Igniting engagement and growth during the pandemic
How a partnership between leadership and comms accelerated growth at Splunk
We were delighted to meet with fellow communicators this week for another online networking session. This one was a bit different, welcoming a senior communicator and the leader of her business region to share perspectives on partnering to drive growth. Helen Baldwin is Head of Employee Communications, EMEA and Frederik Maris is VP, EMEA for Splunk, a fast growing US software company employing more than 6,000 people in 27 offices worldwide.
Helen, whose background includes working at BP and AstraZeneca, began by saying how our previous workshop about keeping employees engaged during Covid had got her thinking. Her experience of working with Frederik prompted her to suggest a double act, to give communicators an opportunity to hear things from the business side. Frederik has an enviable track record of leadership roles for software companies and was new into his role when Helen joined in Autumn 2019, initially as a HarknessKennett contractor. He explained that Splunk is the world’s first ‘Data-to-Everything’ platform, that brings data to every question, decision and action for 91 of the Fortune 100.
At that time, Splunk was balancing fast growth with the inevitable challenges that come with it. Frederik was new into the leadership role and the region and there was a need to improve the operational side of the business. Helen took up the story, explaining that both she and Frederik saw a real opportunity to improve engagement across the region. Occasional townhalls were achieving attendance of 20% and intranet views were low. Helen’s role as a contractor was to set up the region’s first Employee Communications function, so it was new starts all round!
Helen and Frederik soon had an opportunity to combine forces, responding to an urgent business issue. Helen held focus groups while Frederik delivered an all hands meeting where he asked questions and really listened to responses from colleagues. Helen described it as a ‘light bulb moment’ and turning point for EMEA where comms had typically been one-way. An opportunity for Frederik to speak at the annual sales meeting got them both thinking about doing something different again to break from convention and any risk of poor experience for colleagues.
Wanting people to walk away feeling inspired, Frederik remembered a motivating presentation he’d seen that centred on belief as its theme. Developing the idea with Helen led to a supporting comms process and campaign around the theme, their strategic plan and drivers they called ‘growth levers’. Frederik brought the theme to life with dramatic examples of Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile and Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of El Capitan; it was not the physical exertion that got them there, it was the belief that they could do something different and the preparation to make it happen.
At the sales event Frederik delivered his own ‘first’, sharing a personal story that showed his own vulnerability. As well as earning him a standing ovation, the event got people calling others to share what they’d heard and created a real buzz around the region. The plan was to build on that, but two weeks later the pandemic hit.
Colleagues found themselves working from home with all the pressures that brings, whilst also needing to keep up momentum to achieve targets. What followed was a year in which the business world experienced the same amount of transformation as the previous ten years, including a huge increase in digital interactions. Splunk and many of its customers froze plans initially and focused on adapting internally. Helen said that their first reaction was to spin up engagement to support colleagues, meaning lots of online meetings and calls. After a few weeks they realised that this was a huge learning opportunity and that customers, like them, were shifting to digital interactions which were in Splunk’s favour.
Frederik explained that what got them through was focusing on things that would make a difference to their plan, transparency in their communications and empathy. Considering the circumstances of colleagues and supporting them so that they could in turn support customers was the priority in this new bewildering world. So what he and Helen had started at those initial events became a way of life. Townhalls went virtual featuring inspirational videos demonstrating belief in action. Colleagues quickly responded, making their own videos and soon initiatives based around the growth levers were popping up everywhere. A quarterly award scheme was launched recognising those demonstrating the spirit of EMEA and sales wins were published internally by colleagues keen to contribute to the excitement.
Frederik explained that it was starting with the belief they could do something, even in the most difficult circumstances, that made the difference. Sentiment shifted from ‘are we going to survive’ to ‘I know what I can do to help our customers and help make a positive difference.’ Successful growth meant they were able to hire additional employees into EMEA during the year. Learning & Development took up the comms challenge, introducing virtual coffee mornings and short sessions to introduce people to different areas of the business. Employees came up with more fun ways to connect outside of their local team or country, enjoying virtual pub sessions or Strava club challenges. Other leaders picked up the belief theme which percolated through events during the year. Virtual team meetings were a leveller, enabling more people to get together at one time and to feel part of the newly energised EMEA.
The team achieved a huge amount in that first challenging year of its strategic plan; came close to achieving its original goals set pre-pandemic, grew significantly and improved employee engagement, tracked by regular surveys. Attendance at virtual townhalls is now up at between 70 and 90%. Frederik believes that the results would not have been achieved without the engagement that the comms created. He stressed that showing personal vulnerability, however scary, works and is something that he now feels is a real strength. He thanked Helen for all she’d done and said he’d take his learning about the power of strong comms into every future role.
Helen finished with three tips for communicators:
Use the discovery phase to understand the business and listen to employees - more understanding means you’re better placed to be a trusted advisor
Look for moments of opportunity – small or big, take that first step to do something that could lead to an incredible journey
Trust your skills – at times during crisis we question our strategy and plans but we have a huge amount of experience so really question any challenge or change to your plan.
In the open Q&A we heard about attendees’ own experiences, including the positive impact of encouraging self-authored content, the challenges of the sudden, huge mismatch between people working remotely and those on site, and the importance of regular measurement to track and respond to engagement shifts.
What shone out from the session was the value of partnership between comms and leadership, making bold changes and using empathy to create an authentic emotional connection between colleagues to drive collaboration and confidence. It was great to hear such a vote of confidence in the value of comms from a business leader, a real encouragement for others battling issues in their own organisations. It’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Fortune has recently selected Splunk as one of its “100 Best Companies to Work For” and a top-10 "Workplaces in Technology" company in 2021!
Huge thanks to both our speakers for sharing their knowledge and experience. If you’d like to be kept informed about future events join our mailing list here.
Published by Lisa
