How to craft exec comms that acknowledge, align and assure

When crafting executive comms (regardless of format), incorporating employee feedback is crucial.

Jolie Shifflet, senior director of business communications at Atrium Health, explained her approach during Ragan’s Employee Communications Conference this past June.

“When the pandemic started, referring to employees as ‘heroes’ was more than welcome and appreciated by the employees themselves,” she said. “But as the pandemic persisted, those same employees grew tired of being called ‘heroes.’ They wanted more normalcy. And all executive communications crafted from that point took this to heart.”

Shifflet also observed that as soon as any executive messaging goes out, the employee feedback is IMMEDIATE. This is a captive audience for such messaging. All the more crucial, then, to soak in that feedback immediately – and incorporate it when appropriate.

Rachel Gogal, director of executive communications, Atrium Health, also underscored the necessity of the executive comms team working with the internal comms team. There can be no silos here. The latter team hears directly from the employees so that constant collaboration is the only way to ensure that executive communications will reflect employee perspectives.