Fostering Employee Trust Through Authentic Tone of Voice with Katherine King, Director of Employee Communications at Etsy

This episode features an interview with Katherine King, Director of Employee Communications at Etsy. She has been with the global ecommerce company since 2018, serving the internal communications function through Etsy’s massive growth. Previously, Katherine was a dialogue strategist where she developed brands’ customer-facing tone of voice for clients like American Express, Gerber, and Southwest Airlines. In this episode, Amanda and Katherine discuss the spectrum of tone and voice, key business relationships that improve employee communications, and helping leaders develop empathetic messages. ------------------- “A reliable tone breeds familiarity, and familiarity is the precursor to trust. The more that we can breed familiarity with leadership and their authentic voice, the greater trust the team will have and the better the business will be. And I know that that seems like a big jump, but there is actual data backing up how trust impacts your business' bottom line, and its employees’ trust in their employer. And that's everything from NPS to retention and engagement – these are all things that do affect your bottom line.” – Katherine King ------------------- Episode Timestamps: *(02:17): Katherine’s background *(06:31): Segment: Story Time *(11:29): Segment: Getting Tactical *(12:02): Key relationships that help employee comms *(21:18): Segment: Ripped From The Headlines *(21:46): How Katherine helps leaders build empathy and compassion *(25:23): Why tone of voice matters *(28:01): Katherine explains the spectrum of tone and voice *(38:17): Segment: Asking For a Friend ------------------- Links: Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn Edelman Trust Barometer Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn www.simpplr.com/podcast