The secret to getting leaders on Viva Engage
Using data to show leaders the impact of their efforts is often the silver bullet to get them spending a few minutes each day listening to, and engaging with, their employees on Viva Engage.
It sounds simple, and it can be. When you can show your leaders how many people are reading, reacting and replying to their posts, and what a difference it makes when they react or comment on someone else’s post, there is undeniable proof about the impact of their efforts.
And when leaders start to see themselves climb up the Influential People list on SWOOP Analytics for Viva Engage, it often gives them more incentive to keep connecting, and often they will encourage their fellow leaders to do the same.
Connected leadership helps foster a culture of open communication and collaboration. Connected leaders cultivate trust, honesty and integrity within their organisation by consistently demonstrating those qualities themselves. And Viva Engage is the perfect platform to do so.
Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by internal comms teams is first convincing leaders the impact they will foster if they make just one Viva Engage post a week, and spend a few minutes each day reacting or replying to posts or comments.
As part of our research into SWOOP Analytics’ 2024/25 Viva Engage Benchmarking Report we contacted people we believe to be the world’s experts in managing and facilitating Viva Engage networks.[1] We asked our experts:
How did you convince busy leaders to use Viva Engage?
What was your proposition to get leaders on board? Did you coach them?
While we’ve complied above the common themes of their answers, it’s interesting to hear their full stories as no one organisation, or leader, has the same experience to share.
Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Government
- Australian state government department
For many senior executives at the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Viva Engage is a crucial component of their employee communication strategies in a hybrid working environment, shifting messages away from email.
Leonie Challacombe, Principal Advisor (Digital Culture) at TMR, tells the story of TMR’s Director-General (DG), Ms Sally Stannard, who is a top influencer on the department’s Viva Engage network.
With more than 11,000 employees spread across the state of Queensland, which is 7.5 times bigger than the entire United Kingdom, it can be challenging to communicate effectively with every employee.
“Our DG has leveraged Viva Engage to help support a connected and inclusive culture by sharing updates and photos while travelling to TMR projects and locations across the state,” Leonie said.
“Sally also engages with staff posts by liking and responding, fostering genuine connections with employees, including our frontline staff and remote workers who are geographically dispersed across the state.”
One of the top posts on TMR’s Viva Engage network was from Ms Stannard celebrating the Paris Olympics and looking ahead to TMR’s role in Brisbane's 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Sally also acknowledged TMR’s former Olympians,” Leonie said.
“Sally encouraged engagement by asking staff to post about other TMR sporting champions and sharing their favourite moments from Paris.”
To boost leader participation on Viva Engage within TMR’s IT branch, the internal communications team organised Digital Leadership coaching for executives.
“A key strategy involved using SWOOP Analytics to show leaders how Viva Engage can build personal profiles,” Leonie said.
“This data-driven approach helped leaders recognise the tangible benefits of engagement, including increased visibility. We plan to do more of these sessions across the department as part of our digital workplace change and adoption strategy. ”
“While we are working on enhancing engagement levels, our focus remains on equipping leaders with the skills and knowledge to effectively use Viva Engage, ultimately fostering an open, inclusive and collaborative culture.”
Schneider Electric – Global specialist in energy
Shailesh Kumar, Schneider Electric.
Shailesh Kumar, General Manager- Communications Performance Management at Schneider Electric, says analytics have been key to getting leaders on board and engaging. Once they see the benefit, they have become converts.
“We built up a comprehensive analytics report of our Executive Committee activity on Viva Engage, sharing with them tips on how to start, how to continue, and how to strengthen their presence on Viva Engage,” Shailesh said.
“They all are eager to join the conversations (difficult or not) with our employees.”
He said the communications team also organises an Ask Me Anything session on Viva Engage every year with the CEO and CFO to allow them to connect with all employees.
Air Canada – Canadian airline
Convincing leaders to embrace Viva Engage can be challenging, especially in the fast-paced, highly operational airline industry, says Andrew Clarke, Manager, Employee Social Media Communications at Air Canada.
