engaging the social workforce

Conference Report

Connect 13: Engaging the Social Workforce

IndexChaptER 1: LEadERS GEt EnGaGEd

ChaptER 2: EnGaGEmEnt iS FoREvER

06

25

07

10

How Global Trends Affect Employee Communication and Engagement

Aligning and Inspiring Employees

13

26

17

30

20

Purpose Driven Leadership and How It Is Transforming SunTrust

Your Audience Never Leaves: Digital Tools to Support Live Interactions

Click to Enter: Opening New Doors to Employee Engagement

Drive Systemic Change Beyond Social Media

Inside GM: Engaging Employees Before, During and After a Crisis

Rilla delorier and Chuck allen, Suntrust Banks

mike Standish, pBJS

Becky Graebe, SaS

Ben Edwards, iBm

Katie mcBride, General motors

Scott Spreier, the hay Group

melissa mcvicker, intel

ChaptER 3: CREatinG BRand ChampionS41

42

33

44

36

People-Powered Brands: Empowering a Tribe of Internal Advocates

Connecting with Candidates and Newly Hired Employees Before and After Day 1

Do It Like Marketers Do – Treating Employees as a Key Audience

38

47

50

Becoming an Employer of Choice from the Inside Out

The Digital Divide: Global Engagement at All Levels

Unleashing Employee Potential

Internal and External Rebranding: Connecting the Dots and the People

Cameron Batten, american Express

Bruce Brooks, interface FLoR

Ben Brooks, Former marsh

anthony d’angelo, itt

Geno Church, author, Brains on Fire

allison Bunin, north Shore-LiJ health System

Ellen valentine, Silverpop

There may be no better time in history to be a communications professional. There are more tools available to

us than ever before, and the tools themselves allow us to shape our experiences and share our learnings for

continual improvement.

We’re especially fortunate to be working in the age of social media. What was once thought to be a business

distraction has evolved into an essential business communications platform with endless applications – the

most logical and adaptable of which is employee engagement.

Social media in the workplace is a fascinating phenomenon because it bubbled up from the bottomand drove

those at the top to rethink the way they do things. People of every age and socioeconomic level live digital

lifestyles. They want the place where they spend most of their waking hours – the workplace – to function

the same way. The great news is that companies are now using digital and social tools in all areas of business,

employees are participating and everyone is benefitting. Social media is exploding, but the best is yet to come.

As we assembled our lineup of speakers for PRSA’sConnect 13: Engaging the Social Workforce, I was amazed at

the vast range of social media programs and platforms they’ve implemented for millions of employees around

the world. They’re living proof that you don’t need huge budgets or armies of people to effectively engage

employees and impact results with social media. What you do need are resourcefulness, ingenuity and, as with

any initiative, a sound strategy tied to business objectives.

This eBook contains insights gleaned from each presenter during the event. Throughout the eBook you’ll be

able to compare our written learnings with illustrations of each company’s journey in engaging their employees

along with short videos to give you a flavor of the event. We hope you enjoy and learn from each of the

elements.

I want to thank everyone who participated in Connect 13, especially our speakers who allowed us to share their

stories in the following pages. I’m confident their experiences and ideas will inspire you to use social media to

achieve great results in your organization.

Best regards,

Brian Burgess

Practice Director, Brand and Talent

MSLGROUP North America

Evolving Leadership Styles, Tools and Programs to Engage 21st Century Employees

Engaging the Social Workforce

05

06

ChaptER 1LEADERS GET ENGAGEDLeaders’ roles and spheres of influence have changed dramatically in recent years. authority wields less power than it used to; instead, people respond to leaders who are transparent, visionary and committed to a purpose. See how leaders in some of the world’s most respected and iconic companies use social media to engage and inspire their employees in good time and bad.

Engaging the Social Workforce Leaders Get Engaged

07

How Global Trends Affect Employee Communication and Engagement

It’s impossible to have engaged employees

without good leadership, but the fact is,

leadership may be losing its mojo. Far too many

leaders are unable or unwilling to adapt to

changes assaulting their organizations, which

emboldens disgruntled employees to grab

power and entitlement. Clearly, those in charge

need to shift the way they communicate if they

want people to listen and engage.

Leaders Get Engaged how Global trends affect Employee Communication and Engagement


Scott Spreier, The Hay Group

08

A number of factors led to this environment.

Since 2005, Fortune 500 company earnings

went up 16% and productivity increased 23%, but

wages rose only 2%. In other words, people are

doing more with less and not being rewarded. As

staff reductions eliminated management layers,

matrix organizations emerged where employees

end up mediating between multiple bosses

who don’t communicate. On top of all this, the

coercive style of leadership – necessary in a crisis

– continued to grow even after crises began to

subside.

The Hay Group’s research shows people who

work in good climates outperform those in

average climates by up to 30%. Their leaders

give them a purpose, job clarity, responsibility,

freedom, flexibility, coaching and a sense of

team, in other words, climates where people

want to come to work every day. Unfortunately,

more than half of employees say their work

environments are demotivating. Trust in CEOs

fell from 50% to 37% between 2011 and 2012,

while trust in employee peers went up. These

days, people are listening to each other more

than their leaders.

( Scott Spreier comments on the importance of a

good workplace climate. )

The Leadership Slide

So what happens now? While we’re slowly

coming out of the financial crisis, the future looks

even stranger than the past. A combination of

megatrends is predicted to affect us over the

next 20 years in ways we can’t yet see.

Globalization 2.0: Most of us understand

globalization intellectually, but find it hard to

internalize. We must realize that, especially in

the U.S., we’re one unit of a global business. We

have to learn to understand the rest of the world

if we’re going to operate effectively.

Global Warming: We don’t know what climate

change and environmental issues will bring or

how they will affect our organizations. More

hurricanes, typhoons and superstorms could

have a 9/11 type impact on business.

Demographic Changes: Multiple generations

in the workforcecan lead to talent wars and

fractured teams. To deal with the diversity, we

must be self-aware and have the emotional

intelligence to recognize and look past our own

filters in communicating with digital natives or

people from other cultures.

Individualization: People nowadays feel

entitled and younger generationsembrace

individualism more than the generations before

them.They have a lot of creativity and innovation,

but also a tendency toward chaos. We must learn

to tap the individualism and avoid the chaos!.

Digital Lifestyle: Everyone is always “on,”

information is always accessible and narratives

compete constantly. In a flatter world where the

divide between public and private is blurred, it’s

harder to engage people. Positional power and

titles are becoming things of the past; digital

anarchy is the new norm.

The Road Ahead



http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Scott%20Spreier_SHORT_Employee%20Engagement.mov

09

1. Focus on the narrative, not just the numbers.When all people hear about are numbers, they

lose their sense of purpose and reasons to

come to work every day. Neurological tests bear

this out. When you only talk numbers, nothing

happens. When you tell a story, the brain lights

up. We can’t keep talking in sound bites. We

must replace the spinning with contextual

transparency, stop being opinion junkies and look

for more facts and unvarnished truths.

2. Stop trying to control the message. Digital communication enables the

disenfranchised and allows people to say

whatever they want. Right now, they’re in sleeper

cells, happy to have jobs. When things get better,

they’ll become active and could sabotage your

organization. Call it the employee spring; it’s very

powerful and very hard to control.

3. Align what you say with what you do. Successful businesses have a shared purpose

and use organizational messages to reinforce

it. As the keepers of reality, leaders must

continually ensure formal communications and

actions are aligned.

4. Help leaders unleash their inner pirates. Pirates are bold, courageous and not afraid

to bend the rules. They’re willing to sail

unchartered territory and work without a net.

They aren’t afraid to make changes and bring

people along with them. Good leaders are

innovative, visionary, curious and never satisfied.

They make the narrative their own and navigate

the system to best advantage.

What We Need to Do Better

Engaging employees begins with strong leaders

who, when faced with a dead end, look at all the

options and go. The trends tell us there could be

lots of apparent dead ends ahead, but none that

can’t be overcome. Embracing the inner pirate is

a good first step.

Scott Spreier, Hay Group’s leadership and talent

practice leader, helps executives around the globe

more effectively address key organizational and

business issues including sustainable growth

and strategic alignment. Working with individual

executives and senior teams, he helps clients

focus on creating climates and cultures that

embrace change and enhance performance

to drive business results. Scott has consulted

with a number of Fortune 500 companies in

sectors including government, technology,

telecommunications and pharmaceuticals.

Our frenetic, fast-faced, fractured world presents many challenges for today’s leaders, but there are many

things they can do to overcome them. For instance:



10

How do you bring together 100,000 employees

to talk about your brand? At Intel, it started

with a bold vision: “This decade, we will create

and extend computing technology to connect

and enrich the life of every person on earth.” A

statement like that is no doubt powerful, but

even Intel’s leaders didn’t realize the impact it

would have on their employees.

Aligning and Inspiring EmployeesMelissa McVicker, Intel

Leaders Get Engaged aligning and inspiring Employees melissa mcvicker, intel

11

For years, Intel was admired as a technology

darling boasting high stock prices, rapid growth

and big bonuses. Everything changed in the mid-

2000s, as the tech crash drove restructuring,

cost-cutting, increased employee turnover and

devalued stock options.

The turning point came in 2010, when

Intel realized their customary, top-down

communication wasn’t working in a complex

business with expanding product lines and

markets. Intel was no longer their employees’

first source of information; instead, people were

turning to Twitter and other media channels to

get news in real time. Leaders knew they had

to align with their employees’ needs if they

wanted them to not just hear the words, but to

take action. And they had to make an emotional

connection, which is where the bold vision came

in. Rather than saying, “let’s go build the next

product,” the Intel vision inspired people. It

was a galvanizing force that showed where the

company was going and how employees could

help achieve that goal.

Changing Times

Intel is a company of engineers who are not always the easiest to reach. The internal communications team uses lots of different ways to get through to them, forgoing strategy language and bullet points for fun, funny and interactive messages to inspire the next great innovation. Most communications fall into one of three broad categories: Inspire Me, Connect Me and Value Me.

Inspire Me Intel is a very technical company where it’s hard for employees to explain what they do, especially to outsiders. To make it easier, the communications team created an intranet platform where employees can share the Intel story, then recruited ambassadors to start the conversations. It didn’t take long before people were engaging before they were asked to. One example is the team who, on their own, turned a code of conduct training course into a fun, Bollywood style presentation with much greater impact than the conventional version.

Connect Me Intel is serious about engaging their employees. All intranet articles allow comments and dialogue. All full-time employees can have a company blog. They tap the “wisdom of the crowd,” through Intelpedia, Ask a Geek forums and forums for asking for peer advice during annual benefits enrollment. Employees can personalize their intranet home pages with the modules of their choice – and 40% did within the first few months. The Intel intranet also encourages conversations with executives through leader profiles, blogs, one-to-a-few sessions and quarterly webcasts.

Value Me Online platforms are perfect for showing employees you care, in small and big ways. Intel started with fun recognition rewards like movie tickets and debit cards, and soon added online tutoring and information about tuition assistance, health centers and scholarships. They found that employees may not realize the benefits they’re already getting, so they use social media to raise awareness of perks such as stock options using friendly, easy to understand language.

Breaking Through


12

Intel leaders understand the need for employee

engagement, especially using the technology

and devices they’re moving toward as a

business. They know they need to be where

their employees are instead of forcing them into

channels they don’t want to use. They really want

to know what employees are thinking and why

something isn’t working so they can ask them to

be part of the solution.

Since Intel started using digital platforms to

engage employees, organizational health scores

have gone up, dialogue is trending positive,

turnover is less than 2% and pride is at a record

high. They see mobile as their next area of

growth, since they have 40,000 manufacturing

employees without access to PCs. So far, they’ve

created an internal app employees can put on

their personal devices to receive news, benefits

information and other company updates.

Intel knows engaging 100,000 people starts with

a good story. Employees have the stories; all you

have to do is find ways to get them out there.

It’s Working!Melissa McVicker is the director of employee

communications at Intel. With more than 15 years

in communications and marketing at Intel, she

manages all communications to global employees,

including Intel’s intranet and social media and

executive communications. She managed global

product launches, oversaw sales and customer

communications and was co-director of Intel’s

Global Communications team.


( Melissa McVicker talks about what leaders must

do to engage employees )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Melissa%20McVicker,%20Intel.mov

13

The SunTrust journey to convert from a mission-

driven company to a purpose-driven company

started more than 10 years ago. But because

SunTrust teammates (employees) were so

focused on perspiration instead of inspiration,

the dialogue had to shift to remind them of the

noble work they do as a bank.

Rilla Delorier and Chuck Allen, SunTrust Banks

Purpose Driven Leadership and How It Is Transforming SunTrust

Leaders Get Engaged purpose driven Leadership and hot it is transorming Suntrust

Rilla delorter and Chuck allen, Suntrust Banks

14

Not that long ago, business was all about

shareholder value. In recent years, however,

experts realized purpose was a strong driver of

business metrics including attraction, retention

and productivity. Purpose- and values-driven

organizations were shown to outperform

comparison companies by 16 to one. Firms with

shared values-based cultures enjoyed 400%

higher revenues,700% greater job growth and

1,200% higher stock prices.

The numbers didn’t stop there. According to the

book,Firms of Endearment, purpose-driven firms

produced an outstanding aggregate return of

1,025% over the past 10 years, compared to 122%

for the S&P 500. And MillwardBrown research

The Business Side of Purpose showed values-driven brands outperform

the competition by five times shareholder

growth. These results, coupled with high profile

examples such as American Standard fixing

latrines in developing countries, and Dove raising

teenage girls’ self-esteem, seemed enough

to sell a purpose driven approach to any CEO.

Purpose, however, is rare in service organizations

like banks, so SunTrust dug up even more facts

to support this direction, specifically related to

people engagement. They found, for example,

that 65% of respondents to a 2012 Calling

Brands study said purpose would motivate them

to go the “extra mile” in their jobs. Sixty-four

percent said it would engender a greater sense of

loyalty toward the organization they work for.



15

How to measure success. Purpose requires

a whole new metric system. You’re not selling

something, you’re doing good and creating

intrinsic value that can be difficult to measure.

How to manage reputation. Even doing good

won’t make everyone happy. Shareholders may

question your position if they don’t agree with the

causes you support. With purpose, reputation has

to be built from the inside out, with everything you

do as a company aligned.

How to manage the integrity gap. For purpose-

driven companies, there can be no difference

between what you say and what you do, both

as a company and as individuals. Leaders must

carefully scrutinize how they spend their time,

where they spend their money, what questions

they frequently ask other people, what they

celebrate, what they reward and what keeps them

up at night. If there are gaps between purpose and

actions, they must take steps to close them.

What It Takes to Be a Purpose Driven Leader

For SunTrust, the integrity gap was a huge divide

between how they wanted to be perceived and

how people perceive banks as a whole. As a result

of the financial crisis, only 36% of Americans

have confidence in the banking industry and only

31% think their banks help them. When it comes

to financial services, people don’t want to be

cross-sold, bundled or deepened, they want help

from someone they trust. SunTrust, like many

companies, found the fruits are in the roots. They

unearthed their founding values, which were

to build communities and back dreams. They

rediscovered their purpose to light the way to

financial wellbeing.

SunTrust knew positioning as a purpose-driven company required more than just talk. Leaders had to do

introspective work first and make a decision that went beyond jumping on the purpose bandwagon. They knew

this commitment would take guts; too many leaders are content to simply make a point and too few want to

truly make a difference. SunTrust didn’t want to just fan the flames of their own constituency. They wanted to

convince people who think differently than they do, find work that needs to be done and bring people together

to do it.

SunTrust discovered that to be a purpose-driven company, they had to challenge themselves on several fronts:



SunTrust engaged teammates in the company’s

renewed purpose by communicating its

principles, values and performance promises,

which emphasize deep client relationships,

teamwork, productivity and financial results.

They are igniting a movement to show people

that net worth does not equal self-worth, and to

help them feel better about their finances even

if they’re living close to the edge. The SunTrust

brand message, “how can we help you SHINE

today,” speaks to the circumstances clients

are going through, rather than talking about

checking accounts and bank services.

What SunTrust sells is the way their teammates

interact with clients. To create new client

experiences that reflect the company’s purpose,

they had to start with the heart and minds of their

teammates. Conversations in social media and

other channels help teammates understand what

clients are going through and make interactions

much more impactful and meaningful.

Connecting the Dots

16

RillaDelorier is chief marketing and client

experience officer for SunTrust Banks, Inc. She is

responsible for the company’s advertising, direct

marketing, brand management, sponsorships,

client analytics, cross-channel strategy, web

solutions, line of business marketing, corporate

communications and client loyalty programs. With

a focus on leveraging client insight to enhance the

bank’s operations, Rilla and her team use client

feedback and analytics to design client experiences

that reinforce the SunTrust brand promise and

increase loyalty. She was recognized in 2011 by

American Banker as one of the “Top 25 Women

to Watch in Banking” and serves on the Board of

Directors for the Bank Administration Institute

(BAI).

Chuck Allen is senior vice president, enterprise

change management for SunTrust Banks, Inc.

He helps lead a Center of Expertise that guides

the company’s approach to multiple large-scale

change initiatives and equipping leadership to

improve employee capability to move through

change quickly and effectively. Prior to that, Chuck

was senior vice president, director of internal

communications, where he was responsible

for managing internal communications and

communications services.



( RillaDelorier stresses the importance of

teammates’ interactions with clients. )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Rilla%20Delorier,%20SunTrust%20Banks.mov

17

SAS is consistently ranked a “best place to work.”

They have 13,500 employees in 56 countries and

an internal communications team of 10 people

who manage to keep everyone connected with

absolutely no print media.

SAS takes its digital communication cues from

the outside world. They created a collaborative

environment based on Facebook, a real-time

news approach patterned after Twitter and

professional connections and groups similar to

LinkedIn. They looked to YouTube for how to use

eyewitness and amateur video, My YAHOO! for

news and information filters and subscription

features, Google for optimized search and

Pinterest for sharing photos. Modeling internal

platforms after popular real-world channels

almost guaranteed adoption and eliminated the

need for training.

Becky Graebe, SAS

Click to Enter: Opening New Doors to Employee Engagement

At the heart of the company’s internal

communication network is theSAS Wide Web,

a searchable intranet packed with news, daily

employee spotlights, videos and employee-

generated content and feedback. SAS knows

tools like these have to be interesting and

interactive to keep people coming back, so

they weave fun, unexpected elements into the

site. They’re also sensitive to the fact that their

audience is global, and provide a corporate

“wrapper” that accommodates local country

content and native languages.

Leaders Get Engaged Click to Enter: opening new doors to Emplyee Engagement

Becky Graebe, SaS

18

Because they have a small staff and a large, diverse audience, the SAS team has to be efficient and creative.

A few key principles keep communications on track, consistent and aligned with the SAS culture of

collaboration, innovation and fun.

Encourage interaction. Employees can

comment, share and like every news story on

the SAS Wide Web through integration with the

social media platform. Nothing is anonymous,

and the social media policy is readily available.

Get families involved. SAS has an external

site for U.S. families to communicate benefits,

corporate health services, activities, lunch menus

and other items of interest. This offloads the HR

team, saves on printed materials and deepens

employee relationships.

Let employees tell their stories. SAS makes

it easy for employees to submit stories, photos

and videos, and simple Q&A profile forms let

them talk about themselves, their roles and their

interests outside work. The communications

team does very little editing to keep the stories

genuine.

Make connections with executives. In addition

to executive blogs and webcasts, SAS uses

interactive games and profiles to make their

executives approachable.

Engagement Principles

Have fun. Quirky holidays, junk swaps, recipe

contests – it’s all in a day’s work at SAS. The

communications team constantly looks for new

ways to celebrate events and expand on fun

things employees are already doing rather than

forcing corporate mandates.

Ask employees what they think. SAS polls

employees on topics ranging from how they

shop for gas to what text message they would

send to Steve Jobs. They believe if employees

get comfortable sharing their opinions on silly

things, they’llbe more likely to give input when

you really need it.

Don’t take the social out of social networking. SAS launched The Hub, its social networking

platform, in February 2011. It now has almost

10,000 active accounts and more than 1,000

work and personal interest groups. It’s proven to

be great for peer to peer recognition, identifying

emerging leaders and influencers, and global

collaboration.


Becky Graebe, SaS

19

SAS’ employee engagement success is

evident. The company continues to be a highly

rated employer by Fortune and other leading

indicators, internal communication survey

results are positive and employee participation

and use of communication tools are high. SAS

isn’t resting on its laurels, though. Next up are

more video, greater content syndication and

distribution, and mobile-ready apps and pages

to further tap the vast potential of employee

engagement. SAS knows the next big idea is

sitting in the mind of one of their employees.

The best they can do is provide the tools and

platforms that allow ideas to flourish.

Next Up

Becky Graebe, internal communications

manager at SAS, oversees traditional employee

communications efforts and the intranet and

internal social networking channels to ensure the

company’s 13,000 employees around the world are

well-informed and connected.


Becky Graebe, SaS

( Becky Graebe talks about where the next big idea

will come from )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Becky%20Graebe,%20SAS.mov

General Motors (GM) is one of the world’s largest

automakers. But as they celebrated their 100th

anniversary, they also faced one of the most

difficult periods in their history. After a financial

decline that led to a government bailout and

bankruptcy, GM emerged as a newly restructured

company that paid back its government loans

five years ahead of schedule and began the

journey back to leading edge status. Through it

all, employee communications and engagement

played crucial roles in keeping people focused

on making and selling cars and trucks.

Katie McBride, General Motors

Inside GM: Engaging Employees Before, During and After a Crisis

20 Leaders Get Engaged inside Gm: Engaging Emplyees Before, during and after a Crisis

Katle mcBride, General motors

21

As a company with more 217,000 employees and operations in 140 countries, GM has always had a potent

internal communications engine. During the bankruptcy, time-tested tools such as quarterly business update

broadcasts, town halls, an intranet and internal blogs were supplemented with CEO global web chats, regular

videos of the senior leadership team and a forum called, “Answer Me Now,” to quickly address what was on

employees’ minds in real language with no spin.

While the GM bankruptcy communication strategy was developed in response to a crisis, it is a solid approach

for any employee engagement program and focused on three key things:

On Solid Ground

1. Keep leaders visible and accessible. GM’s top messages to employees were: 1) the

company was not going away, 2) they were

building the best products in their history, 3)

they had the tools to rebuild the company and 4)

every employee played a role. They used internal

and external blogs, broadcast and written

messages, employee letters, FAQs and video

clips from town halls and press conferences

to keep employees informed of what was

happening and how they would be affected.

