In global companies, there’s frequent tension between corporate functions and local business units.
In formal communications, the corporate office may stress the company’s purpose and mission, safety performance, or its commitment to sustainability.
Yet when local leaders communicate with employees, they talk about what drives performance metrics (and their annual bonus).
Drivers for local businesses can be unique
There may be important differences among the business units that are less known to people in the corporate headquarters, who are focused more on global unity.
Of course local leaders want to increase sales and lower costs, but their sales or delivery model may be significantly different than what is perceived as the core business in the home country. What the corporate office sees as a minor offering may be one country’s lead product. Or maybe they outsource a core function, so their core employee audience has different demographics.
Differences like these can give a local market an entirely different mix of employees with entirely different interests. Communications that are delivered globally with a one-size-fits-all approach can fall flat, go unused, or worse, add to the perception that corporate is out of touch with reality.
If a company develops a network of local communicators, that network can adapt corporate messaging and address those differences. What the network delivers to employees can not only be in local language and culturally appropriate, but also more in tune with local business priorities.
How can you build teams and processes to localize employee communications? That’s covered in my new book, Localizing Employee Communications: A Handbook. Learn more on Amazon or contact me.