He says each leader has their preferred way of communicating with their teams, but some recognise Viva Engage's immense value in connecting geographically dispersed employees worldwide.
Andrew said one such advocate is Air Canada’s Vice President of Canadian Airports and Customer Experience Strategy. In late spring 2024, as Air Canada geared up for the busy peak summer travel season, this VP challenged his global airports management team to step out of their offices and meet with employees in frontline operations - customer experience specialists, station attendants, concierge, baggage agents and ground handlers. The goal was to hear first-hand about their roles, challenges, and feedback on summer travel preparations.
“The challenge quickly gained momentum,” Andrew said.
“Throughout the spring and summer months, the airports management team, including the branch VP, shared their experiences (on Viva Engage) using the hashtag #SoarAndExplore in the Airports community.
“These posts captured special moments and interactions with employees, allowing everyone across the branch to see and engage with the content.”
The #SoarAndExplore initiative generated more than 136 posts, engaging 906 users, and reached 8% of the airline's 40,000 employees.
“Leader-led initiatives like this one demonstrate how easy and accessible it is to reach and engage with employees across the branch, showcasing the true power of Viva Engage,” Andrew said.
“The goal is to inspire more leaders to recognise its value and follow suit.”
Westpac New Zealand - bank
Getting leaders on to Viva Engage has been a work in progress for a number of years, admits Fiona Roberts, Senior Digital Engagement Manager at Westpac New Zealand.
It took time and patience to prove Viva Engage’s value, and leaders needed to be willing to be bold and take risks. That time and patience has paid off in spades. Fiona tells the story.
“Last year, we had a new GM who really wanted to create a collaborative culture, through new ways of connecting with his new team,” she said.
“Thanks to his internal comms business partner, it was an easy process to convince him to give up emails in favour of regular communication on Viva Engage instead.”
In the beginning, Fiona said, it was very much a templated approach for the GM, assisted by the comms partner, covering key topics such as service anniversaries, and shout-outs and recognition for work delivered, but eventually became a regular feature managed from within the general manager’s team.
“The GM was eager to showcase his travel and connections with staff, such as branch visits, and regularly posted selfies and other photos,” she said.
“He also made sure to comment on people’s posts, including from other communities and his regular five minutes a week on Viva Engage lifted his overall profile and into our most influential posters, which he has maintained over time.
“His success on Viva Engage prompted a flurry of other GMs wanting to emulate his success, and created a tipping point whereby most GMs now have a community and regular communication to and with their people on Viva Engage.”
Fiona said one example that has been hugely successful is Westpac’s Ask Me Anything live sessions on Viva Engage. These are advertised well in advance and give people the opportunity to connect directly to, and hear from, their respective general managers.
“We’ve found these sessions really create buzz in the business, and employees feel more engaged,” she said.
Fiona says it does require some coaching to start the executive team on Viva Engage.
“We work closely with the executive assistants and with the GM leadership teams to help them get set up for success and maintain a community over time,” she said.
“Understanding when to use Viva Engage and what to use it for (as opposed to other communications channels such as Teams and SharePoint) forms a big part of the overall plan – this helps create clarity for our employees as to what types of communication they can expect to see on which channels and reduces the possibility of duplication of effort and hence comms ‘fatigue’.”
Fiona said the other essential factor around helping to prove the benefits of Viva Engage for leaders has been regularly sharing analytics on the usage and engagement in their respective channels, including which topics have been most engaging, and who’s been influential in having, and maintaining, conversations.
“They can then work alongside their internal comms partner to see what’s working well, or needs improving, to make sure they’re maximising their use of the channel,” she said.
“And whilst we can benchmark individual performances against their peers, this hasn’t been necessary – bragging rights to being a key influencer has definitely galvanised others into action!”
A screenshot of an executive’s Ask Me Anything Viva Engage post at Westpac New Zealand.
National Grid - British energy group
Sally Jackson, Senior Manager, Content and Channels, at National Grid says the results are mixed when it comes to getting leaders on Viva Engage. However, showing them data from SWOOP Analytics helps prove the value.
“I’d say we are on a journey that will take time.
