{"id":3810,"date":"2018-06-04T18:36:32","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T18:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2022-04-20T09:23:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T13:23:49","slug":"turning-insights-into-action-alicia-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/turning-insights-into-action-alicia-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Insights Into Action: What One Culture Advocate Learned From Culture Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alicia Case began her advertising career as a copywriter on the client-facing creative side, working on branding, ad concepts and creative for large health and wellness brands including Procter & Gamble Global Oral Care and Pfizer Women\u2019s Health. Over time, it became more and more clear that she wanted to help spread her team\u2019s thriving team culture to the rest of the organization. <\/span><\/p>\n

Case began to wonder, \u201cHow do we establish an ownable, differentiating culture across our the entire organization that makes people want to stay working here and attract outsiders to come here?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

With that question, Case cultivated a cultural overhaul to the entire agency setting the path directed to an employee-facing role that now made her \u201cclient\u201d the agency she worked for. After more than a year of developing this robust culture program and showing positive results from annual surveys and increased employee satisfaction, Case proposed a new role and officially shifted her career path. She moved from the creative side to a role focused on a wider set of employee culture variables including internal communications, social media, events, recruiting, reward and recognition opportunities, and more. <\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout all this change and growth, Case has used her background in creative advertising to think about building culture the <\/span>same way you would build a good brand<\/span><\/a>, and attending Culture Summit for the past two years has been an important milestone in Case\u2019s development as a culture and employee experience professional. Each year has featured keynotes, speakers, and presentations that helped her shape her understanding of culture and build an intentional employee experience at Publicis Health. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur agencies want to emulate many of the characteristics of Facebook, Amazon, Google, LinkedIn, Spotify, etc.,\u201d says Case. \u201cAnd for me, it\u2019s important to not just understand what they do outside of their organizations but also on the inside.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they doing to create cultures and employee experiences that get their people to put out the caliber of work that we admire and recognize as best in class?\u201d Case continues. \u201cHow are they building an employee experience that\u2019s directly linked to the company ROI? That\u2019s why it\u2019s imperative to attend conferences like Culture Summit because you get to go under the hood of companies you may not otherwise get to hear from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some of the most important Culture Summit takeaways she\u2019s collected over the years: <\/span><\/p>\n

\"TurningPhoto Credit: Cathryn Lynne Photo
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<\/b>1. Culture is a combination of micro and macro experiences<\/h3>\n

From the application and interview process to onboarding, training, and working on day-to-day tasks, the employee experience is made up of a number of different large and small employee experiences. When you look at how your organization builds its culture, consider high-level macro, big things you do that affect the entire organization as well as the small micro-level individualized factors. Which brings us to the first point Case would like to emphasize: culture is not some distant concept developed by the higher-ups like a product to be passed down. It\u2019s every single micro and macro interaction a company has with its employees…<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • It\u2019s our competitive advantage for recruitment and retention<\/span><\/li>\n
  • It\u2019s why we want to work here and also stay working here<\/span><\/li>\n
  • It\u2019s what can drive engagement, which increases output and makes our clients happier as a result because more engaged people means a higher quality of work, which means happier clients, which means more money back into the business<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Micro experiences look at what individual things are happening at a granular level for each employee, like learning and development, career mobility and development, rewards and recognition, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and thought leadership opportunities. Macro experiences include the things that impact every single employee at large, like the company mission, brand values, processes, benefits, physical space, technology and tools, communications, etc. A successful culture will intentionally establish and adjust both macro and micro experiences to the needs of its people. A culture that can be responsive to its people\u2019s needs will thrive. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Key Takeaway: Give more personalized gifts instead of giving everyone the same gift card or spot bonus. If you know a team member loves music or they\u2019re a foodie, why not give them a pair of concert tickets or a dinner at a Michelin Star rated restaurant? Those small details make the person feel like the organization \u201cgets\u201d them. It\u2019s building on a total rewards philosophy and moving away from the thinking the same things work for everyone.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n