Internal comms in manufacturing - and the world of the “deskless worker” is an increasingly hot topic in the Internal Comms world, particularly as companies look for technological solutions and at changes in the political and regulatory environment around workers’ rights.
In this conversation, Mike Klein, our Senior Strategic Advisor, speaks with Jennifer Smith.
Jennifer is “a German-American with Chinese characteristics” and has a special heart for Internal, People & Change Communications in international manufacturing settings. Jennifer considers herself a “communimaker,” as communication shapes community and vice versa.
MIKE: Hi Jennifer - thanks for coming. I was interested in having a conversation with you because of your unique background: your joint German-US background, and your experience doing internal comms in the manufacturing space, particularly in China
That’s a rich dynamic: manufacturing plus China. Maybe we start with the manufacturing side - internal comms in a manufacturing environment. Where would you like to start?
JENNIFER: My pleasure, Mike! Thank you for your invitation to meet up in this podtext format; I look forward to our exchange. Let’s start with the need and awareness for an IC framework on factory or plant grounds! As this crucial stakeholder group - the teams in production, engineering, logistics etc. - is oftentimes overlooked and not initially recognized as such.
MIKE: Interesting that you say this - in a lot of comms circles, they talk about “manufacturing workers” or “blue collar workers” generically, when in fact, the picture is more complex and dynamic.
JENNIFER: Exactly. You can’t speak about production being at the heart of a manufacturing organization without involving those at the heart of the plant or factory.
MIKE: Communication in the manufacturing environment thus depends on how employees are organized - physically, hierarchically, and in terms of their relationships with each other and with the end-to-end manufacturing process. How can that look in reality?
JENNIFER: The physical setup is definitely the first thing to look at - it is where a communication disconnect arises within an organization but where you also need to start going with – and literally plant! – your communications. These “front-line colleagues” are physically separated from the office floors and boardrooms, they may be distributed across several buildings and plant building phases, their work schedules (shifts) and workday realities are vastly different, and they cannot be reached via individual desktop spaces.
MIKE: To me, the biggest question is the extent to which manufacturing employees - particularly those on the production line - actually talk with each other and what they talk about.
JENNIFER: And that is where IC needs to come in, with the same rules of engagement on the shop floor as on the “top floors”: clear, timely, consistent, and structured communications where the audience is, with relevance to them and in their “language.”
MIKE: OK - I get that this is how internal messaging, particularly top-down messaging, needs to be packaged. I also have heard that this information is often packaged into short-but-formal manager briefings, maybe 10-15 minutes, once a week? But I’d suspect that most of the communication that takes place in a factory is conversational and informal, between colleagues.
JENNIFER: Yes, as elsewhere, in the common spaces, during shift changes, coffee, cellphone or cigarette breaks. Here is where I think the line or team managers should come in and should be briefed on any news that needs to be communicated. What helps a lot, too - and this sounds very rudimentary - are posters on bulletin boards.
MIKE: What about digital signage?
JENNIFER: Yes, that is of course always an option if space is available in common rest areas. In my personal experience however, digital screens may distract from factory displays if those are used, Kanban boards or instructional/safety signage.
MIKE: Interesting point about distraction. Indeed, it seems that there are two types of production environments out there - some where the employee needs to be 100% focused on specific tasks, tasks where things need to be watched continuously - and others where there is room for people to talk with their colleagues as they work, where such talk doesn’t get in the way of that work.
JENNIFER: Factory workspaces are just as diverse as any other workspaces, that is for sure. So, for an incoming IC specialist who is new to a particular manufacturing environment, one of the first excursions should be to the factory floor to meet the people there but also survey how they are organized and last but not least, as you said, where they exchange and communicate.
MIKE: There’s also a lot of diversity in the jobs themselves. I once worked in a Chicken McNuggets factory in Europe. The guys processing the chickens were monitoring a largely mechanized process and were talking all the time, while the production of the nuggets had a much less dense workforce and people were largely quiet.
JENNIFER: Well, as it’s dinnertime right now in Germany, you are making me hungry ;-) I would certainly focus any IC efforts not so much on what happens during shifts but between shifts and on breaks.
MIKE: That’s interesting. Jenni Field, the UK-based IC consultant, and author has looked a lot at IC in manufacturing environments and talks a lot about “Third Spaces” - breakrooms and other locations where she thinks companies should refrain from communicating directly through signage and formal channels, that to do so is essentially a violation of personal space. I hear this about breaks at certain large US employers as well. That really leaves a lot to the shift changes, unless you can engage people by other means.
JENNIFER: That is a valid point to discuss. Communication displays can be indirectly placed—on walls in hallways or entryways/walkways, where messaging and information can be consumed “on the go,” in passing. I would still go into break rooms with neutral company branding. Employees will still consider this a workplace location, and any messaging can be subtle without being “in the face,” for example teasers for events such as the annual summer fest, family day, or humorous reminders of a company perk. Another way is to make communications actionable and interactive by other means.
MIKE: That’s being given a lot of thought at the moment - especially with legislation in some countries and union wins in others driving pushback against mandatory direct communication with employees outside of company spaces and hours.
JENNIFER: We definitely need to look at national and cultural differences in that regard; this is a particularly important aspect in international manufacturing...
To be continued...
Stay tuned for part two of this series in which Mike and Jennifer continue the engaging conversation which will explore the following topics in a manufacturing environment:
- Social analysis and optimizing indirect conversations
- Navigating cultural differences and political systems
- Communication challenges through hierarchical order
- Business case for focusing IC in a plant or factory
- And much more...
What’s Next:
