Breaking Down Silos: Connecting Culture, EVP & Talent Engagement For Impact

It's easy to treat culture, people experience, EVP and talent engagement (internal comms, employer branding and talent marketing) as separate swim lanes. Tick the boxes. Run the programmes. Job done. But that approach has always felt a bit... Well, flawed, to be honest. 😬

These things aren't separate. They're deeply interconnected. Your culture shapes your EVP. Your EVP informs your employer brand. Your employer brand influences how you engage talent (internal AND external). And all of it - every single bit - needs to show up consistently across your entire people experience, or you risk creating expectation gaps that'll come back to bite you.

I'm fortunate to be working across multiple HR and non-HR functions - Talent Acquisition, Talent Development & Organisational Design, HR Ops, Internal Communications, HR Business Partners and Marketing - acting as a connective tissue between them all. Not because I have all the answers (I absolutely don't!), but because someone needs to constantly be asking, "How is this decision going to land with our people?" and "Does this align with who we say we are and what it's genuinely like working here?"

I've partnered with senior execs to lead the evolution of our purpose, mission, values and EVP in ways that actually reflect the reality of working here - not the sanitised, Mary Poppins fantasy version that makes leadership feel comfortable but leaves everyone else rolling their eyes. (IYKYK 🙄)

In parallel, we've been developing our brand identity's tone of voice that's brave, bold, and balances the rough with the smooth. Because real cultures aren't all sunshine and rainbows, are they? High-performing environments are challenging. They require resilience. They ask a lot of people. And we shouldn't be afraid to own that and communicate it honestly.

We're now on the cusp of nailing the EVP and activating it with Marketing, Communications, and People & Culture Directors across the business. The tone of our future employer brand identity is taking shape. Not corporate BS, but something with real personality that will help attract the right people and help others self-select out early.

This has been one of the highest points in my career. Where you feel those moments of 'flow' regularly because you're doing what you love - your building, creating, connecting and delivering across a broad talent-related remit, and doing it with a bunch of incredibly talented people - many of whom I now call friends.

Why am I sharing this? Partly because my pride cup runneth over. Also because if you're working on similar challenges – trying to connect culture, people experience and talent engagment in meaningful ways – I'd be happy to chat.

Whether you're stepping into a role like this or want to bounce ideas around, feel free to give me a shout. I've been high in the helicopter and deep in the weeds with all of it over the last 13-14 months and I'd be happy to share the highs, lows and learnings 🙏🏼

Cheers. 🙌