Here’s what you missed.
Employee experiences depend on individual connection.
Communicators must go beyond numbers and graphs to cultivate deep, meaningful relationships in order to boost company culture and employee satisfaction. When employees understand their role and purpose within an organization, they are more likely to perform better, stay engaged and continue to grow.
Last week during Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference, we had a chance to hear from top minds in internal comms over two tracks, learning how to connect more deeply from the happiest place on earth — Disneyland! We heard from dozens of presenters and panelists about how to foster those relationships, whether it be through a tech stack tool adoption, communicating a major change or placing more spotlights on employee wins.
Here’s a few of our favorites.
- Mandy Mooney of Prologis, who also served as guest emcee, told us that, “Relationships are at least half the value of attending conferences…these are the people that are going to give you career insights, or maybe even a job someday.”
- “We have microcultures within each store location. Our goal is to acknowledge those differences while reinforcing a culture of care and respect,” said Jenny Love Myer from Love’s Travel Stops. Read more from Love Myer’s presentation here.
- Daviera Powell from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society said: “Poor communication is going to complicate every single thing. It’s going to breed chaos. Over-explain again and again, using plain language.”
- “Numbers and graphs have a lot of data but they don’t really share a story…storytelling is important to show accomplishments,” said Lauren Salisbury from Santa Monica Travel & Tourism.
- Theresita Powell, our keynoter from Patagonia said, “Getting close isn’t good enough. It’s very easy to say ‘I know the answer,’ but we needed to understand what our employees were genuinely experiencing.” Read more from her presentation here.
- Devin Owens from Workshop said, “Internal email is one of the few tools we use every day. If done well, employees will feel more informed and connected to their teams…clarity and tone go a long way.”
- “The introduction of AI into onboarding leads to more personalized, interactive experiences which can increase employee satisfaction,” said Matt Oakley from Hotwire Global.
- Brittany Fullencamp from Airstream said, “Make sure that your values are clear, consistent and actionable. When people know what the company stands for and when they see it lived, they can better understand their role and where it fits into the culture.”
- “Leaders are one of the most important audiences you need to account for. Preparing leaders with the tools and coaching to communicate effectively during times of change is a critical step in your communications planning,” said Lauren Stephens from MGM Resorts.
- “You can’t fix what you can’t measure. Establish benchmarks to better understand your tech stacks,” said Chris Anderson from Bon Secours Mercy Health.
- Katie Clark from Hormel Foods said, “We didn’t ask employees to do more, we asked them to do things differently and gave them the space to make that pivot. It probably felt to them like they were doing more because they were doing something new.”
Missed this conference and want more? Join us for Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference at Microsoft HQ in Seattle this October.
The post Top takeaways from Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference appeared first on PR Daily.
