Internal comms lessons from major sports teams

The closing keynote of Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference featured top communications executives from Seattle’s professional sports teams, who shared their perspectives on how the sports world can inspire communicators from all industries to better connect with their colleagues. The participants shared their perspectives on why what happens within a sports team’s operations matters as much as the action on the field.

The panel was hosted by Katherine Cheng, former vice president of people and culture for the Seattle Mariners. She was joined on stage by Katie Townsend, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the Seattle Kraken, Sarah Alamshaw, vice president of public relations for the Seattle Storm, and Karen Wilkins-Mickey, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Seattle Seahawks.

“Fans show up because they feel part of something bigger than themselves,” Cheng said. “How can corporate leaders borrow from the way sports organizations create that sense of belonging and turn it inward towards employees?”

Belonging begins internally

Sports can serve as a great cultural unifier, bringing people from across demographics together to support a common team. Alamshaw told the audience that those threads prevail in the Storm’s internal comms pushes.

“Sports bring everyone together — no matter your background or where you come from. Internally, that same philosophy applies. When everyone has a common goal and can show up authentically as themselves, that’s when internal comms and culture really shine.”

Townsend shared an anecdote about how the Kraken work with external celebrations and commemorations and focuses them on the employee base.

“At the Kraken, what we’ve tried to do is take some of our external-facing initiatives and really bring them internal,” she said. “Whether that’s celebrating fan nights like Hispanic Heritage Night or doing internal catered lunches, those become education and learning sessions. Employees feel more engaged and part of the mission.”

Wilkins-Mickey said that when she began working for the Seahawks, she realized what a strong fan culture the team had. It then became her goal to make that same passionate energy transfer over to internal comms messaging.

”I call it an inside-out approach,” she explained. “If the people inside the organization don’t feel connected, seen and supported, how can they authentically represent the energy that our fans bring every Sunday? My focus is to make sure that the people inside are taken care of and that they have the same spirit and energy we celebrate outside.”

Internal communication affects external perception

While a team’s fans might be focused on the action that’s taking place on the ice, field or court, there are a whole lot of people who have jobs to do to ensure that the team’s operations are functioning smoothly.

Townsend emphasized the need for internal communicators in all industries to experiment and explore new avenues in their internal messaging. If something isn’t working, another avenue might open the doors for connection.

“We’re committed to evolving — how we communicate internally and how we make space for tough conversation,” she said. “We won’t always get it right, but we’ll keep breaking barriers and trying new things.”

She shared an example of how the Kraken are communicating across generations internally.

“We’re actually doing our first ever ‘Bridging the Generational Gap’ workforce training in December,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of DEI training before, but this is the first time that we’re looking specifically at how different generations communicate.”

Alamshaw also shared an anecdote about when the Storm unveiled a statue of legendary player Sue Bird, telling the audience that seeing the community come together for that event reminded her that representation within organizations has as much power as it does in external fan bases.

“Sports bring everyone together — no matter your background and no matter where you come from,” she said. “That same philosophy can live inside any organization. When people share a goal and can show up as themselves, that’s when culture shines.”

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.