Vivowire: Hype Work, The Breakfast Club & Jerry Maguire

Welcome to edition #90 of Vivowire, the Workvivo newsletter!

Do you remember the first time you saw The Breakfast Club? I genuinely remember being so excited and blown away by it. Good times.?

Do you remember a time when you felt like your employer valued their financial success over your wellbeing? I hope not. But if so, definitely?not?good times.?

Let’s talk about these topics and more in this week’s issue.

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This Week’s Top 3 Thumbstoppers

1. Hype Up Your New Employee App for Its Launch

TL;DR:?What do internal communicators and professional hype-men and hype-women have in common? EVERYTHING.?

When you’ve put time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears into choosing a new company-wide tool, especially a great one like Workvivo*, it can be scary to think that you might launch it and be met with nothing but the sound of crickets and a tumbleweed rolling by.?

(Especially when you live in a climate that isn’t conducive to the formation of tumbleweeds. Very confusing.)?

(*Yes, I’m biased, but at least I’m aware of it.)

The bad news is, unless you put some work in, you can probably expect the tumbleweed.?

The good news? You can take steps that guarantee your launch will be a big success. In?a recent guest blog, Caitlin Kirwan shared her tips for?(being the best hype-person ever) doing just that.?

1. Get the crowd going?

When you’re in the industry of hype, getting the crowd excited is pretty much your main gig. You need to build an energetic atmosphere that becomes infectious and encourages everyone to get involved.??

In a workplace setting, Caitlin explains that warming up your employees with pre-launch comms is essential too. “There should be a story behind every new digital workplace tool that you introduce – a reason as to why you’re making the investment and how it will positively impact employee experience. Aim to create awareness, understanding, and intrigue before the launch takes place.”

2. Build rapport with your audience

Hype-people need to build a strong rapport with their audience. They have to encourage them to clap, cheer, and chant, and might even make motivational speeches to connect with them.?

This is all to secure as much buy-in from attendees as possible before the show begins, and it’s something internal communicators should do before launching a tool as well. This is especially true when it comes to executive leadership, Caitlin says: “The quickest way to sink a digital transformation project is to dive into it before you have leadership and stakeholders on board.?

“Create ‘executive allies’ by getting members of the senior leadership team interested and engaged early in the process.”?

3. Organize promotional activities

Successful hyping requires taking steps to build awareness of an upcoming show or release. Hype-people might do radio interviews, post on social media, and more. They’re basically rolling out a campaign with strong themes and messaging to build excitement.?

The same goes for your new workplace tool. “When planning the communications for the launch campaign, it’s important to think about the core messaging,” Caitlin says. “The key themes for your launch should always focus on the people and benefits rather than the technology behind the new tool.

“Remember that different audience groups within your workforce prefer to consume information and updates via different methods – so be sure to utilize all the communication channels at your disposal.”??

4. Get the confetti canons ready?

The culmination of the hype work!?

“You could plan an event – either in-person or online – to bring people together for them to ask questions and explore the new tool together. Why not run a competition, share some branded merchandise, or host some online activities?

“But it’s important to also think beyond launch day, considering how you will keep enthusiasm high and ensure that messaging about the new tool doesn’t drop off a cliff. Plan for the weeks and months ahead while your organization will be embedding the new tech.”

Read more here!

2. To Be a Better Leader, Channel the Breakfast Club’s Philosophy

TL;DR:?Want to truly transform your employee experience offering? Rethink the leadership skills you learn in business school. (Says David Ross, international strategist. I did not go to business school. Which is probably obvious.)

EX isn’t a static thing, and neither are skills. Both need to evolve. Both require our reflection and willingness to change. That’s especially true if you’re a leader.?

Writing for Fast Company, international strategist David Ross says that for modern leaders, the evolving ways we live and work are upending how they must solve problems.?

“Business schools taught students how to excel in a linear world using reductive thinking by breaking the holistic down into a simplified model and calling on case studies from successful organizations in the past,” he explains. “[But] the context or world that organizations find themselves in isn’t as linear or simple as we are led to believe.”

Basically, leaders need to unlearn some things. Just like Bender, Claire, Brian, Andrew, and Allison had to shift their perspectives after a session of Saturday detention in high school.?

In order to get to know each other a little and pass the day without succumbing to total boredom, for example, Bender has to unlearn that putting on a rebellious front isn’t protecting him. Claire unlearns that people who aren’t popular aren’t worth her time. Brian unlearns... you get the picture.

In case you were wondering, yes, ‘unlearn’ is feeling less like a word the more I write it.

There are three main reasons leaders need to rethink what they were taught in business school, according to David.?

1. Wicked problems resist linear solutions –‘Wicked problems’ are hard to define because of disparate responses, can have several root causes, and are interconnected with other problems. Put simply: they’re messy. They can’t be solved with the traditional linear approach.
2. Leading under illusion –?Leaders tend to think they can still solve problems with 20th-century thinking, which can do more harm than good.?
3. Resisting mindset shifts –?The only way to improve is to recognize the need to do so. “What you learned in business school to propel you into a leadership role now holds you back in this age of uncertainty. We don’t need the continued perpetuation of the story of the great leader single-handedly solving things on their own.”

