Tailoring the Employee Experience: Why One Size Never Fits All

00:00:00: I think that

00:00:00: where people should start,

00:00:02: again, communicators at any level,

00:00:04: is to really be thoughtful

00:00:05: about our

00:00:06: identity in an organization.

00:00:08: What I mean by that is, we may be

00:00:10: an internal communications

00:00:12: manager, or we may

00:00:13: lead a function of 50

00:00:14: internal communicators globally.

00:00:16: Identity today

00:00:17: is something that I think that

00:00:19: most communicators don't

00:00:21: spend enough time

00:00:22: defining and framing.

00:00:30: Hey, everybody.

00:00:30: Welcome back to another episode of the

00:00:32: You've Got Comms Podcast.

00:00:34: Today, we are talking to Preston Lewis,

00:00:37: the SVP of Communications at Segal Benz.

00:00:40: He is a thought leader in all things HR

00:00:44: and internal comms when it really comes to communications tech.

00:00:48: So, they work with companies all over the world to improve

00:00:51: the employee experience from a digital communications standpoint.

00:00:56: Preston, how are you doing today?

00:00:58: I'm doing great.

00:00:59: Thanks so much for having me.

00:01:00: Yeah, of course.

00:01:02: You have been right at the intersection of comms

00:01:05: and HR, and how to work together to elevate the employee experience.

00:01:09: So, to kick us off,

00:01:10: can you tell us a little bit about your journey

00:01:12: and what drew you to this space in the first place?

00:01:15: I grew up in this space, so, of course, I'd love to share the story.

00:01:20: I actually started my career as a graphic recorder, so, high-end

00:01:23: whiteboarding, as some people say.

00:01:25: So, markers in hand, the opportunity to travel with some really talented

00:01:30: consultants and capture group memory, take notes,

00:01:34: if you will, in real time up on whiteboards or sheets of paper,

00:01:39: big butcher paper, as conversations were happening, mostly leadership meetings.

00:01:43: And I had an opportunity to get a bit of an insight

00:01:47: into all this great conversation was happening.

00:01:50: And then I started to realize, you know, for those that aren't in this room

00:01:54: or those who are not involved in this meeting, what's going to happen next?

00:01:58: So, that's where I started my career, and since been on this journey of,

00:02:04: with all this good insight, direction, and strategy,

00:02:06: how can we most effectively reach and engage people to actually implement

00:02:11: some of this thinking and see through some of the strategy, if you will.

00:02:14: So, that quickly evolved into the world of internal communications.

00:02:19: Yeah, that's awesome.

00:02:20: I mean, in internal communications, you're talking a lot about—and

00:02:24: we've known each other for a while now—about orchestrating comms

00:02:27: and HR together to improve the employee experience.

00:02:29: So, you gave us a little bit about your background, but today,

00:02:33: what does your day-to-day look like now in 2025?

00:02:36: How things have changed!

00:02:38: This was almost 30 years ago.

00:02:41: This was before the internet, when I was writing with markers on paper.

00:02:45: And then the web came, and then intranets became a thing,

00:02:51: and the world of digital workplace communications quickly evolved.

00:02:56: It's fascinating when you think about the evolution

00:02:59: of not just the technology, but communications inside organizations

00:03:03: and how technology enables more effective communications.

00:03:07: We went from vision maps and murals,

00:03:10: illustrated by hand, that were moved through architectural drum

00:03:14: scanners into digital graphics, and then we printed 5,000 of them

00:03:19: for Hewlett-Packard when they were trying to share the vision,

00:03:23: mission, values for the organization in the

00:03:26: late '90s, early 2000s.

00:03:29: That was internal communications.

00:03:31: That was visual communications, for sure.

00:03:34: Now, we are using better, faster, cheaper

00:03:39: technology to do similar things, and it's

00:03:42: fascinating to see how the science

00:03:46: of connection and communications and engagement has evolved.

00:03:50: Importantly, we're still in the behavior change business.