2. Reach global audiences in meaningful, relevant ways. Correctly timing communications to a worldwide

audience took a lot of coordination. The GM

team also had to interpret the meaning and

repercussions of bankruptcy in multiple

countries. Although many non-U.S. employees

were not significantly affected, they were hungry

for information about the mother ship and

what the crisis meant to them. GM provided

core information in 14 languages to global

communication partners who customized and

distributed it to their local audiences.

3. Use employees as ambassadors to help tell the story. After GM emerged from bankruptcy, the

communications team found pentup emotion

and fatigue among employees, as well as intense

pride and desire to prove they could come back

stronger than ever. They tapped into this positive

energy to rebuild relationships with stakeholders,

rejuvenate a very damaged reputation and

refocus on selling more cars and trucks.

Leaders Get Engaged inside Gm: Engaging Emplyees Before, during and after a Crisis


22

GM quickly realized that to capitalize on the

positive momentum of rebuilding, they had to

empower employees with tools and information

so they could serve as ambassadors for their

products, brands and the company. They also

saw the opportunity for employees to humanize

GM at a time when people were angry at them for

taking taxpayer money. They instituted a product

ambassador programthat allows people to take

vehicles home for a weekend and show themoff,

and employee ride and drives where employees

test drive GM and competitor cars and trucks at

their worksites to build product knowledge. An

employee journalist program encourages people

to volunteer to cover GM events in blogs, the

online newsletter and through word-of-mouth to

friends and co-workers.

No employee ambassador program works

if employees aren’t knowledgeable about

the company and products. GM developed

a number of training and information tools

including product microsites, sites and apps

for providing customer discounts or help with a

dealer or service issue, and opportunities to visit

dealerships and call centers to better understand

what customers need and value.

GM does a lot to engage employees through

social media tools, including clear guidelines

and training. They have a Facebook fanpage

where employees post news items, product

information, photos and stories; a Twitter

presence where employees engage with

87,000 followers and tweet about products and

positive things happening inside the company;

and a GM Google+ newsroom page with more

than one million followers. They encourage

employees to proactively reach out to auto,

business, mommy and environmental bloggers,

and maintain an active “Faces of GM” blog to

humanize the company with stories, video and

photos of employees and how their work benefits

customers. One of the newest and most popular

social media channels is OverDrive, a Web-based

chat tool that allows employees to ask questions

and get answers from their colleagues. About

40,000 employees participate and there are

around 1,200 conversations each week.

Engaging with the Brand

Social Media,GM Style



23

GM has shifted its communications from

defensive bankruptcy education to proactive

product promotion – with big benefits. Internally,

it puts authority and responsibility in employees’

hands, strengthens pride and morale and ignites

passion and enthusiasm. It gets employees

out of the workplace so they can interact with

customers and each other while they learn about

products.Bottom line, it’s changing the culture.

Externally, GM employee engagement helps

build relationships with customers, makes

the brand vision personaland lets consumers

experience products outside the dealership.

When consumers can connect and relate to the

people and products behind the headlines, they

become supporters and even advocates.

GM’s journey was difficult, but along with

the pain came powerful lessons on using

communications and employee engagement to

weather a storm and emerge stronger.

1. Unleashing employees can be risky. There

will be missteps and mistakes, but the long-term

benefits are worth it.

2. Engagement takes time. Employees must

make engagement part of their daily routines for

it to pay dividends.

3. Perseverance is a must. Changing a culture

and image is a long process; every small win

should be celebrated.

4. Success requires leadership and support. Employees can’t change the climate alone.

Leaders must be committed and willing to do

their part.

GM saw the power of being transparent during a

crisis and they continue this philosophy as they

rebuild their company, brand and reputation.

When they know the whole story, employees get

behind it, understand where they were going and

take ownership in success.

Katie McBride was appointed executive director

of GM Community Connections in March 2011.

She had been executive director of GM Global

Product Operations and Environment and Energy

Communications, following key leadership roles

in Regional and Grassroots Communications and

Global Internal and Executive Communications.

Engagement Pays Off



( Katie McBride shares the vital need for

transparency during a crisis )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Katie%20McBride,%20GM.mov

24

People who work in good climates where there’s

a sense of purpose and job clarity outperform

those in average climates by up to 30%.

Leaders must focus on the narrative, not just the

numbers.

Leaders are the keepers of reality and must

continually ensure communications and actions

are aligned.

People need emotional connections to their work

to make it meaningful. A bold vision is key.

Smart leaders tap into the “wisdom of the

crowd.”

Good leaders communicate with employees

where they are instead of forcing them into

channels they don’t want to use.

Purpose- and values-driven organizations

outperform comparison companies by 16 to one.

Leader Engagement: The Big Ideas

Good leaders don’t just fan the flames of their

own constituencies. They convince people who

think differently than they do, find work that

needs to be done and bring people together to

do it.

Modeling internal communication platforms

after popular real-world channels almost

guarantees adoption and eliminates the need for

training.

Smart companies don’t take the social out of

social networking. They encourage personal

interest groups, peer to peer recognition and

global collaboration.

Employees who have the right tools and

information are great ambassadors for products,

brands and the company.

Employees can’t change the climate alone.

Leaders must be committed and willing to do

their part.

Leaders Get Engaged: the Big ideas

25

ChaptER 2ENGAGEMENT IS FOREvERSocial media communication is not “of the moment,” it is an ongoing engagement of people, ideas and actions. See how organizations of every size take a strategic approach to social media to drive consistency, deepen commitments and create cultural change.

Engaging the Social Workforce Engagement is Forever

Live events may be the ultimate employee

engagement opportunities. Done well, they

encompass everything from social media to

sensory experiences to live interactions. As a

leading creative agency and producer of live

events, PBJS has developed powerful principles

for engaging audiences before, during and after

the event.

Mike Standish, PBJS

Your Audience Never Leaves: Digital Tools to Support Live Interactions

26 Engagement is Forever mike Standish, pBJSYour audience never Leaves: digital tools to Support Live interactions

27

Event planning begins with the stories you want to share. With meaningful, inspiring content, you can use

communication and engagement tools to build a community or family around your brand and ideas. The next

step is to develop the event strategy. When does an event begin? When the audience first hears from you.When

does an event end? Never.An event is not just what happens on a given day. It’s a yearly calendar of nurturing

the community you want to build. Employees are part of that ongoing story and should be engaged long after

the physical event is over.

Events have five touch points, all of which are opportunities to engage and inspire employees using digital as

well as conventional tools.

1. Before: Establish your brand with a

consistent story, look and feel across all media

to build awareness and credibility. Choose the

communication channels most appropriate to

your audience. Does Facebook make sense?

How about a dedicated website? Use digital

tools only if they’re useful and inspiring, such as

gathering presentation ideas from employees

and letting them vote on what they want to see

and experience.

2. Entering: Set the tone as employees arrive

at your event, using the moment to preview

the story you want to tell. If appropriate, use

digital tools such as QR codes to communicate

schedules or make check-in easier.

3. During: Obviously, content is everything. If

a digital platform will enrich the experience, go

for it.Live interaction where employees can text

questions during the presentation, for example,

keeps content fresh and relevant. Just make sure

the technology works and is mixed with tried and

true tools.

It’s All About the Story

4. Downtime: Don’t overlook breaks and meals as

opportunities to extend your story or event brand

and further engage employees. An Instagram photo

booth is a fun way for people to interact and walk

away with physical and digital reminders of their

experiences. Device charging stations are not only

convenient, they show empathy for employees’

digital lifestyles and needs.

