Everyone Plays An Active Part: How To Build A Great Employee Culture
We recently sat down with Michael Brown, VP of Talent and Culture at Cogo Labs, a technology-driven venture accelerator. Before joining Cogo earlier this summer, Mike has been a senior HR leader at other technology companies including Shyft Analytics (now Medidata), Acquia, and most recently Toast. As a passionate team builder and talent developer, Mike spends a lot of his time thinking about employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, and employer brand, all vital and interconnected elements of current HR strategies. We caught up with Mike to hear his thoughts on these three areas, and to understand how clear planning and data-driven approaches are both integral to success.
(This conversation has been condensed and edited)
Benson Executive Search: To begin, how would you define employee engagement?
Mike Brown: At a basic level, engagement is all about how well an employee is connected to their organization, and can really offer a good sense of the pulse of a company. However, when you dig in deeper, engagement also includes things like an employee’s individual relationships within the company, their satisfaction with relevant programs and processes, and overall feelings toward things like leadership, feedback, and ambassadorship. All of these factors relate directly back to data points like retention and attrition rates, which underscores why it’s so important for modern companies to have a great engagement strategy and to be paying attention to these issues.
BES: What does “good” look like in this area?
MB: Success in engagement typically means the company has a high degree of overall alignment, there is a strong internal satisfaction with the company’s trajectory and direction, and the company’s core values resonate deeply and meaningfully with its employees. When evaluating engagement, I tend to loop myself into data, since this is one of the areas where it is actually possible to measure quite well. Analyzing things like retention rates, application falloff, and data from social and owned channels can be helpful here. Specifically, I tend to look for a company’s various wellness scores, specifically their eNPS score, with 50 and above generally signaling a healthy and engaged workforce.
BES: How do you approach employee engagement?
MB: We strategize effectively and share often. Action planning is so key in this area, especially with regard to specific things like designing smarter surveys to better understand what people are thinking, how they are doing and what they want. Once we have sufficient data, it’s important to promote a high degree of transparency about what that data actually looks like. We communicate openly and discuss our data at team and company meetings because we want our employees to know that we’re listening to them and are using their feedback to guide our actions. Then, after discussing the data and developing the resulting plans, we work to ensure those programs are being carried out properly at every level of the organization, as well as also track employees' receptivity and response to the new things we’re doing.
BES: Care to share an example?
MB: Of course. We use a weekly pulse tool on Slack called OfficeVibe, that asks employees five questions on a rolling set of topics. It gives us a constant barometer into how well the company is aligned, and one of the metrics measured is communication. We found data that showed specifically that internal communication was tracking low, and I’ve since been partnering with our Employer Brand team to develop and implement an action plan to address that. We’ve rolled out a weekly email, a broader community letter, and opened up new areas for more timely outreach. A cool feature we developed is a dedicated Slack channel with all of our organic social media gathered in one place, so that people have central access to these postings and could feel proud about what we were doing - and hopefully even post them themselves!
BES: What are some of the biggest issues in engagement?
MB: The biggest issue is a failure to use data effectively. Since engagement is one of the metrics you can actually track quite well, too often people measure (or think they are measuring) and then don’t do anything with the data. Their employees then get survey fatigue and can start to question whether the company is listening to them or hearing their feedback. However, if companies are able to use their data effectively, the next biggest question is figuring out where to start and where to focus. From all the scores, feedback notes, and heatmaps, there are many opportunities where you can dig in, so leaders need to know which specific areas will be most impactful to the organization. Which are the three to five programs or initiatives that can offer the biggest improvement? I would advise leaders to start in those places and only move forward once they have addressed any needs or gaps that might exist there.
BES: How do you communicate most effectively to new generations of workers?
MB: At Cogo, we’ve taken the tact of just more, across the board. A key focus across each of our efforts is to communicate more often and more transparently than we ever have before. I highly encourage leaders to start, or to keep, telling it like it is, instead of only delivering the rose colored picture, and this is especially true in internal communications.
Additionally, we like to promote a variety of voices. This helps to keep messaging themes consistent across different levels and places in the organization. However, it also highlights different voices, so that each time we talk about a key issue or new program, it’s not only coming from me and the talent team or our leadership team. We want everyone to feel like their thoughts and input are important, and that they have the ability to be heard by the entire organization.
BES: How have your efforts toward employee engagement shifted in light of COVID-19?
MB: Given the uncertainty in our world, we’re acting strategically and intentionally in our decision-making. We’ve been measuring and analyzing data as it relates to people’s remote approach to work. Like many companies, we’ve found that people are missing the social connection that they had when they were in the office. In response to that, we’ve done quite a bit of work to improve the structure and cadence of our all-hands team and company meetings to make sure those events are just as engaging from a remote environment. These changes can be small - like using breakout rooms, altering the format and cadence of some unwieldy elements, or large - like playing Kahoot or discussing COVID hobbies as a wider team. These simple adjustments, especially when aligned with real feedback you’ve received, can have a huge impact in promoting increased social connection and have proven to be quite meaningful during this time.
