Energizing your diverse workforce with values, authenticity and impact

Internal communicators are at a crossroads with quantifying social impact — especially those working at organizations navigating return-to-office (RTO) policies.

During Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference at Microsoft HQ last month, Ragan Director of Content Jess Zafarris sat down with Katherine Cheng, SVP of people, culture and DEI at  the Seattle Mariners to learn why.

“Social impact is about people being together, so it makes it very difficult when you’re not,” Cheng said. “You want to make sure you’re really hearing from people, and it’s hard to hear from people just online.”

Cheng went deeper into how her social impact strategy touches all stakeholders.

Here’s what we learned.

Social impact and DE&I are one in the same

At the Mariners, diversifying the fanbase is everybody’s job—and that includes learning how to make the experience better for them.

“The only way you can do that is if your own front office and everybody’s business looks that way,” said Cheng. “You have to represent the people that you want to serve.”

Communicators who internalize this, and understand what and how they are delivering must reflect the diverse perspectives of diverse audiences, means practicing different styles of communication and different ways of delivering services.