5. After: First, say thank you, then ask for feedback.

Make your evaluation fun and playful so people

will actually do it. Be smart about follow up; tell

people when they’ll hear from you again and invite

them to participate in the next event to maintain the

feeling of community. Don’t say goodbye; continue

conversations in meaningful ways.

Engagement is Forever mike Standish, pBJSYour audience never Leaves: digital tools to Support Live interactions

28

A live event seems like the perfect venue for

digital tools. They’re interactive, easy to use and

can raise an event’s hip factor a notch or two. But

just because something’s available doesn’t mean

it should be used. Whether you’re thinking about

using them before, during and/or after an event,

ask these questions before checking yes on the

digital tools box.

• Does it make the event easier to experience?

• Does it enrich the content? (Eye candy

doesn’t count.)

• Does it inspire employees to attend and/or

take action?

• Does it help build a community?

• Does it extend the event’s impact after it’s

over?

• Is it available to and accessible by all

employees, including those who may be new

to technology?

Big or small, frequent or rare, live events are

great employee engagement opportunities.

Digital tools can help extend the engagement

and make your events more productive and

worthwhile than ever before.

In the spirit of social engagement, we asked

Connect 13 attendees to tweet their questions

to Mike Standish during his presentation on live

events. Here are a few of their thought-provoking

questions and Mike’s inspired answers.

Q: Ever notice so many events feel like school? Just look at room layout. How can you make events participatory?

A: For so long, live employee events have been

executives on a stage talking to the audience.

That structure will not likely go away, but

surrounding it with participatory elements can

make it more enriching and inspiring. Use social

networks to poll the audience during a keynote,

for instance, to empower employees with partial

ownership of the presentation. Invite employees

to shape the content of the event. This takes

planning and executive trust, but satisfaction

scores increase when you turn the spotlight on

employees and invite them to participate.

Q: Thoughts around branding/promoting ongoing live events such as quarterly exec webcasts?

A: A quarterly webcast should get the same

treatment as any live event. Give it an identifiable

brand, name, look and feel that is easily

recognizable—because you’re not just shooting a

webcast. There should be a website. Promotional

emails. Motion graphics in the video. Use email

announcements, employee contests and user-

submitted content within the webcast to grow

viewership. Unify these assets with a style guide

for art directors and others developing collateral.

Here are three things to consider:

Digital Tools: Yes or No?

Live Events: What’s On Your Mind?

Engagement is Forever mike Standish, pBJSYour audience never Leaves: digital tools to Support Live interactions

( Mike Standish outlines his criteria for using digital

tools at live events )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Mike%20Standish,%20PBJS%20-%20KEYNOTE%20SHORT_Rules%20for%20Live%20Events.mov

29

Contact: Mike Standish

+1 (206) 399 1118

[email protected]

Mike Standish is senior director of content strategy

for PBJS Seattle. His 15-year career has spanned

a wide range of creative media, from print, film

and Web content production to online branded

entertainment and corporate communications.

Mike has directed campaigns for Microsoft,

Intel, The Walt Disney Company, AT&T, The Bill

& Melinda Gates Foundation and many more.

As a content strategist and creative director, he

understands the importance of communicating an

effective brand narrative to a targeted audience and

serves client needs with engaging, eye-catching

content execution.

1. Without a brand of its own, an event can

disappear within your larger brand ecosystem.

2. Find an identity that stands out, yet makes sense

within the context of your brand as a whole.

3. Be creative within a brand without breaking its

rules. The event aesthetic must make sense when

seen side by side with your overall branding.

Q: Events on a budget? Advice for nonprofits?

A: There’s no magic bullet for doing live events on

a budget, but digital tools can help. Try a webinar or

Skype/Google Hangout-style meeting, promoted

with print collateral, signage and other branded

elements distributed to all your locations. This

extends the event brand to conference rooms and

common areas to turn it into something different

and exciting. When your print collateral matches

what’s onscreen, it brings it all together nicely. And

remember, no matter what your budget is, the real

heroes of any event are content and speakers.

Q: What are the top enterprise social networking tools today?

A: Companies that want Facebook-level social

networking including profile pages, commenting,

etc., often create those experiences from scratch

– a massive undertaking and not for everyone.

Solutions that cost practically nothing include:

• Base camp: Track project files and bring

teams together through custom task lists,

messages and more.

• Instant messaging: Use Microsoft’s Lync and

similar products for IM, video conferencing

and more.

• Existing social networks: Facebook and

Twitter are ubiquitous for a reason. Use them

for live events by creating a Facebook Group

just for the event. Hashtag like crazy. It’s

simple and underscores your event brand.

• Event brite: Organize live events and use

application partners to extend your reach to a

variety of devices for minimal cost.

29Engagement is Forever mike Standish, pBJSYour audience never Leaves: digital tools to Support Live interactions

Many companies assume employee engagement

affects financial performance; IBM knows it

for a fact. Surveys show the most important

factor in the IBM experience is the person you

interact with, not advertising and other marketing

vehicles where the most money is spent. The

IBM operating model says financial performance

is a function of the client experience, which in

turn is a function of employee engagement.

Ben Edwards, IBM

Drive Systemic Change Beyond Social Media

30 Engagement is Forever Ben Edwards, iBmdrive Systemic Change Beyond Social media

31

How does a giant like IBM engage 450,000

employees and influence the workflow to drive

financial success? The mission is simple: to

shape opinions by activating IBMers. At IBM, they

don’t talk about social media or computing, they

talk about social business. It’s not a channel or

platform or technology, it’s a transformation that

began back in 2005 with blogging guidelines.

Today, social business at IBM is how they

work and how they engage clients, prospects,

investors and communities. They’re redesigning

workflows to be transparent, accessible, client-

centric and responsive, and to encourage

expertise sharing. In short, the primary goal of

social media is to connect and do business.

Back in 2005, IBM employees were encouraged

to blog internally and externally for knowledge

management. The current approach is much

more intentional and focused on helping

The Business of Social

employees get better at using social tools

internally and externally. In the last few years,

the risk has shifted from brand and reputation

to cyber security. Social media has become

an important attack vector and social media

engineering is much more sophisticated. IBM

wants their people to understand the risk and be

experts at it.

Engagement is Forever Ben Edwards, iBmdrive Systemic Change Beyond Social media

32

Web services for partnersand sellers. IBM

makes external marketing support services

available on demand. Stock images on the

website have been replaced with authentic IBM

people, which increases trust and liftspage

performance by 15-20%.

Helping employees engage successfully in social business. IBM Select educates, enables,

measures and optimizes employees’ social

media participation for business. Employees take

an in-depth online behavioral assessment that

helps IBM understand individual social media

strengths and assign tasks based on experience

and preferences. IBM can also determine where

employees engage and what content or activities

would suit them best, thus increasing the chance

of conversion, or the desired action from the

audience.

Content aggregator. IBM Voices is a website that

aggregates and presents social business content

from IBMers from around the world in one spot.

Instead of striving to speak to stakeholders in

one voice, IBM wants clients, prospects and other

influencers to know what IBMers are thinking and

talking about.

Powerful Tools and Tenets

Learning and doing. The Digital IBMer Hub

offers broad education on social and security

topics, gives access to technologies and tools

and highlights social business resources.

Ben Edwards is vice president, digital strategy

and development at IBM. He leads the design and

development of branded IBM experiences across

digital media to connect and mobilize clients,

partners, employees and the communities in

which IBM does business. These experiences span

websites, Web applications, mobile applications,

social media and cloud computing interfaces.

