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There's no place like SAS, there's no place like SAS

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The SAS Internal Communications team members surprise their leader with a not-so-subtle nod to her favorite movie.
Last week, Disney released Oz: The Great and Powerful - a prequel of sorts to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and the novel on which it is based (L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). Though I haven’t seen this new movie, I’m a huge fan of the original.  In fact, a couple of years ago my entire team surprised me on my birthday by dressing as characters from the film!

You may not realize it, but there are communications lessons within The Wizard of Oz! 

All along, Dorothy’s companions had within themselves the precise qualities they sought – brains, heart and courage – but they didn’t realize it. It took the Wizard thrusting them into a situation (tasking them with stealing the witch’s broom) where they were forced to demonstrate those qualities. Even then, the Wizard had to spell it out for them before they recognized their true selves. Meanwhile, Glinda the Good Witch had to help Dorothy find her inner power to go home.

SAS’ employee population includes some of the brightest minds in the industry, and we’ve always known they’d have a lot to say if they believed in themselves as communicators. Clearly, we don’t thrust employees into perilous situations; but, we do try to foster self-confidence by giving them unfettered opportunities to discover and use their voice. We encourage active participation in social channels, both internal and external, and we trust our employees to represent the SAS brand.

Internally, employees are free to comment, without mediation, on any articles published on the intranet as well as during live webcasts - including our CEO’s live quarterly updates. Each employee has an opportunity to blog internally we have an internal social platform – the Hub – on which employees can discuss virtually any topic.

Externally, many employees are active bloggers and all employees are encouraged to engage in conversations about the company and its products -- even during working hours -- on channels such as blogs, social networks and SAS user forums. All we ask is that employees keep in mind that their comments reflect on the company and that they follow a set of fairly non-restrictive social media guidelines.

Employees feel trusted and appreciated; internal collaboration is at an all-time high; and a growing number of employees is carrying the SAS message to external audiences.

So when it comes to employees having the opportunity and freedom to discover their inner communicators, there’s no place like SAS; there’s no place like SAS.

Tags communication workplace culture
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About Author

Karen Lee

Senior Director Internal Communications, SAS

Karen Lee joined SAS in 1984 as a technical marketing representative. In the past 28 years, Karen has successfully merged her technical savvy with her communications know-how to foster a sense of trust and engagement among SAS’ 13,000 global employees. In her current role as Senior Director of Internal Communications, Karen has embraced social media to find new ways to connect employees with one another and with company leadership. She has done this by challenging SAS executives to communicate with employees via individual blogs and live, virtual “chats.” In 2011, her team spearheaded the effort to create an internal social media network known as the Hub, which has created virtual communities for best practice sharing, idea generation and work/life balance. Within two weeks of its launch, the site had more than 3,000 registrants and continues to grow. Karen modeled her team’s structure around a 24/7 news cycle, covering company events with real-time updates on the global intranet site. Gone are the days of “holding the news” until the next day’s publication. SAS employees hear news as it happens. Even with a wired employee base, however, traditional communication channels are not overlooked. Karen established regular “coffee with the CEO” sessions several years ago in which front-line employees are able to interact with and hear about the direction of the company from its CEO in an informal setting. Before being named Senior Director of Internal Communications, Karen was Director of Communications Support for SAS' Research & Development Division. In this role, she found innovative ways to communicate with a traditionally introverted employee population. Using a variety of communications vehicles, such as podcasts and employee expos, she improved information sharing among customers, management and developers. Before becoming a SAS employee, Karen was a SAS customer, using the software for capacity planning in her job at Official Airline Guides. Karen has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Eastern Illinois University. Originally from Westchester, Ill., Karen currently lives in Holly Springs, N.C. Outside of SAS, she enjoys spending time with her family, enjoying the outdoors biking, running and traveling to find new adventures.

2 Comments

  1. David Biesack on

    I love the analogy (TWOO is also one of my favorite movies). I am positive that the open environment at SAS and our freedom of expression has helped us become what we are - the best place to work.

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