00:03:53: So, we talk a lot about the relationship between change management

00:03:57: and change communications, and as internal communicators,

00:04:00: we're often responsible for that communications element of change,

00:04:04: but bringing you back to your question,

00:04:07: these days, it's so much fun because, in the context of behavior change,

00:04:12: we have more data that is provided to us by these technology platforms

00:04:18: to tune into how to reach and engage people

00:04:22: in different ways, and there's different answers for different people, right?

00:04:25: So, the long and short of it is part of what's fun about our work

00:04:30: today is we're all now data geeks and scientists,

00:04:35: and everyday,

00:04:37: all of us are continually looking to see how we can do our work

00:04:42: differently to make sure it's that much more effective.

00:04:45: Speak for yourself.

00:04:46: I don't know if I would call myself a geek, but

00:04:50: definitely would call myself interested.

00:04:52: Geek, I don't know.

00:04:55: But you've really seen it all, like you said, from the whiteboard

00:04:59: to technology to, knock on wood, AI is all the rage right now.

00:05:05: For everyone listening, what's the practical advice

00:05:09: you've got for people changing their

00:05:14: technology strategy?

00:05:16: You've really gone through that, and it's an expectation shift

00:05:20: and a behavior shift, like you mentioned, but there's still a learning curve to it.

00:05:23: So, what would you practically advise people when they're going through

00:05:28: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," but it's time to fix it?

00:05:31: You know, it's a great question.

00:05:34: Taking a big step back,

00:05:36: I think it's unrealistic to suggest that

00:05:40: communicators, specifically in any role at any level,

00:05:44: are going to quickly become the tech experts.

00:05:49: As much as that may happen for sure, as somebody

00:05:53: who likes to pride myself in as techy as I am

00:05:57: with a written word, as a communicator or as a visual designer,

00:06:03: something I'm also really proud of,

00:06:04: it's important to understand that it's not going to happen overnight.

00:06:07: We're not going to all become data geeks to the point I was making earlier,

00:06:10: or IT people that really understands the intricate elements

00:06:16: of technology-enabled user experience design.

00:06:20: I think that where people should start, again, communicators at any

00:06:25: level, is to really be thoughtful about our identity in an organization.

00:06:30: What I mean by that is, we may be an internal communications manager,

00:06:34: or we may lead a function of 50 internal communicators globally.

00:06:39: Identity today is something that I think

00:06:43: that most communicators don't spend enough time defining and framing.

00:06:48: So, in the context of AI, for example, it's interesting, I'll be at a conference

00:06:53: and I'll ask for a show of hands of "How many people are leading the

00:06:56: AI transformation in your organization?"

00:06:59: This is me talking to internal communicators.

00:07:02: And you get a lot of hands going up.

00:07:05: It's because

00:07:06: some leadership teams and organizations realize that internal communicators

00:07:12: are often in the position to facilitate

00:07:15: change and adoption of technology,

00:07:18: including the use of AI, unlike other roles or functions.

00:07:23: So, back to communications, we can do things

00:07:27: pretty easily now with AI technology, really quickly,

00:07:30: to make a big impact in communications efficacy,

00:07:34: and it demonstrates the value of AI really quickly.

00:07:39: Success begets success.

00:07:40: So, that's part of the reason why I think a lot of internal communicators

00:07:44: are being chartered with facilitating change in the context

00:07:48: of adopting AI tools.

00:07:50: So, back to the identity piece, that's where I think people should start,

00:07:54: is to really define our identity and opportunity, and role

00:07:58: in the context of what AI means in an organization.

00:08:02: And, rather than being responsible for the success of AI,

00:08:06: because it's just unrealistic,

00:08:08: position ourselves and our identity as the facilitators of change

00:08:11: so we can constantly identify, illustrate and then surface examples of effective

00:08:17: use of AI tools and technology throughout the organization.

00:08:21: Yeah, and Preston, something you had said about

00:08:23: not only the communicators adopting the new technology,

00:08:26: but the employees as well, it's also a behavior shift.