Social business at IBM takes many forms, each with clearly defined objectives and guidelines. While these

programs are specific to IBM’s needs, their tenets can be adapted to build strong social business tools and

platforms in other environments where connectivity and collaboration are essential.

Engagement is Forever Ben Edwards, iBmdrive Systemic Change Beyond Social media

33

North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System

(NS-LIJ) is the largest employer in New York

State, with more than 43,000 employees and

100-200 more joining every week at dozens of

locations. One of the problems with such a large

workforce is managing new hires in the vast

network, especially in an industry where almost

all resources are spent on patient care. You have

to be savvy about using digital tools to capture

employees’ attention the moment they begin

interacting with you. You have to make sure your

employer brand is strong and consistent through

the onboarding process and beyond.

Allison Bunin, North Shore-LIJ Health System

Connecting with Candidates and Newly Hired Employees Before and After Day 1

Engagement is Forever allison Bunin, north Shore-LiJ health System

Connecting with Candidates and newly hired Emplyees Before and after day 1,

34

A few years ago, new employees joining NS-LIJ

were unimpressed with the recruiting website

and no one connected with them from the time

theywere hired until they started their jobs. For

many employees, the first two days of orientation

were clinically focused and not relevant to

the jobs they were hired for. Quite simply, the

company did not engage people when they took

the job, and treated them all the same once

they got it. NS-LIJ squandered a significant

opportunity to shape its corporate s with the

influx of new recruits.

In the healthcare business, it’s necessary to

communicate that the patient comes first.

Therefore, it can be a challenge to let employees

know where they stand, and do so with few

resources. Even more important is connecting

Looking Back

the dots from candidate to new hire to settled,

productive employee. After all, these people

are at a stage in their careers where they are

impressionable and crave connectivity and

purpose. The question becomes, how do you

engage, excite and inspire them on a regular

basis?



35

Build an employer value proposition. To get

employees invested in the company’s success,

NS-LIJ created a mantra, a flag for employees

to follow. They asked their people what they

cared about most. The answer? “Transforming

Care, Transforming Careers.” NS-LIJ leveraged

this message as much as possible, embedding

it throughout the application and onboarding

processes and beyond.

Grab their attention at orientation. The NS-LIJ

CEO gives a powerful, “transforming careers”

speech every week during new hire orientation.

The employee communications department

created an emotional and inspiring video using

nothing but a Mac computer to show what the

healthcare system means to its patients – a far

cry from clinical-based training.

Build the right career portal. NS-LIJ focused

their resources on Career Compass, essentially a

“new hire portal on steroids.” It personally guides

each new hire through the critical first 90 days on

the job, beginning the moment they sign on to

their computer after orientation.

Follow up. Once employees are settled, a great

way to keep them connected to your brand is

through social media. Only do this if you can

keep up with it though, as your social media

channels are only as good as their content.

Changing the way NS-LIJ interacts with

applicants and employees is an ongoing journey

with many challenges, but the results have

been worth it. Not everything has worked, so it’s

important to constantly reevaluate what you are

doing and change course if need be.

Many programs did work, however. The new

hire portal now receives more than 200,000

applicants a year, more newly hired employees

sign up for benefits and the new hire e-mail open

rate is up more than 24%.

Allison Bunin is assistant vice president of internal communications at the North Shore-LIJ Health System, a $6.5 billion health system with 16 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient facilities across metropolitan New York. She oversees all employee communications for a workforce of more than 45,000 and is responsible for driving the “employer/employee experience” through integrated communications.

Time to Reengage

NS-LIJ knew that connecting with employees before, during and after they were hired would boost morale

and productivity. They implemented several programs to change the experience and engage employees in a

positive, relationship-building ways.



https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&rurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.yousendit.com%252Ftransfer.php%253Faction%253Ddownload%2526ufid%253D5FB0742B1DD65D5F

36

Employee engagement can be labor-intensive,

especially in companies with thousands of

employees in multiple locations around

the country or around the world. Marketing

automation tools are one way to do more with

less while keeping engagement personal and

authentic.

Ellen Valentine, Silver Pop

Do It Like Marketers Do – Treating Employees as a Key Audience

Engagement is Forever Ellen valentine, Silver popdo it Like marketers do- treating Employees as a Key audience

37

1. Annual insurance or benefits opt-in: Tailor

messages and schedule them based on your

audience to avoid blasting everyone whether

they qualify or not. Build rules and let it run.

2. Happy birthday from the CEO:Personalize

messages with names and information such as

years of service.

3. Happy anniversary: Similar to birthdays, set

up special employee milestones as system rules

and implement automatically.

4. New employee onboarding: Drip-nurture new

hires with information on education, training,

orientation, etc. Track email opens to make sure

they’re accessing what they need.

5. Job applicants and inquiries:Capture contacts

and communicate with them over time to keep

your company in front of people who want to

work for you.

6. Facebook opt-ins: Nurture relationships with

people who show interest in your company.

7. Employee referral program: Send referral

rewards automatically as soon as employment

criteria are met.

8. Annual certifications: Schedule messages to

people when it’s time for training or certification

renewals.

Ten Steps to Engagement

9. Event opt-ins: Using a Web form on your

intranet, automate event registration and track

who has signed up. Schedule a second wave

reminder.

10. Influencer/outside recruiter updates: Use

automatic updates to communicate regularly

with the media, analysts and other influential

audiences. Content scraping lets you grab press

releases or product updates so you can create

new content.

Marketing automation is also valuable for

capturing social media activity such as white

paper downloads on Facebook and tracking

Twitter leads. All it takes are knowledge of what’s

possible, a vision of what you want to accomplish,

the skills to use the tools and a master

database that can be populated with employee

demographics, behaviors and interests. By

creating rules based on values in the database,

you ensure your audience gets communications

that are relevant, useful and interesting to them

as individuals.

Ellen Valentine is a product strategist for Silverpop,

the only digital marketing technology provider

that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile

and social. Ellen coaches and mentors clients to

adapt to new digital marketing practices to improve

business results, increase engagement and more

fully take advantage of Silverpop’s technology.

Here are 10 ways to reach employees, influencers, alumni and applicants using marketing automation.

Engagement is Forever Ellen valentine, Silver popdo it Like marketers do- treating Employees as a Key audience

38

Interface FLOR is the worldwide leader in the

design, production and sale of modular carpet

tile. The company has humble origins. Founded

in LaGrange, Georgia, in 1973, it has grown into

a complex global operation with 47 showrooms

and 3,300 employees who speak more than 40

languages and dialects. Interface services all

market segments, including corporate spaces,

hotels and homes. The founder’s mission,

however, was bigger than selling carpet. His

goal is as ambitious today as it was in the ‘70s:

to convert the product to one that’s completely

sustainable from an environmental perspective.

Bruce Brooks, Interface FLOR

The Digital Divide: Global Engagement at All Levels

Engagement is Forever Bruce Books, interface FLoR

the digital divide: Global Engagement at all Levels,

39

Mission Zero is Interface’s effort to eliminate

any negative impact the company has on the

environment by 2020. It requires cooperation,

input and buy-in from all Interface employees.

They are a company trying to change the world—

and they just happen to make carpet.

From the time he started Interface until his

death in 2011, founder Ray Andersen was

passionate about his vision and talked about it

at every opportunity. He worked hard to instill

that passion in his employees. Now, Interface

is working to honor his legacy and achieve his

Mission Zero goal by nurturing a passionate and

dedicated workforce. The company accomplishes

this in a number of ways:

• AsksfrontlineemployeeswhatMissionZero

means to them.

• Developedaconsistentonboardingprogram

so new employees around the word are aware

of the Mission Zero goal and its importance.

