Encouraging Employee Advocacy

This might be the most important career advice in sales. Because here's the truth: Your reputation travels faster than you do. Your name comes up more than you think. Decisions about your future happen without you. Every. Single. Day. Think about it... That promotion you're hoping for? Being discussed in rooms you're not in. That big account you want to work? Being decided by people you've never met. That leadership opportunity? Being influenced by what others say about you. The uncomfortable truth? Success in sales isn't just about crushing quota. It's about having advocates. People who say "Give them a shot" when others doubt. People who defend your approach when it's questioned. People who mention your wins when you're not around. Here's what ACTUALLY happens when you have real advocates: ↳ Opportunities find you before they're posted ↳ Your mistakes get context, not just criticism ↳ Your ideas get championed, not stolen ↳ Your growth gets fast-tracked, not delayed ↳ Your reputation becomes your strongest asset But here's the part most people miss: To have people fight for you... You need to fight for others first. That SDR grinding it out? Mention their progress in the team meeting. That peer who helped you close a deal? Make sure leadership knows. That manager who coached you? Tell their boss what it meant. Because advocacy isn't luck. It's reciprocity. The rep everyone wants on their team? They've been building others up for years. The manager everyone respects? They've been defending their people consistently. The leader everyone follows? They've been fighting battles for others quietly. Here's what fighting for others ACTUALLY looks like: When someone's not in the room: - Correct misconceptions about them - Highlight their strengths - Share their wins - Provide context for their challenges When opportunities arise: - Recommend them even if it doesn't benefit you - Connect them with the right people - Put their name forward - Open doors they can't open alone The magic of advocacy in sales? It compounds. Every person you genuinely support becomes part of your network. Every battle you fight for someone builds trust. Every time you elevate others, you elevate yourself. Not through manipulation. Through genuine support. So ask yourself: Who are you fighting for when they're not around? Whose potential are you highlighting? Whose success are you championing? Because the people who win biggest in sales aren't just the best closers. Be the person who fights for others. Watch how many start fighting for you. Your career will never be the same.

Workplace advocacy means challenging entrenched norms that inadvertently penalise #neurodivergent individuals. This involves championing policies that move beyond minimal "accommodations" toward genuine #inclusion that recognises and optimises inherent talents like complex pattern recognition, intense dedication, and creative problem-solving. So what are actionable steps for systemic advocacy? ✅ Mandate Neuroinclusive Hiring: Advocate for hiring processes that measure capability over conformity. This includes skills-based assessments, clear interview questions, and avoiding reliance on subjective "cultural fit." Advocate for programs that specifically pipeline neurodivergent talent. ✅ Champion Flexible Design: Push for #UniversalDesign principles across the office environment and processes. This means advocating for: 🎯Quiet/Focus Zones: Dedicated, low-stimulus spaces (lighting, sound, scent) for deep work. 🎯Asynchronous Communication: Reduce reliance on spontaneous meetings and champion communication tools (like detailed written messages) that allow for thoughtful processing. 🎯Choice in Output: Ensure performance metrics evaluate results and insights rather than traditional presentation styles (e.g., allow detailed reports instead of mandatory oral presentations). ✅ Establish Neuro-Affirming Training: Advocate for mandatory, high-quality training for all managers and HR staff that focuses on: 🎯Strengths-Based Management: How to identify and align roles to neurodivergent strengths. 🎯Executive Function Support: Providing tools, templates, or mentorship to assist with planning, prioritisation, and time management, framing it as a professional development opportunity. 🎯Psychological Safety: Ensuring managers create a trusting environment where employees can request their needed supports without fear of judgment or retaliation. By becoming a proactive advocate and ally, you help build a #workplace that doesn't just tolerate difference, but actively thrives because of the broad spectrum of human cognition. What is one active step your organisation you will champion for systemic change to benefit #neurodivergent employees this year? This image was created by @Worrylines and shared via their #Instagram account. #Advocacy #PsychologicalSafety #spectrum #Change #Support #Inclusive #InclusionAndDiversity #Inclusion #NeurodiversityInBusiness #Awareness #DEI #Accessibility #AutismAwareness #InclusiveHiring #Neurodiversity #CapacityBuilding #Autistic #ADHD #Diversity   #NeurodiversityAtWork #InclusionAndDiversity #InclusiveCulture #Dyslexia #AutismAtWork #InclusiveWorkplace #NeuroEdge #Autism #NeuroInclusion  #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #belonging #KateHalpin 

