Viva Engage is integrated with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint, which allows us to better connect with our employees in the flow of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key internal communications channel is Ask Me Anything (AMA) events, which give our senior leaders the opportunity to have an authentic dialogue with employees. These events take full advantage of the combined power of Viva Engage and Teams to produce outstanding results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we look at our most effective channels for informing and connecting with Microsoft employees, Viva Engage and AMAs are among the top,\u201d says John Cirone, senior director of global employee and executive communications. \u201cThose channels didn\u2019t really exist three years ago, so that\u2019s a sign of how our internal comms practices continue to evolve as we lean more into a social-first, two-way dialogue approach to our communications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the company embraces its role as an AI-first Frontier Firm<\/a>, we are connecting with our employees more deeply than ever before, keeping them tightly engaged with our mission and overall goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrust has proven to be this magical, key ingredient in driving change and strengthening engagement between employees and leaders. Viva Engage and Ask Me Anything events are extremely valuable in helping us foster trust, encourage authenticity, and listen to our employees at scale.\u201d<\/p>\nJohn Cirone, senior <\/strong>director of global employee and executive communications<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n When Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft CEO in 2014, he shifted our company culture from being siloed and internally competitive to more open, agile, and collaborative. This has led to a lot of change over the last decade, a shift that has been compounded by the AI revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why Cirone and other senior leaders have identified building trust and facilitating two-way communication at Microsoft as linchpin goals of our internal comms strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrust has proven to be this magical, key ingredient in driving change and strengthening engagement between employees and leaders,\u201d Cirone says. \u201cThis dynamic has only increased in recent years, as studies show that trust is declining across the board in society and within companies worldwide. Viva Engage and Ask Me Anything events are extremely valuable in helping us foster trust, encourage authenticity, and listen to our employees at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve diversified our internal comms strategy, going from an approach centered on one-way communication channels (like email) to one that incorporates two-way tools like Viva Engage<\/a>, a platform that allows employees to express themselves, connect with others, and build community across the company. It also enables our leaders to communicate at the scale of the enterprise with incredible reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nadella himself uses Viva Engage to communicate regularly with the entire organization, posting about twice a month and covering everything from major company news and strategic shifts to more fun, practical content. A recent post by Nadella with ideas for prompts to use in Microsoft 365 Copilot generated more than 2,200 employee reactions. (Viva Engage also allows communicators to easily access detailed analytics, which make it simple to track messaging impact.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, holding regular AMAs and Town Hall events with Microsoft leadership in recent years has been a big part of building trust and keeping the company informed and engaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn AMA event is all about trying to address the questions that are most on our employees\u2019 minds,\u201d Cirone says. \u201cIt\u2019s a chance for our leaders to demonstrate listening and responding at scale, by tackling key topics in a timely manner. I see it as part of our overall company belief in the importance of listening and commitment to two-way dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the most important shifts in our strategy for Viva Engage is the deep integration of the community experience into Teams. It’s not just a technical integration\u2014it’s a fundamental change in how leaders and employees connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build trust in the flow of work.\u201d<\/p>\nJason Mayans, vice president of product management and analytics, Viva Engage<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Another powerful aspect of Viva Engage is that it works seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams, allowing communicators and admins to reach employees where they spend most of their time working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the most important shifts in our strategy for Viva Engage is the deep integration of the community experience into Teams,\u201d says Jason Mayans, vice president of product management and analytics for the Viva Engage product group. \u201cIt’s not just a technical integration\u2014it’s a fundamental change in how leaders and employees connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build trust in the flow of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One-way communication (email)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two-way communication (Viva Engage)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a huge step, because so many of our employees use Teams as their main communications hub. Viva Engage community content and conversations can now be brought directly into their daily work experience, side by side with their other chats and channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For communicators, this means they can create one announcement and send it out across Outlook, Teams, and Viva Engage (or whichever subset of channels they prefer). Then, they can use the AI-powered analytics provided by the software to monitor engagement at different levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the analytics tool you can see the types of engagements that your people are having, and through what interface\u2014Viva Engage for the web, Teams, and Outlook,\u201d Mayans says. \u201cYou can see how they’re interacting. You can monitor sentiment and theming to give you deeper insight into what people are talking about. You can see a summary view, or you can drill down to see analytics on individual conversations. It\u2019s incredibly powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year marked Microsoft\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary, and our internal communications team wanted to honor the occasion by building both awareness and engagement across the company. So, they developed a \u201c50 Change-Making Moments\u201d countdown campaign to highlight major company milestones over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Viva Engage was an integral part of this effort, providing a central platform for storytelling across the company, allowing both leaders and employees to share their reflections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results spoke for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOver the course of several months, the campaign ended up reaching almost the entire company and had an 89% net positivity rating,\u201d Cirone says. \u201cThe leaders\u2019 posts sparked employees to share their own memories, which generated super-strong engagement and a great lead-up to the all-company anniversary celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another major campaign we do every year at Microsoft