At the recent Employee Benefits Live 2012, David MacLeod from the Employee Engagement Taskforce talked about one of the key things employers needed to do to drive engagement was to create a ‘strategic narrative’ about the business in order to motivate and inspire employees and to articulate a worthwhile ‘cause’ they could emotionally engage with. According to MacLeod, by doing this you will significantly improve employee engagement.

Companies like Fairtrade and Innocent are no strangers to ‘strategic narrative’ and are commonly referenced as leaders in this field. But what about you? How many companies really produce engaging ‘strategic narrative’ and communicate it effectively to employees?

A company strategic narrative is all about saying where your business has come from, where it’s heading and what role the employees play in it’s journey. Effective employee communication together with a strategic narrative containing substance and meaning will result in something tangible employees can buy into. We are living in a digital world, employees no longer need to follow blind. With the world at their fingertips and instant access to a wealth of information employees no longer just want to know what they are doing, but why.

By developing an employee communication strategy that addresses the reasons and benefits of having a robust strategic narrative (as well as producing the strategic narrative itself), you will encourage employees not only to get on board and get their emotional buy-in but you will also get the most from them in their working environment.

When it comes to your strategic narrative it’s not just the words that are important, but the look & feel and the delivery mechanism will either make or break its success.