In our industry, a lot of value is placed on thought leadership and its impact on content marketing. If your company has hired or developed thought leaders of its own, you understand that their expertise adds a lot of merit to your brand. In fact, the value is so high that it can be tempting to focus on projecting their work outwards. Doing so holds the promise of new leads and increased brand value.
While promoting your company’s thought leadership has undeniable value, don’t forget the added importance of sharing it internally. Consider the impact it would have for resident thought leaders to invest time and effort in developing employees under them. Promising team members who are younger or less experienced can grow immeasurably by listening to their company’s experts, following their work or perhaps even contributing to projects alongside them.
If a thought leader at your company is willing, have them invite a less experienced employee to co-write an article or assist with research for an upcoming piece. Even if the young employee’s contributions are minimal, the new team member will learn a lot about the background work and high level thought that getting published requires.
An excellent way to invite less experienced employees to learn from your company’s resident experts is to establish team-based approaches to projects. Encourage collaborative work styles, and reward employees who demonstrate teamwork. By assigning teams to new initiatives, you ensure each project gets the depth of insight it needs, and you open the door for newer employees to watch and learn how your company’s leaders think, work and solve problems. It’s a smart way to get things done effectively and simultaneously groom leaders for the future.
Though your company’s thought leadership is obvious to some, remember that new or younger employees might be completely unaware of it. Be sure these team members are invited to attend events or speaking engagements that feature your experts. Post an invitation in common rooms, and send internal email reminders. Once they know they’re welcome, new employees will be excited to attend, learn and grow into thought leadership of their own.
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