31 [Expert] Building a Purpose-Driven EVP that Connects Inside and Out | Bryan Chaney

[00:00:00] Welcome to the VMJPod, where we feature industry experts, on-the-tools practitioners, and VideoMyJob customers to help you activate your employer brand strategy and EVP. In this episode, we are joined by Bryan Chaney, who is a global talent branding and attraction strategist with experience at some of the biggest names in tech. He currently leads internal communications and talent brand at Crunchyroll.

[00:00:23] In today's conversation, we will dive into Bryan's journey of building Crunchyroll's unique employer brand, his approach to creating a compelling EVP, and how he uses the right terms internally to actually get buy-in. We'll also discuss his hands-on experience with video storytelling, his go-to questions for Crunchyrollers, and also how he thinks about bringing their EB to life through other mediums like music. Let's get started.

[00:00:47] For those who aren't familiar with your professional background, can you give us a quick overview of your career so far and maybe some key milestones? Sure. So the quickest overview is I have been doing this work for just over 20 years. I got into the recruiting business from a marketing background and I would say never looked back, but for the most part, never looked back.

[00:01:15] And I've been trying to help people tell their stories about what value they're offering, about how to get people into a recruiting conversation, but also now more recently, how to overlap the experience that people are having with the conversations that recruiters are having, because those should sound a whole lot alike.

[00:01:36] And so for me, I've been in the financial world, I've been in startups, I've worked at a whole bunch of different types of places, but my goal is really to help the company understand and express the stories they have about their experience. Yes, I very much consider you a storytelling expert and you have been a long time friend of us at Video My Job. We've had you on a few of our endeavors in the past.

[00:02:05] So before we kind of dive into what you're currently working on now at Crunchyroll and that nice little intersection between internal comms and talent brand, I'm keen to kind of just set the scene. So currently at Crunchyroll, what would you say makes your employer brand unique? Well, Crunchyroll is entertainment. And for those who don't know, Crunchyroll is anime.

[00:02:30] And a lot of people who experience anime, they do it in lots of different ways. For us, our goal is to be synonymous with anime and to understand that our purpose is to help be that place where you can experience anime, the stories, the characters, all the things that make it. And if you're anime unique, we can make it more accessible. We can help you get there.

[00:02:58] And so for us, it's like, how do we do that? How do we make it smoother? How do we make it easier? How do we make it even more enjoyable for people to experience those stories that they care about? So when you think about entertainment, there's like, OK, we have to build stuff that didn't exist. OK, you're in streaming and you're doing all these things and you've got all the other pieces. Right. Of of the experience that anime touches.

[00:03:26] And so for us, OK, what's my role in that? How do I actually help bring that to people? And one of the things that we first ask people is, you know, what does anime mean to you? And so you get everything across the board from, oh, anime is amazing. And I live it and breathe it. And then like I was talking to one candidate and he was like, oh, yeah, I'm looking at this poster that's in my apartment.

[00:03:54] And he was wearing he was wearing a Dragon Ball shirt and he's like talking about all these things. And it's like, oh, this is what anime means connection. Anime means story. Anime means character. And it means a way to to feel all these things that are important to me. And so you get everything from that all the way over to actually, I'm not an anime fan.

[00:04:22] And we're like, great. You don't have to be an anime fan to work here. Obviously, it helps. But you have to identify with and appreciate. And be a fan of the fan. So that means you have to know, OK, why is fandom important? What are the things that matter to the fans? OK, we have to make sure that we're showing up for them. We have to make sure that we're making things accessible. We have to make sure that that we are thinking about and serving those fans.

[00:04:52] We actually call it super serving the fans because like it's it's an elevated level of service and service is actually one of our values. So I think that's really important to know, like, where are you on the anime spectrum of like, hey, I'm aware or and actually that's that's actually one of the things that when I tell people where I work, you get everything from sushi. Like that, I get that response from some people are like, like, like, really?

[00:05:22] You went into like, no, no, no, that's not what it is. All the way over to, oh, my gosh, my kids are going to my kids are going to go crazy when I tell them that, you know, I met you or that I'm interviewing, you know, at Crunchyroll because they love anime. And for them, Crunchyroll is anime. Mm, that's such an interesting way to articulate that spectrum, because I have, I have spoken with someone in the past who works for a big beverage company. And one of their first questions is like, do you drink our beverage?

