Hi 👋🏾 friend,

I've had two conversations on the podcast recently that surfaced something I don't think we talk about enough when it comes to Employee Generated Content.

We spend so much time focused on the HOW of employee advocacy. How to train employees to create content. How to build guidelines. How to get buy-in from leadership.

But what if the real barrier isn't skills or confidence at all? Stay with me here…

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Monica Rivera is a speaker and coach who works with women 40+ who feel invisible after decades of corporate experience. What she told me hit hard.

She said her job is to "reflect their brilliance back to them." Because after years of being heads down, being passed over, having their expertise taken for granted, many experienced professionals have forgotten what makes them remarkable.

Think about that for a second. You're asking employees to put themselves out there publicly. To share their stories. To be visible. But many of them haven't felt recognized internally in years. They've been doing the work, but no one's been noticing.

No amount of content training fixes that.

Jo Coxhill, a burnout and employee experience expert, connected the dots for me when we talked about EGC programs:

But without that foundation, you end up with employees saying whatever you ask them to say because they feel like they have to. And that inauthenticity comes through. Every time.

Jo described what happens when culture isn't there: "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘻𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴."

If the answer to any of these is "I'm not sure," you might be building your EGC program on a shaky foundation.

Monica spends her first session with clients just listening to their stories. Asking questions. Reflecting back what she sees.

What if that's the missing step in your employee advocacy program? Before the content training. Before the guidelines. Before the incentives.

Just… seeing your people. Recognizing their expertise. Reminding them why their perspective matters.

Because employees who feel overlooked inside your company aren't going to suddenly become visible ambassadors outside of it.

Both of these conversations are part of my Women's History Month series on the podcast:

𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗜'𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀: If you were to ask five employees today why they don't post about work, what do you think they'd actually say? (Not the polite answer. The real one.)

Hit reply. I want to know.

Until next time. 💖

P.S. Are you headed to Transform? I’ll be there in a few weeks and would love to connect IRL. Hit reply and let’s plan to catch up!