One of the strongest employee advocacy programs I've seen is from Wiz. They understood the potential reach of their employees: 2,400,000 potential reach vs. 190,000 company followers..it’s a no-brainer. They've shared the 9 steps that makes their employee advocacy programme successful: 1.⁠ ⁠Spoon-feed employees Wiz make it as easy as possible for the team by providing graphics and caption options. I'm not sure how I feel about this because I think employees should have the freedom to post what they choose but sharing options instead of "post this, please" is a better way to do it. 2.⁠ ⁠Run internal contests Contests drive engagement and build excitement. We’ve trialled this at Great Influence before, and it’s great for projects. 3.⁠ ⁠Create a club for super-advocates Wiz has a Slack channel called "Wizinfluencers" who get exclusive access to company updates and contests, a great idea to get employees to feel part of the impact. 4.⁠ ⁠Spotlight employees in official posts Everyone loves recognition and tagging employees in company posts is a simple but meaningful way to reward people. Sometimes a “Well done” is all I need to get through a hard week 😂 5.⁠ ⁠Host LinkedIn workshops The Wiz team have LinkedIn workshops with Tom Orbach, Head of Growth Marketing at Wiz, and employees can book 1:1s with him. This is the part companies are missing, finding an expert to help employees with advocacy. 6.⁠ ⁠Write custom posts for VIPs Wiz has a process for high-impact leaders to request ghostwritten content for important posts, like job openings or major announcements. 7.⁠ ⁠Equip the team with AI tools Tom, Head of Growth Marketing, helped the company build a custom 'Wizard Post Generator,' an internal AI-powered tool built for employees to auto-create personalised LinkedIn content. 8.⁠ ⁠Always Engage Whenever an employee posts about Wiz, the company page always comments. Rule number one of LinkedIn…if you see a team member post, you have to engage with it 🤷🏼♀️ 9.⁠ ⁠Foster the right culture At the end of the day, you can't make employees post online. The start of this process shouldn't be "How can I get employees to post more?", it should be "What can we do to make employees feel like they want to advocate for us?" Employee advocacy isn’t about making people post, it’s about creating a culture where they want to. Wiz and Tom Orbach have set the bar high, and releasing these 9 steps is a great insight (I’ll link the full breakdown in the comments!) 👏🏻

Stop wasting meetings! Too many meetings leave people unheard, disengaged, or overwhelmed. The best teams know that inclusion isn’t accidental—it’s designed. 🔹 Here are 6 simple but powerful practices to transform your meetings: 💡 Silent Brainstorm Before discussion begins, have participants write down their ideas privately (on sticky notes, a shared document, or an online board). This prevents groupthink, ensures introverted team members have space to contribute, and brings out more original ideas. 💡 Perspective Swap Assign participants a different stakeholder’s viewpoint (e.g., a customer, a frontline employee, or an opposing team). Challenge them to argue from that perspective, helping teams step outside their biases and build empathy-driven solutions. 💡 Pause and Reflect Instead of jumping into responses, introduce intentional pauses in the discussion. Give people 30-60 seconds of silence before answering a question or making a decision. This allows for deeper thinking, more thoughtful contributions, and space for those who need time to process. 💡 Step Up/Step Back Before starting, set an expectation: those who usually talk a lot should "step back," and quieter voices should "step up." You can track participation or invite people directly, helping create a more balanced conversation. 💡 What’s Missing? At the end of the discussion, ask: "Whose perspective have we not considered?" This simple question challenges blind spots, uncovers overlooked insights, and reinforces the importance of diverse viewpoints in decision-making. 💡 Constructive Dissent Voting Instead of just asking for agreement, give participants colored cards or digital indicators to show their stance: 🟢 Green – I fully agree 🟡 Yellow – I have concerns/questions 🔴 Red – I disagree Focus discussion on yellow and red responses, ensuring that dissenting voices are explored rather than silenced. This builds a culture where challenging ideas is seen as valuable, not risky. Which one would you like to try in your next meeting?  Let me know in the comments! 🔔 Follow me to learn more about building inclusive, high-performing teams. __________________________ 🌟 Hi there! I’m Susanna, an accredited Fearless Organization Scan Practitioner with 10+ years of experience in workplace inclusion. I help companies build inclusive cultures where diverse, high-performing teams thrive with psychological safety. Let’s unlock your team’s full potential together!

