Stanford University School of Medicine
The “Shoestring” Award
Gold
Best in Show Finalist
The internal and digital communications teams at Stanford Medicine’s Office of Communications partnered to create a new employee engagement tactic called “Pass the TINY Mic.” It is a video series with specific themes intended to shine a spotlight on members of the Stanford Medicine community: faculty, staff, doctors, students, and all of our essential health care workers.
For the pilot episode called “Getting to Know You,” our roving TINY Mic reporters (producers from the office of communications team) went to the main campus and adult hospital to conduct lighthearted, impromptu interviews with people whom they met “on the street.” Using just iPhones and a tiny microphone, we recorded people sharing their favorite hobbies, songs, and other fun personal details. We interviewed a diverse group of community members, including PhD students, nurses, librarians, patient access representatives, and professors. The video clips were edited together with humorous captions, images, sound effects, and gifs to create a whimsical getting-to-know-you video. We shared the video exclusively on StanfordMed TODAY, our internal employee engagement platform, and on StanfordMed Pulse, our internal newsletter.
The pilot episode of “Pass the TINY Mic” was an immediate hit, with nearly 1,900 views; 98 likes; and over 40 comments on StanfordMed TODAY.
What was the most impactful part of your entry?
The most impactful part of this entry was the overwhelming sense of connectedness and pride that our community expressed by engaging with “Pass the TINY Mic” on our internal channels. We wanted these fun videos to increase employee engagement on our internal platforms and build connections with members of our community. The feedback we received has validated our overall internal-first strategy for internal communications.
What challenge did you overcome?
The internal communications team was developing and executing several ideas to increase employee engagement with StanfordMed Pulse and StanfordMed TODAY. We weren’t sure how our communications leadership would react to our proposal or if “Pass the TINY Mic” would resonate with our academic medical center community. Would it be considered too trendy or off-brand? How would we ensure diversity and inclusion of our various Stanford Medicine locations? What criteria or guiding principles would we have to follow to be consistent in our video production?
We approached this project thoughtfully and strategically, working together on a proposal that would excite our communications leaders and the broader communications organization. Fortunately, we were able to get the support and collaboration we needed to successfully execute our proposal and scale it to the broader Stanford Medicine community.
Contact: Alison Peterson
alison.peterson@stanford.edu