Corporate Conversations

By Shel Holtz, Amacom, 2004, 292 pages

List price: $27.95, ISBN: 0-8144-0770-6

Mention "corporate communications" and listen for the thuds as heads hit the table. That's the sound of your audience falling asleep, bored in advance by the "brides, babies and birthdays" staples of employee newsletters.

In Corporate Conversations, author Shel Holtz advocates making corporate communications an integral part of a company's business strategy, because good communications can breed motivated employees.

Holtz's detailed guide explains how to eliminate fluff in favor of professionalism, well-planned communications campaigns, and use of both paper and electronic media for conveying everything from basic HR information to subtler ideas of corporate culture.

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Holtz, principal of Concord, Calif.'s Holtz Communication + Technology, also recommends having a communications department that isn't necessarily part of HR--where communications sometimes ends up by default, he says.

Corporate Conversations outlines four types of employer communications:

* Communications required by law. These include summary descriptions of benefits plans.

* Other information for employees, such as compensation and career planning policies. How employers explain bonuses, employee stock ownership and other rewards can be vital to employee morale and retention, Holtz says.

* Business communications. This includes news about the company, the marketplace and how employee performance affects the bottom line.

* Employees' informal communications. HR can defuse rumors, for example, by inviting employees to post them on the intranet and then responding to each one.

Holtz lays out steps for communications planning, from goal setting through audience analysis.

Communicators learn how to evaluate both traditional and electronic communications tools. Executives, middle managers and front-line supervisors all have roles in face-to-face communications--a tool Holtz says shouldn't be ignored in the electronic age. Newsletters and magazines still are effective because they're portable and easily readable, while video can work well for employees who don't have access to computers. Holtz also shows how to set up a company intranet.

The book details how to break bad news such as a bankruptcy, layoffs or potentially unpopular benefits changes. Communicating bad news up front and ensuring that employees hear it first from the employer actually can increase trust, Holtz says.

Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement by SHRM or HR Magazine.

COMPILED BY LEIGH RIVENBARK, A FREE-LANCE WRITER AND EDITOR BASED IN VIENNA, VA.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group