00:08:29: So, using an example of how AI helps the audience in their day-to-day is great,

00:08:35: but what one audience resonates with might not affect the day-to-day of another

00:08:38: audience at all.

00:08:39: So, when we think about hyper-targeting and content personalization,

00:08:43: these are always the key topics when we're talking to internal communicators,

00:08:46: and it's becoming more and more popular among those departments. So,

00:08:50: can you share some examples

00:08:52: of how companies are using tools effectively

00:08:55: to share examples, and what kind of impact that's had on the employee experience?

00:08:59: Absolutely.

00:09:00: Communications, functions, or teams, or even individuals in an organization

00:09:06: that own internal communications, we're all at different stages

00:09:10: of adopting AI tools to help improve internal communication.

00:09:13: So, the most basic or simple level,

00:09:17: there is a lot of great work that can support hyper-targeting

00:09:20: and personalization in the context of list management.

00:09:23: It may be as basic as, "Here's a distribution list

00:09:27: to send an email out to a group." It could be an announcement.

00:09:31: And now, what we can do is take that list, compare it easily,

00:09:37: if not download the open rate list, and those that opened, those didn't open,

00:09:41: and then target the communication or a different version,

00:09:45: i.e., different messaging to those that didn't open it.

00:09:48: So, AI tools to support list management is basic or easy.

00:09:52: Copilot can do this, Gemini can do this.

00:09:55: We don't have to have a paid platform necessarily.

00:09:58: Now, side note, important warning about uploading lists

00:10:01: into external AI platforms—do not do that.

00:10:05: But, for most organizations, there is a paid secure version

00:10:09: to help to support these kinds of tasks or activities.

00:10:13: Another example is supporting content creation.

00:10:16: So, in the context of, we have this framework

00:10:20: and the first stage is creation of topics for audiences

00:10:25: and that are aligned with the concerns of those audiences to support messaging

00:10:29: and topics that align with those concerns or subject lines

00:10:33: or version 1 of content that, again, aligns with the preferences or

00:10:38: communication objectives for that specific audience.

00:10:41: So, the most basic level, there's a few simple things that communicators can do.

00:10:46: Then we move to different levels of maturity around hyper-targeting

00:10:49: and personalization.

00:10:50: So, we spent quite a bit of time working with organizations to build out

00:10:54: employee personas.

00:10:56: There's very simple personas to super complex personas, and AI tools

00:11:01: enable us to be pretty sophisticated and complex with our personas these days.

00:11:06: And once we do that work using AI tools for assistance, of course,

00:11:11: we can target a specific list group or audience and individual

00:11:16: that aligns with that persona like the last example, not only target

00:11:21: messaging to address concerns or target

00:11:25: lists to those who may have opened or not opened,

00:11:28: but we can even make specific requests or include content

00:11:33: within that email communication, as an example, or that intranet post

00:11:38: that is very relevant or that aligns with elements of the persona.

00:11:42: It could be as geography, role, function, tenure.

00:11:46: Secondly, within those personas, we often identify different moments that matter,

00:11:52: and we can configure, if you will, our AI tools

00:11:57: to make recommendations and then include certain relevant content

00:12:01: that not only aligns with that list or group and or person,

00:12:04: but for example, with a tenure example, we can target content

00:12:08: to make sure that that communication pays attention to the fact

00:12:13: that somebody who is in New York in the marketing function

00:12:18: who's only been in the role for less than three months,

00:12:20: we can hyper-personalize target based on that data.

00:12:24: So, those are just a couple.

00:12:26: Then we get into really complex stuff like personalized benefit statements

00:12:30: and recommending specific rewards programs or benefits opportunities

00:12:35: or other programs that are available to different people

00:12:38: in different geographies and different roles or functions,

00:12:41: or at that specific moment in their career or in their life.

00:12:46: We often talk about this vision of creating a more consumer-like

00:12:49: employee experience.

