Home Depot’s Tai Collins on the power of peer networks and leveling up

A seasoned storyteller and strategist with nearly 18 years at The Home Depot, Tai Collins, serves as the senior manager of digital channels – internal social & sentiment. Collins leads the company’s award-winning Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) network, which became the most engaged among large companies in the Americas its first year. Her background spans communications, marketing, writing, social media and leadership. Collins’ career has included roles as an analyst, editor, speaker, mentor, and thought partner.

What’s been the most surprising insight you’ve gained from employee sentiment data?

Not much surprises me, given my lived personal and professional experience of the social and political environment of the last five years. People seem significantly more emboldened to speak up for their beliefs, especially based on media influence, which is leading to polarization like we’ve never seen.

Of course, as an admin/moderator, it does occasionally put me in the very tough position of trying my best to be fair while also being human, and then having to defend it.

What’s one tool or tactic you rely on every week that others in comms should be using?

Talk. To. Your. Peers. I formed an informal international group of peers a little over a year ago who hold similar roles to mine across industries. We stay in contact regularly to cheer each other on in our wins and help each other through challenges. We’ve even attended each other’s training classes and presentations. I’m sure they’d say the same, but this on-the-level mentoring has been professionally life-changing for me to level up my knowledge and my confidence.

How do you measure success beyond vanity metrics like likes or comments?

For the business, I’m curious about what happens beyond the initial engagement. Were we able to meaningfully drive a change in behavior or an offline conversation? Change sentiment in a positive direction?  Was the opportunity to get clarification enough for our associates? On the corporate support level, the opportunity for feedback and insights resulting in an uptick in official responses and support is a huge win.

In terms of the platform, my success markers hinge on more organic conversation, cultivating a digital space where our associates feel they can give us the good, bad and/or ugly, and for our associates to continue to explore and participate in multiple communities. The more places they feel vested in, the more likely they are to come back, more actively engage and hopefully bring along others by telling them the benefits of Engage-ing. Establishing that stickiness via utility is a huge goal that drives so much of what we do.

How do you personally stay creative and avoid burnout after 15 years in the same company?

For several years, I’ve kept what I call an “idea catalog.” It’s essentially a journal of all the random ideas, observations and occurrences that come in the course of the work. My ‘catalog’ includes things like business or technical issues I’d love to tackle, training formats, and (sometimes crazy-sounding) tactics and campaign ideas. I’m always watching and listening for a chance to use something from the catalog. Most recently, we used some of those ideas for a game show-style activation at a company conference – so much fun!

What’s your best advice for comms pros who want to stay relevant as things get more digital and data-driven?

AI is a great tool to learn; be careful on how reliant you are on it. You should always have at least an idea of what the output should be, especially when working with data.

Also, there are times when the audience will be able to spot the AI in a heartbeat and not care. Other times, it’s going to matter to them that it was obviously used instead of human effort. Be able to discern the difference – in internal comms especially, you don’t want to lose the intended connection or violate inherent trust in the messenger.

How do you keep internal comms feeling real and human in a corporate environment?

I encourage authenticity and transparency because it’s what I want too! Study after study over the last few years tells us there’s been an erosion of trust from employees when it comes to corporate/leadership messaging. As stewards of the message, we are responsible for ensuring it connects. Also, what leader wants to be the 5th person in a row to be ‘thrilled to announce’ something? Let’s get real and say that we mean to say, not what we think we’re supposed to say. I don’t always win that battle, but it feels really good when I do.

Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.