In much the same as Courtney Reynolds rolled up her sleeves and got involved, Alexander Taratov, PHR, HR communications specialist for Trane in Panama City, Fla., is actively supporting a business transformation program by constructing and managing a multi-media communications process. “We are now building opportunities online for ‘three-way’ communication,” says Taratov. “One way: communicate to our audience. Second way: Our audience communicates back to us. Third way: The audience communicates with one another.”
He coordinates information and message delivery as well as supervisor communication training, helping employees understand their role in the initiative. The program is designed to position and grow the business by expanding the customer base and improving employee involvement for job satisfaction and career growth.
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Employees participate in the Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) at Trane's facility in Panama City, Fla.
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Participation in Lean Six Sigma training
Alexander expanded his involvement through his participation in Lean Six
Sigma continuous improvement training. “This training is really helping me
understand how the program works and what employees are focused on to support
it,” he says. “There’s no question that completing the training strengthens my
ability to communicate about the program, which is so important to our future.”
TRANE: READ MORE….
When Dick Wilkerson, chairman and president of Michelin North America, visits manufacturing plants throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, he spends a lot of his on-site time meeting with employees – to learn about and recognize their contributions to the success of the business.
When Wilkerson ventures out on his site visits, he’s often accompanied by Stephanie Tarbet, manager of executive communications for Michelin North America. “I work closely with the sites to plan the visits and guide them in development of the agenda,” notes Tarbet. “Mr. Wilkerson visits about 25 facilities a year. He feels strongly about devoting a full day to visit each site annually and he is a passionate about having face-to-face interactions with employees.”
On to the shop floor – to listen, learn, and celebrate successes
When Wilkerson arrives at a plant, he typically begins his day by “listening to the site manager and his or her staff describe key performance indicators, initiatives, challenges and recent accolades,” says Tarbet. “Then, it’s out to the shop floor to meet with employees and see the key progress initiatives and projects in action.”
Wilkerson does some traditional meet and greets as he roams the plant floor. But there’s much more. As he moves from one area to another, employees present improvement projects and key findings related to them. They discuss ways they are increasing productivity and improving operational excellence. After each presentation is completed, Wilkerson shakes hands with team members and thanks them for what they do on a daily basis.
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Dick Wilkerson, chairman
and president of Michelin North America, conducts an
employee meeting during one of his frequent site visits.
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Managing the deluge of email is a big issue – in cost, time, access and employee satisfaction – in most organizations today. Some employee communicators are getting involved as their employers tackle the issue.
At one of Louisville’s largest employers, Norton Healthcare, Employee Communications Manager Patti Killion has played a leading role in a company-wide effort to reduce email traffic and related storage problems.
“Our challenge was a multi-faceted one,” said Killion. “There was the very visible need to reduce email clutter. But we also had to respond to employee wishes for increased mobility of access to information posted on our intranet. This need was especially acute among our clinical employees, many of whom have no or limited access to a PC at work. ”
RemoteLINK access page attacks mobility issue
To meet the email clutter challenge, Killion developed a strategy to increase use of the intranet as an information source. But first the access issue.
The Norton Healthcare IT team uses an application they’ve named “RemoteLink” to provide employees with access to the Norton Healthcare system, when employees access it from an external PC. Available on the Employees of page of NortonHealthcare.com, employees can download it to an external computer to access
Nsider (the company intranet), personal and department drives on the Norton Healthcare services, the physical drives on the computer in their office and a virtual PC.
In the workplace, PC-equipped kiosks were placed in high traffic areas, such as cafeterias, where employees can access them on breaks and other free times.
Here’s a look at what the home page of Nsider, the Norton Healthcare intranet, looks like.
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