[00:05:52] And if the answer is no, it's like, well, they're not even considered in the company. But really? They do that? Yeah, they're hardcore. Hardcore. That's a potential client. Like you're telling someone, we don't want to talk to you because you're not already a client. Like, who does that work for from a marketing perspective? Like that is, don't you want to talk to people who don't know why they should care yet? Exactly, exactly. So I like how you articulate that.

[00:06:18] Yeah, you don't have to be obsessed with anime, but you need to be obsessed with the fan and understand that. And I feel like that, that correlates across industries and across brands. So currently now at Crunchyroll, what would you say is your biggest talent challenge? Biggest talent challenge? It's threefold. A lot of times when people think about your employer brand or your talent brand, they think about talent attraction. And they think about that being the primary driver.

[00:06:48] And it is the primary driver in a lot of organizations. And in fact, these things are rooted in solving a problem. And if the problem is people don't know who we are or they have a misperception about who we are, then you're like, oh, we need to build the brand. Okay, great. But what does that also mean about like everybody else? Like you're and it's late, right? And there's all kinds of conversations we can have about like the pitfalls of tying a talent brand to recruiting.

[00:07:17] Because then if your recruiting slows down, guess what happens to your talent brand budget and your and your strategic initiatives and your leadership buy in and all those things, right? Like they, they go down with it. But if you think about it as engagement and alignment, then that's okay. Well, how do we all know what direction we're supposed to be going? How do we all know what we're focused on?

[00:07:42] And then how do we communicate and know how we impact that using like our job, our role? Like how do I impact that, that purpose that we have as a company? So engagement and alignment to that is for us even more important than talent attraction. Talent attraction comes along for the ride, but it's not in the driver's seat.

[00:08:08] And in previous, I'm just really curious, in previous roles that you've had, have you always had talent brand directly connected to recruitment? And this is your first position where it is more connected to engagement and alignment with that internal comms piece? It is. It's, and so like, that's been a, that's been an adjustment for me because usually talent brand or employer brand and recruitment marketing, people call it all these interchangeable things that are connected. Right. But it's like, it's not necessarily the same thing. It's related to it.

[00:08:38] So for me, it's, it's saying, okay, this is not only is this not directly tied to recruiting, although it's really, really important. And it's like recruiting is, is one of our biggest stakeholders. As we think about how do we tell the story? How do we put these, these tools in the hands of recruiters so that they understand this message lines with the experience that we're delivering.

[00:09:14] And so this year, I know we were chatting off air before you have been on a journey to create a new EVP to really establish that alignment and engagement. So I'm really keen to understand what were some of the main steps that you have taken in the journey so far, because I know it is an ongoing process.

[00:09:38] Well, the first step in the journey was figuring out how you talk about it, because if you tell people that you're working on your EVP, they're like, we're hiring an executive vice president. Right? No, no, no, that's not it. So, so it's like, how do you say it in ways that have meaning internally? So the first step for us was to say, okay, what's our talent brand? How do we articulate it? What does it mean? Oh, well, it's the, it's, it's really the stories about the experience that you're promising and the experience that you're delivering.

[00:10:06] So we started leaning into that language. And so we're like, okay, it's our talent brand. How do we, how do you reinforce a brand? Well, you promise something and then you deliver it. And then you do that consistently enough to where that's your reputation. And so that that's, I've way oversimplified it, but you get the idea is you have to actually tell somebody you're going to do something, show up and do it.

[00:10:30] And then you're built, you're building bricks in a wall. So you have to be able to do that over time. And so we're like, okay, well, what direction are we going now? This is what we're going to go achieve. These are the ways in which we're going to invest in our people and our experience and all those things. And so to do that, we actually had to do a lot of research. So we, so we pulled, you know, about 10% of the company together and we in one-on-ones and in focus groups.

[00:10:56] And we looked at survey data and we pulled all those things and some themes emerged as we were going through that process. We asked lots of questions. What brought you here? What keeps you here? What's, what's really important to you? What's, how do you, how do you explain what you do to your friends and family? And the words that they use were really important. And we had this, you know, you know, you know, 2002 called and they said, yeah, do you want to, you want a word bubble? And we said, sure.

