How to announce the Brexit to your employees, or any big news likely to lead to uncertainty? Big announcements in business can benefit from having a writer on your team, here’s how:
By defining the message. The Corporate Communications or HR team will have held briefings in the run up to any business-critical decision. A stack of Powerpoint slides can be gold dust, immediately making clear the position taken by each side – the key messages to the two, often culturally different organisations. Equally obvious is the gap, because, in the rush to make an announcement, the message will often be left undefined.
By addressing the elephant in the room. Major events such as mergers and acquisitions involve power games and sometimes you need a neutral outsider to admit they don’t have all the answers. We can be your critical friend and help prepare for the aftermath of any important decision, with briefings, FAQs and articles.
By representing a wide-range of stakeholders – your shareholders, employees, owners and the wider business community. So, the headquarters is closing, what are you going to tell the people working there? What do local suppliers need to know? How will investors react? Each audience has different needs, and a writer brings the benefit of a more distant relationship which can lead to candour and greater trust.
Employee engagement
You need a writer with a background in employee engagement – that’s me. I worked at Scottish Widows in their Corporate Communications team, and I’ve been involved in my fair share of mergers on the side of the firm taking over a local smaller competitor, responsible for managing communication for Baker Tilly, KPMG and Deloitte. In my copywriting career, I’ve written briefings, presentations and articles for internal magazines, explaining big business decisions to the employees of global manufacturers, financial services companies and high street banks.
Getting your communication right during periods of uncertainty is key. Be glad you’ve only got your employees to consider – and not the whole nation in the aftermath of Brexit.