He says, “The consequences are sizeable for leaders who keep to linear thinking. Staff disengagement. Absenteeism. Presenteeism. Difficulty attracting high-caliber staff. And conflict with communities that can last not just for weeks, but for years. Conflict that is costly to the bottom line, bursts morale, and inspires staff to leave.”?

See how the process of unlearning boosted morale for the members of the Breakfast Club? And if it hadn’t been detention they were all in, maybe they would have stuck around too.?

Read David’s Fast Company article in full here.?

3. Under the Lens… Jerry Maguire, Intangible Value & Zoho

TL;DR:?People should be more important to you than money. Simple as.

You know what’s exciting? When you come across company values that are truly unique.

(Yes, my life really is that boring.)

Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of the company called Zoho before. But their stellar ratings on Glassdoor and Comparably caught my eye, and as I delved deeper into their story, their core principles genuinely made me happy.?

(Again, yes, boring.)

Zoho’s CEO and co-founder, Sridhar Vembu, says that the?company’s culture?drives its strategy, not the other way around. That might sound simple, but when you really think about it, it’s a super impactful statement; you can’t and shouldn’t go after success if you’re not putting your people first.?

Sridhar is also a fan of “intangible value” over “financial valuation”, which, in a world that’s laser-focused on scaling and speed toward monetary success, is really refreshing. It’s notoriously tricky to do that without your company culture getting left by the wayside (at best, and trampled to unrecognizable depths at worst).???

You know who else values people over financial success, albeit after a revelation driven by crisis of conscience? Jerry Maguire.?

In the movie (1996), Jerry gets fired from his high-paying job when he suggests his employer – a sports agency – should take on fewer clients and give them more personal attention. He’s forced to reassess his values and choices, and as he comes up against shallow colleagues and competitors in the world of sports management, his new worldview compounds: that some things – like wellbeing, authenticity, and care – are more important than money.?

Jerry learns that Zoho already appear to understand: that true success is not measured solely by wealth and status but by the depth of meaningful connections and relationships.

Maybe I’m biased having spent the past eight(ish) years working in as subjective a field as content, but I think it’s key to recognize that some things just aren’t measurable.?

When it comes to “taking a stance against measurement”, here’s what Zoho says: “You can't put a score on an individual's passion to succeed.?

“How can you calculate the worth of a team that's worked together for decades? How can you measure the value of trust between colleagues? How can you quantify loyalty or dedication or commitment to a shared vision? The answer: you can't.

“However, these immeasurable elements are just as imperative to our success as any number on a spreadsheet. We're far more interested in building a vibrant, thriving company culture than in calculating market caps and valuations. Not everything can be translated into a number, nor should it be.”

But of course, it’s all well and good for Sridhar to say that. What’s truly important is whether or not it actually impacts the working lives of Zoho’s employees.?

Zoho has a 4.5-star rating?on Glassdoor, where 93% of employees would recommend it to a friend and 96% approve of its CEO (Sridhar).?

On Comparably, Zoho’s culture is rated an A+ (4.6 stars) and it has top marks across the board for categories like gender, happiness, future outlook, perks and benefits, and compensation.

Retention at Zoho?also scores an A+ (83%), placing it in the top 5% of similar-sized companies on Comparably and in second place among its top five competitors (Pipedrive, SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft, and SugarCRM).?

The bottom line??Be like Zoho (and Jerry Maguire); don’t strive for success at the expense of your people.?

And when Rod Tidwell asks what you’re gonna do, get ready to yell “show me the money!”.?

Quote of the Week

“We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all”?– Andrew in the Breakfast Club, and me when I revealed to Bryan my obsession with?this snail-diorama artist.

What’s up at Workvivo??

How To Set Goals for Greater Gender Balance and Inclusion:?In light of Women’s History Month, Caitlin Kirwan shares a systematic approach for identifying gaps and setting gender equality goals – something that’s absolutely critical to the employee experience.?Read it here!

Developing Internal Resources To Embrace Neurodiversity At Work:?In recognition of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Caitlin Kirwan explores some of the best internal resources employers can develop to promote inclusion within their organizations.?Learn more here!

Tips for global team collaboration:?Our employees use the Zoom platform to reimagine global teamwork, with asynchronous communication and multilingual AI capabilities enabling efficient connection.?Continue reading on Zoom's blog!

Final Thought?

Be your workplace digital tool’s best hype-person.

Channel the Breakfast Club (their ability to unlearn, not their tendency to get Saturday detention) to become a better leader.

And always value people over money.?

Until next time, Vivowire out! ?? ??

If you have any feedback or just want to say ‘howdy’, simply reply to this email,?reach out on LinkedIn?or chat on?Twitter.