[00:11:23] But we looked at all of those things that popped up and we're like, okay, what are the, what are the patterns? And the patterns were around what, what people could experience. So they were around, okay, who, who are you going to work with? Who were the, like, tell us about the people who, how do you describe the people? And then the next piece was around the, the work itself. So our, what kind of work exists? Why is it cool? Why is it different? How is it challenging?

[00:11:50] And then the third part is really more along the lines of what's unique about Crunchyroll. And that's our opportunity. It's where we sit. It's like, what's, what's different about what's really special about being in the entertainment industry specific to anime and supporting this community of fans is okay.

[00:12:11] How can we show up here in ways that people haven't shown up for the anime fan before? How do we build this? How do we support and really amplify this, this fandom in places where like it just, it, it hasn't had that accessibility or that opportunity yet. So there's a lot of things that we're doing on the fly that we're building, but there's opportunity in that inherent specific opportunity in working for a company like Crunchyroll within the anime space.

[00:12:40] So those three are the three things that stood out as far as the, the patterns and the themes that we, that we found. And the interesting thing is not that, you know, oh, this is like perfect. And we wrapped it up in a bow, but it was, what are the things that we heard? Okay. What was the good? What was the bad? What were the things that, that, that, you know, that, that we are, we're actively aware of?

[00:13:02] What are the things that we might not be aware of that, you know, that we need to work on and, and we're invested to work on those specific things and say, okay, we're not, not only are these three things as our, as part of our promises to the, to the employees, we call them team members or Crunchyrollers.

[00:13:22] As, as, as, as far as our promise, what are the things that we do that make that true? And part of it is like, okay, what are the things that are easy to connect the dots on that exist today? And then what are the decisions that we're going to make going forward, knowing what's important? So it's not just like, let's put lipstick on this thing and figure out like what, what, what story we can tell, but also how do we take that information and use it to make decisions moving forward?

[00:13:51] If that's the experience that we're promising, what is, how does that affect our decisions? How does that affect our priorities? How does that affect our budgets and our timelines for things? If that's the experience that we're promising. I really liked that framework of the people, the work you're doing and what's unique. I think that's something that can be easily replicated for other people who are listening as well.

[00:14:17] I also liked how you were talking about the word bubble and coming up with themes. It's themes. It's a very visual way to explain it. When you said before that, you know, you don't just want to put lipstick on it and figure out how you can tell the story. I'm actually keen to understand how you think you will tell the story now that you're moving more towards that activation piece with formats and channels and, and content assets off the back of all of this hard work you've been doing.

[00:14:40] Well, it is something that we're doing. What we're doing is taking a breath and going, okay, now how do we express this? How does this show up? How does this feel real? Because we don't want it to just be that, you know, the, the lipstick on the bacon, right?

[00:15:01] We want it to, we want it to actually show up and go, Oh, that's, I remember that thing. They told me that this was the promise and then here it is showing up in this way and then doing it consistently. And that means you got to create some content. You have to, you have to have some templates. You have to create some content. You have to capture some stories.

[00:15:21] And then you have to say, okay, let's now walk through that, the journey, the experience that the employees go on. And you say, where, how can we take this and apply it? And that's the hard work.

[00:15:34] So not to, not to put, not to make it, you know, daunting or intimidating, but launching a talent brand is, is I would say at most half the battle. It has to feel real. It has to be embraced. It has to live. It has to be reflected in the words of your employees, the people who are actually experiencing it.

[00:15:58] Then you need to use it to go make stuff real. You have to go then help it show up in the ways that impact that experience. Also specifically, if what you're talking about is measurably different than what people think is happening.

[00:16:19] And so that's also where you get into a little bit of aspiration. A little bit of aspiration, I think is good because you want to say, hey, we, things haven't been perfect, right? Let's acknowledge that we're all, we're, we're, Kaizen is one of our values. We are constantly iterating and trying to improve and make things better.

[00:16:38] Well, part of, part of saying you want to make something better is acknowledging where you have areas of improvement and saying, hey, this has to be, this has to be grounded in today's reality. We can't just talk about, it can't be completely a fairy tale. It has to be grounded in what people are experiencing today, but then also focused in the right direction and a little bit aspirational and say, hey, we have to focus on hitting this because that's our goal. That's our, that's our, our focus.