We’ve also encouraged people to be more fluid with their time. We brought in some psychologists, who helped us understand how to handle the many unknowns in our current world; they unsurprisingly recommended spending more time outside and communicating in different ways than Zoom and video. We’ve shifted our internal messaging accordingly to encourage people to go off-cam and to promote doing more in small groups or leaner teams. Specifically, I’ve been a big proponent of “walking one-on-one” meetings, to promote getting away from our desks and getting a new perspective from the four walls around us. I’ve also encouraged our managers to keep dedicated time open on their calendars for people to have access to leadership whenever necessary and to discuss any issue. We’ve been having more events during the middle of the day, so people feel comfortable stepping away and having the freedom they need to create space for themselves when they need it.
Finally, we’ve tried to be a bit more prescriptive in providing employees help on where to go for resources and tools, and instructions on when and how to best use them. We use the Amazon six-pager model, which helps a lot with that goal, since there is a lot of clear documentation available on virtually any area of concern, and it’s all purposely open-source and accessible to all, which makes it easier to access and which people have really appreciated.
BES: Can you share any specific examples?
MB: We’ve recently converted our regularly allotted sick time to unlimited time and rebranded it as Wellness time, to encourage people to take mental breaks and to do things that are important to them outside of work. Creating new, formal programs like this are our way of nudging people in the direction of wellness, or at least showing our employees that Cogo is taking these issues seriously and that they should feel empowered to do so as well.
We actually had an employee who came to us and requested a formal leave of absence to improve general wellness. I said certainly, but told her to take a few days to go off the grid and refresh before she finalized her decision. She did, came back, and felt so much more energized and centered that she decided not to take the formal leave time. Right then and there, I knew that policy was working and that it was meaningful to our people.
We also told employees that once our return to work timeline is a bit firmer, that they would have eight weeks to get back to the office. We’re a small enough company that we don't have to be so standardized around things like that, and, in keeping with the theme of fluidity, we wanted to actively and purposefully demonstrate the flexibility that times like these call for.
BES: How can you ensure that these efforts are successful?
MB: As leaders, we have to trust our people. My team comes through for me in everything I ask of them, so I have to trust that they are able to take the time that they need and to structure their day and work accordingly. We communicate a lot around accountability, and since planning and dependability is so central to so many of our efforts, it’s reflected in our approach to some of these programs.
Leadership also has to lead by example here. You have to make sure that your leaders are open minded and that they actually use the programs themselves. For example, one of our executives moved to Wyoming during the pandemic. Wide open spaces, more time with family, I loved all of that and enthusiastically supported the decision. You have to show people that it’s okay to do these things and that leadership is on board, or else no one will actually do them.
BES: That’s fascinating, and encouraging to hear that it’s had such an impact. Let’s move over now to DEI. What can companies do to “walk the walk’ on DEI efforts?
MB: First, there needs to be an understanding that DEI, or as well call it DEB (Diversity, Equity, and Belonging) is everybody’s responsibility. It’s not just about talent hiring diverse candidates, or about communications highlighting diverse viewpoints, or HR ensuring equitable compensation. You really have to approach it both top down and bottom up, and that starts with leadership. From the top, DEB really has to be something that leadership deems important and finds value within, in order to be able to allow those efforts to permeate through all levels of the organization. From the other side, there also needs to be a realization that everyone in the organization owns it. Change can’t just come from HR, a Diversity Council or an ERG. It comes from within all of us, and everyone has a piece to play in it. Without that, you can end up with people that resist. Additionally, an organization-wide approach can help to unite people around these efforts and allow them to build on themselves.
Second, you have to have a plan, you have to have goals, and you have to execute. This process has to be intentional and broad, or else no one will do it or it falls on someone and becomes “work”. This is not work, it’s a way to act and to live, a way of life, and ultimately a way to operate better.
Finally, there is also a strong need to focus on the areas that are impactful to the organization. Similar to employee engagement, let data be your guide, and only initiate the plans that make sense for your company and that you can effectively execute against, whether it’s hiring diverse people with unique viewpoints, changing things like how you show up at events and in partnerships or discussing how you sell, who you sell to and who you use internally. My advice is choose the specific areas that make the most sense and to drive the transformation in a way that aligns with the business.
BES: How have you approached this problem at COGO?
MB: Cogo is unique in that we are extremely data-driven, and really look to drive impact at all times and in as many ways as possible. Therefore, similar to employee engagement, we’ve taken a data driven approach to our DEB reality. We find that that type of approach fits with our company culture and aligns well with how our people think.
We also encourage all to step up to the plate in this area. Our Amazon 6-pager model allows anyone to document policy, programs and research. We think that if people have good ideas or want to start certain conversations then we should listen to them. Employees feel comfortable and confident spending time on something that they know we will at least consider and potentially even bring to life. Also helpful for leadership since it's insightful, and provides a lens into how our people are thinking.
