ROI Forum hosted by eBay: Communicating the Company Strategy
April 13, 2022
Connecting employees with the company strategy in a meaningful way can be challenging in today’s environment, particularly with so many competing messages and distractions in the workplace. Our recent ROI Forum brought together senior communication and HR professionals from Fortune 500 companies, including ADP, Amazon, Comcast and Workday, to share best practices for engaging employees in where their company is headed.
The Forum kicked off with small group discussions where participants had an opportunity to network and share how they’ve been communicating their respective company strategies. Our Forum host, eBay, then presented their multi-year approach, which centered around strengthening understanding and credibility of eBay’s transformation.
A central theme of their communication strategy, which is focused and straightforward, is the combination of new tools, channels, and habits the team is using to cascade the strategy throughout the organization and connect the strategy to each team’s goals.
Introducing new tools
- Dedicated strategy playbook section on the intranet
- Strategy Playbook (printed and/or digital)
- Strategy map that visually illustrates the strategy (infographic or short animated video)
Trying new channels (with an emphasis on people leaders)
- Short videos of leaders discussing how eBay’s multi-year strategy connects to their teams’ goals
- Lunch & Learn sessions for leaders to help them figure out how to tell the strategy story to their teams
- “How To” discussions with people managers
Building new habits
- Consistently connecting how current projects link back to strategy in all-company meetings
- Encouraging executive leadership to connect the dots from strategy to their teams’ goals
- Regularly re-telling the story of eBay’s impact and growth link to the multi-year strategy
The rich conversation wrapped up with more best practice sharing as well as a fun raffle for eBay gift cards. We’re already looking forward to the next ROI Forum!
ROI Forums
ROI Forums provide a unique, invitation-only opportunity for Communication and HR senior leaders from Fortune 500 companies to share best practices, exchange ideas and discuss the latest issues and emerging trends. In addition to the ROI Forums, we host events exclusively for ROI Partner Group members, including summits, lunches and coffee chats.
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