Right Communication is Key to Employee Engagement

Lisa Bormann, Senior Director of People Development and Engagement at Carousel Motor Group

In an interview, Lisa Bormann, senior director of people development and engagement at Carousel Motor Group, talks about the latest communication challenges faced by the organizations.

As senior director of people development and engagement at Carousel Motor Group, what are the current trends you observe in internal communications and HR programs that have the potential to enhance employee engagement?

Personalized Communication: Tailoring messages and content to individual employees' preferences and needs. Instead of sending one message, you understand your audience's needs and may need to send multiple versions. This is especially important for change communication.

Two-Way Communication: Encouraging dialogue in all that you do. From a button on emails to town hall Q&A sessions to surveys, it’s all important to have a dialogue WITH employees. After all, employees are talking about the company; it's much better to be part of that conversation. If you can create regular dialogue with employees, it will help them feel valued, understand what is expected, build engagement, and ultimately drive company performance.

Varied Work Environments: Implementing communication tools (apps, intranets, texting) that cater to the diverse environment employees are working in, like retail, remote, office and hybrid work arrangements. These tools provide communication and collaboration in real-time, yet as you introduce them to the organization, you need to clarify how to use them. Introducing multiple channels without direction leads to multiple systems and fractured communication even more than it is today. Simplify your channels; do not dilute them.

Wellness Initiatives: Integrating well-being programs and easy-to-use resources to support employees' mental and physical health. This is just table stakes and shows employees that you care and are there to support their total well-being.

Based on your vast experience across diverse industries, what challenges exist in maximizing employee engagement across companies of varied sizes?

No matter what size the company, it seems like everyone is dealing with the same challenges for engagement, including:

Communication Overload: Trying to balance effective communication and overwhelming employees with information. I have yet to find any communicator that has figured it out.

Cultural Inclusion: Tailoring engagement strategies to accommodate diverse cultural backgrounds and preferences, or sometimes leading the conversation to broaden awareness of others.

Change Management: All organizations are changing, and it's hard for employees to change and stay engaged in running the business simultaneously.

Measurement and ROI: Figuring out the metrics to measure engagement and demonstrating its impact on business outcomes.

Could you share your views on upcoming trends or initiatives that promise to improve employee engagement and internal communications within organizations?

Looking ahead, promising trends include:

AI-Powered Insights: Using AI to analyze employee data and predict engagement drivers. (Not to mention helping communication professionals with their first drafts.)

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB): Prioritizing initiatives that promote a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone belongs. By focusing on belonging, you can drive higher engagement and innovation, and, ultimately, business results.

Wellness Integration: Supporting employees' personal wellness by integrating with many wearables and apps that consumers use, not creating a separate program.

"No matter what size the company, it seems like everyone is dealing with the same challenges for engagement"

Socialization/Gamification: Applying social and gaming elements to enhance learning, recognition, and engagement.

Before your stint at Carousel  Motor Group, what experiences empowered you to gain deep expertise in organizational change management, launching HRIS systems, and promoting clear company-wide communications?

Before joining Carousel Motor Group, I gained deep expertise through cross-functional projects at General Mills, Inc., a Global Fortune 500 Company. For all these unique projects, I partnered with HR leaders to understand business needs and then supported overall change and communication activation for a variety of audiences. 

My experiences have ranged from:

Organizational Change Management: Partnering with leaders to guide teams through acquisitions, restructuring and ongoing process changes to ensure smooth transitions.

HR Global Transformation: Successfully creating and launching HRIS global systems, service centres, and translation strategies to streamline processes, provide a better employee experience, and improve organizational data and insights.

Clear Communications Advocacy: Developing and executing communication strategies that promoted transparency, clarity, and alignment throughout the year and during times of change like COVID-19.

Finally, what are your suggestions for other senior leaders and CXOs working in the human resource development and workforce engagement space?

Years ago, companies led how we communicate with each other. From memos to whitepapers to power points and emails, people had time to read whatever was put in front of them. Fast forward to now, and we need to take direction from how we communicate IRL.

Communication needs to be three things:

Short. Think headlines, visuals, bullets, and less than 150 words.

To the point, we have short attention spans. Say what you mean upfront. No need for a lead-up or all the background. Just get to the point.

Repeated. Tell them, tell them again, then tell them again. Rock stars know they have a hit when they sing a song, so much everyone knows the words. Leadership should do the same! Repeat your points until you are sick of saying them, and then continue to repeat them. When employees say, "You have said that already," you tell them one more time.

Once you follow the above, measure everything you can and use those insights to guide your future efforts.

HRIS

Retail

ROI

Human Resource