00:12:50: And for many years, that was easier said than done.

00:12:54: But today, we are able to realize that vision like never before.

00:12:58: All right. Well, companies are rethinking their approach to benefits,

00:13:02: and now a lot of the benefits require the employees to take action.

00:13:06: So, whether that is picking your health insurance or what

00:13:09: bike perk you want, or mileage, things like that.

00:13:13: So, how can you communicate and guide employees through this new landscape

00:13:17: to make that process as simple as possible, and that they actually feel

00:13:20: supported in understanding their options and thinking what's best for them?

00:13:26: Part of what

00:13:27: I love so much about HR communications and benefits communications,

00:13:32: the context of benefits in HR comms may not be the sexiest content,

00:13:37: if you will, for internal communications, but what's important to realize is,

00:13:42: of all the things that we communicate to people at work,

00:13:46: benefits and total rewards

00:13:48: enables us to measure the efficacy

00:13:52: and impact of internal communications,

00:13:56: unlike a lot of other things that we're communicating.

00:13:59: So, for example,

00:14:01: benefits is a good one, particularly

00:14:03: for the employees that are residing in the United States.

00:14:07: We know how many employees there are, we know where they live,

00:14:10: we know what we're spending or investing in as an organization

00:14:15: to offer benefits and total rewards.

00:14:18: We know how often we're communicating, how we're communicating.

00:14:22: Long and short of it, it gives us an opportunity to measure

00:14:25: the return on investment of offering all the different things

00:14:29: that may be available to somebody to work for an organization.

00:14:32: And when we can fine-tune how we communicate about open enrollment

00:14:38: and why it's active this year and not passive

00:14:42: like it's been in the last few years, we can directly correlate

00:14:46: more effective communications, reach, and engagement to increasing

00:14:49: participation, and then illustrating return on investment.

00:14:53: It's this context of internal communications that,

00:14:57: when we're very thoughtful and sophisticated, it enables us to gain

00:15:02: trust based on return on investment with leadership, unlike a lot of other things. So,

00:15:08: of course, it's the soapbox I like to stand on, but I'd like to remind

00:15:13: internal communicators that this is an opportunity

00:15:16: that some teams or functions or

00:15:19: people may be not taking advantage of.

00:15:22: It is a specific place where I'd recommend focusing a bit more.

00:15:27: There are other specific examples in the context of HR and benefits comms,

00:15:32: where we have partners that we may be working with

00:15:36: to offer a program or to provide a certain type of healthcare benefits.

00:15:41: Sometimes there's budget in those partner relationships that can be spent

00:15:46: on more effective communications that communicators don't know about.

00:15:49: So, this expertise or specialization around HR or benefits comms is a thing.

00:15:55: And every day, I begin to realize what might be some of the opportunities

00:15:59: in internal communicators really need to know about and be familiar

00:16:02: with to, again, increase value in comms.

00:16:06: To add a hat on a hat there, benefits are something that come around once a year,

00:16:10: and if there's a change, maybe throughout the year, but people expect it.

00:16:15: Like you said,

00:16:15: it's a great way to measure how well internal communications is actually doing.

00:16:19: But when rolling out new technology, you mentioned that you're going to use

00:16:22: internal comms as a segue to promote these benefits.

00:16:27: What if you're changing

00:16:27: your internal comms channel, or you're changing your

00:16:31: HR platform altogether?

00:16:33: So, for employees, that's a big behavior shift to get from point A to point B,

00:16:37: and you're probably changing the channel

00:16:39: that you usually use to communicate that on.

00:16:41: So, any advice when making a change like that, when it comes to technology,

00:16:46: to make that adoption smooth and effective?

00:16:48: It's important to remember the fundamentals of our craft

00:16:53: and, more specifically, fundamentally what effective communications looks like.

00:16:58: I remember beginning of my career, and I still employ this

00:17:02: thinking to this day, when we're communicating something.

00:17:06: I love the example of technology adoption.