The most valuable signal in your employee advocacy programme is one your dashboard doesn't show. I've spent 11 years watching organisations measure advocacy and the pattern hasn't changed much during that time. Impressions get reported. Traffic to website tracked with UTM. Then, at some point, the board asks how the investment is contributing to commercial growth. The instinct is to lean into attribution and activity measures. As a marketer, it feels familiar but there's another way to measure the impact of advocacy. Employee advocacy is fast evolving into employee influence: 📉 Less about amplification and distribution of brand content. 📈 More about expert voices building visibility and brand trust. Influence doesn't behave like a campaign. Instead, it builds through consistency and relevance - small trust signals that compound over time. Try to measure influence in an attribution dashboard and you'll likely conclude it isn't working. Meanwhile the real signals sit unmeasured. Signals such as: 🔊 A buying committee where four people from the same account now engage with executive posts, not one. 🔊 Target accounts shifting in buyer intent - engaging with company posts, ads and employee content. 🔊 Connection acceptance rate increase from roles and companies that fit your personas and ICPs. 🔊 A salesperson hearing "I saw your post" at the start of a meeting. We call this layer the Trust Movement layer. It sits between the activity and visibility measures you can count and the pipeline you want to influence and it's where credibility is built. In our work with organisations, we see them getting this right because of four preconditions: ✅ They measure all four stages, not just the first two. ✅ They connect programme data to target accounts they want to reach or candidate profiles they're seeking to attract. ✅ They recognise this doesn't happen in campaign quarters and measure incremental shifts in impact over time. ✅ They connect the dots between siloed internal programs of influence e.g. digital selling, executive reputation, paid media, influencer marketing This is when employee advocacy evolves to employee influence. It's also when it becomes less a function of marketing and more a business capability for driving brand trust and commercial growth.

The Blueprint: How to Build an Employee Ambassador Programme Every company will tell you their people are their biggest asset. But if you look closely, most treat them like a line on a balance sheet, not a path in their brand story. And there lies the problem. We're in an era where audiences don’t just want to see what a company does, they want to understand who’s behind it, what they believe in, and how they show up in the world. That’s why Employee Ambassadors matter. Because their voice creates both. And just like any marketing channel, their impact is exponential when it’s built with intention. Here’s my top level blueprint I wish every brand had: 1️⃣ Identify your natural storytellers Every business has them, your culture carriers, A-players, internal influencers. You don’t need everyone posting, just empower those who already live your values and can translate them externally. 2️⃣ Provide frameworks, not scripts People connect with voices, not scripted copy. Give your team clarity on what stories matter, not pre-approved captions. Define key themes and moments and let them share through their own perspective. 3️⃣ Teach storytelling as a brand skill Storytelling isn’t a “nice-to-have”, it’s a competitive advantage. If your team can clearly explain what you do, why it matters, and who it helps, you’ve built an organic marketing engine. Lead learning and development workshops on finding your voice, storytelling and delivery. Give them the tools and they’ll give you the content. 4️⃣ Recognise and reward visibility We celebrate sales and KPIs, but rarely celebrate the people who build trust equity for the brand. Visibility *is* brand contribution. When employees grow an audience or earn industry credibility, the whole business benefits. Acknowledge it. Incentivise it. Celebrate it. Build it into culture. 5️⃣ Build a two-way feedback loop The best advocacy systems work both ways. Leaders give visibility, employees bring insight back. That exchange keeps both sides accountable, aligned, and moving in the same direction. It prevents disconnects, ensures consistency, and turns advocacy into a source of growth - not risk. 🤝 When this system is implemented, your people become living extensions of your brand’s promise. And collectively, they build something no campaign ever could: human trust at scale. Employee Ambassadors don’t just grow your audience, they grow your authority.  Next week, I’ll unpack the business advantage - how visibility turns into real commercial value. Drop your questions, thoughts, challenges below! - 👋 I’m Grace Andrews - brand & marketing educator, creator-entrepreneur, and former Brand Director for Steven Bartlett & The Diary of a CEO. This is post 3/6 of my new series Inside Voices, exploring the rise of the Employee Ambassador and how they’re reshaping modern marketing. Hit Follow to stay informed! - I'm sharing a post every week unpacking how they’re changing the way brands grow, hire, and lead.