centers around our Employee Giving Program, which began more than four decades ago and has been a long, sustained success story. Over the history of the program, Microsoft and its employees have contributed more than $3.4 billion to support charitable causes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe leveraged Viva Engage to help promote the Giving Campaign across the company, which produced a ton of enthusiasm. Leaders and employees could post about their favorite nonprofit causes, and we were able to highlight some great stories about how the campaign is making a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\nAmy Morris, <\/strong>director of global employee and executive communications and employer brand<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n As part of this campaign, Microsoft matches every dollar our employees give to eligible nonprofits. When employees volunteer their time for an approved cause, the company also donates $25 per volunteer hour to the nonprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since giving is such a significant part of our company culture, we\u2019ve used Viva Engage extensively for the past two years to help employees rally around the annual campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We leveraged Viva Engage to help promote the Giving Campaign across the company, which produced a ton of enthusiasm,” says Amy Morris, director of global employee and executive communications and employer brand. “Leaders and employees could post about their favorite nonprofit causes, and we were able to highlight some great stories about how the campaign is making a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The growth of two-way internal employee communications in Viva Engage has built trust and increased engagement, but it\u2019s also driven the need for more robust communications governance. We\u2019ve had to implement comprehensive safeguards that ensure digital safety, respect, and accountability on Viva Engage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our employees have strong opinions on topics ranging from cafeteria menus to the latest political news. Our goal is to ensure that sensitive conversations stay in places where those who wish to participate can opt into them, rather than spilling out into the company at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have to balance the risks and rewards of creating this open, transparent space for employees to communicate,\u201d Morris says. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned quite a bit in the last couple years, and we\u2019ve developed systems for monitoring employee sentiment on different hot-button issues and moderating content on Viva Engage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making sure the right governance protocols are in place allows us to listen to our employees while protecting their colleagues and the company as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want a corporate communication space that is vibrant, yet remains respectful and safe. The goal is balance. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve partnered across IT and other teams at Microsoft to establish the right protocols and tools that help us maintain digital safety companywide.\u201d <\/p>\nIfe Kolawole, senior product manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Ife Kolawole is a senior product manager for Microsoft Digital, the company\u2019s IT organization. One aspect of his work centers around driving the development and improvement of content moderation tools for Viva Engage, which are a crucial part of creating a safe and supportive environment at Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want a corporate communication space that is vibrant, yet remains respectful and safe,\u201d Kolawole says. \u201cThe goal is balance. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve partnered across IT and other teams at Microsoft to establish the right protocols and tools that help us maintain digital safety companywide.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n With nearly 5,000 different Viva Engage communities across the company, moderators need help identifying sensitive posts in a timely way. Kolawole, who also serves as a moderator for the platform, appreciates the power of AI in helping him do that work proactively at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cViva Engage features an AI-powered moderation tool that intelligently detects sensitive themes and keywords before a potentially problematic post can gain traction,\u201d he says. \u201cIt helps us preserve respectful, productive dialogue at scale and fosters a trusted collaboration and communication space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internal communications is a huge part of what we do at Microsoft\u2014and it\u2019s not something masterminded by just a few people at our corporate headquarters. That\u2019s why Cirone and Morris lead Global Employee & Executive Communications (GEEC), a community of more than 1,000 communications professionals scattered throughout our global operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The GEEC organization works collaboratively to align messaging, elevate executive voices, and build trust across the company. Its members are constantly deploying new tools\u2014like Viva Engage and Microsoft 365 Copilot\u2014and strategies that increase engagement and strengthen Microsoft\u2019s company culture through communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur goal is never to just adopt a new IT tool\u2014our goal is to change the company,\u201d Cirone says. \u201cWe don\u2019t do internal comms for the heck of it. We do it to create dialogue, to listen, to inform, and to drive cultural change for the entire organization, so that our employees can to do their best work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key takeaways<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Here are a few principles to be aware of as you consider your own internal communications strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try it out<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Related links<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n With more than 200,000 employees located in offices around the world, an organization the size and complexity of Microsoft will always face challenges in creating a tight-knit culture of trust and community. We\u2019re taking this challenge head-on today, working to build trust between leaders and employees using all the communications strategies at our disposal. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":21821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_hide_featured_on_single":false,"_show_featured_caption_on_single":true,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,1],"tags":[822,597,850,852,621],"coauthors":[841],"class_list":["post-21819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-corporate-functions","tag-employee-experience","tag-end-user-services-and-support","tag-it-and-business-operations","tag-microsoft-viva","m-blog-post"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2025\/12\/John-Cirone.png\")
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Building trust to change our culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Reaching employees in the flow of work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Evolving communication with Viva Engage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Engaging employees through major campaigns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Balancing dialogue with respect and accountability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Communicating for meaningful change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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