Lisa Turnbull
3 min read
We are very proud to have made been ranked 25th on International Track’s 200 and congrats to all the other great companies on the list! This list ranks Britain’s mid market private companies by fastest growing overseas sales.
Our ranking and international sales are the result of a huge group effort from our teams around the world.
We know one major factor to our success is teamwork fostered by a great global employee communications strategy. We’ve worked hard to make sure that despite timezones, distance and different cultures we communicate effectively.
Here are our top 3 tips to get your global comms on track:
1. Build a brand
When your teams are located around the world it’s important that there is a central company brand that connects everyone. At Reward Gateway one part of our brand is our set of 8 global values. Our values help define our culture as a company around the world, in fact one of them is Think Global. The values are colorfully posted around each office and, in a way, they give us a language we can speak with each other. Another part of our brand is our internal site boom! which is a platform for all our company updates.
Whether you are in Plovdiv or Sydney you know where to find company news. It’s also on boom! that you can send thank you cards, find out whose birthday it is or get updates from our leadership team.
Building a foundation of core values and a central location for everything happening at your company will help build your brand globally.
2. Use local leaders
With so many different departments and teams in a business it’s extremely helpful to have a colleague on hand who can answer questions, lead a meeting, or host an event in each location. Obviously there can be some constraints if a department has to be located in one office, but there are ways around that. If there is a team that is tied to one location make sure someone sends out a regular update and be available for questions via email, video chat or a phone call.
At Reward Gateway we have different teams dedicated to culture, social activities, and social media - each team has at least one member in each location to coordinate events and campaigns. Building teams with local leaders in mind has helped us plan out fun global events, stay updated with inter-department news, and easily share ideas and feedback.
3. Update consistently
Every two weeks at Reward Gateway we have our own internal news segment called the global briefing. It’s a staple here and really helps bring us together on a regular basis. There are updates on new hires, promotions, product updates, success stories, charity events, social events and much more. In a matter of 20 minutes or less we get a great overview of everything happening within the business.
A news segment like this gives people a chance to update you on their day to day or big projects in their own voice. The global briefing is a serious part of Reward Gateway culture and is a critical employee communications tool, but it also gives us a chance to have some fun and bring laughter to the office. Producing your own news segment is a great way to add to your brand, hear from your colleagues around the world, and connect the business as a whole.
There are a slew of other communications strategies to make sure your business is united on a global scale, however here at Reward Gateway the strategies above have really helped us push the boundaries and grow together.
Global communication will always be a bit of a moving target, but by developing a brand, having leadership on the ground and available in person, and working on an informative and entertaining way to share updates you will be well on your way to building a unified international workforce.