Enhancing Organizational Culture Through Podcasting
“Companies that do not become learning organizations will soon go the way of the dinosaur; they will die out because they were unable to adjust to the changing environment.” –Dr. Michael J. Marquardt, a leading voice in the fields of learning, leadership, organizational change, and globalization
In this quote, Marquardt is warning organizations that if they don’t evolve and grow, they will become ineffective and ultimately, irrelevant. Embracing new technologies is one of the ways in which Marquardt says organizations can embrace change. In this article learn how embracing podcasting technology can enhance your organizational culture and help your company to advance as a learning organization.
Now let’s take a look at some basic information you should know about podcasting.
What is Podcasting?
Are you familiar with blogging? Blogging began in the early 2000s when it seemed like everyone wanted to tell their stories through the written word, via an easy-to-use web interface (Morris & Tomasi, 2020). Today, podcasting is considered a cousin of blogging. People still want to tell their stories, but they are now doing it more through the spoken word, rather than the written one.
By definition however, a podcast is simply a downloadable audio file. Some newer versions of podcasts may also contain video. The content or theme of a podcast varies, but it is typically episodic and hosted by one or more individuals who lead a conversation, share a story, or discuss the news. The important thing to realize about podcasting is that it is about relationship building through storytelling.
What Are Some Ways Your Organization Can Utilize Podcasting?
Podcasting sounds like a fun type of technology, right? Yes! And that is reason enough for organizations to consider integrating its use, especially since employee engagement and motivation has recently declined. Here are four ways internal podcasting can be used to alleviate those issues and advance your organization.
Conversational Chats
The aim of this type of podcast is to help burned-out or disconnected employees feel inspired. Your organization can use this podcast format to invite employees on to talk about lifestyle topics such as cooking or participating in a hobby. You can also bring in creative industry leaders from outside the company to share how/why they do things the way they do. The goal of this podcast is to strike a conversational and light-hearted tone with employees. But it must also contain interesting topics, too!
Leadership Lessons
In this type of podcast episode, the host can interview one of the company’s organizational leaders. The host can also ask some in depth questions about leadership within the company and in their life. Employees can learn about leadership styles, leadership traits, leadership personalities, and the leaders can share their tips on becoming a successful leader. Many employees will benefit from this and may hope to one day be able to become a leader at the organization or in some other organization. Again, you should strive to make this type of podcast conversational and informational.
Onboarding
Onboarding should be more than forcing your employees in a room and making them watch a 100-slide presentation about the company. A better way of doing onboarding is to employ a variety of training techniques, including podcasting. For example, the organization can host a podcast with HR Professionals to review the policies and procedures of the company with a new employee. They can make this type of podcast conversational and scripted with typical FAQs. The effectiveness of this podcast will be the human voice on the other end talking to employees and not talking at them.
Recognition
Every organization should have a reward and/or incentives program. One of the ways to implement the program is through a special podcast in which the company highlights the recipients. The host can invite the recipients on to learn more about their work and personal lives. There is nothing wrong with “bragging” about great employees! It may even encourage a low-performing employee to do more.
What are Some Additional Benefits of Podcasting for the Organization?
Organizations should integrate podcasting into its corporate communications strategy. Here are three reasons why:
- Cost-effective to Produce: Surprisingly, podcasts are inexpensive to produce. By using basic communication equipment your company already owns, you can quickly produce practical and relevant content.
- Information Security: When you publish podcasts to the company’s internal network channel, it will remain secure. Employees will use their network credentials to access the podcasts from on or off site.
- Maximize Employee Learning: Add some podcasting modules to courses that you create for the LMS. Employees can listen to a podcast introducing a lesson or course and can also listen to a recap of a course before taking a test or certification on the content. This will help the employee to retain more information and be more productive.
What are the Benefits of Podcasting for Employees?
In addition to some of the topics we already covered, here are some ways that your employees can benefit from podcasting.
Improves Employee Engagement
This remains an important consideration in how organizations treat their employees. Gallup reported that employee engagement dropped for the first time in a decade during 2021. In addition, the workforce since the pandemic is sometimes remote, sometimes hybrid, and sometimes in the office fully. This can confuse employees and cause them to be disconnected. Creating an internal podcast in the organization can help employees feel more connected to the company and to each other.
Relevance
With distance learning being at the forefront now because of the pandemic, podcasts are a great way to train employees so that they can gain knowledge with the shortest learning curve.
Asynchronous Streaming
Employees can access podcasts on their own time. They do not need to wait for a specific time and/or place to learn what they need. They can even listen on their commute to work or during a break. This makes the learning process more flexible for employees.
Familiarity
Chances are, most of your employees already listen to podcasts that they love, so they are familiar with how they work. This knowledge bridges the gap in how you offer podcasts to your employees. As time goes by, employees may have suggestions for how to make the podcasts better and more relevant.
Technology is constantly changing.
The challenge for a learning organization is the ability to keep up (Marquardt, 2011). Consider continuing your organization’s technological growth by leveraging podcasting.
References
Marquardt, M. J. (2011). Building the learning organization: Achieving strategic advantage through a commitment to learning (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey.
Morris, T., & Tomasi, C. (2020). Podcasting For Dummies, 4th Edition. [electronic resource] (4th edition.). For Dummies.
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