CMOs discuss best practices for employee engagement

With more employees working remote than ever before, how do today's leading B2B organizations keep their teams engaged with each other and with the company's mission/purpose overall?

Great, robust discussion at last Friday's CMO Coffee Talk on employee engagement that spanned habits, tools, culture, leadership, alignment and much more. Chat highlights from both sessions are below.

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I’ve never been involved in an engagement survey that was anything more than air cover to do nothing.

I like Mel Robbins and she always says” No one is coming to save you” You are it

We do it 2x/yeah and each time we present the results to the company and at a team level, we put together action plans (including asking team members to participate) and we report our progress in all hands calls. This happens at CEO/ELT level and the next 2 (ish) levels down

For anniversaries, each manager sends an anniversary note to the employee and copies our leadership team, the note is short and includes a few concrete examples of what the employee did over the last year.? gives them visibility to leadership and a chance to be recognized at that level. We are fully remote, so when we get together, it helps us connect the employee to what they’ve done here - goes a long way.

We use an “eNPS” score every 6 months.

Like people have already said, if you don’t show action after the survey then the whole thing falls apart. It ends up being a downward spiral. If team members don’t see action then they disengage from the survey itself.

You have to come back and communicate what you did/changed because of feedback. Otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time.

Regular coaching (not management) conversations should displace any sort of "annual reviews."

There are some really good Slack bots I’ve used for anonymous surveys on more regular cadence.

participate in your own rescue - LOVE THAT

Here is a curmudgeonly question…Is it possible expectations about what we all think a company can or should contribute to employee happiness is overestimated?

We added an employee survey committee and they review the results do company readout and make recommendations for improvements

Geekbot is a fav. You can even randomize delivery so it doesn’t settle into a “oh, it’s Friday, here comes a survey” kind of thing.

We use a tool internally called TINYpulse for this.? Periodic questions plus opportunity to provide "cheers" back to peers for behavior that adheres to our values.

Giving your peeps the chance to elaborate or discuss the survey outcomes in your 1x1s can lead to great conversations - BUT, value is an outcome of the trust and connection you have established with each person.

I think the conflict is that it’s something that feels fair to assume once work eats more and more of life. If companies expect availability for 12 hours of the day, then yeah, seems fair to worry about happiness.

You can’t unload other people’s baggage…all you can do is lead by example and demonstrate you mean what you say in the way you behave

Seriously— how to make people comfortable that their input will actually be anonymous?

I've seen companies schedule meetings to discuss company culture and then the meeting is nothing about culture.

Fair question for this group: how many of YOU are facing fear, uncertainty. Scared. I’ll go first. Every Day.

Excitement and terror daily.

I've put a skip level program in place- actively speaking to employees under my leadership team in a regular basis. sometimes being heard is a huge piece of the puzzle

Absolutely uncertainty - that’s the world we live in. I try to embrace the ambiguity and enjoy the ride. It doesn’t scare me.

It's up to seasoned leadership to ease fears through consistent confidence. The younger generations have not gone through change cycles like the 'elders' have.

We treat our contractors exactly the same as employees (within the limits of the law, of course)

We’ve had success putting a link in a Teams channel so that people know there is not a unique URL.? Some people are still skeptical, but it has helped the participation rate.

In my previous company, HR and management tried to work on the culture but it l came across mainly ingenuine because of the CEO and founders personality. Not sure how you fix that.

One of the biggest hits to employee engagement and culture is when toxic employees are not removed because they happen to be "high performers."

In some cases, you have to avoid team meetings for contractors.? A legal requirement for their contractor status.? The more you treat them like employees, the more they can demand employee-like benefits.? Perhaps a Q for your HR team?

Remember the more you treat them like employees the closer you get to employment law issues.

If we don’t work harder to improve our organizations why would employees want to work hard for the organization

I am a firm believer of modeling the behavior we expect to see.

I'll never fully wrap my head around how difficult it is for most people to say what's truly on their mind.

As my grandmother used to say: “Listen to the People.”

