ENGAGEMENT and ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Employee Engagement:
Why Leaders Should Blog
to Drive Engagement

Question: As a Leader, why should I write a blog for my employees?

1. Because it is trendy at the moment and I pride myself on staying ahead of the curve.
Disagree
This is not a good reason. You should blog because you want to express yourself, share your experiences and corporate values and
listen and respond to opinions. You should also want to blog because you see this as an effective way to engage. Trends should not
feature in your decision to blog.
2. Because other leaders are doing it
Disagree
Same reasons as above. (And did you get to where you are simply by following what other people do)?
3. My Communications/Marketing/PR specialist has told me to
Agree/Disagree
You should always listen to your Comms/PR or Marketing specialist. (As one myself, I may be slightly biased ), however if this is the
sole reason you are blogging and you dont really understand the objective and the purpose read this guidance. If you still dont
see the benefits, then dont blog. (If you are a Comms/PR or Marketing specialist reading this guidance, wave this article in front of
your leader).

The first set

in a series of
articles looks at why it is
important for leaders to
interact with their employees
With the advances in social media, companies are
increasingly using blogs on internal channels as a way
to engage with their employees. Leaders are in a strong
position to engage with the people they lead, inspiring,
motivating and encouraging employees via internal
social media channels.
The New Leader listens, responds where appropriate,
interacts with their people and understands that their
choices and views can have a direct effect on a team
or organisation. The old style leadership promoting the
top down hierarchical approach is becoming a thing of
the past and people want to engage with their leaders.
Your people are your most valuable asset and
motivated, inspired employees are productive
employees, so dedicating some time out of your busy
schedule to generate conversations and drive
engagement by writing a blog can yield a hefty ROI.

4. I want to engage with the people I work with

Agree
Absolutely! Blogs are a great way to engage with the people that work in your organisation and can generate interesting and
productive conversations.

Question: As a leader, why should I

write a blog for my employees?
1. Because it is trendy at the moment and I pride
myself on staying ahead of the curve
Agree/Disagree
2 Because other leaders are doing it
Agree/Disagree
3 My Communications/Marketing/PR specialist has
told me to
Agree/Disagree
4 I want to engage with the people I work with
Agree/Disagree
5 I want to read, respond to and encourage
comments and feedback on my posts
Agree/Disagree

So, as a leader why write a blog and

what are the benefits? Look at the
statements on the right and see if
you agree or disagree.

6 Because I know that I am in a position to inspire

and motivate my employees and they listen to what
I say
Agree/Disagree
The answers are in the green box on the right

5. I want to read, respond to and encourage comments and feedback on my posts.

Agree
Whilst some organisations make the choice to disable comments for valid reasons, blogs work well as a 2 way feedback mechanism.
Comments and feedback on a post you have written shows that people have taken the time to respond because they relate to what
you have to say.
6. Because I know that I am in a position to inspire and motivate my employees and they listen to what I say.
Agree
As a leader people follow you, YOU set the pace and the example. You are in a position of huge responsibility and help people form
opinions and support the aims of your organisation, therefore it is important that people know you and understand your values.

How many statements did you answer correctly?

What makes an interesting blog post?

This varies and what may be interesting to one person may

not be interesting to another. However from a position of
leadership, you should be aware that statistics have shown
that people are usually interested in anything you have to
say, whether you are blogging about something in line with
your corporate strategy or writing about yourself.

Some people have a natural predisposition towards

blogging and are able to captivate an audience through
the written word. Some people struggle to write but are
still willing to give it a try. Hopefully your readers will be
sympathetic and understanding if you fall into the latter
category.

Taking this into consideration, what usually makes a post

interesting is if you write about a topic that you are
genuinely interested in yourself. People can usually sense
when someone is passionate about what they write about
and this in turn can have a ripple effect. If you are blogging
because it is trending at the moment without
understanding the purpose, then perhaps you should
consider whether blogging is worth the effort.

