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What does Taylor Swift have to do with Employee Engagement?

Did you know Travis Kelce before Taylor put him on the map?

Author

Kat Fergerson
October 01, 2023

“Did you know about Travis Kelce before Taylor put him on the map?”

I asked this question in the all-hands meeting last week for two reasons:

  1. We have a die-hard Kansas City fan at our company, and I could see that he had his video turned on.

  2. Taylor Swift’s attendance at the Kansas City game had already been a topic of conversation in Slack and multiple meetings I’d attended.

The laughter from this moment put everyone in a state of connection. We all knew about Taylor Swift breaking the NFL-verse, and that point of connection allowed us all to be more engaged for the rest of the meeting.

Here’s my girl math:

Connection = belonging = engagement.

And Taylor Swift did that for workplaces this week. Spoiler alert: she’s about to do it again today on Sunday Night Football with an appearance at the Chiefs vs. Jets game.

We don’t need TSwift to provide us with endless meme-able images for our employees to be engaged at work. But we do need to intentionally create space for people to connect.

Here are some free ways you can do that as a people leader:

  • Create a Slack channel for shared interests. MD, Head of Talent Success at Cribl, shared that her company has a #talk-tswift slack channel and that it was so fun to connect with other Swifties she would otherwise not know or interact with.

  • Include a meme of the week in your AHM. Have people submit memes, TikToks, or images to be featured as the meme of the week in your all-hands meeting. Including moments of fun and levity enhances feelings of belonging at work.

  • Start a fantasy league for sports or reality shows. Whether it’s fantasy football or the Golden Bachelor, there’s an app out there that will let people make teams and compete each week over shared interests. I’m a big fan of Sleeper for fantasy football.

What else would you add?

Favorite Taylor Memes & Takes

From Hebba Youssef + I Hate It Here:

The fast-working brand team @ Heinz on Instagram:

Captioned: “It’s a new Era for Heinz. Introducing Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch.”

This excellent Mean Girls cross-over on Instagram (by the way, this article offers great pushback on all the hate Brittany Mahomes receives no matter what she does or doesn’t do. Also, check out this take for the double standard we give NFL wives):

Meagan Loyst on LinkedIn:

Meagan Loyst on LinkedIn: Taylor Swift did something the football world thought was impossible: She… | 32 comments

We need to see more women owning teams in the sports world... especially in the National Football League (NFL). 10 out of 32 NFL teams are majority… | 32 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/posts/meaganloyst_taylor-swift-did-something-the-football-world-activity-7112782986692972544-jG9o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Chris Davis on LinkedIn:

Chris Davis on LinkedIn: #branding #marketing #pr | 72 comments

Organic PR and earned media at its finest. In a totally coincidental occurrence, Taylor Swift wore New Balance to the Kansas City Chiefs game this past… | 72 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-davis-684893132_branding-marketing-pr-activity-7112409045323370496-Nx2R?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Any video of someone asking their football-loving partner about Travis Kelce:

@daveandjanie

Welcome to your 10 minutes of fame travis 🤣 concidence your jersey is RED 🤔 i think not! #traviskelce #taylorswift #kansascitychiefs #trav... See more

Uly and Ernesto giving us an update on who Travis Kelce is:

@ulyandernesto

im also a tight end

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