As the leader your job is to make everyone on your team feel special. The culture on your team is in your control to a larger degree than the overall company.

I just worry about the interplay of expectations and entitlement. Is it possible to take it too far. How “HAPPY” can a company make you.? Obviously, it can make you miserable.

I definitely have work to do to bring us all together more. It doesn’t help that we’re also so dispersed geographically. But the upside is most arent large agencies, but rather individual contractors, so it’s easier to bring them into the fold and as a consistent presence in our meetings etc. Looking forward to the first “team huddle” on Monday : )

Leaders want to talk about the company's mission, vision and values but they're hollow if they're just words on the website and in the office lobby. They have to articulate for people what those things translate to in daily behaviors- specifically- and then model them.

I had a CEO who canned our pulse survey and said 'I can't make people happy, and I really don't care if they are'. guess what that environment was like. It does start at the top

My thinking is, how can I make work suck less. It’s not my job to bring anyone happiness. If people feel like they’re seen and heard, they will open up and tell you what’s going on.

I have over 100 people on my team (including contractors) and apart from a small handful who happen to be near one of our few offices, everyone is in a different (home-based) locations around the world, spanning 13 countries. It’s possible! ??

Interesting point. I got the sense my contractors were wanting this type of sync as operating in silos has caused them some headaches. For instance, we run in one direction with our Digital Marketing contractor and end up blindsiding our Marketing Ops contractor. So I think it’d be helpful for them to have visibility and input into the other functions that can impact theirs. Plus, they of course, bill for the hour long call : )

Yeah I think that’s it, are we asking how happy you are in your life? No asking hey how happy are you at work? How much do you feel like your work has impact? How much do you feel like you can do your best work?

I am sure McKinsey or Harvard has done a study that correlates employee motivation (which doesn’t always equal happy) to overall business success.

It's interesting to me how much we seem to be using employee happiness interchangeably with employee success. Those are two very different things. Focus on employee success and happiness will follow.

100% agree. Just finished reading Lost Connections … (recommended last session). Such a great book and highlights how disconnected we all are. Highly recommend.

Leaders are not responsible for employee "happiness." But they ARE 100% responsible for ensuring ethical behavior, providing a degree of psychological safety, giving (and hearing) feedback regularly, fair recognition for progress (vs. just 'wins'), etc.

Is it really our job to make everyone feel special? I think it’s our job to give people the info and guidance they need to understand business objectives and see how their role can make an impact, help remove obstacles and empower people to do their best work.

Rather than think about improving culture, maybe the question is how we should improve leadership, not culture.

Would the Navy Seals have a culture survey? No. They would eat a bad leader alive.

Rotate the times so it’s always convenient for a different region

All of those for sure AND for me. being willing to sit and really listen, and engage them even if they don't like the answer makes a major difference

If ur global you need to ensure the meeting always addresses each region or it will feel all about the home office

Nearly half of my company are reservists or former active duty. Same for my leadership team. There is 0 focus on culture - it gets written off as not driving ROI. Our culture is 100% dependent on company performance. When we close a deal, culture is amazing. The problem is that we're selling primarily to the DoD so deals can take 12-18 months to close. The result, massive waves and troughs that make retention incredibly difficult.

Would the Navy Seals address bad leadership? Actually, I just watched a fascinating documentary on this called The Line (Apple TV+), if anyone is interested.

i just heard that there is EQ, IQ and now TQ? (T=tech)

That’s fair. I’m not a Navy Seal, lol, but I’d venture to say even if they don’t do a culture survey, there is a culture. And if you don’t fit or can’t lead, then yeah you’re gonna be out. Same can be said about companies. A company that doesn’t choose to survey, then this IS their culture. And people that don’t mind it will stay and those that do will go. As a leader, I have to decide if it’s the place for me. If I choose to stay, then I have to find the people that fit.

Yes. I love this. This is how my team works. Nothing on the annual review should be news to them. We have the conversations all the time.

If you have employees who know they are signing up for a navy seal program that’s quite an accomplishment. They do survey and they also do a ton of leadership training and assessment

For sure there is a culture. The question is what should we measure? Culture or leadership or performance? Which results in a better culture? B/c Culture overrides all of it.

