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Ewe Be Ewe
Counter-intuitively, a friendly team of long-term colleagues has less groupthink than a collection of new coworkers who havenât had time to form close personal bonds, according to research.
Why? Because when people are new to each other or donât trust each other, they are more inclined to go with the crowd than to offer a different point of view. Huh!
group¡think: The act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view.
Group behavior is driven by social identity (how people define themselves as a member of a group), which pushes them either toward insularity and conformity or toward divergent thinking and dissent. According to psychology professors J. Packer and Jay J. Van Bavel:
The desire for cohesion, which is strong in new groups, isnât necessarily the same thing as actual cohesion, especially in the form of personal bonds, which is often stronger in longer-term groups or teams.
It is often the desire for cohesion that produces groupthink, not cohesion itself.
Why does this matter for comms? We sit in a very interesting position within the organization. On our left shoulder leadership is whispering what they want to tell their staff and on our right shoulder employees are telling us what they want to hear from the top. The two donât always align.
If weâre afraid of being punished for offering a divergent idea, we may be derelict in our duty to provide the best counsel to leadership or the most meaningful communication to employees.
Psychological safe spaces within comms means better comms output.
âUnderstanding how groups operate isnât easy,â say Packer and Bavel. âBut wrapping our head around the science of identity is fundamental to getting smarter about groups and building smarter groups.â
Here is how to avoid groupthink, according to Packer and Bavel:
Recognize that a lack of cohesion is probably a greater contributor to groupthink than happy camaraderie. (Get friendly!)
Be attentive to events that threaten the teamâs identity and motivate people to shut down. Nip that sh*t in the bud.
Reward the right behavior by promoting healthy social norms, procedures, and incentives that foster constructive dissent.
Make sure the team is working toward the right goals.
Go deeper. (WSJ, $)
P.S. Speaking of groups or, rather, herds. Hereâs where going with the crowd can be a good thing for comms: âHerd Virality: The Power Connecting Formal and Informal Communicationâ (Mike Klein for Mister Editorial)
Quick Hits
đ A review of The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation by Kamales Lardi, a âthorough, practical, and ultimately optimistic manual for success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.â (Digital Signage Today)
đş 25 TV shows about the workplace, 11 of which Iâve never heard of. (WSJ, $)
đ¤ Does imagery generated by artificial intelligence belong in employee comms? (As someone who is already using it at work, my answer is absolutely.) (Employee Benefits News)
âď¸ How to write for the way your coworkers actually read. Steal these data-backed marketing tricks of the trade to improve your memos, emails, messages, and more. (Twist)
Insider Comms: Zoom CEO Doesn't Bury Layoffs
On Feb. 7 Zoom CEO Eric Yuan sent a memo to all staff acknowledging that the market has moved on from the high-flying pandemic needs of the video chat platform. As such, 15% of the staff (1,700 employees) get the axe.
Yuan does a couple of things right, among them putting the bad news right up front and, stylistically, using subheads to break up a long note.
What he hides in the seventh paragraph, however, I would have moved to paragraph two.
Read the memo. (Mister Editorial đ)
âWe were trying to explain the unexplainable. Itâs hard to have a call like that with such a large group and have it be effective, and we paid a price.â
âMarc Benioff, founding CEO of Salesforce, on the two-hour town hall about the companyâs recent layoffs that didnât go so well (NYT)
Show Me the Money
Internal comms is not important to the companyâs bottom line, say about one-fifth of UK businesses, according to HR News. âThese businesses are missing a trick,â says Elizabeth Spencer-Phillips, CEO at Caburn Hope, âand they may well be missing out on the power of internal comms to drive business success.â
âThere are three common pitfalls that companies tend to fall into when it comes to their internal comms,â she says. âKnowing how to conquer each is crucial.â
Spencer-Phillips says the three biggest risks are:
Communications overload: 43% of employees miss important information purely due to the sheer volume of emails, notifications, and messages that they receive alongside it.
Lack of leadership: Managers who donât engage with messaging risk making life harder for themselves unnecessarily.
Understanding the tech: Choosing not only the most modern systems but the right system is key.
âSpending time and energy on improving these fundamentals can make the difference between a productive and happy workforce, and finding your company at an easily avoidable sticking point.â
Interesting Opportunities
Aesop - Global Head of Comms (London; hybrid)
Airbus - Manager Employee Communications (Munich; hybrid)
American University - Director of Strategic Comms (Washington, D.C.)
Autodesk - Sustainability and Foundation Executive Communications Manager (multiple U.S. locations)
Cognizant - Corp. Comms Manager (Madrid; hybrid)
Ferrero - Corp. Comms Manager (Sydney; hybrid)
Walmart - Director, Global Communications - Corporate Affairs - Media Relations (Bentonville, AR)
Free Templates
Who doesnât like free?
Communications request form (Workshop)
New employee announcement newsletter (The HR Digest)
Stakeholder map (All Things IC)
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Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I am the editor-in-chief of Digital Publications at Lam Research. The views in this newsletter are my own.