|Discussion
Executive Engagement
Hello Digital Workplace Managers!
Quick question:
What are your best ideas for increasing Executive engagement in your Digital Workplace? Please describe the challenges you faced, and how you overcame them.
This is a common challenge faced by many Digital Workplace Managers. We have included several campaigns focused on this topic in our Campaign Library but we are always looking to add to our resources.
The first 5 responses will receive a Starbucks Gift Card! (Thanks a latte!)
Igloo on...
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18 Replies
Agreed! This is an evolving challenge for us and love to soak up any feedback or ideas!
Time is the major challenge for our leadership - they are in high demand and meetings take much of their day. Our leadership team has little activity in our digital workplace and when a message comes from them, it's typically ghost written by us, the Internal Communications team.
That said, our CEO and other leaders have plugged our digital workplace several times in large meetings (warms my heart )!
To start, we implemented Igloo's Leadership Space solution, customizing it to our organization:
We hold small group meetings - "Book Talks" for employees to meet with leaders
We created a Think Tank
Chelsey Louzeiro Thank you for your participation in the conversation! (A Starbucks Gift Card is coming your way.)
I especially appreciate the details shared around how you used the Leadership Center Solution and then built on that to specifically focus on what's most important to your organization. The 'Take 5' video idea is absolutely brilliant - I can see how executives be eager to participate and why these get so many views.
Everyone - Feel free to comment and share your thoughts! Do your executives blog? Or do you have ghost writers? Have you tried adding video to your Digital Workplace to gain views?
FYI Andrea Gumz-Dietrich and Doina Plesoianu
I agree with Chelsey on the challenges of getting executive engagement. We are lucky in that our leadership is invested in the value of our platform for our dispersed workforce and interested in having it succeed. Of course, they are pressed for time and we haven't quite made it to executive blogging yet.
Our leadership does visit our community regularly and engages through commenting, especially when our content features clinician or support team recognition (either external or internal).
We are working on a list of blog topics for ghostwriting for our CEO and striving to keep them as short (and valuable) as possible.
I think the Take 5 short videos would go a long way for our organization's engagement.
April Morris It's great to hear from you! (I'm sending you a Coffee Gift Card as we speak!) I agree with you that your leadership definitely understand the value of your digital workplace. I think it's great that you are planning a blog series for your CEO - and keeping them short, with key messages at the top is key.
Should you decide to proceed with the Take 5 video route please let us know how you make out. It's a great idea!
Andrea Gumz-Dietrich
We also went the Leadership Corner route where each exec got their own space and their Comms support person keeps the blogs coming (some more than other). Where we measure exec engagement (and I use the word "measure" loosely) is when they reply to or like comments on their blogs - shows that they aren't just 'speaking to' coworkers but actively interacting. It goes a long way to humanizing them to the rest of a large organization.
Andrew Jayne I like the idea of giving each Executive Blogging support, and how you measure Executive Engagement. Do you also have an Editorial Calendar to schedule the posts?
Rick Batchelor
Thanks, Diana. Each exec has their own "editorial calendar" based on the efforts of their Comms person. Our CEO commits to at least once a week and the rest of the exec team falls below that (some far below). When asked by the exec Comms support folks how to increase viewership and interaction with their exec's posts, we usually tell them the obvious:
Andrew Jayne One of our most popular campaigns to increase Executive Engagement, (See the full list here)is the Blog Oscars Campaign. Some find that the Executives compete with one another for views, replies, liking - so actually providing an award per month or quarter draws attention to the effort and can motivate!
I absolutely love reading everyone's unique solutions to executive engagement, definitely some takeaways for us!
In the past year we underwent a refresh of our DW, and one of the most critical pieces to our success was executive buy in and engagement. As noted before, every organization has unique challenges and solutions as a result, here were some of our solutions.
In addition to providing our leadership with the necessary platforms and tools for engagement, we encouraged buy in using other avenues as well.
Goodluck to all in your endeavor to drive leadership engagement in your DW!
We've also held "Coffee Talks" with our CEO. Employees loved the informal atmosphere and our CEO enjoyed the small groups. It's a great option if your executive team buys in!
August Robinson - How have you been able to make this a regular event? How to employees sign up or get access to the event? Do you find the open ended format is best? Have you tried topical formats?
Chelsey Louzeiro - Very nice! Yes we have this event at least every other month, sometimes more if schedules permit and rotating executives if necessary/possible. We just can't get rid of the catchy slogan:) We like to include as many new hires as possible and leave the remaining roster open for sign up. The format is open ended, but if topics run dry he comes prepared with talking points about the company. Keeping the informal "ask what is on your mind" environment is a huge priority for us so our employees have the opportunity to see and interact with our executives in a different manner. Great questions, let me know if there is anything else I can answer.
August Robinson great ideas - and I love the catchy slogan. Chelsey Louzeiro it would be easy to create a sign up area within the Digital Workplace. Perhaps a CTA on the homepage, or, in the new hire area.
Absolutely love seeing everyone's ideas. Arlene Bautista knows this is something our team has really struggled with and are actively trying to improve upon. We had a very large group of VPs/EVPs/C-Suite, and here are some of the strategies we have implemented:
This has just been the start. We want to keep it going and make it not be as much of a "task" as it is second nature.
Thank you so much Pooja Panduranga for your feedback regarding how you've addressed Executive Engagement within your Digital Workplace. I like the suggestion of downloading the app for your executives, and demonstrating how to post on the social feed. That is definitely meeting people where they are. Great job!
Frances Gilgunn Here's some information you might find helpful when it comes to executive engagement. Lots of great ideas here.
Fabulous discussion and amazing feedback. It is surely the most frequent question or comment we get "how to we get Exec to buy in", so the comments above are very valuable. I was in a customer session last week that went from 'we only need an Intranet not a digital workplace....we dont have buy in". After some discussions, showing them ITI (Igloos own Igloo and how we use it) the Exec sponsor there ended up bringing in the other C level leaders. So its a step by step for sure but having one Exec leader on board is essential.
I love hearing points like Chelsey Louzeiro saying the CEO gives a shoutout to the digital workplace at talks. That's the highest buy in. Exec buy in also drives engagement. When employees see Execs using the DW (whether ghosted or not) it is an important driver.
If you still have trouble.....remember, we can help. As a former customer (and CEO of a company) and now running CS here at Igloo, I can help with discussions on why a DW is so important to corporate success. Reach out and connect with me on here.
Thanks all for comments. Love it.
BMAC
Veronica Hayes
Judy Headrick and Woody Schauer - there are some great ideas in this post on how to engage your Executive Team!