00:17:09: People orient to campaigns.

00:17:11: So, for example, it's like launching a new movie.

00:17:15: So, when Hollywood, if you will, is thoughtful about launching a new movie,

00:17:21: we start with pre-launch communications, building awareness.

00:17:25: So, of course, this aligns with the traditional change

00:17:27: management framework of awareness, understanding, and action.

00:17:31: When we're launching a new technology, we can't just say,

00:17:34: "Enroll now, sign up here,

00:17:37: go use this." We have to build interest and excitement

00:17:41: about something that's coming and the value that it brings.

00:17:43: So, pre-launch communications three times, three different ways.

00:17:47: Get that right.

00:17:49: Then we move into understanding or even launch communications, addressing the why.

00:17:53: So, we're rolling out this new technology because this is the value

00:17:57: it brings to you as an individual in your role and to our organization.

00:18:02: People are selfish.

00:18:03: We do need to focus first on what difference it can make

00:18:06: in someone's life versus the whole organization.

00:18:10: And then thirdly, upon launch, it's "This is happening,

00:18:13: this is what we're seeing," and then post-launch,

00:18:17: "This is some of the impact

00:18:18: that it's having to people in your role or to our organization.

00:18:22: And we're listening, and we hear you.

00:18:26: We see that that didn't work on launch, so we fixed it," or "Look

00:18:29: at where our numbers are with adoption and how they're increasing.

00:18:32: And here's a small success story around the value of this technology and

00:18:37: how it's impacting our organization and this specific team." So,

00:18:41: I'd love to remind everyone that, fundamentally,

00:18:44: in the context of technology, launch and adoption, it's a behavior change exercise.

00:18:49: Just like we're trying to get some butts in the seats

00:18:51: at a movie theater, we're trying to increase awareness

00:18:55: and buy-in, for lack of a better word, for using a platform.

00:18:58: Have a lot of fun with it, just like you're launching a movie.

00:19:01: It's not always easy, and you can't always be that creative,

00:19:04: but at least I like to set the expectation that technology launch is an opportunity

00:19:08: to try. Let's bring our creativity

00:19:11: to the table and let's have a lot of fun.

00:19:14: Might not have the launch budget of Barbie

00:19:16: or Wicked, but you can try.

00:19:20: But that's a good point around budget.

00:19:21: I'd like to think that using assistants

00:19:26: like AI-enabled tools and technology,

00:19:29: this is a good specific example of where we can partner

00:19:33: with tools and technology to get some insider ideas,

00:19:37: weigh them out, compare them,

00:19:39: and then we'll hopefully have a little bit of time to do things faster,

00:19:42: better, cheaper.

00:19:43: Like I touched on earlier, using some of these tools.

00:19:46: Yeah.

00:19:47: And your answer earlier, it sounded a lot like the four steps you'd outlined to me

00:19:52: earlier around orchestrating the employee experience as a whole.

00:19:56: So, I think that was defining shared ownership, co-creating the vision,

00:20:00: activating the strategy, and nurturing the feedback loops.

00:20:04: For those of you who don't know those four, can you walk

00:20:07: everyone through each of those steps and explain why those are so critical?

00:20:11: Of course.

00:20:12: We talk about developing and implementing communication strategy.

00:20:16: I often hear myself say that the process of building

00:20:20: the strategy can often be as valuable as the strategy itself.

00:20:24: So, first, we need to align guardrails and expectations.

00:20:29: And so, that's the defining shared ownership. What

00:20:33: does success look like for IT in this strategy?

00:20:37: What does success look like for HR?

00:20:39: What might success look like for comms?

00:20:41: And we each have our own strategies for our functions.

00:20:45: Together, we need to understand,

00:20:47: within our success measures for our function, what one or two things,

00:20:52: what one or two goals might we enable within our strategies

00:20:55: with a shared vision for employee experience.