Has anyone established a marketing employee council type function, if so can you share? In my former role I had a core crew of hyper-engaged, positive employees who formed an advisory board to bubble employee input up to me, as well as share ideas for training & engagement activities for the team. It was a beautiful thing, happened organically. I'm planning to establish something similar in my new role

There's leading, there's managing and there's coaching. All 3 overlap but they're also very distinct. And most companies elevate individual contributors into leadership roles but then don't teach them what those three things look like in practice.

We use Donut for that, it's pretty effective.? Have thought about using it in here actually.

Yes, I agree. It’s all about each person’s individual experience and what they want/need from work. All together, that “creates” the culture. But it really can’t be “manufactured” other than that.

Best thing I heard is a daily huddle mid-morning every day for 15 minutes to check in with what's been happening across the biz.? EMEA to catch up PST on any firedrills/issues. Discuss ideas, meeting S/T goals, share any personal milestones, etc.? They're emp sat was very high

Asynchronous is awesome!! Video makes it possible. Love this. Like Loom.

https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something

https://www.donut.com/blog/donut-slack-boost-team-culture/

I like the vibe check idea. I suspect there would be a short burst where a lot of folks do it and then it will die down and you’ll end up with the same people doing it on the reg

This is a great book: The Nine Lies of Work. https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lies-about-Work-Freethinking-ebook/dp/B07C3ZT28C

Def takes the modeling aspect. I’ve always found that as long as I keep doing it that engagement stays pretty well around 75%. And if someone isn’t engaging it opens up the “everything good” convo.

I’ve also had team members who preferred audio and we let them go with that and worked well still.

From the early call was the great mantra idea “we are the people we’ve been waiting for”

If you haven't checked out ChangeEngine - they are a great platform for easy, templated employee engagement on a org level scale.

I like that 2-minute email -- a good piece of intentional reflection

Curious how folks on this call get buy-in from C-suite to invest time and resources in employee engagement as a brand activation tool?

Only 1 or 2 of 20+ of my managers have had any interest in my career. I’m the opposite - their career is a monthly check-in

You can't say thank you enough to any of your employees, human OR artificial TBH

I do a Friday shout out to one employee (from all across the company) on LinkedIn. I try to make it specific and personal. It’s a small way to highlight the excellent work that folks are doing.

Yes! And help your team grow even beyond the Co so they gain from the experience regardless of future changes

People are exhausted. Many companies are making big shifts quickly and the employees are at the back of the tiger’s tail. It’s hard to ask them to be accountable when sometimes the execs are not

We use the "cash back" on our Brex cards for spot bonus gift cards. I make liberal use of those as "thank you's". Just covering dinner or a massage goes a long way, though mostly I think it's the recognition it represents.

Yesss I love having monthly team lunch mtgs where no work talk is allowed

One thing I implemented was a VCT - Virtual Coffee Talk. (I grabbed this from one of my employees, actually.) This is an invitation for anyone in my org or anyone in the company to slap a 20-minute meeting to talk about whatever THEY want to talk about: Duke Basketball, traveling, kids going off to college, or the company's support in getting an EMBA... This is THEIR time for my undivided attention, and it empowered even the lowest-level employee to have an opportunity to have a 1:1 meeting with me. It was a highly successful endeavor.

We use Donut. Very helpful way of connecting with team mates that you wouldn’t normally cross paths with.

Did something similar on finding the uncommon commonalities to help employees/teams connect. Love this idea!

Recalling the quote\cartoon of the CFO, doubting L&D investment asks “What if we invest in these people and they leave?”? To which the enlightened CEO answers, “What if we don’t and they stay?’

We also have common interests channels in teams where people post, share and comment.

She’s the best, here’s the link to Matcha https://matcha.so/

Remote is a GODSEND - I hope it becomes more mainstream

We all need to feel valued. I was not feeling valued and it was really hard because I was really killing myself. Yesterday, I told my manager something she did that really meant a lot to me and why. I felt a lot better and I hope it will be able to be a foundation for the future.

