#mslconnect11 live blog: Volkswagen's Scherelis & Paris

Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).

Guenther Scherelis and Tommi Paris, Volkswagen Group of America: “Building a New Plant with New People in a New Place: The Role of Internal Communications at Volkswagen Chattanooga”

Many don't know that the Volkswagen brand family includes Audio, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. In 2010, Volkswagen was third internationally in vehicle sales.
Volkswagen closed a US plant in 1988 due to poor internal communications. Opened a new factory in Chattanooga, TN, in 2011.
2,000 jobs were available when the factory opened but Volkswagen received more than 85,000 applications.
Internal communications' purpose is to strive toward serving as the company voice, support a positive employee relations strategy and improve company efficiency and performance.
The strategy is to supplement supervisor communication, highlight team contributions, enhance team member experience and utilize communication tools that DO NOT accentuate the divide between hourly & salaried.
VIN (Volkswagen Information Network) is a digital signage network the company uses to deliver dynamic communication. Also includes printed communication boards. The key here is to blend dynamic and static. Their network is updated on a weekly basis.
Interesting that Volkswagen doesn't have digital signage to support global communication.
Great to see that the company still relies on printed communication for many of their communication updates.
Volkswagen still mails newsletters (quarterly) to employees' homes. Many companies have cut this practice to eliminate cost.
The culture at Volkswagen is "Passion for detail." Their group theme is "Think Blue. Factory." (i.e. beyond just environmental)
There are unique challenges for companies opening up a brand new factory versus those that are working in a dated facility.
Glad to see they are citing a difference between language (German vs American) and culture.
The key to success is finding the middle point between what management wants to say and what employees want to hear.
Surprised that Volkswagen hasn't yet surveyed their employees to know what their preferred communication methods are and really aren't doing any measurement either.