To thrive in today’s world, the C-suite must prioritise belonging
The many crises of 2020 have redefined how people connect with friends, family, and the world around them. It’s high time leaders take note and re-examine their own connections with stakeholders – inside and out – argued WE Communications’ Melissa Waggener Zorkin during her session, ‘The New CEO Is All About 360 Degrees of Respect’ at Mumbrella360: Reconnected.
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, people were demanding change from their leaders. But after the events of this year, leadership is being called to act with renewed urgency, driven by employee activism, an absence of nimble government response to global crises, and growing community engagement.
“As individuals, we’ve already redefined our connections with the people closest to us,” said WE Communications global CEO and founder Melissa Waggener Zorkin, speaking at the Mumbrella 360: Reconnected virtual event. “And yet, as leaders, we now need to redefine our closest connections within our own companies.”
Following through with purpose
Consumers are concerned about the future of their families, their communities, and the planet, Waggener Zorkin explained. They expect the brands that they support to stand for the right things and be aligned with those values.
In a study released by WE Communications last year, 74% of global consumers said that they expect brands to take a stand on important issues. They believe that brands can provide stability in uncertain times. In this age of COVID, the pressure to lead with purpose is growing exponentially.
However, without exemplifying that same purpose within the company itself, purpose-led messaging can feel hollow. “A truly purpose-led brand must always come down to how that purpose is living inside the company for its people. We’ve seen some cases over the past couple of years where there’s a disconnect between outward displays of purpose and internal neglect.”
When brands pledge allegiance to a purpose for their customers’ benefit, but they fail to apply those commitments internally, that hypocrisy undermines credibility and trust, she said.
“Misalignment between external purpose messaging and internal culture is not just about reputation management. Companies who have engaged employees not only demonstrate higher productivity and better retention but they report higher customer ratings and greater business success.”
Waggener Zorkin pointed to WE Communications’ client, Gilead Sciences, as an example of a company that’s not afraid to highlight its internal culture. The company recently released its annual report with the theme ‘we’re ready’, which coincided with the company’s new CEO coming on board.
“For the first time ever, the report pulled back the curtain and spotlighted the company’s internal culture and internal energy. This type of emotional, purpose-led storytelling was a different approach for the company and rare in its industry. The unique campaign was a celebration of Gilead employee efforts. The report became the most engaged with digital experience in the company’s history.”
As marketing and communications leaders, she explained, this internal audience is incredibly important. Leaders are the owners of the brand experience across all audiences and channels, and so “as much as our customers need us, our internal teams need us more.”
A missed opportunity
Waggener Zorkin points to data, collected by WE Communications, that reveals how many leaders are missing the opportunity to act on what she calls ‘360 degrees of respect’. A survey, conducted with Quartz, revealed that only 20% of business leaders are prioritizing investments to address factors like emotional health, equity and inclusion and culture. It also found that only 50% of the same respondents said that the employee engagement programs they had were meeting the needs of their people.
“That’s just not what I’d call an HR misstep,” she said. “That’s a missed business opportunity. I have seen too many companies pull funding from internal programs or let employee engagement efforts fall by the wayside.
“In the toughest times, when we’re straining to keep our work afloat and our businesses healthy, that’s when our relentless commitment to our purpose is most crucial. These are the times when we most need our people. They are our greatest allies.”
Achieving 360 degrees of respect
Waggener Zorkin outlined the three principles WE Communications uses to practice 360 degrees of respect, which include leading with empathy, listening as an organising principle, and practicing agility.
Empathy is about “show[ing] up as humans first; to prioritise the human needs of our internal teams when we are shaping even the most significant business decisions.”
At WE Communications, this has included a program called ‘Eight For You’, launched in response to the ongoing pandemic, which provides staff additional paid hours to recharge, along with an extended community engagement program and helping staff to thrive in a remote working environment.
The second principle, listening, involves building a constant feedback loop between employees and leadership. “Listening to our teams cannot just be a one-way, once per year occurrence based on something like a multiple-choice survey,” she said. “We have to listen to our employees on an ongoing basis and have the courage to share a lot of what we’ve learned openly.”
Finally, agility means building the ‘muscles’ of your organisation, strengthening its ability to change and adapt. “Every dialogue that we engage in, every action we take, every new perspective we absorb, has a compounding effect. I refer to these as muscles because they’re like muscles in your organisation. They get stronger the more we practice.”
Waggener Zorkin closed by saying that belonging is the ultimate outcome of practising 360 degrees of respect. “When we create a place where diverse talent can thrive… Where people can feel their differences are celebrated, a place that is their place, where they not only want to work, but stay: that is when we have the greatest impact.”