00:20:58: Understand not just shared responsibility, but opportunity and goals,

00:21:03: and then guardrails and roles for the employee experience,

00:21:07: so that we can go to leadership and say, "No one owns the employee experience,

00:21:11: but here's the role that comms has, here's the role that IT has,

00:21:14: and here's what success looks like." That's the first step.

00:21:17: Then once we've enrolled that community of partners to build employee experience

00:21:22: or communicate and communication strategy, we define what success looks like.

00:21:26: We may have already done that in the shared

00:21:29: responsibility we've defined, but we really put a stake out there

00:21:32: and say, "This is what future stake could be,

00:21:34: and this is what you want to be excited about." Then we move into strategy,

00:21:38: development, and activation as that third step, and that's

00:21:41: where we have a playbook for human-centric communication strategy.

00:21:46: And in that playbook, it maps out,

00:21:50: when you have cross-functional group of people,

00:21:52: not just that represent different functions,

00:21:54: but all the different audience groups that we're looking to impact and engage,

00:21:58: this is how we can build a sophisticated and thoughtful strategy — strategy

00:22:02: being a decision-making framework that evolves based on feedback — and planned.

00:22:07: Timing, tactics, and so on.

00:22:09: And then, last, we need to sustain rhythm, if you will, and nurture feedback loops.

00:22:14: So, this is, again, trust is the lifeblood of any organization and particularly

00:22:22: how confidence in effective internal communications is built and sustained.

00:22:26: And so, the only way to build and nurture trust is to play back,

00:22:31: "This is what we're seeing.

00:22:32: This is what's not working and we're focusing on.

00:22:34: We'll get back to you.

00:22:35: This is what is working, and look at what we're

00:22:38: hearing from everyone in these feedback loops and channels.

00:22:41: Look at what we're hearing from everyone in terms of what's working and how

00:22:45: we want to continue to do more of that." So, that's a quick overview of the four.

00:22:49: But of course, there's levels of detail and thinking within each.

00:22:53: Yeah, and it's interesting because you mentioned taking ownership,

00:22:55: but then it's a bit of IC, a bit of HR, a bit of IT,

00:23:00: and they do all need to take ownership,

00:23:02: and in your exact example, they need to work together.

00:23:07: So, do you see, typically, that one department over

00:23:10: the other often takes the lead, and then there's

00:23:14: a really successful idea

00:23:16: of collaboration, or do they all equally play their part?

00:23:19: What does the best layout for that ownership look like in your opinion?

00:23:23: The short answer to that

00:23:26: great question is the answer typically lies in the leadership,

00:23:32: and no surprise, but it's who is bold and collaborative enough.

00:23:40: We talk often about what makes a modern

00:23:44: leader versus a traditional leader.

00:23:47: And this is not going to be a surprise, but what we find

00:23:50: to be effective in "modern,"l I'm doing air quotes, leadership, are those that

00:23:55: are truly effective at defining vision and collaborating to see that through.

00:24:00: So, sometimes it is IT.

00:24:03: And it may be a modern IT leader that really understands

00:24:06: digital employee experience and understand the value of partnering with HR

00:24:11: to implement that or to build that type of strategy.

00:24:14: Sometimes it may be the head of comms.

00:24:16: Sometimes there may be a chief communication officer

00:24:21: where internal comms may report up to chief communications officer

00:24:25: because that person is in a better position

00:24:27: based on the nature of the business and the size of the organization,

00:24:30: to see that strategy development and activation through.

00:24:35: Sometimes it is HR.

00:24:36: Back to the HR example, we can tune in pretty quickly to HR leaders

00:24:41: that may be a little bit more operational versus strategic.

00:24:46: Again, I think everyone knows what I mean.

00:24:49: But in order to really be seen and to build the trust and confidence

00:24:54: of building a modern employee experience strategy, we find that those that are more

00:24:59: strategic people or HR leaders are in a better position to lead the way.

00:25:04: So, the answer really depends.

