Making waves in employee communications

The Airport Authority's Goodwill Ambassador Program and Goodwill Ambassablog are making waves in the world of public agency employee communications. This week, Ambassablogmaster Steve presented a case study of the Ambassablog at the 6th National Forum on Strategic Internal Communications for federal, state and local government communicators. Part of the Advanced Learning Institute's Executive Training Series, the forum was held at the Loews Coronado Resort June 2-5.

The title of his presentation was Don’t Be Afraid of Employee Bloggers: How to Guide the Power of Employee Blogging to Engage Employees and Enhance Transparency - On A Shoestring Budget.

Attendees included communicators from the U.S. Air Force; Environmental Protection Agency; Washington State Attorney General's Office; Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon; Child Care Resource Center in Los Angeles; the City of Henderson, Nevada; and others. They were impressed with the success of the Goodwill Ambassador Program and the variety of posts from the Ambassabloggers and other features of the blog.

After hearing the Ambassablog case study, one forum attendee said she would be going back to her agency to start up an employee learning program modeled after our Goodwill Ambassador Program ... complete with a supporting employee blog.

And representatives from the Bonneville Power Administration (which is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Energy) went a step further. They were so motivated by the story of the Ambassablog that they began devising plans to launch an employee blog of their own ... and they already have a name for it: the Bonne-Blog! We look forward to the day when the Bonne-Blog enters the blogosphere.

Employee blogging is still a new endeavor in the world of employee communications for many organizations. But examples like the Goodwill Ambassablog are leading the way in showing others just how easy, low-cost and effective it can be.