Part of this includes a video demonstrating

employee passion for Mission Zero.

• Buildsawareness,excitementandbelief

that the company will achieve its goal. For

instance, in Thailand, Interface is reclaiming

discarded fishing nets and turning them in

products.

• Adoptedanawardsprogramrecognizing

factory employees who live the mission.

• Implementedavisualfactorycampaignwith

posters and signs.

• Holdsquarterlymeetingstoassessprogress

and engage employees.

• Updatedtechnologyandtoolsforbetter

communication and collaboration.

Mission Zero

As the company talked to employees and

promoted Mission Zero, it discovered something

very important. Sustainability gives employees

something to believe in besides profit. The

program has inspired employees to bring

sustainability into their own lives, and has shown

how committed employees are to their founder’s

dream. The best news? The company is on track

to meet its Mission Zero goal.

Bruce Brooks is director of associate

communications for the Americas division of

Interface, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer

of modular carpet tiles and a global sustainability

leader. He oversees strategic communications

for associates in North America and Latin

America using a variety of channels to reach

both manufacturing and non-manufacturing

associates. Through a variety of communication

vehicles, he works to increase the level of employee

engagement in the company’s unique Mission

Zero brand promise – or its promise to eliminate

any negative impact the company’s operations

may have on the environment by 2020. Bruce has

led efforts to develop social media policies and

leverage social media tools for associates.

Engagement is Forever Bruce Books, interface FLoR

the digital divide: Global Engagement at all Levels,

40

With meaningful, inspiring content,

communication and engagement tools can build

a community or family around brands and ideas.

Social media conversations shouldn’t end; they

should continue in meaningful ways.

In many companies, financial performance is a

function of the client experience, which in turn is

a function of employee engagement.

Understanding employees’ social media

strengths can help determine where employees

engage and what content or activities would suit

them best, thus increasing the desired.

Instead of speaking to stakeholders in one voice,

smart companies let clients, prospects and other

influencers know what employees are thinking

and talking about.

Ongoing Engagement: The Big Ideas

Employer brands must strong and consistent

throughout the onboarding process and beyond.

A mantra or flag based on what employees care

most about gets them invested in company

success.

Creating database rules based on audience

values ensures communications are relevant,

useful and interesting to them as individuals.

Companies who give employees something to

believe in besides profit inspire them to bring the

goals into their own lives.

Engagement is Forever the Big ideas

41

ChaptER 3CREATING BRAND CHAMPIONSBranding no longer belongs to the marketing department or advertising agency; it’s every employee’s job to understand it, protect it and promote it. Whether they work in human resources, engineering or on the manufacturing line, employees can use social media to get the information and inspiration to become brand ambassadors.

Engaging the Social Workforce Creating Brand Champions

42

When you work in advertising, marketing or other

idea-pushing businesses, it’s easy to get caught

up in the work and lose interest in people. When

that happened at Brains on Fire, it was time for

a gut check. They decided they wanted their

brands to be voices and advocates for people,

and they started acting that way themselves.

A good example of the Brains on Fire philosophy

at work was when they accepted the challenge to

tackle the highest ever smoking rate amongU.S.

teens. They worked with teens who became

the voice of the message, talking about the

choice to smoke or not. They empowered

young people to become leaders and this very

successful program still exists today. Another

example was a fitness franchise client who

wanted to make fitness more real, more human.

Brains on Fire started conversations first with

employees. Then they engaged fitness “rebels:”

owners, trainers and employees who were using

different techniques to impact people’s lives.

Geno Church, Author, Brains on Fire

People-Powered Brands: Empowering a Tribe of Internal Advocates

They helped them form communities to connect

the unconnected. They made the brand real – and

customers took notice.

These stories illustrate the power of “tribal”

behavior, or people powered brands. According to

Seth Godin, a tribeisa group of people connected to

one another, connected to a leader and connected

to anidea. For millions of years, human beings have

been part of one tribe or an other. A group needs

only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and

away to communicate.

Encouraging tribal behavior is the perfect analogy

for empowering employees to be brand advocates.

For many of us, it also means unlearning what we’ve

learned and letting ourselves be guided by new

ways of thinking:

Creating Brand Champions Geno Church, Brains on Firepeople-powered Brands: Empowering a tribe of internal advocates

43

A powerful identity is a must. Be a little loose

with brand rules. Let your tribe fly their flag.

Don’t pick the advocates you want; let them

emerge.

Make your brand more human. Find your hand

raisers. Start the conversation locally and work

out from there.

Put people in the story and let them have ownership.Being part of a great story compels

us to share.

Build relationships. Love the people in your

tribe, warts and all.

Most of all, be real.

Geno Church, Brains on Fire’s word-of-mouth

inspiration officer, is responsible for developing

word-of-mouth, buzz, viral and evangelism

strategies for the agency’s clients. In his 14+ years

with Brains On Fire, he has helped build word-

of-mouth into the identities of brands including

Fiskars Brands, the American Booksellers

Association, Rawlings Sporting Goods and Rage

Against the Haze (South Carolina’s youth-led anti-

tobacco movement).

Creating Brand Champions Geno Church, Brains on Firepeople-powered Brands: Empowering a tribe of internal advocates

( Geno Church talks about tribal behavior )

http://connect13.mslgroup.com/videos/Geno%20Church_Keynote%20SHORT_2.mov

44

American Express is one of the world’s most

recognized brands, but they faced a unique

brand challenge. New technology platforms

and services require them to hire developers,

programmers and other types of talent who may

not think of American Express as an employer

of choice. To attract these candidates, the

company had to reengineer its recruiting model,

infrastructure and employee brand story to

define American Express as a great place to work

for a new kind of employee.

Cameron Batten, American Express

Becoming an Employer of Choice from the Inside Out

Creating Brand Champions Cameron Batten, american Express

Becoming an Emplyeer of Choice from the inside out

45

As a global, high-profile company, American

Express has a lot of product and service brands.

Their talent brand had to be consistent with the

global brand while telling a story that would

appeal to the candidates they wanted to target.

American Express’ first steps in developing a

talent brand were to research targets, interview

stakeholders, assess employee survey results

and look at competitors to identify what

differentiates American Express as an employer.

Using these insights, the team developed and

tested a talent brand position and narrative

centered on, “challenging work with a purpose.”

They also defined the traits they would look for in

potential employees.

Talent BrandPositioning

Mapping Talent Touch Points

The candidate decision cycle is not linear. People

experience and form impressions of American

Express and other potential employers at many

touch points, including YouTube, LinkedIn and

consumer advertising. Once they start engaging

as employment candidates on career sites, with

applications and during interviews, the brand

experience must be the same and the narrative

consistent.

American Express ensured this consistency

by 1) communicating the talent brand position

and recruiting strategy to senior leaders and

global recruitment teams, 2) launching talent

brand training and communications to hiring

leaders and human resources employees and

3) communicating recruitment campaigns

internally to all American Express employees.

Online tools and platforms including Webinars,

a recruiter community, a refreshed careers site,

a talent brand training site and an online talent

requisition process gave everyone easy access to

information and kept the conversations real.



46

American Express diligently measures talent

experiencesthroughout the recruiting and hiring

lifecycle. Since revamping its talent brand

and recruiting strategy, they have seen vast

improvements in career site visits, applicants and

conversions; social media visits, applicants and

conversions; and mobile visits.

Illustrations by dScribe - dScribe.ca

Measuring Results

Cameron Batten is vice president of

communications at American Express.

He is a trusted advisor in global corporate

communications, brand management and digital/

new media. Cameron is recognized for producing

award-winning communications and employee

engagement programs that move businesses

forward.