[00:17:08] For the experience. So let's actually say it, let's live it, let's do it and make it real. And that's part of where we are now saying like, how does this show up so that it feels real? And we're looking at everything from how does this show up physically? How does this show up on the TV screens? How does this show up in email messages on the intranet? How does this show up in performance management? How does this show up in, in, in sourcing and higher screening?

[00:17:37] How does this show up in the onboarding process? So all of those, when you think about the entire journey, it's like, okay, how to, how can this show up in a way that makes this feel real? Because if you're not reinforcing it, that's a missed opportunity.

[00:17:52] And how are you thinking through that? So like you said, it needs to show up in so many different places. So in particular, when we're talking about recruitment or recruiters as being a key stakeholder, are you taking this EVP and turning it into templates specifically for them, their roles, and then moving through different, almost personas in the company?

[00:18:13] So not so much personas just yet. But when you think about that, yeah, one of our, one of our first, one of our first outputs from this is, okay, what do recruiters need? Recruiters need stories. They need communication templates. They need, they need elements that help convey that story because a recruiter, a good recruiter can tell a great story.

[00:18:37] But if they're, if they're disconnected from that experience, or if they're just going off of the information that they're told, and they don't understand how to convey it in ways that aligns, they could, it could feel like that recruiter's kind of selling something that might not exist. And so that has to be rooted in that purpose. And so our recruiters are great. And they, but they're great enough to know that, hey, I could, I can tell this story, but I'd love for us to be telling this story in a way that feels consistent.

[00:19:07] Across the board. And, and everybody, you know, describes, everybody tells a story a little bit differently. So it's like, okay, how do we show up? What is Crunchyroll? How do we talk about it? What are we doing? What are we, what are we, what are we, what are we investing in? What are we growing into?

[00:19:23] How are we doing? And how do we show up for our fans? How do we show up for ourselves? All those things like, okay, what's the sell sheet? What are the stats? What are the videos that explain, okay, these are all the different parts of the promise. Here's how you show up. Here's what onboarding looks like. Here's what this team is focused on. Here are the things that you need to be able to do to be successful at Crunchyroll.

[00:19:47] All of those things are part of the content mix that a recruiting team needs to be able to get people engaged. So yes, absolutely. That's part of the story. In addition to how does our career site show up?

[00:20:02] And like, where are the stories? Are they living, are they living on their career site? Are they, are they searchable? Are they, are they showing up across social media channels where we're putting other culture content, where people are searching for these things? How are we showing up? And then doing it in a way that is replicable for recruiters. Meaning yes, sometimes like sending somebody a link to a page is great, but being able to say, Hey, check out this piece of content.

[00:20:31] Watch it. Watch it. Listen to it while you can. It's going to be on your time. I want to make it easy. I want to make it consumable. And here's something that should be easy for you when you're ready. And I think that's the, that balances the difference is like you can root it in the place where it lives. And a lot of times it's a career site, or you can just make it you can make it not mobile, but make it where it can transition to show up where the people need to show up.

[00:21:01] And almost packaging it up in like a self-serve fashion for those key stakeholders in, in the business and how they're going to uniquely use that in their role. Yeah. Yeah. Cause everybody, so it's not just recruiters who need it to show up that way. Yeah. It's also, it's, it's the hiring managers, it's the teams, like they want to tell the story. So we've, we've actually got the, the, the early stages of an ambassador program specific to product and engineering. Cause they're like, how do we tell this story?

[00:21:29] Um, in a, in a way that, that feels authentic. We want to, to actually share this. We want to tell the story around, around what we're building and what experience people can have. We're like, great. Let's, let's create some content. Let's write some blog posts. Let's record some videos. Let's actually, um, take the piece of the experience that matters most to you and share it. Cause it's going to matter to somebody else. And now because you tested that with the product and engineering team, are you going to replicate

[00:21:59] that for other teams as well? We are, we're, we're early on with that process, but yes, you start as with every, everything starts with a pilot program. If you start with pilot program and that means, oh, let's that, what does that mean? Oh, that means we're going to try something. It means you don't tell somebody that you're going to do something and it's going to be forever. You just say, oh, we're going to try this. You get some data, you build a case and then you say, Hey, what did we learn here? And who could take advantage of this?