00:25:07: But the truth is that we can tune in pretty quickly

00:25:11: because of the hundreds of organizations, not just that we've worked with,

00:25:14: but I think a lot of communicators and other people in organizations

00:25:18: can determine pretty quickly who should be leading the way.

00:25:21: And having real blunt conversations about that early and often

00:25:26: is traditionally one of the biggest success factors,

00:25:30: if you will, on developing and implementing any vision for

00:25:33: modern employee experience.

00:25:36: That's awesome.

00:25:36: Now, modern employee experience is constantly changing.

00:25:40: So I do not want to hear you say AI.

00:25:42: But one word that you think describes the future of the employee experience?

00:25:47: You cannot use AI?

00:25:50: Personalization.

00:25:50: I think that it's not just because of AI.

00:25:54: I think that personalization

00:25:57: is what enables us to move

00:26:00: way beyond that old comment that we hear from especially large

00:26:05: manufacturing organization where someone feels like a number.

00:26:09: We can personalize content and experiences

00:26:14: because we have better, faster access to the data

00:26:19: that matters that lets us know what's working or what's not working.

00:26:23: Or better tools, easier tools, cheaper tools to listen more often and more effectively.

00:26:30: Modern employee experience isn't an organization.

00:26:34: When we're working with an organization that has

00:26:38: interest or objectives that include facilitating a modern employee experience,

00:26:43: typically that's not an organization that's doing an employee engagement survey

00:26:47: once every two years

00:26:49: or even once a year.

00:26:51: Modern experiences require input and data, and personalization does as well.

00:26:57: So, in order to facilitate a modern employee experience,

00:27:00: we need to make sure that we have mechanisms in place to provide us

00:27:03: the insight and feedback in real time so that we can adjust and evolve

00:27:09: and we can personalize content within our channels the right ways

00:27:13: and in an effective way that reaches people unlike ever before.

00:27:18: What are those mechanisms?

00:27:19: You don't have to say Staffbase, but what are you doing,

00:27:22: whether it is a tool or whether it is a survey or just word of mouth?

00:27:25: How are you measuring whether those actions you've taken

00:27:28: in the employee experience are actually making a real difference?

00:27:31: There's the classic qualitative and quantitative

00:27:34: answer to how we're measuring effective communication channels.

00:27:39: That's the short answer.

00:27:41: To the point I was making a minute ago,

00:27:43: when we're able to build a dashboard and we have the macro metrics

00:27:49: and the micro metrics, so macro metrics might be trust, confidence.

00:27:54: Micro metrics might be very channel-specific,

00:27:56: so open rates of an email or clicks into a certain piece of content on an intranet.

00:28:02: When we define the dashboard that's realistic and sustainable,

00:28:06: not super sophisticated and complex and not sustainable,

00:28:09: but when we can define that, and we have enrolled a group of people, i.e.,

00:28:15: back to that cross-functional group of people

00:28:17: that may be responsible for the employee experience,

00:28:19: when we do that the right way, together, we're looking at the metrics.

00:28:23: We're looking at the data.

00:28:25: And we're making important decisions on what one, two,

00:28:29: or three things — not more than that — we can do to improve the experience.

00:28:33: So, maybe it is focusing on improving content on an intranet

00:28:39: so that we're reaching more people with the right messages

00:28:43: because the intranet is an area where we can hyper-personalize content.

00:28:47: That's a really good specific example.

00:28:49: That's a really good specific example.

00:28:49: Another different example is maybe

00:28:53: it is the marketing function and the product function

00:29:00: that are the two functions based on the data

00:29:02: we see where we really need to improve trust in leadership.

00:29:06: So, what can we do to hyper-personalize content for the people

00:29:10: in those two organizations so that we can build trust in leadership?

00:29:14: That's another macro metric, but a very specific area of focus

00:29:19: that we just need to drive a truck through

00:29:21: because only then can we make the biggest impact in the business

00:29:25: that will enable us to sustain our level of success for communications

00:29:29: because leadership sees that we're being very strategic

00:29:32: and only focusing our time, energy, and resources on those things that have

00:29:36: the biggest impact on the business.