We’re 100% remote company so we do 15 minute standup twice per week to talk about shoutouts, announcements, kudos, etc. Whoever is the host (always a different employee) comes up with a question to get to know everyone better.

We also do trivia every Wed from 11:45-12noon. The winner gets a Starbucks gift card. It’s fun and people look forward to it every week.

Did anyone else see the recent news about the success of 4-day work weeks in UK? I really hope the youngest generation of workers push for this to happen in the next 5-10 years.

On the remote issue - forcing people back into the office against their will is a fast way to get employees to hate you

Everyone loves to be seen and appreciated. My CEO stuck a VC presentation yesterday using a new deck/ talk track I created. He slacked me “Thank you!!!”Exclamation points are unlike him. Gotta say, it meant a lot.

I think that Gens X and Z have a LOT more I common that we know. I’ve been digging into GZ for my new role and it’s interesting how some values overlap

We’ve got a manager that’s been making their team fly to TX monthly for “face time” for no reason - worst morale in the company on that team

We recently implemented Bonusly, which allows employees to give recognition to other team mates by giving them points. The points can then be used to buy gift cards through the Bonusly marketplace.

Yes. It’s so important to realize that the motivators are really different.

There's an entire side of TikTok that all executive leaders who care about engagement should be on where real professional employees are venting all the things their companies are doing that make them hate their jobs and disengage. VERY eye opening when you see what people say and the 50,000 people commenting agreeing

We used to start team meetings with gratitude to give space for saying 'thanks' publicly and also helping the team to keep the good front and center, and not just the 'stuck'.

We used HeyTaco for recognition and while a funny name, it just catches on more than the other tools I’ve tried.? https://heytaco.com/

Sharing raw customer stories internally helps too - seeing positive impact of your work

Here’s the “How to Communicate with Me” doc I mentioned as a part of my onboarding, as well as check-in regularly. I’ll put into Swipe too.

Spoiler: there are millions (and millions and millions) of people who believe return to office requirements are SOLELY about a power trip from leadership who want to be able to watch them constantly, and justifying real estate investment, and nothing to do with employee well being or actual productivity. And the resentment is very widespread

I find that a lot of “engagement” relates to team “culture.” And in addition to the vibe, “culture” actually is defined by employees as efficient operational processes, recognition, and access to the most important conversations.

I love TikTik for watching the way Gen Z is changing how we work. Also those that film their bad layoffs is Chefs Kiss

Did you know the word “company” actually comes from Latin for “breaking bread”?

Such a powerful discussion, thank you everyone for sharing. In that spirit, I wanted to share a few links to content I've created around employee engagement, which I also posted to CMO Reading List:

https://www.inc.com/entrepreneurs-organization/why-your-company-needs-a-comprehensive-employee-customer-experience-plan.html

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/news/2023/12/22/auditing-the-employee-journey-a-comprehensive-guide.html

We’ve used Bonusly. Was great because you saw someone publicly recognizing people outside their immediate team/org. Every Bonusly award automatically got posted to the Bonusly Slack channel, which everyone followed regularly. You knew because others would chime in to reiterate the kudos that someone had posted. Helped the motivation aspect that Bill mentioned.

I agree with those people re remote - it is all about power, bad management,? and bad real estate investments, it has zero to do with productivity.

I’m a big fan of hand-written notes and personal gifts to say thanks…I’ll get a gift for a marketing specialist and write a note to call out their behavior and thank them, encourage them. Super powerful

Safety, financial security, purpose, social enrichment, flexibility, and freedom are all important factors of why we work.

Absolutely this - the next generation is doing a lot to improve how we treat each other at work and at home ??

Who knew what people want to be treated like humans in the space they spend 80% of their time?

There's this huge movement I'm seeing with younger generation of making work your side hustle instead of your life

Gen Xer here: I stopped associating my ID with work after my second layoff 8 years ago, now I’m more like a Zer, work pays for my life

A really great connection into the importance of the way you shape your brand internally….mission, vision, purpose…getting that right engages those generations.

