You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Lawrence Pilch’ category.
I had the opportunity to speak the other day at the first annual EEA Networking Expo held by PollStream partner the Enterprise Engagement Alliance in beautiful Rye Brook, NY.
My presentation, “All Together Now: Connection, Conversation, Community” offered a sneak peak of how our customers leverage social business software to engage in meaningful conversations with both customers and employees.
Among my favorite stories:
- How Best Buy used a poll to gauge employee opinion about a significant change to the staff discount. The overwhelming response – including scores of long stories about how the employee discount is used to become a more informed ambassador for Best Buy products – made it’s way to senior management and reversed the policy. Proof that every voice counts and that management listens.
- How Baker Hughes, a multi-national oil and gas services company, leveraged the Multi-Language module to engage their global audience with a series of polls that promoted awareness and understanding of a corporate Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) in 8 different languages. In three weeks, the ESPP enrollment went from little to no growth in recent years to a 28% global increase in new enrollments.
- How Royal Bank of Canada has leveraged rich, interactive polls to educate and inform the public about sustainable water use and their $50 million commitment to water preservation, The RBC Blue Water Project. Most recently they’ve engaged their 70,000+ employees as project ambassadors by inviting them to ‘Adopt a Project’ and then spread the word on Facebook. The program opened a new communication channel by building a bridge between the corporate network and the social network.
We look forward to continuing to work alongside the gang at EEA.
Dan Pink’s bestseller, Drive, has an example of a recognition system in a company in North Carolina that lets any employee reward another with $50. From Drive: “It works because it’s real-time, and it’s not handed down from management… And because they come from a colleague, not a boss, they carry a different (and perhaps deeper) meaning.”
I think what would be even better would be to remove the monetary carrot and be just left with the pure recognition. A recent study revealed that 88% of employees surveyed cited a lack of acknowledgment as their top work issue. In our experience, employees are hungry not for carrots like iPods and monetary rewards but rather acknowledgment. In fact, it’s what our The Hive solution is all about.
As a collaborative environment The Hive nourishes employees by ensuring that praise and acknowledgment are not confined to top-down communications within corporate and departmental boundaries.
And while I concede my bias as I do work at PollStream, I’d encourage you to visit our site to learn more or read the recent article by about TD’s use of The Hive in Engagement Strategies Magazine.
