Editor in Chief
Communicating financial results to employees
© 2010 IBM Corporation2
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
The ground rules: Regulatory compliance and then some
1.You gotta be totally correct
2.You gotta be consistent across all media
© 2010 IBM Corporation3
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Potential disconnects
You want to present the best picture externally
You want and need to present the facts correctly
You don’t want to undercut communications about business realities by overplaying good news
You want your employees to feel good about and connected to the results
Many people’s eyes glaze over when talking about financial results
© 2010 IBM Corporation4
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
How we’re inclined to present results
Smiling spokesperson! Cheering investors!
Uninterrupted bullhorn!
© 2010 IBM Corporation5
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
How results are often presented to employees…
© 2010 IBM Corporation6
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Inconsistently
© 2010 IBM Corporation7
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Out of context
© 2010 IBM Corporation8
Communicating financial results to employees
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Not at all
*This slide intentionally left blank
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Communicating financial results to employees
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It’s no wonder that…
95% of employees surveyed by Fortune magazine are unfamiliar with their company’s strategy.*
*I learned this during yesterday’s presentation.
© 2010 IBM Corporation10
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Meanwhile, everyone sees everything
So let’s assume that our employees are ‘the public.’
And that they are going to talk about work outside of work settings.
And that they’ve read the good/bad/indifferent headlines and showed up to work anyway…
So they’d probably rather have something good to say about their company.
© 2010 IBM Corporation11
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
That means reporting your business results correctly, in context, and consistently with external reporting.
© 2010 IBM Corporation12
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
And I’d argue it means doing more than posting the press release on your company’s intranet.
© 2010 IBM Corporation13
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
A bit about IBM’s intranet
© 2010 IBM Corporation14
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
© 2010 IBM Corporation15
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
A few ways we communicate financial results to IBMers
Scorecard quarterly cycle
Annual Shareholder Meeting coverage
Annual Worldwide Chairman’s Broadcast
Annual Investor Day Briefing and subsequent ‘Why IBM?’ series
Annual report
© 2010 IBM Corporation16
Communicating financial results to employees
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Scorecard – quarterly results cycle
Three part package – The Quarter/CEO-letter, The Street, Performance Reports
Coordinated at CHQ and BU-level to avoid ‘death by a million emails’
Key strategic messages shared to global comms leaders weeks in advance
Business leaders have a variety of presentation choices and can solicit feedback
© 2010 IBM Corporation17
Communicating financial results to employees
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Dear IBMer
© 2010 IBM Corporation18
Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Profiled w3 Sample
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Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
Unit SVP Page Sample
© 2010 IBM Corporation20
Communicating financial results to employees
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Brand GM Page Sample
© 2010 IBM Corporation21
Communicating financial results to employees
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Results of the coordinated effort
More consistent messages linking results to strategy
Ability for IBMers to see the whole picture (by looking at any letter they want)
Muuuuuch less email for IBMers
Ability for business leaders to get their messages out in a disciplined way
© 2010 IBM Corporation22
Communicating financial results to employees
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Annual shareholder meeting
On-site reporting (from exciting locales!)
Integrated video
Downloadable prepared remarks
Our SVP of comms has started live-tweeting the events
User-rating
Integrated content tagging
© 2010 IBM Corporation23
Communicating financial results to employees
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Investor Day and Why IBM? series
Annual event for investors
Like all the other communications, also presented on www.ibm.com/investor
We basically make our case for IBM and each business unit
Consistently high reader-ratings and traffic
© 2010 IBM Corporation24
Communicating financial results to employees
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Annual report
We present it on our intranet linked from an for all IBMers from our CEO
Interactive Generating Higher Value portion, Printable PDF, client-presentable PPT version
I won’t dwell on this (unironically, I would actually love to)
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Communicating financial results to employees
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Super awesome conclusion
When reporting financial results to your employees, do it in a context for them.
The benefits will manifest internally and externally to your organization.
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Communicating financial results to employees
Ethan McCarty 2010