I think many of us still define (part of) who we are with our career --- but what makes up our career is multifaceted.

Jon Levy is one of the researchers uncovering this. The bottom line is we need to show people how they are aligned to purpose and values and work, and show how the work experience helps them develop EQ, soft skills, have impact, etc. etc. This is what they are looking for in their experience at work.

Also Simon Sinek is a GREAT resource on motivations of younger generations.

I’m curious if anyone has found being 100% in-person changes the culture and being more connected? I went from a Hybrid company to a fully in-person company and we’re still figuring out the culture and connection in many ways.

I have never regretted spending budget on travel a couple times a year to bring remote teams together. I love working remote. The ‘breaking bread’ conversations just don’t happen nearly as easily.

We talk about purpose and values regularly, and tie all of our work/priorities/etc back to that purpose.? It's been unifying.

I had the promotion thing blow up this week when our HR leader said in a town hall that we want to promote 50% of employees per year.? Which is insane and not achievable.

One trend I've seen a lot of is about identifying as non-neuro-typical or neurodivergent. It's an interesting trend in how Gen Z+ is learning how their brains work/why they struggle with tasks/etc.

I said breaking bread together is SO FRENCH because it's a big part of their culture.? It was also true back in 1995 when I did my MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau. Lunch was in the restaurant and an actual sit-down-and-talk meal. I still have close friends from that year almost 30 years ago, and I am sure part of that is because we actually broke bread together and continue to do so whenever we can. It is true in all cultures, I would suggest. This is hard in the remote work culture but so worth doing whenever possible.

Somehow HR has decided not to own culture at most places I’ve been.? I’ve had to take this on.

Yes this - younger generations understand their neurotypes SO MUCH more than older generations!

I recommend LEMON Leadership as a simple, applied framework and assessment https://www.amazon.com/LEMON-Leadership-Radically-Fresh/dp/0967854164/ref=asc_df_0967854164/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=316966985685&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17844525765948280941&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031993&hvtargid=pla-589218158862&psc=1&mcid=513531230b62336fbd1b68b4e938bd9a&gclid=CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJOwRcIgKavt03KvDI5WlX9ZYV5ZcszagB9j81O2s9bg8L_eFeWY88jxoC9VoQAvD_BwE

I have tried to make it clear to management that over the next few years through exit (estimated) as we grow to 10-15, I may have some management options but I mainly have money and titles to offer people so we needed to be mindful of this. I was also honest with the team about this and mindful if there were cross-departmental options for them even tho there were not a lot.

TikTok also making a LOT of younger people realize they are not neurotypical because they're finding people exactly like them, and discovering their 'weird' quirks aren't weird, just neurodivergent, and teaching them different ways to operate!

Access to the conversations is key. I recently brought one of my team into the depths of the sausage making and political wrangling. It really helped her understand the context.

When they heard directly from leadership it seemed to make a huge difference to their motivation.

I do open office hours on Zoom every Wednesday - people love it

Neurodivergence is not a trend ?? We have more access to diagnosis now and more acceptance of varying neurotypes

100%! I think what's trending is people recognizing their neurodivergence, NOT the actual neurodivergence

I did this at my last company with a team of around 45. Never got more than 3-4 people per month, and often the same people. I thought it was such a good idea, but it didn’t really work the way I thought it would. Glad it’s working for others.

Great discussion, thanks? everyone. I’m super passionate about this topic….we have to grow the people that grow our businesses! The soft skills are as/more important than hard for moving up. And we all benefit when people have better soft (power!) skills

I've used the "add new bullets to your resume" language with teams as well. It feels real. And I think it's been appreciated.

I have always done career mapping at the one year mark with everyone on the team whether its directs or skip level

People want to feel like they are being seen and heard. These are all great suggestions. Thanks!