00:29:40: Yeah, and we're running up on time here.

00:29:41: So, to summarize everything you've just said, what would be

00:29:45: your biggest piece of advice, or best advice you've ever received?

00:29:50: Something you want these listeners to walk away with about internal communications.

00:29:55: The advice I like to give to communicators

00:29:58: is the same advice that I share

00:30:00: with my children, my two daughters, in the context of social media:

00:30:04: don't be stupid and make it good.

00:30:07: Not being stupid is reference

00:30:10: your strategy, use the channel that's effective for that audience,

00:30:13: be creative, take an opportunity to try something new,

00:30:19: be bold with the imagery versus not,

00:30:23: make sure that anything that you're doing

00:30:26: is directly in line with what value looks like to the organization,

00:30:30: meaning moving a needle on important business measures.

00:30:34: And then make it good is take the extra time to be creative,

00:30:39: be memorable, pull on those emotional strings.

00:30:45: Create something so that the measure of success

00:30:49: is, "Oh, I remember that email," or, "I remember that article.

00:30:52: It was awesome because I learned something new."

00:30:55: We hopefully have more time and a higher level of expectation

00:31:01: to be very good, and be very creative, and create

00:31:04: engaging communications unlike we ever could before.

00:31:08: For sure.

00:31:10: And for those of us who want to learn more about this,

00:31:13: any books or resources that have influenced you that you would

00:31:17: recommend on whether it's comms or the employee experience?

00:31:20: Just anything for us to go deeper on this.

00:31:24: Yeah, I'll go way back on this one.

00:31:27: One of the most influential pieces of content, and experiences, and books,

00:31:32: and training programs actually that I ever experienced was very early in my career.

00:31:36: And it's a great example of thinking that, although it's decades

00:31:40: old, it's more relevant and meaningful than ever.

00:31:43: As a graphic reporter early in my career, I dove deep into the world

00:31:48: David Sibbet and others at The Grove Consultants created.

00:31:51: Their focus to this day even on graphic recording, facilitation,

00:31:55: and visual communications specifically, including presentation design and others.

00:32:01: Learning the fundamentals of facilitation in its truest sense, and

00:32:06: how to visualize data and

00:32:07: information to align people, teams, and organizations,

00:32:11: is something I'd always recommend any communicator do.

00:32:15: Well, that was great and supportive, and if people want to

00:32:18: maybe follow you and learn from you, before we wrap,

00:32:21: where can our listeners connect with you and learn more?

00:32:24: Anything that you want to plug for yourself, Preston?

00:32:28: Well, please just reach out and say hello.

00:32:30: I'd like to think that I'm the easiest person to find,

00:32:33: and I am a very, very easy resource to get a hold of.

00:32:37: I love connecting people to information, to data,

00:32:41: to templates and frameworks, or to new opportunities.

00:32:45: Of course, I do have the luxury of working with organizations

00:32:48: across industries in all shapes and sizes, some of the biggest, most interesting

00:32:52: brands in the world, to improve internal and HR communications.

00:32:56: I also am involved with quite a few conferences

00:33:00: and training programs.

00:33:03: Anybody can reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.

00:33:05: LinkedIn chat is something I actually do pay attention to.

00:33:08: Email is really easy at plewis@segalbenz.com.

00:33:12: Please, I will follow up and I will respond.

00:33:15: So, if you are interested in learning more about our business and what we do

00:33:19: or how we approach our work, please don't hesitate to reach out.

00:33:23: Awesome.

00:33:23: Thanks, Preston. This has been amazing.

00:33:26: Thank you for sharing your insights, thank you for chatting,

00:33:29: thank you for teaching us all about how comms and HR can

00:33:31: truly work together to transform the employee experience.

00:33:35: From all of us at You've Got Comms, thanks for listening.

00:33:38: Bye-bye.

00:33:39: Thanks for having me.