What President Biden Could Mean for Internal Communications
Storytelling will get harder
Since the Black Lives Matter movement exploded into our collective consciousness in 2014 with the deaths of Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) and Eric Garner (New York City), the trend in internal comms storytelling has been based on values. There are two complementary tracks:
- A conscious layering of a diversity and inclusion element into company news and storytelling.
- A clarification of and internal advocacy for a company’s values that extends to external campaigns.
These trends are not going away.
A Biden administration will make storytelling around values even more difficult. Why? Before I answer that, first some background.
On the D&I Front
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) or what some are calling DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in internal comms storytelling means featuring employees from populations that are generally underrepresented in society and in the workplace.
More and more often when I speak with internal comm storytellers they talk about an extra dimension they are layering into their editorial assignments. Once they settle on a story to tell — a new product or a major sales milestone, for example — they are working extra hard to ensure that a diversity of voices are represented in that story.
The diversity isn’t limited to obvious categories, like Latinx or Queer affinities. There is extra effort to ensure “invisible” categories are represented, such as hidden disabilities (e.g., deafness), political affiliation, or immigration status.
- At one major global retailer, an IC pro I spoke to says her team goes the extra mile to ensure that all 30 cultures represented by her company’s employees are featured in internal and external storytelling.
Regardless of whether Biden or Trump is elected, the D&I element isn’t going away. The bigger impact will be on telling the “company narrative” based on the firm’s values.
On the Corporate Values Front
Writing about corporate values means writing about what the company stands for. If you’re a company like Levi Strauss, the narrative is reinforced internally to support an external story.
After the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which a gunman murdered 17 people and injured 17 more, Levi Strauss made very public statements against gun violence and advocated for legislation that restricted the use of guns.
- Spend just a minute on Levis Strauss’s website and you’ll see blatant advocacy for workers’ rights, racial justice, and climate change action.
- Employees support the external narrative because the value is reinforced internally. Customers know employees support the company because they are not tweeting negatively about their employer or staging physical and virtual walkouts.
- Compare how Levis Strauss manages its corporate values stories to that of Google and Facebook.
One IC pro I know at a well-known tech company is stressed out over managing internal comms that defends the company’s relationship with a highly visible client who has repeatedly made disparaging comments about the LGBTQ+ community.
- He is spending an inordinate amount of time writing stories for the internal newsletter that feature the company’s queer + ally community. The effort is meant to counter what’s being reported in the media about the company, a narrative that includes information leaked by disgruntled employees.
Biden Will Put Pressure on the Corporate Values Story
If Biden is elected it will be even more difficult to tell the story of your company’s values. Why?
- It’s TOO EASY to take a stance against President Trump. Coming out against Trump’s xenophobic, homophobic, and racist comments is a no-brainer for any CEO and organization.
A Biden White House will generally be anti-racist, pro-immigrant, pro-climate science, and so forth. That is, Biden won’t take public stances that trigger visceral reactions from socially responsible corporate leaders, employees, and consumers.
Yet employees and consumers will not be content with a generally agreeable president. From the inside employees will push their employers to take stances on specific policy, legislation, and Supreme Court cases.
- Consumers will add pressure from the outside.
Patagonia may show the way. The company is making political statements with their consumer goods (above photo) and has an “Activism” section on its corporate website; the company has also endorsed political candidates.
- In a show of putting values before profits, the company is limiting the companies for which it will make corporate-branded fleeces, an accessory that is ubiquitous on Wall Street.
- The company has shifted its focus to “mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet.”
Patagonia’s corporate values are explained thoroughly and thoughtfully internally before a major external campaign rollout. The result?
- No walkouts. No angry employees firing up tweetstorms.
Internal Comms Needs to Prepare
CEOs must get employees on board with any value stances and purpose statements.
- Nuanced pressure will arise from inside.
- Internal communications must be ready to address employee concerns over a range of hot-button socio-political issues.
- Values, talking points, and messages should be developed, so they can be retrieved whenever there is breaking news.
For example, what happens internally:
- when there is another police shooting of an unarmed minority?
- if the Supreme Court rules in a way that upsets your employees?
Internal Comms is business-critical to ensuring the company’s internal messages reflect its external positions and ensuring that employees know what any changes mean for the business and their paychecks, and what meaning the value stance brings to their work.
Forums and outlets to discuss contentious issues internally must be created, managed, monitored, and measured.
- One of the reasons you don’t see massive walkouts happening at Facebook, despite many employees being upset with the company’s lack of political action, is that Mark Zuckerberg continues to have weekly town hall meetings in which he addresses employees’ concerns.
Editorial series and storytelling will be required to give focus and consistency to the company’s values.
- Don’t forget the D&I element mentioned above.
You cannot avoid talking about difficult issues at work.
Employees don’t stop being Black or Conservative or an Immigrant or living in wildfire zones when they clock in.
- Biden’s election will empower employees to move their employers from making value statements to taking value actions.
Is your internal comms strategy ready for a Biden presidency?