When your designing new people experiences & products, building advocacy starts way earlier than you think. That brilliant idea or initiative you’re trying to get off the ground? You can’t wait until the launch deck, the town hall, or the pilot. Because by then, often it’s too late. Advocacy doesn’t come from a polished pitch. It comes from early interventions and intentional invitations. One tool we’ve been using more often in our design-led change work is the Pre-Mortem Card (check it out below), a deceptively simple tool that really gets to rich insight & unexpected advocacy. So let me tell you a bit more about it and how we use it. Now whilst the title might sound a bit bleak and morbid, this exercise can be a lot of fun (I promise), and is all about flipping the script from “What would make this work?” to asking “What would make this fail?”. Still sounds pretty negative,? Maybe, but diving into this space early on invites people to critique the idea before they get defensive and protective over it. And, even more importantly, it makes people (the people who will use it, fund it and build it) feel seen, like their concerns, experience, and instincts matter. And this is where the advocacy part comes in. Because instead of just pitching, you’re co-creating. When people see their input on the design, even through a critical lens, they become invested in its success and progress. And you’ll find that they follow up and ask how things are going. And this cute little card can turn sceptics into supporters (and we all need a bit of that, right?) So here's how to get started with your PX Pre-mortem: Walk through it with a small, but intentionally invited, group of stakeholders or collaborators: 1️⃣ Start with clarity. Use the top row of the card to define: + Your Idea description + What success looks like + Your confidence level (get a sense check from the group) 2️⃣ Explore what could go wrong. Don’t stop at just “failure forecast.” Prompt reflection with: + What are we assuming that might not hold true? + What behaviours might work against this idea? + What’s missing in terms of skills, capacity or resources? 3️⃣ Assess the evidence. Ask: What would give us confidence to proceed? Where would we get that evidence from? 4️⃣ Surface what's strong. Look at: + What do we already have that supports this idea? + What practical next step could strengthen it further? 5️⃣ Document and discuss. Capture all the insights and use them to progress, park or pivot the idea with more clarity and more buy-in. 👀 Leading change? Designing something new? Try out the Pre-Mortem card with your team. Need a Miro template or something higher qual than this little pic? Let me know 😊 #PeopleExperience #DesignThinking #Framework __________ Hi 👋 I'm Alicia, co-founder of The Future Kind. We build innovation cultures and company operating systems that scale with you. Want to know more? Follow along or DM me, I love to hear form you. 💌

What’s happening on LinkedIn right now is a structural shift, not a temporary dip in performance. Company pages are no longer the primary distribution engine they once were. The platform has moved toward an AI-driven model that prioritizes expertise, context, and credibility over volume and brand-led broadcasting. In simple terms, LinkedIn is now rewarding how people think, not how often companies post. This changes where value sits. The most effective distribution channel a company has today is its people. A relatively small percentage of employees already generate a disproportionate share of engagement because audiences trust individuals far more than brand messaging, especially the decision-makers who influence deals behind the scenes and engage long before a sales conversation begins. The companies that are adapting are shifting their focus accordingly. Instead of trying to scale output from a central brand voice, they are building aligned, credible voices across their teams. For brands, this has a few immediate implications. First, employee voice is no longer a marketing add-on. It’s becoming a core distribution channel. Treating it as a side initiative or an advocacy program driven by posting frequency will fall short. Without clear positioning, more content simply creates fragmentation and weakens overall impact. Second, brand clarity becomes the foundation for scale. When individuals are aligned around a shared narrative while still speaking in their own voice, the market begins to recognize a consistent point of view. That’s what builds authority, and it’s what the algorithm now amplifies. Third, LinkedIn is increasingly feeding into the AI discovery layer. The content your employees publish is starting to shape how your company and category are understood by systems that buyers rely on to evaluate options. A lack of visible, credible voices doesn’t just limit reach, it limits relevance. The opportunity is in how early this still is. Companies that invest now in building trusted, visible expertise across their teams will create a distribution advantage that compounds over time and is difficult to replicate through paid channels alone. To read the article from the below image, you can find it here: https://lnkd.in/eYjib_aZ

