Engaging Ways to Share Company Updates

Your team(s) can be the heroes of your company story. With only 33% average employee engagement in today’s workplace, and facing the Era of AI and Authenticity vs. Artificiality... we need to build leadership practices that make the business journey about our customers, but also about our EMPLOYEES. Success begins internally. The best companies and leaders I know right now are diligently working to make their employees a core part of the company story. And that means... If you're getting up on stage about to present to a large group of your organization, consider whether you're putting their feelings, experiences, and ... FIRST. My guess? Your top line to-do list in any presentation, pitch, email, or meeting is about your company. Where it’s been. Where it's going. If you're like many of my clients in tech right now, you're leading with exciting news of novel AI infrastructure and innovative incoming products. How... exciting! Yes. On a company level. To shareholders. But to your employees maybe that news might be ... overwhelming. Indicative of new learning, projects, programs, and infrastructure heading THEIR way.  Your teams might be excited. They might also be intimidated. Or exhausted. Or... tuning you out, checking their inbox, and replying to the urgent need someone just sent their way. Here’s a reality check: When you're presenting exciting news like novel AI infrastructure, it might thrill shareholders, but for your team, it could spell uncertainty and added workload. Engagement starts with #empathy. Make empathy your top priority. Build your presentations, speeches, conferences, agendas from these simple foundational questions: - What does my team need from this presentation? - How can I make my team the heroes of this corporate narrative? - How does this align with our broader goals in a way that excites and involves everyone? Then, listen. Engage WITH your teams. Be invested in THEIR stories. Their success. Their experiences. Model the buy-in you want to create. And then do it all over again. Have a good example of empathetic engagement from your company's leadership? I want to hear it. Send me a note or drop it in the comments. #Leadership #CorporateCulture #EmployeeEngagement #StrategicCommunication #AuthenticLeadership #AIinBusiness Gallup 2023 Engagement Study: https://lnkd.in/guaFCps6

As a leader of learning and development teams and now in my consulting role, I've noticed a shift in how we present the impact of our work. We used to rely heavily on facts, charts, and pages of detailed statistics to showcase our reach. But I've found #storytelling to be a much more compelling way to demonstrate real human #impact. This was driven home for me in a recent Amazon commercial that features three women gazing at a snowy hill where people are sledding. Not a single word is spoken, yet we understand these friends are reminiscing about childhood memories made in a similar setting. The story of lasting connection and friendship shines through beautifully without overt explanation. I think this is a key lesson for those of us in L&D roles. We spend so much time tracking participation rates, completion metrics and quiz scores. But what really matters is how our work impacts real people and teams. Storytelling puts faces and #emotions to the numbers. By spotlighting individual learner journeys, we can showcase personal growth and #performance improvements. Instead of stating "95% of employees completed our new manager training last quarter," we can share, "Let me tell you about how Amy implemented what she learned about feedback conversations to dramatically improve her team's engagement scores." Storytelling aligns people to purpose by helping them see themselves and their colleagues reflected in the narratives. It builds connection as people realize we all experience similar pain points, growth opportunities, and wins. So as you look for ways to expand the reach and impact of L&D in your organization, I encourage you to tell more stories. Share how real humans have advanced in their careers thanks to new skills, built relationships using your training content or overcome challenges after adopting new tools. The facts and stats remain important, but the stories will truly capture hearts and minds. Have an example to share? Add it in the comments below and let's learn together!

Stop asking your team to “like and repost” the company page. Here’s what actually works: If you're trying to grow brand awareness on LinkedIn, employee advocacy does matter — just not in the lazy “boost the brand post” kind of way. What actually works? ✅ Share assets & talking points with your team ✅ Let them post it in their voice ✅ Repost from those accounts to the brand page ✅ Have your team engage with each other’s posts We’ve been doing this at Kit — and here are 5 examples of how it works in real life: ◼️ 1. Tom Brady joined Kit The big announcement didn’t come from our company page. It came from our founder Nathan Barry. Because big news deserves a human face — not just a logo. ◼️ 2. Testimonials for our upcoming Craft + Commerce event We had a polished carousel ready to go. But instead of posting from the brand account, Haley Janicek took it, trashed my swipe copy, rewrote it with a more personal reflection, and posted it herself. She even tagged previous speakers and invited them to share their favorite moments — which they did. ◼️ 3. We were hiring a COO Melissa Theiss (our Head of People) shared the post with a photo of the full Kit team. The results of that one? Highest-impressions of any team post in the last 90 days. ◼️ 4. I interviewed a couple creators at a conference Since I was the one on camera, it made more sense to post from my account. Then I had the Kit account repost it — a proud moment of me engaging with… me. ◼️ 5. A carousel of creator education content Kyle Adams, one of our Creator Growth Managers posted this one since he is educating creators everyday in his role. Not to mention, he's already building a side-business around newsletter education (check out his newsletter Creator Glue!) Same content. Way better outcome each time. Why? Because people follow people. If you want employee advocacy to actually work:  – Give your team content – Let them make it theirs – Help them engage with each other’s posts – And use the company page to support, not lead What’s your approach to employee-led content?  Seen any creative examples lately?