COWI’s reputation is shaped by interactions between its employees and customers, colleagues and the world in general. As a result, the company’s employees are also its most important spokespeople.
This is the essence of a set of new, wide-reaching communication principles that consultants throughout the entire organisation can refer to in their dealings with the world outside their office.
The communication principles state that COWI is an open, communicative company that must be transparent and accessible to the outside world.
The organisation’s employees are essentially given 'a licence to communicate' since they are the ones who shape the COWI brand through their communication.
“COWI is a complex company with 6,000 employees who have a wide range of educational backgrounds, nationalities, cultures and attitudes," says John Jørgensen, head of communications at COWI.
"You couldn’t possibly coordinate everything we say internally and externally so that we all express the same opinion at all times. Instead, COWI speaks not just with a single company voice, but with 1,000 voices.”
Based on COWI’s valuesThe principles are based on the company’s values – integrity, respect, independence, professional capability and freedom – and have been formulated on the basis of a series of interviews with employees and managers in all of COWI’s regions.
Before being introduced, the principles were tested using a number of pilot projects that all pointed to the same conclusion: the principles are workable and meaningful, both to management and staff.
In many areas, the principles simply formalise existing practices. Many employees, for example, already post uncensored blogs on the internet.
With rights come responsibilityThe right to communicate also carries a level of responsibility: All COWI’s employees around the world are expected to take part in the professional, commercial, cultural and social development of the company.
By staff writersPublished: 25.01.2010