[00:22:26] And sometimes it's as simple as a leader, um, as somebody, a leader within the organization, seeing what another leader is doing and going, oh, how do I get some of that? Like, like I want to show up like that. And that's a lot of times what happens is you, that's, that's how you, you kind of like spread and get adoption among, um, users and ambassadors within an organization is they see, oh, like you're showing up that way.

[00:22:52] I want to be able to show up that way and, and tell the story that helps us know we like what we're actually offering so that we can, um, not just engage ourselves so that we know what's going on, but also so that we can hire people who have a clearer picture of what they didn't expect. Absolutely. You're right. Everything does often start with a pilot. We can talk underwater about pilots. A bit of my job. We have a very successful one over here too.

[00:23:17] While we jump into actually how you are capturing some of the stories and the video pieces that I know you're already starting to do, um, at Crunchyroll, I'm keen to understand at the beginning when you were scoping out the, the EVP project or the promise project, not the executive vice president, um, what metrics did you have to communicate some metrics to senior leadership that you were really hoping to move the needle on by diving into such a massive project?

[00:23:46] So for us, um, when you think about the two biggest drivers, so it's, again, it's not specific to talent attraction, but specific to engagement and alignment. And so that means, okay, more people need to know what's going on. And if we look at our survey feedback, um, one of the biggest areas of opportunity is in communications, how we talk about, um, what's going on, how we make decisions, our

[00:24:14] strategic direction, but not just from leadership, but also what happens between leaders and individual contributors. There's a, there's a huge gap in communication. So for us, it's how do people rate communication as a function within the company? And then also how engaged are they? Are they participating? Are they providing that feedback? And then not just, are they providing feedback? Do they understand what's coming out of that feedback?

[00:24:44] There's a, there's something called a survey fatigue that, uh, you'll probably be aware of. But what, what I think is interesting is that where people completely disregard any kind of survey fatigue is if you ask them their opinion and they tell you, and they see something change as a result of that. Like that's the fatigue. The fatigue is not in the survey. The fatigue is in a lack of action. And I think that's one of the biggest things around, um, communication that we're trying to

[00:25:14] clear up is we're trying to say, you gave us feedback. Here's what we did with that feedback and here's what's coming next. Tell us what you think again, and having that be more of an ongoing conversation. And I think that's also one of the things is understanding that, you know, you want a culture of feedback, whether that's between a manager and an individual contributor, whether that's between a broad employee base and, um, and, and individual team or function leaders,

[00:25:41] you've got to have that feedback and you have to be able to do things that show that you're listening. Hmm. And finally, just on to wrap up this EVP topic, is there any advice that you would give to, to someone looking to build or revise the EVP?

[00:25:59] Biggest tip on how to, how to start an EVP process, how to start the research is make sure the right people are in the room when you're having the conversation, because you have to say, who, who's going to have to be my stakeholder? Who's going to have a say in this? Who needs to know that this is happening that can then raise flags along the way to say, oh, have you thought about this?

[00:26:30] How is this going to be used? Like making sure that that group of people at the beginning is the right group of people based upon the outcomes and the success measures. And I think it sounds really, really basic to say that, but saying who needs to be in the room and it doesn't have to be, oh, the chief so-and-so and like who, who fundamentally knows how, how this story is lived and breathed.

[00:26:59] Is it an HR person? Is it a marketing and brand person? Is it a workplace? Is it like, is it operations depending upon your business? Like, like, okay, where do the pockets of, where's, where are the high volume pockets live? Like biggest groups of employees, right? Like who needs to know that this has to resonate and making sure that those people aren't necessarily

[00:27:24] in the room as decision makers, but they're in the room to be informed and to help influence the direction along the way, knowing what's coming out on the other side. I think that's the biggest tip that I can give is have that conversation to make sure those people are in the room at the start. Absolutely. And if you get that right at the beginning, then you're set up for success for the rest of the project. Allegedly, yes. Let's hope so. Awesome.