BES: Can you give me an example?
MB: Certainly. Based on feedback we received from our employees, we launched a dedicated Slack channel called Safe Space, which has now evolved from the channel to also include a weekly lunch. There is a specific area of focus each week, but it is generally an open forum to discuss any topical event. It's been an eye-opener for many people as a way to feel welcome and heard. We created a model for people to use in this space to ensure that the space stays safe for everyone, which we based off of the BRAVING framework (Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Non-judgement, Generosity). Each session has an agenda, so people know what to expect in these conversations and so people can feel as though they can be as authentic as possible. We really want people to feel welcome, and I think we can increase that feeling through conversation.
BES: What other examples are you most proud of at COGO?
MB: We try to be thought provoking in social impact topics that we speak about. Cogo is unique in that the company looks to drive impact at all times and in as great a way as possible, so we’ve looked to tie together things that are happening at Cogo and in the social world.
Specifically, we ran a series of panels to help our team think deeper and promote open-mindedness, with one focusing on Blackness In America and another on Intersectionalities. Both topics are timely, and the panelists for both sessions were wonderful. We got some fantastic feedback that the sessions were rewarding for all, and that employees appreciated the time and attention the organization took in addressing these issues.
Additionally, I have a small team currently reviewing nearly all of our employee data (EEO, exit interview, hiring, demographic, etc.) to try to identify structural biases. Not only do those findings and that data help us make better decisions in areas such as talent acquisition and the interview process, but also across things like the way we show up in partnerships and at events, what we say on our site and in our promotional and leadership materials, and what beliefs and philosophies we choose to highlight as an organization.
BES: Many of the companies most visible in this area are tech companies. What would you say to non-tech companies that are looking at some of these initiatives?
MB: While DEB broadly started in tech and many of the leaders are in tech, it really is needed everywhere. There is such a huge opportunity for non-tech companies to adopt these models and to really try to reach a little farther than they might be now, especially since while tech is a great leader in this area, most people are not in tech and could benefit from these programs.
DEB issues also translate into the products you make, and especially for tech companies like Cogo, how those products impact the social world. I would encourage all companies to view DEB not just through the lens of their people and programs, but through their products and services, and find ways to leverage what they do to promote some of the issues they speak about and hold close as an organization.
BES: Let’s now move over to the idea of an “Employer Brand”. How do you build an effective employee brand for Cogo Labs?
MB: Employer brand for us is all about engagement. I really think that a data-driven brand is what’s best. This data is more qualitative in nature, and starts really with listening to our people, understanding how they think about the company, what gets them excited or turned off, and what scares them.
Specifically, we recently ran a series of focus groups to understand where we can build our brand socially in the ways that will resonate best with our employees. We ran focus groups to understand 30-ish different areas, things like: where do people go in the morning when they check their phone, who do people follow, who do they interact with in certain channels, and more. We wanted to get a more comprehensive picture of our employees socially so we could build our brand in the places where they actually were going.
We found fairly quickly that Facebook for us was not a place that our employees or community were traveling and no one was discovering us there. So, we shifted a lot of our attention toward other social platforms, where we would be able to find our audience more easily and engage with them through a medium that was more suitable to the conversations they wanted to have.
I’m a big fan of developing employer brand campaigns that promote UGC (user-generated content). Encouraging people to become ambassadors of the brand. We’ve incorporated that fairly strongly into our on-boarding process - showing people how and where they can get involved, doing things like scavenger hunts where they have to find and post a picture one of the first 20 employees of the company. Ultimately, I like hearing from our people, seeing what they’re doing, listening to them, finding out what gets them excited, scared, turned off.
BES: How do you know you’ve done a good job branding your company?
MB: We set tough goals, around either social followers and engagement, as well as application metrics (received, quality hires, etc. min 55, application falloff). We also use other platforms like Google Analytics for site traffic, essentially anything that we can track and measure.
We think about it similar to a marketing funnel and try to apply metrics and analyze performance in conjunction with the user’s specific position.
BES: What’s the most innovative thing you’ve seen this year?
MB: More companies are focusing on utilizing their own people within their brand. Using real people from the organization adds true texture to materials, and offers a clear window into the organization, so that people can feel more confident and comfortable in their decision making.
BES: Care to share any final thoughts?
MB: Now, more than ever before, more transparency is expected. I’m constantly reminded of the ‘Glassdoor effect’, especially within tech, which is essentially the now nearly-constant battle to one up each other on how transparent they can get - whether it’s through their people practices, demographic data, partnerships, philosophies, or any other news-generating mechanism.
Also, hiring is getting harder. Companies have to have a highly engaged workforce, have to have diverse representation, and a strong employer brand to tell their story in this market. Everyone plays a role within a company to make those ideals come to life, and give that company as much of a competitive edge as possible. Companies are a team sport, and nothing about any of these issues or elements belongs to just one team. It might be the HR team’s job to measure and plan against it and to make it come to life, but everyone truly owns it and has to have an active hand in building and maintaining it.