If you are honest in your blog and write about

something which you have a genuine interest or passion
in (corporate or otherwise), people will forgive a leader
who is not the best of writers. Passion counts, technical
writing ability may not. If you dont look forward to
writing your blog post and it is simply a chore on a long
list of things to do then dont do it.

ENGAGEMENT and ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Blogging in the Corporate World

What are the differences between blogs written for employees

and other blogs? Well that really depends on the organisation
and what the organisation wants to achieve. Some
organisations are more risk averse than others and set clear
and defined boundaries when deciding what topics to write
about. This usually means that content is driven by the
corporate messages and/or strategic business plans that need
to be communicated to an internal audience at a certain time
and this is sometimes overseen by a communications
department. This can work well if blogging is used as another
channel to disseminate corporate messages to employees.
However if you are in an organisation that is comfortable
doing so, and you are a leader that is confident enough to write
about topics that interest you beyond your position, why not
write about subjects outside of the corporate arena in your
blog spot, as well as topics that relate specifically to your
corporate strategy? You could integrate the two in one post,
or choose to alternate between corporate focussed posts and
more personal ones. Sometimes writing a blog goes beyond
supporting the corporate messages, but still maintains an
important corporate function in the form of engagement.
People engage with people they can relate to and who
listen and respond. Yes there are still boundaries within this,
but as a leader you are the visionary, the inspiration and
people want to know about YOU.

The importance of the authentic voice

As tempting as it is to get your support function, whether that

is your PA or comms specialist to write your post for you,
Refrain! Your objective if you are blogging to engage should
be to let people get to know you, therefore it is important that
the content comes from you. I strongly believe that blogs are
the one channel that should not have too much comms input
(depending on whether your organisation uses your blog as an
opportunity to engage and generate conversation with your
people) and your communications specialist should relinquish
control and give you free rein, whilst also supporting,
encouraging and offering training if you need it.

corporate cogs turn regarding communications. Most

organisations have enough channels to get the corporate
messages out there without adding a leaders blog to the
channel mix purely for messages centred around the
business and written by other people on your behalf. It will
be very obvious that you do not write your own blog for the
more discerning among your employees and this is hardly an
effective engagement strategy if people in your organisation
know or suspect that you do not write your own blogs. The
people you lead want to respond to you and not your ghost
writer!
*Note that agreeing content that someone has written for
you does not constitute writing it yourself!

Engagement 2 way feedback mechanisms,

the importance of generating conversations
Going back to the original question we posed at the
beginning of this article - Why start a blog in the first place?
Well you probably have something that you would like to
share and want people to respond and comment on your
blog post.

Some organisations choose to disable comments on their

leaders blog spot which makes this type of blog a one-way
communications channel. This may be appropriate
depending on the structure, resources and other channels
being used for engagement purposes, e.g. some
organisations may work in an environment which requires a
resource to moderate comments and may not have the time
to dedicate to blog moderation, however a blog is a useful
engagement tool for generating conversations and should be
used in this way if it fits the style and structure of your
organisation.
Inspiring, motivating and informing people
Your blog could serve a number of different functions.
Remember that this is about you and how you want to
present yourself, so the sky is the limit. People look up to
leaders by default, so it is important to consider that
people can be inspired and motivated by what you write.

Your communications/PR or marketing specialist can also

offer general advice, proof reading and implement and
promote your blog spot if you dont have one. (I also suggest
that you always run posts you have written by these people
who will be adept at managing and pre-empting risks which
may not be obvious).

Think about something you read that motivated and inspired

you. Why were you inspired and what was it about the
content that made you think? You dont have to be a
Hemingway or Flemming to get your ideas across and
people should not judge your technical writing skills too
harshly. (Unless of course you are a leader within the
communications field)!

OK, so there may be times where you are unsure about what to
write. It is acceptable to ask for ideas and feedback about what
topics you would like to cover in your blog, but the content
should be written by you. Not a confident writer? As a leader
you know that practice makes perfect and your comms team
will ensure that you dont put anything out there which could
have repercussions for you or your organisation.

