Jan. 20, 2022 - Fireside chat with NYT, brand journalism benefits, and Harris X survey findings

Hereis a recordingof the Jan. 2022 monthly member call. Presentation slides are attached.

This call features a fireside chat from Jacqueline Welch of The New York Times, as well as presentations from Jim Ylisela of Ragan Consulting Group and Diane Schwartz of Ragan Communications

Here are some key takeaways from the call:
 

Intersection of media, HR and employee comms with The New York Times

Jacqueline currently works at The New York Times developing people and the organization, talent acquisition, DE&I, and was named one of Ragan’s top women in Wellness and HR in 2021.

Concrete ways Jackie was able to bring her personal experiences into the workplace:

• Be more cognizant of the full breadth of age, particularly now when people are working longer
• Bereavement – people need time to grieve. Looking to implement a 10-day bereavement policy as a benefit this year
• Life experiences heightened focus that had not been able to think about beyond personal experiences

Working with Communicators and how they can convey the change taking place around culture

• Partner directly with comms team, employee engagement and culture and determine a cadence for communication
• HR and communication should work hand-in-hand
• Ask the questions: What is the brand of HR? What are the verticals of communications? How to create the push-pull dynamic so not over or under communicating?

Teams managing scenario planning about vaccine mandates

• NY Times has employees who cover the vaccine as their job, scenario planning in both directions,. Work with client groups to understand what they most want vs what is least desirable, that way there is a way to pull from both those sets of assets
• Be nimble: plan for the best and the worst. Don’t wait to build out that infrastructure, better to have it than not have it

Learning to deal with deskless workers

• Understand your audience – are they deskless but collocated, or are they deskless and dis-aggregated? That will inform what you can do for one or the other
• Don’t get hung up on what’s new or next, but leverage on what you already have
  • For NY Times, deskless workers has been a production issue as paper is printed in house
  • NY Times solved this by thinking about what was already in place, such as QR Codes – invested in a QR code reader allowing communication via cell phone

Things NY Times has done or noticed trending as part of standard operating procedures

• Big current trends: covid tests as a perk, sending tests to employees for added safety
• Better air filtration systems, thinking about making more space available for things like conference rooms, allowing more space for hybrid workers, etc.

Last minute words...

Remember to check-in on loved ones. The whole idea of isolation and having to work from home and wear masks are all new impactful things and so remembering to check-in with others is important.

One word to choose describing the business climate moving forward: evolving

The brand of HR

• Tagline, “We are both stewards of the institution and also ambassadors of the employee experience “

Brand journalism coaching + team training sneak preview with Ragan Consulting Group

Thoughts on Vaccine Mandates in the workplace:

• Ragan Consulting group is currently working with a client who has a production facility where employees were very reluctant to get vaccinated, followed the rule proof of vaccination or negative test.
• Used data to support their requirements
• Overall message: employees come to work not only to protect yourself but to also protect loved ones and colleagues
• Must look out for the benefit of all in the workforce

How Brand Journalism Changes Everything

What is brand journalism?

• Showcasing your expertise and enhancing your reputation by using the journalistic techniques of reporting, storytelling, and publishing
• Showcasing what you know and who you are and your reputation, but to do that in a story telling way

Business becomes only trusted institution

• Higher than government and higher than media
• Communicators have an opportunity to enhance those numbers even more by being a credible source of information in a way that engages – storytelling
  • Ex: BlueCross BlueShield, University of Alabama, Bank of Oklahoma Financial Institution
• Brand storytelling is important in both internal and external communications

5 BrandJo stories companies should be doing

1. Act like a media outlet - companies make their own news and should break their own news in a timely fashion
2. Use your special access - connect with experts, talk with the company CEO, see what’s going on behind the scenes, explain how things work
3. Analyze your own date - if companies/communicators can understand data, the data can tell a story
4. Showcase your culture - the great resignation is about people making decisions about where they want to work, with an organization that has aligned values with their own
5. Have a point of view – organizations are expected to have a point of view on issues that matter to people, CEOs and other thought leaders in the organization getting out there and taking a stand and having a point of view – all excellent stories to tell

Your to-do list:

1. Guidance: Editorial standards
2. Structure
3. Better storytelling
4. Delivery
5. Measurement

Findings from recent Harris X/Ragan CEO-Communicators Competencies survey

How CEOs perceive the communications function in alignment in how communicators themselves see their value:

CEOs often see themselves as the most important communicator for their companies

• Often working with a top leader who sees themselves as the senior communications leader of the team, how to work with them how to be that strategic advisor
• CEOs see themselves as primarily responsible for defining the voice of the company
• CEOs are looking for communicators to take the lead are in support and advice roles
• Size does matter! For small companies, listening is an important skill that they value in their communications leads, whereas in larger companies’ relationship building and strategic planning is valued, and medium size is experience, in what your CEO or top leaders are looking for

Communications leaders saying what competencies and skills are most important to them

• Critical thinking, relationship building, integrity
• Low - risk management negotiation, people management

CEO’s rank Team leadership to be the highest ranked skill

• The soft skills the ability to bridge departments is valued as a hugely important skill
• Being able to be someone who brings people together is important

CCO’s and SVP/VPs of comms

• Writing is at the top of the list

CEOs believe their most important communications roles are employee comms, external communications and protecting brand reputation

Key Findings

1. CEO see themselves as most important comm for an org
2. Size matters
3. Listening, strategy and flexibility, what CEO’s say they are looking for in their comms leaders
4. Comms leaders are most likely to value relationship building, looking to build relationship within the organizations and externally
5. Team leadership is a top skill for CEOs
6. Top comms priorities for CEOs are, protecting brand reputation and external audience engagement

In summary, team leadership and writing are the top skills, very important to communicators

Jan. 20, 2022 - Fireside chat with NYT, brand journalism benefits, and Harris X survey findings