Most leaders think advocating for the women on their team means giving good performance reviews and saying nice things in the hallway. It doesn't. (But keep doing those things too.) Real advocacy for women is specific, public, and strategic. It happens in the rooms they aren't in yet. It names names, credits ideas, and makes a business case. And it requires language most of us were never taught (I certainly wasn't) because most of us learned to lead by watching people who weren't doing it either. The result is that too many talented women stay invisible, under-rewarded, and under-promoted.. Their ideas get repeated by someone else and applauded. Their work gets presented by someone else and rewarded. And somewhere, a very mediocre guy is getting a fancy new title because his manager won't stop saying his name. You can change that. And it starts with what you say, out loud, in public, with specifics...and over and over again. Here are 10 phrases worth adding to your leadership vocabulary: 1. "Before we move on, I want to make sure we hear from [Name] on this. They've been leading this work." 2. "I want to call out [Name]'s contribution to this success. Without their [specific action], we wouldn't have achieved this." 3. "Let me amplify what [Name] just said, because it's a critical point..." 4. "I'm nominating [Name] for this high-visibility project because they have the skills and they're ready for the stretch." 5. "I want [Name] to present this to the executive team. They own this work and should get the credit." 6. "I'm putting [Name]'s name forward for [opportunity] because they've demonstrated [specific capability]." 7. "I'm concerned about the pattern I'm seeing in promotions. Let's look at our data by gender." 8. "I heard [Name] make that same point five minutes ago. Let's give them credit for the idea." 9. "[Name] needs [specific resource] to deliver on this strategic priority. Here's the ROI..." 10. "I'm advocating for additional budget for [Name] because their work directly impacts [business outcome]." Women have a visibility problem because they have an advocacy gap. Start closing it with your words, in the rooms that matter. Which of these do you use? Which one do you wish more leaders would say?

Story time: Last month I spoke at The Coca-Cola Company Career Month event, hosted by their Disability Inclusion Network. We had over 300 people in person and virtual. During the Q&A, someone asked a thoughtful question that deserved more than a quick reply. So instead of rushing to cover the silence, I said: “That’s a great question, let me take a moment to organize my thoughts.” I paused for 5 seconds, then answered. Afterwards, one attendee shared this feedback: “I loved the way she vocalized when she needed to take a minute to organize her thoughts!” You may be thinking "what's the big deal?" Here's why this matters: 🔑 Processing speeds vary. Some people need more time than others to process information. It could be because of ADHD, a learning disability, a brain injury, Long COVID, social anxiety or a new parent who didn't sleep last night. 🔑 Processing time is not related to intelligence. Needing a moment to organize thoughts doesn't mean someone isn't capable. Many times it leads to more thoughtful responses. 🔑 Forcing a quick answer can cause stress and anxiety. Then, the more anxious someone feels, the slower they may process information. Here's simple things YOU can say to make someone feel safe: - "Take your time." - "If you need more time, feel free to email me after the meeting." - "Thank you for that thoughtful response." - "Great question. Let me gather my thoughts.” (model it) A couple more actions to try for your next meeting: - Send agendas and materials in advance. Let people review topics early so they can prepare - Build in time for questions. - Give thinking time. For example: “Let’s pause for two minutes to gather our thoughts before we discuss." - Avoid putting people on the spot or give them the option to respond later. Try "Joe, I’d love your input on this. Would you like to speak now or email me afterward?" It’s OK to pause. It's OK to need time to gather your thoughts. Rushing, rushing, rushing is not the way to be effective at work. I think we can all afford to take a moment to pause, breathe, be patient, and make time for everyone to participate. 😊 What are your thoughts on this? Thank you Coca-Cola for this opportunity to discuss neurodiversity and my career journey! #neurodiversity #CognitiveAccessibility #Neuroinclusion [Image Description: Photo 1: Group photo of Margaux with Coca-Cola team members in front of the event stage Alisa Fiser, Shayla Frinks, MBA, SPHR, Magdalena Lopez, Katharyne Gabriel, Margaux Joffe, Kevin M. Smith, Esther Ruiz Isart, Stephen Mulvenna (from left to right). Photo 2: Margaux and Katharyne seated on a stage speaking in a fireside chat. Behind them a large pink screen with their headshots, Katharyne Gabriel, Sr VP people and Culture NAOU, Margaux Joffe Founder, Minds of All Kinds. The Coca-Cola Company Thrive logo. Margaux is wearing a white suit with a navy blue shirt and green heels. Katharyne is wearing a bright pink blazer, jeans and a Fanta T-shirt. ]