[00:27:51] Now, Brian, you have said before that, you know, hearing stories is the best part of your job and you love that component. So I'm really keen to, to dive into this a little while ago. I know that you ran a series of video shoots as well to start collecting stories from the Crunchyroll team members. And, you know, before we were talking about how you can best package up this content in a self-serve fashion at Video My Job, we have something called Story Feed, which is our kind

[00:28:20] of tech solution to enable, enable people to do that themselves and self-serve in a way that is relevant for the person that the video is for. But taking a step back, let's talk about what you actually did to plan and execute for this video content project. Who did you choose to interview? And let's start with how did you get them to actually participate in the beginning?

[00:28:45] So we have, we want to make sure that the, again, with the right people in the room, we want to make sure that, hey, that number one, that the stories that we capture are reflective of the organization at large, or at least reflective of the function that they're representing. So we're like, okay, let's make sure this is balanced. Let's make sure it looks like the organization. Let's make sure that, okay, we've got tenure, we've got all the factors represented, right? Okay, is this balanced?

[00:29:14] Yes, we can have people who look an awful lot like each other show up and do this. But is that really what the organization looks like? And depending upon what country you're in, that might be a foregone conclusion. But where we can, we say, okay, let's make sure that we have balance, not only for the things that you can see, but the things that you can't see. So let's look at, let's look at tenure. Let's look at expertise.

[00:29:42] Let's look at all these different aspects and say, are we, are we telling a complete story? So we start there. That's, that's not the hard part. The hard part is then going through and saying, okay, manager, we want, we would love to capture a story with your team member. This is what it looks like. Here's an example. And here's what we get out of it. And the manager has the option to say, okay, great. Yeah, do that.

[00:30:07] Or actually, I don't want you to have this conversation because like, this is recognition for a lot of companies. Getting stories in this way is one of the biggest forms of recognition that somebody will, will experience. And I think like that's this delicate balance. So a manager could say no manager will, you know, most of the time manager will say yes. And then they might ask a clarifying question, but then that's not even the hardest part.

[00:30:35] The hardest part is then we go to the actual person and we say, Hey, we talked to your manager. We'd love to share some of your story. There's something unique there that we would love to capture and share with other people. And we want to make sure that, you know, here's what the end result is going to look like. And we are motivated to make sure you look and sound good and, you know, can, can help you show up well. And, and so we go through all of those steps in the process.

[00:31:03] And then, and then at the end, then we say, okay, now here are the questions. And I always say, these are the starter questions, which means here's what we're going to start with, but we might dig deep. And so when, one of the things that I've, I've learned over the years is when you ask somebody a question, especially if they're unsure about the, what's driving it, or if they're nervous, or if they're, they're just like, there's any kind of confusion, they'll stick to the script.

[00:31:30] And what I mean is by the script is what they think you want to hear. And so you have to know like when to kind of peel that back and go, okay, you said that tell me something specific about that. What makes that real? And so you have to be able to dig a little deeper when you're, when you're having these stories and have some of those real moments actually show up when people respond with specifics, you know, it's a real thing. And so like, that's that challenge, but I love, love, love that part of the discussion.

[00:31:58] And I love kind of like Bob and Weave of we're talking and I think I'm getting a real answer from you, but let me give, let me, let me, let me get, let me dig a little deeper and get something from you. What did you mean that? Did you mean this by that? Or here's how I interpret what you're saying. And a lot of times this is the first time that they've actually said some of these things out loud. So, so like I'll listen, I'll sit and process. And then I'll say like, I've heard this, is this what you mean? And they're like, actually, yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way before, but that

[00:32:28] feels right. And so it's this going through that whole process and then, and then showing them the story that you're able to weave together after that. I think that's, that's one of the most fun, fun steps in the process for me, because everybody, everybody deserves to have their story told and not everybody feels that they're worth it. And so part of my job is to get to tell them that, that it's a story worth having and a story worth sharing.

[00:32:57] And so when you have, I guess, figured out the balance of who you want in the videos, you've gone through the manager, you've got approval for manager, you've got a yes from the person you're hoping to interview and you have this suite of starter questions, like you mentioned, are they the same for anyone? And then you delve into what's unique to them, or do you go into these video interviews with a custom set of questions for each person?

[00:33:23] So I would love to say that every single interview we do, I can show up like, like Sean on Hot Ones. And I've got like, you know, questions based upon their, you know, their elementary school, their grade school, you know, you know, you know, music class that they were in. Like, I can't, I don't have that kind of research. I love to customize them as much as possible, but also based upon the outcome. So if we're like, Hey, the story we're trying to tell is one based upon this thing.