47

Marsh is the world’s leading insurance broker and

risk adviser with 25,000 employees around the

globe. After a disastrous decade marked by tragic

losses on 9/11, multiple leadership changes,

poor financial results and painful cost cuts,

the organization realized they had to declare

a new future and create a great place to work

for outstanding people. Many things changed,

but it was commitments such as rewards linked

to performance, career development and

performance enabling tools that helped change

the conversation inside Marsh and put the

organization back on track

Unleashing Employee PotentialBen Brooks, Former Marsh

Creating Brand Champions Ben Brooks, Former marsh

Unleashing Employee potential,

48

Marsh has always been a great company full of

great people – but like San Francisco hidden

under a blanket of fog, the assetshad to be

rediscovered. It didn’t take outside experts to

find them. It took identifying and communicating

inspiring stories about how Marsh products are

used and the people who are passionate about

selling them

Burn Off the Fog

Like many companies, Marsh traditionally

thought of learning as a few smart people who

teach everyone else what they need to know.

Part of burning off the fog was to abandon that

notion, find a lot of smart people inside the

company who wanted to share their expertise

and create an environment where people could

meet and connect.

Research shows adults learn and develop in

three ways. Ten percent comes from formal

training, 20% from mentoring and coaching,

and 70% from informal, social and on-the-job

experiences. Marsh set out to exploit the 70%

with Marsh University, an online community

where, “everyone is a teacher.”

Online communitieshave a unique engagement

dynamic. Ninety percent of users are lurkers;

they look but don’t do anything. Nine percent

are passive contributors who like, comment

and share. The last 1% are active contributors.

Marsh focused on the small number of

contributors,knowing thatbefore long, the rest of

the crowd would follow.

To make sure Marsh University got off the ground

unencumbered by the complexities of a huge

IT initiative, the communications team decided

to build a classroom instead of a campus. They

recruited teachers, let them sign up for what they

wanted to teach, built content and encouraged

conversations in a flexible Word Press content

management system. They found 50 people

who wanted to be ambassadors for the program

and hosted fun programs like photo contests to

generate excitement and momentum.

Everyone is a Teacher



49

Culture and values are key parts of creating

a great place to work for outstanding people.

To more clearly define what Marsh stood for

and how they wanted people to behave, the

leadership team engaged managers from

all parts of the company to develop six new

operating principles forming the acronym,

IGNITE. Employees loved it, and even though

they didn’t always adhere to brand standards

in the way they applied IGNITE to their own

divisions or programs, Marketing let them run

with it to encourage adoption of the principles

themselves.

As with the operating principles, unleashing

employee potential means finding out what’s

important to people and letting them create their

own experiences. The social aspects of Marsh

Make It Happen

University allow employees to learn, participate

in executive updates, converse with their peers

and share ideas all year. No longer does a less

than stellar quarter mean the end of employee

events and programs. Social media allows Marsh

to keep the momentum going.

Ben Brooks is the former senior vice president and

global director of Enterprise Communications &

Colleague Engagement at Marsh Inc., the world

leader in risk and insurance services and solutions.

Ben was responsible for the firm’s global internal

communications, strategic change management,

social media adoption, corporate culture and

employee engagement for 24,500 colleagues

globally. He was named 2011 “Rising Star” by HR

Executive Magazine.



50

ITT is a $12.5 billion, highly diversified

manufacturer of engineered components

and customized technology for the energy,

transportation and industrial markets. It was

founded in the 1840s, went on an acquisition

binge in the 1960s, and in 2011 split into three

separate companies, including ITT Industrial

Process. In short, two years ago, ITT was a

century-old startup. And when the dust settled,

the workforce found itself asking, “What now?”

Internal and External Rebranding: Connecting the Dots and the People

Anthony D’Angelo, ITT

Creating Brand Champions anthony d’angelo, ittinternal and External Rebranding: Connecting the dots and the people

51

The process of untangling something this large

and complex into three separate entities had the

potential to seriously disruptthe workforce, not to

mention create a lot of external chatter. People

wondered if ITT Industrial Process had enough

resources to survive the surgery, so to speak.

One of the biggest problems they faced was the

need to create a whole new internal and external

brand—and they had 10 months to do it.

To approach the challenge, the leadership team

devised a series of internal questions.

• Does the company have a plan?

• Do employees understand the competitive

situation?

• Does leadership understand employee

perception of the company?

• Is the change of company structure a

campaign or an operating model? After all, it

must be about the business at its core.

• What do we want people to know, feel

and do? What will they experience that’s

different?

Most importantly, ITT Industrial Process set

out to find its competitive advantage in the

marketplace while isolating its internal strengths:

what do we build on and what do we change?

They did research to find authentic things about

the brand. During a listening tour, the research

kept returning to a key message: what’s cool

about ITT Industrial Process is that the stuff they

make lasts forever and their people take pride in

the fact they are in an essential industry. These

points were developed further into the working

mantra, “The ITT Way,” and a DNA that says:

A New Brand Beginning

• We have highly engineered products.

• We are a global company.

• We are leaders in the industry.

• We are a long-standing brand.

• The workforce is the core of the company.

ITT Industrial Process took what the employees said

were the most important things about the company

and used it to increase engagement with partners

and potential customers in a series of innovative

ways:

• Its most legendary product is the Gould pump,

a water pump developed in the 19th century. The

company established Pump Appreciation Day, a

holiday to celebrate its original product.

• It formed a sponsorship with the American

Heart Association. After all, the heart is the most

important pump.

• It established an online contest and awards

program, a photo contest and an online quiz,

knowing engineers love knowledge-based

games and activities.

As a result of the initiatives, de-merger sales went

up 20% and brand awareness rose 3%. Employee

engagement with the Pump Appreciation Day site

was huge!

Anthony D’Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, is senior

manager, communications for ITT Industrial

Process and responsible for internal and external

communications strategies and programs. With more

than 20 years of corporate and agency experience,

he joined ITT in 2011, following service in lead

communications roles for Carrier Corporation and

Magna International. He is an adjunct professor of

public relations at Syracuse University’s Newhouse

School of Public Communications.

Creating Brand Champions anthony d’angelo, ittinternal and External Rebranding: Connecting the dots and the people

A powerful brand identity is a must. Smart

companies are a little loose with brand rules and

let their tribe fly the flag.

The best brand advocates aren’t selected; they

emerge on their own.

A good talent brand is consistent with the

global brand while telling a story that appeals to

targeted candidates.

The candidate decision cycle is not linear.

Because people experience and form

impressions of potential employers at many

touch points including social media and

consumer advertising, all messages must be

consistent.

Sometimes improving the brand means rewriting

the company rulebook.

Positive customer experiences begin with a

combination of exceptional leadership and

highly engaged employees.

Big Ideas: Brand Champion

A company’s culture is defined by the human

connection with each employee and how well

management engages them.

It doesn’t take outside experts to find a

company’s hidden assets. It takes identifying and

communicating inspiring stories about products

and the people who are passionate about them.

Great companies know everyone’s a teacher.

They find smart employees who want to share

their expertise and create an environment where

people can connect.

Unleashing employee potential means finding

out what’s important to people and letting them

create their own experiences.

Brand standards are necessary in most cases, but

there are times when it’s best to let people run

with their ideas.

Engaging employees before they’re employed is

the way to build shareholder value.

Everyone in a company is responsible for

communicating the employer brand.

52 Creating Brand Champions Brand Champion

Brian L. BurgessPractice Director, Brand and Talent MSLGROUP North America 646.500.7635 [email protected]

mike RussellSVP, Sales & Business DevelopmentMSLGROUP [email protected] d

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mslgroup.com

Contacts

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