The Challenge
January 2006
Sky had just tipped the 8 million customer mark - one in three homes in the UK & Ireland were now choosing Sky for their home entertainment. Determined to continue offering customers great choice and value, Sky was about to launch Broadband and also become the first to offer High Definition TV in the UK.

Realising the importance of engaging its 14,000 employees to this fun and exciting company, Sky appointed a new Head of Internal Communications with experience and expertise in bringing a new and creative edge to communicating the business plan.

The new Head quickly realised that, in order to build the infrastructure, create tools and methodologies and build a strategy for the future, she would require the internal communication skills and expertise of the Norton Group.

Background
Internal Communication in Sky had been all about newsletters, publications, posters and parties. To make a significant contribution to the delivery of the business’ stretching goals, it was clear that the function had to become more strategic, playing the role of thought-leader and challenger; a critical role in a business evolving from being known just for satellite TV to one about to offer Broadband, telephony and much, much more.

Our contribution
We kicked things off with a scoping exercise resulting in a detailed plan to move Internal Communication to a new level right across the business. The goal was defined as being increased engagement of all Sky people and the implementation of a series of revised and new channels to cope with the increased 2-way communication traffic.

The process started with a major strategy event which had a clear goal of getting the key messages from the business clearly communicated to a wide audience. They would then take responsibility for cascading it to their teams. The event was hailed as “the best ever” with some exciting twists and turns built-in to reinforce the key message that outstanding service to customers remained critical to the ongoing success of the business.

Building on these strong foundations, The Norton Group has worked in partnership with Sky, right across the business – from contact centres to central departments – to develop a strong and robust approach to Internal Communication.

Our role was extended during Summer 2006 when we were involved in the design of a major development programme for 1,000+ contact centre people. This included the overall programme design, a video to underline the key messages and saw Norton involved in the final implementation.

The Norton Group has now moved into the second year of its partnership with Sky. We’re currently involved in the launch of a major programme to increase communication skills amongst line managers, preparing for this year’s series of strategy events and concluding the 2007/8 Internal Communication business plan.

The outcome
All the metrics used by Sky to measure the effectiveness of their Internal Communication have improved in the last 12 months and this year’s plan looks set to move things to a new level again. Watch this space!