[00:33:51] Then I usually, you know, angle the questions a little bit more towards that topic. What they say is up to them, right? Like the words are their own, but I, but I do like, I'll ask them. And then just like, just like we'll respond to them after the starter questions. We'll also say, Hey, you told me something. Can you tell me more about that thing? And so like, it will meander a little bit. It'll go down a path where I think there might be some nuggets of, of really good story that have to be uncovered.

[00:34:20] And now that you have collected some of these stories from the team, where are you hoping to share them? So a few different places. Again, I mentioned, this is not just for talent attraction. And then also some people respond and they say, Hey, I'm okay to do the video, but I just, can you just keep it internal? And I'm just like, okay, like we can, we can do that if that's what you prefer. So we'll share it internally. We'll say, okay, this will show up in certain places.

[00:34:47] This will show, this could show up in new hire onboarding. This could show up in communications. It could show up on our intranet. It could show up in lots of different ways and places. But for a lot of other ones, like if we, if it, if it takes on that approach, one of the things that we say is like, Hey, we know we started this as an internal conversation, but you had a really good soundbite. Is there any way we can share it? We go back to them. We ask, can we share this externally?

[00:35:17] And sometimes when we do that, it shows up on, shows up on the career site, shows up on social media channels. It shows up across aggregators. You think about Indeed and Glassdoor and other places where you can make some of that content accessible. So, and it's a, it's a delicate balance of like what audience is this serving and what story are we trying to tell? Absolutely.

[00:35:41] And also just showing how much you can get out of one video story on all of these different channels. Yeah, for sure. Great. Amazing. I'd just like to finish with, again, just unpacking a couple of more, I guess, questions that, that listeners might be able to ask their own employees if they are running their own video project internally and angling it more to different stages that an employee might be at.

[00:36:09] So it might be a brand new hire or it might be a long term employee or maybe a senior leader. Do you have a few go-to starter questions for each of those types of people? I think it really depends. It depends on the output, right? All stories are not created equal and it all depends on like the buy-in and how comfortable and relaxed the person feels.

[00:36:36] I mean, I've asked things, everything from how do you tell your friends and family what you do? And then like sometimes I'll have to even paint a more vivid picture and I'll say like, okay, you're at a neighborhood barbecue in a backyard. Like, and somebody asks, what do you do? How do you like, yeah, I have to paint that picture for them so that they understand. But like, what words do they use? And then you get, you walk down that path and you say, okay, that's how they think about it.

[00:37:05] And that helps me think about it using their words. On another initiative and something I did a long time ago, about almost 10 years ago now, I started asking, you know, if working here had its own soundtrack, what music would be on that soundtrack? And I asked for specifics and I've asked this in lots of different types of companies and

[00:37:31] I've gotten everything from like these, these, uh, from like happy from Pharrell all the way to Ozzy Osbourne with crazy train. And I'm like, okay, so what kind of statement are you saying about your experience here at the company? But there, but all those things like music is something that people resonate with very personally. And so some people are like, hold on a second. And they'll pull out their phone and they'll be like, where's my playlist? Like, and I'm like, I'm like, do you have a playlist for working here? And they're like, no, no, no.

[00:38:00] But I like, I know like what songs I'm listening to. And cause I feel it. Like I feel that song when I'm, when I'm here, when I show up, when I walk in first day and I, and I first thing in the morning and I, and I, and I think, okay, why am I here? What am I doing? What kind of attitude and, and spirit do I need to, to soak in in order to be able to show up well and succeed today? To close that loop.

[00:38:26] If you're asking people what songs are on their soundtrack, do something with the soundtrack. So then you can take that and make custom playlists for that team, for that function. You can actually then close the loop and help music connect people with the stories. So that's the, one of the things that I'll say is like everything that you do, you can, you can, you can get another purpose out of it and, and, and extend the life of it.

[00:38:54] So get your stories, but then connect the stories back to the people. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you want to learn more about activating your employer brand strategy and EVP, then you can check out podcast.videomyjob.com for a library of industry perspectives and how tos. Lastly, we'd love for you to help us spread the word about the VMJ pod to attract new experts and practitioners to share their activation strategies.

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