Are Your Employees All In?

We’ve shared a lot over the last several months about the value and importance of infusing your corporate story into your company and culture.

So, by now, you know that your biggest advocates should be your employees — telling one, consistent story inside and outside of your organization.

But how do you get all of your employees to fully understand your message, and more importantly, bring it to life?

How can you create engaged and enthusiastic employees who deeply understand your message and the meaning behind your story … not just robots who repeat random pieces and parts of your story?

Well, when our team develops and facilitates Messaging Activation training sessions for Fortune 500 clients, the first step in the process is establishing employee “buy-in” to the story. Here are a few tips for creating training and education programs that will turn your employees into true messaging evangelists:

First — Personalization.
You have to tell employees what’s in it for them. Training should convey the strategic goals behind new messaging and how it relates to their work lives. Employees who understand the big picture and connect that perspective with their individual areas of responsibility are more likely to activate messaging in daily communication.

Next — Internalization.
The goal of messaging infusion should be for employees to internalize the content. This means helping them connect the story with real-world situations they will experience on the job. Make it meaningful and real to the activities that they participate in every day with team members and customers.

Finally — Activation.
Let your team know what is expected of them when they return to their jobs – and educate them on how to apply the new messaging and resources used in training. Give them the tools they need to put the story into play (marketing materials, sales enablement tools, customer meetings, etc.). As our training team says, “It’s not what they learn, it’s what they use.”

By integrating personalization, internalization and application into your training and education processes, you’ll be sure to create messaging ambassadors across your organization.