Be honest with your employees from the outset and let them
know that you may not be the best writer in the world, but
you would still like to engage with them. Whilst the
presentation and the structure of your blog is important, it is
what you write about that people will remember.

People are a lot more discerning these days and (dare I say)
cynical in regards to messages that come from their leaders
and are now more aware than ever about how the

Grammar and spelling should still be on point and your

support functions will be able to sense check anything
you write and clear up the odd error which, by the way
is inevitable and just because you are a leader, no one
should expect you to be perfect.

Examples and Case Studies

It is difficult (if not impossible) to find case studies

showcasing internal blogs by leaders in organisations.
Intranets are.....intranets (for internal viewing only)
which makes sense considering that confidential and
commercially sensitive information sometimes sits in
(A note to fellow Comms/PR and Marketing specialists. this channel. There are however many good examples
As tempting as it is to clean and polish your leaders of external blogs written by leaders and you can either
blog to perfection - try to limit this to grammar and
take the time to look on the www. yourself or ask your
spelling only).
support to point you in the right direction.

Ideas for Leadership Blog Posts

People want to know and understand people, so blogs do not necessarily have to be corporate
focussed. Some ideas for blog content are listed below.
A day in the life of. (Corporate focus)
People may not be aware of what you do on a day to day basis, invariably this is dependent on your job, but you could write about an
interesting day in your role. Who did you meet? What conversations did you have and what was the objective/outcome of the meeting? (You
could include a photo of you outside the building or with the person you met if appropriate. Remember, blogs are not just about the written
word). Professional photography is not necessary. A selfie taken from your mobile phone to add to your post would be great. Are you unsure
about how to do this?) Ask your comms specialist.
Inspiration a moment in time, something that inspired you
Was there a defining moment in your life that changed the way you think? Has this, in some way contributed to your
character development? As a leader people want to know what makes you tick.
Interests (beyond your leadership position)
Are there any hobbies and interests that you would like to share? Have you done any CSR for the organisation? Run any
marathons, or participated in any bake offs recently for charity outside of your organisation? Are you an avid cyclist,
horse-rider, photographer or anything else in your spare time? Perhaps there is something that you enjoy doing that
other people may not know about and that you are wiling to share.
General thoughts about life
A contemplative moment can often make a good post.
Views on Leadership What makes a good leader.
People are generally interested in leadership mentality and how leaders reach the top of their profession. Words of advice for future leaders
make for interesting posts.
Struggle - Do you have an inspirational story about any difficulties in your life that you have overcome?
Most people have inevitably overcome some obstacles and challenges in life. Feel free to share if you are comfortable doing so. People
connect with these stories and will admire a leader who opens up and shares something about themselves which people may not know.
Memories/ bygone days corporate or otherwise
Looking back at how things were and comparing them to how things are now is always an interesting read. What were your views back then
and how have things changed? Are you a leader from an older generation? Did your career start in an office before computers were invented?
Your younger employees will find stories like this fascinating and even humorous.
Encouraging feedback and comments
You can always write your blog post around a question. E.g. What do you think? or What were your experiences? You want to generate
conversation and sometimes a little prompting goes a long way.
Corporate Themes - Policies, campaigns and strategies in line with the business
If you want to stick to the tried and tested, you can always write something in line with current business needs, but be brave and push the
boundaries. Perhaps you could integrate something you want to share about yourself outside of your role in your blog post and combine this
with a corporate message if you can find any connections. If you have a regular blog spot, you may want to think about writing something in
line with whatever is relevant for your corporate planning schedule for one post and share something personal for.for another.

Most importantly have fun. Blogging is a great way to express yourself and
shouldnt be a chore. Remember people are interested in what you have to
say, so think about what you want to write about and what will inspire and
motivate people in your organisation and be creative in the way you present
yourself.

Contact Jo@umarketing.world for further information