The Swear Jar

No nonsense. Just the straight sh*t about the harsh realities and the wonderful opportunities that inspired employee communications can bring you and your organization.Whether your job title includes the words 'Communications', 'Human Resources', 'Project Management' or 'Executive', The Swear Jar is for you. The Swear Jar is irreverent, entertaining but, most of all, it's practical. This is where you will get advice that will transform your organization by truly tapping into the power of effective employee communications. Just don't expect us to 'pull any punches'. Is it 'safe for work'? Well, as the title suggests, we do indeed swear a little. But, chances are, when you're dealing with employee communications, you feel like swearing too. So, I think we're pretty much on the same page. Come and swear along with us.

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The Swear Jar

Hitting the Right Nerve

January 16, 2021 • Andrew Brown and Elizabeth Williams

We’re going to be hearing a lot about trust in organizations this year. As we begin to figure out the new terms of engagement for the workplace in 2021, we’ll need to make sure that building and maintaining trust is a deliberate outcome of everything we do as communicators.

We’ve got years of data supporting the idea that people in high trust organizations are happier and outperform those in lower trust places. In fact, they report 74% less stress, 50% more productivity, 40% less burnout and much more energy and overall satisfaction with their lives.[1]

Professor, author and neuro-economist, Paul Zak joined us on the podcast to talk about how organizations can use neuroscience to understand, predict, measure and, most importantly, build and sustain trust,

Speaking of predictions, our recent podcast guest, Paul Zak uses smart watches to quickly test messaging, images, music and more using to assess which neurochemicals are released when audiences consume the content. The data is aggregated and ready for use immediately. If you have a big change initiative on the horizon, you may want to try this out in your next focus group.

Key Topics

Suitcases full of money for studying trust (1:44)
Why communicators need to fall in love with oxytocin (4:03)
The eight elements of building trust (6:28)
How Zappos worked on trust (7:55)
Communicating to persuade (10:18)
Persuasive stories in action (14:30)
Applying neuroscience at work (16:46)
Elizabeth gives a sh*t about neuroscience (19:55)
What we’re liking (24:40)

Other Resources Highlighted in this Episode

Get Immersion

Podcasts

Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism Podcast by Slate

Videos

Ted Talk: Trust, Morality and Oxytocin by Paul Zak

Books

The Moral Molecule by Paul Zak
Trust Factor by Paul Zak
The Behaviour Business by Richard Chataway
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto
The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

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[1] Zak, P. 2017. The Neuroscience of Trust. Harvard Business Review