Communications
can help co-ops shine

Top CEO communicator Bob Ray shares insight

By Dan Campbell, Editor

an a co-op communications program ever do too much communicating? And do oldfashioned communications channels still often work better than new-fangled communications technologies?

The answer to both questions is “yes,” according to Bob Ray, CEO of Flint Energies, a 64,000-member electric co-op based in Reynolds, Ga. Ray, selected as the 2009 CEO Co-op Communicator of the Year by the Cooperative Communicators Association, shared some of his communications philosophy at CCA’s annual institute in Kansas City, Mo., in June.

Employee surveys at Flint revealed that internal communications were weak at the co-op, which supplies electricity in 17 central Georgia counties and does about $250 million in business annually. Delving deeper into the issue, management learned that the co-op’s 230-some employees felt they were suffering from communications overload. As a result, the co-op’s internal communications program was completely revamped in 2005.

In several areas, this meant going “retro,” returning to tried-and-true methods of the past and making sure that communications flowed both ways.

“We went retro by having face-to-face, small-group meetings with employees for strategic planning and developing a “Best Places to Work Committee,” Ray said. Similar meetings were instituted with a key external audience: members of Congress and the state legislature. These informal talks were usually held at local coffee shops that the representatives frequented and felt relaxed in.

The co-op also brought back Willie Wirehands — a rural electric logo introduced in 1951 — in some of its communications products. “We did this because it was important to our linemen to show that Flint had not been fully consumed by the idea of deregulation.”

With deregulation of electric markets looking likely in 1999, the co-op had started to diversify into new businesses, such as propane fuel and electronic pager services. To re-brand itself, the co-op even changed its name from Flint EMC to Flint Energies. This caused some internal divisions within the co-op over the new directions.

When the threat of deregulation subsided, the co-op shifted its focus back to its core business of electricity distribution. So, bringing back the old “Willie” logo was a way of underscoring this renewed commitment to its core mission.

Balancing old and new
Ray also is a strong believer in the value of hand-written notes — thank you notes, birthday cards, etc. –– to staff, something he learned “many years ago from a great communicator.” But don’t go overboard when embracing the communications methods of the past, he stresses.

“You cannot stay in the retro lines of communication and expect to meet deadlines and budgets and other demands,” Ray said. “Too much of today’s population is “YouTubing” and “Tweeting” to not explore the usefulness of those means of communicating. Find what works and bring it forward as part of a comprehensive communications strategy that continues to evolve.”

This means facilitating messages both to members who still use rotary phones (the co-op still has some) and to “Facebook fanatics.”

“Bob Ray’s leadership shows that an emphasis on forthright communications is an important part of an effective cooperative business,” said CCA President Lisa Moorhouse of CHS Inc. “At CCA, we’re pleased to honor his example of innovation in keeping co-ops strong.”

Award presenters also cited Ray’s reorganizing the cooperative so that the communications office reports directly to the CEO, for instituting a video news service for employees, for starting an electronic newsletter for members and for launching a highprofile campaign to explain to members the Wholesale Power-Cost Adjustment (a complicated charge to their electric bills) as examples of his commitment to communications excellence.

Keep it real
Whenever possible, avoid use of clip art and stock photography in deference to images of real co-op employees and members, Ray said, adding that “clip art is for the un-artful.” Whenever he sees co-ops using stock photos of people who are obviously models, he can’t help but wonder: “Who are these perfect people in these perfect settings?”

There are occasions when time and budget constraints may force co-ops to use clip art and stock photos, he notes. “But, if you have the option to use your members, your employees, your businesses, your local attractions — why not do it? You will get more buy-in to your message and more of a connection to your target audience if you use the resources that are only snapshot away,” said Ray, who joined Flint Energies in 2003 as chief operating officer, rising to CEO in January 2005. From 1999 to 2003 he was assistant secretary of state/chief operating officer for the state of Georgia.

As for employees or local business owners who get upset because someone else was included in a co-op newsletter or website rather than them, that’s OK, Ray says. Indeed, he urges co-ops to “dare to make somebody mad because they are not included first. What greater compliment is there than for: 1) people to respond to our communications and 2) to want to be included next?”

The world of politics has taught Ray that “the best leaders are those that relay a message that is not political, but comes from deep inside — a genuine belief or a movement motivated by direct connections to their soul. This business is not just professional, it’s personal.”

This is especially true for co-ops, where employees live and work with the members they serve.

“You don’t just work at the cooperative, you live it everyday,” Ray said. “And that’s something Wall Street and some government regulators will never understand. It’s about staying in touch with, and empowering, 237 members of the Flint Family with the information they need to give their all everyday to exceed the expectation of the people we serve” and to make the co-op “shine to its brightest potential.”

Stretch, but never break With so many methods of communicating to members and employees — direct mail, bill stuffers, printed newsletters, video newsletters, bulletin boards, newspapers, phone and voice mail, radio, television, club presentations, member committees, board meetings, e-mail, Internet, texting, Facebook and You Tube, among them — Ray says communicators can be excused for sometimes feeling a little like Stretch Armstrong. “Stretch” was a popular toy in the 1970s that kids would pull and stretch in all directions, but would then snap back to its original proportions.

“Like Stretch
Armstrong, we can be pulled in all directions. We might get thin, but we do not break. And despite all the yanking and pulling in all directions, we never give up our efforts to be transparent, or on our aggressive defense of professional and personal integrity and our mandate to tell the truth. That does not mean going back to the shape we have always been. It may mean pulling it back together with a new look, a new approach or a new message from an entirely different perspective.”

In summary, Ray said these are the primary communications lessons he wished to share:





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