“The communications team is increasingly using SWOOP data to help inform conversations with leaders and convince them that the platform is used by a large number of colleagues and short/frequent interactions can be extremely effective, and not as time consuming as leaders may assume.”
National Grid has prepared guidance and run sessions in the past to help leadership teams and individuals understand the value of Viva Engage, along with how to get started.
“This has to happen over time, rather than a one-and-done exercise, but we are starting to see positive changes in behaviours in some areas,” Sally said.
“We’ll have to wait and see if that eventually translates to improvements in engagement survey scores, but we are hopeful.”
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank – Australian bank
Coaching leaders on the benefit of Viva Engage, and teaching them how to use it has been the key to success for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
Evita Puccio, Senior Communications Manager, Internal Engagement - Digital Channels at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, shares,
“The Internal Communications Business Partners coach leaders on the value and use of Viva Engage.
“Use of Viva is built into communication plans and leaders are supported with key posts and encouraged to be visible and engage with posts from their teams.”
Network Rail – owner, repairer and developer of railway infrastructure in England, Scotland and Wales
Rajinder Pryor, Head of Business Partnering at Network Rail, said the unique selling point for Viva Engage has been visibility. With that visibility comes a willingness to connect with employees.
“Leaders have been encouraged to use the channels to make themselves visible and approachable – highlighting a willingness to engage in an informal way.”
Sage – British-based multinational business software group
Sean Zintl, Global Intranet & Channels Manager at Sage, also speaks of leaders’ visibility on Viva Engage, showing how they are listening to colleagues and responding to them.
He said Sage’s CEO was already active on social media, as were many other senior leaders, so getting them onto Viva Engage wasn’t an issue.
“If anything, we’ve had to moderate the All Company community to protect colleagues from receiving too many notifications from over enthusiastic leaders,” Sean said.
“But obviously it’s not been everyone’s comfort zone, and we have reached out to leaders to encourage them to be more visible.”
A really easy was of getting leaders on board was encouraging them to follow SWOOP Analytics’ 1-2-3 rule – for every one post, make two replies and three reactions.
“The aim here was to increase leaders’ visibility on the platform – and also to be seen to be listening and responding to colleagues’ feedback, rather than having to always be generating content and ‘leading from the front.”
Microsoft Viva Engage Adoption and Training Consultant Bernie Murtagh
Bernie’s strategy for getting leaders on board with Viva Engage centres on showcasing the platform as a powerful tool for connecting with employees and promoting a culture of transparency and open communication. She says one of the biggest challenges facing leaders is connecting with employees.
“Viva Engage addresses this challenge effectively by allowing leaders to demonstrate the act of listening through simple yet impactful digital behaviours, such as commenting on posts or acknowledging a message with a reaction or emoji.
“From my experience, leaders want to do right by their people and excel in communication, but they are human, just like the rest of us.
“I keep this in mind and strive to make the features we want them to use as simple and pain-free as possible (I don’t show them everything, I show them what they need to know only) for them to use (and enjoy) when engaging on Viva Engage.”
To help leaders maximise their presence on Viva Engage, Bernie recommends personalised, one-on-one coaching—guiding them on everything from crafting posts to engaging with comments.
She also encourages using a leadership board to track and showcase each leader’s activity on Viva Engage, fostering a bit of friendly competition and encouraging greater engagement for the following month.
Juniper Networks – US-based networking technology company
Kevin Crossman, IT Manager and Content Collaboration Service Owner at Juniper Networks, said not every leader is convinced of the value of two-way interaction with colleagues, but many do appreciate the benefit of posting on Viva Engage over email.
“Our leaders haven’t been entirely sold on the idea of two-way feedback being a huge value-add, but some do appreciate the transparency of the medium compared to email,” he said.
“IT works with comms professionals and executive admins to assist in leadership understanding and posting.”
[1] The experts contacted by SWOOP Analytics for this research are people who have been top performers in our previous benchmarking studies and recipients of a SWOOP Analytics Award for Outstanding Collaborative Performance or nominated by peers for the annual SWOOP Analytics Community Manager Award.