One major culture shift I have brought to a few companies I’ve been at is incorporating appreciations into townhalls (all hands) meetings. This addresses the need for “words of affirmation” I’ll post the slide I use for moderating it

Did anyone read Seth Godin’s blog post today? He brings up the suggestion box. So on brand with the discussion today! How do you feel about anonymous feedback and are companies actually giving a platform for folks to use?

?https://seths.blog/2024/03/the-question-book/

It's not templatized. Rather, it's a conversation and an agreement.? I ask what bullet they want to add, then try to steer that type of work in their direction.

I encourage my team to interview whether they are happy or not in order to help them focus on what’s working, what’s not, what they may not be considering in terms of growth. Bring it back and build a plan around it.

Sometimes "steering work in that direction" means giving opportunities to work with the people who are already doing that work.

everyone is motivated by different things. That is the first thing I ask when onboarding folks. What motivates you?

Totally agree? - there's also a Maslow's hierarchy to be applied to our work as well. With salary, and company stability being the foundational tier of the pyramid

On the topic of ‘seat at the table’- proactively explains wtf went on at the all mysterious exec meeting seems to help.

If it's a complete pivot, it's harder. As she was saying, if we're in a growing company it is easier to help growth into an open position.

I love the color coding. It’s the positive / opposite of when we used to use color coding bracelets to designate your feeling towards in person interactions during COVID

You have to be careful not to try and turn introverts into extroverts if their actual job isn't to be extroverted

To her point, this seems to be common for this digital generation where speaking skills and confidence is a challenge (yes, broad brush stroke).

Have the team do an Improv Comedy training. It would be a silver bullet, but it could help them communicate and break out of shells

what about an improv group training day? The Ariel Group is phenomenal for this! @Mimi Rosenheim Closed door small group type session so it's a push/stretch but intimate enough for people who want to try.

https://www.arielgroup.com/

We did a video round robin on Friday for a while and it went over well for highlights vs. everything under sun and internal comms - everyone on my team hated it lol.

Also important to understand the difference between introverted and shy, and extroverted and outgoing.? Plenty of outgoing introverts! And shy extroverts!

worth a read….“Employees who are at high risk for burnout do too much work in the evenings or on weekends. But the best, happiest, and most engaged employees actually like to do some work on the occasional evening or weekend https://simonsinek.com/stories/should-you-tell-your-employees-not-to-work-on-weekends/?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Personal&utm_campaign=Stories_Work-on-Weekends

OMG, people try to this Jedi trick on me all the time. I’m extroverted on this call out of comfort, but my daily life is introverted and try to get me to be more extroverted and it kills me.

Understanding each person’s Learning Styles is key. What may look like an introvert may just consume visually or not respond off the cuff cause they need time to digest first. Learning styles is key for internal marketing and externally to create content in the forms people prefer based on their styles.

Great book for introverts who are terrified of public speaking https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Like-Churchill-Stand-Lincoln/dp/0761563512

If you are lucky enough to have one, a great EA or Chief of Staff who has the organizational pulse/comms skills can really help you as a CMO ensure you are making time with ALL folks in your org and connecting.

It is inspiring how many great, warm, people are in this community. Blows my mind every week! If anyone needs anything, I am open to help you too!

I see this in my own kid. Lots of anxiety around F2F

It is so true! The social anxiety is extremely high.

And on those same lines, the younger generations were often raised by parents who hovered and solved EVERY single problem for them, and they never built the resilience skills and really freak out if there's minor problems they need to deal with. We need to teach them a lot of those skills

I agree with you — we have to level them up and that it’s about the business expectations. Agree!

Not everyone wants public credit either - onboarding new employees I always ask them how they prefer recognition and credit. Very helpful!

I agree about not coddling for sure but I also think the world is NOT today what it was when we were just getting into this. It’s so much faster!

It’s crazy how many book recos I see in all the communities I am in. How do people keep up? Feel like we would have to be FT book readers. ??

I ask my team what is the thing the hate most about their job currently — and often find that is something they don’t need to do/can be done differently etc. and they feel great to have that solved for. If it can’t change, they feel better knowing I know that thing just happens to suck.

Quick tip: Extend your network to your team. You will see how impactful that is…