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Challenge: Helping Employees Find Value and Meaning in Advocacy

When Stephen Ciccone came to Toyota as Group Vice President of Government Affairs, he drove the team to thoughtfully create a culture of advocacy across the company. Legislative and regulatory policies can have major impacts on Toyota’s long-term success, and therefore the future success of its employees. That is why Ciccone and the government affairs team created Toyota’s grassroots advocacy program, Policy Drivers, so that they can work together to better address public policy issues impacting their employees and business. Policy Drivers’ mission is to share Toyota’s story with lawmakers.  Doing so maximizes their employees’ ability to influence legislation that impacts the auto industry.  They grew the program by going in person to all facilities and plants across the country to introduce Policy Drivers, help them understand the issues affecting Toyota and explain the impact of employees participating in advocacy. Toyota’s grassroots program is a voluntary, opt-in initiative, meaning that it’s critical for the team running their advocacy efforts to thoughtfully show the impact of advocacy, respond to the needs and interests of their employees, and make advocacy something the team seeks out and is excited to participate in. “We don’t want to just send them things to keep the program alive and active just to say we’re doing things,” said Becca Steele, Digital Advocacy Strategist and Associate Director of Government Affairs at Toyota Motor North America. “We want our advocates to find meaning from everything that we’re asking them to do.” With this mission, Toyota sought a digital software partner to provide its government affairs team with tools to engage employees as advocates.

Solution: A ‘Surprise and Delight’ Program That Embodies the Toyota Brand

To build a program that employees would be excited and motivated to participate in, Toyota turned to Quorum. Since partnering with Quorum, Toyota has been able to build a fully branded and gamified grassroots experience that employees are excited to take part in.

A Fully Branded Action Center

With Quorum, Toyota is able to manage its full grassroots website without relying on software developers to make updates to the site. The customizability of the grassroots action center was critical for Toyota as the team added legal disclaimers, customized logins, and company branding to every aspect of the advocate experience in Quorum. [callout align="right" heading="5 Website Design Strategies that Drive Advocate Engagement" button_text="Implement them" button_link="https://www.quorum.us/blog/5-design-strategies-that-drive-advocate-engagement/"] “We were able to work with your team to create the caliber of design and of a website we expect for a world-class company,” Steele said. “Our design agency LGND worked with your team to come up with an action center that really felt like Toyota and that filled in all these brand elements from Toyota but also pulled in elements from Policy Drivers and really helped us promote the Policy Drivers advocacy brand.” [post_title] => How Toyota Built a Corporate Advocacy Program Employees Love [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => toyota-corporate-advocacy-program [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.quorum.us/?post_type=resources&p=3649 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [queried_object_id] => 3649 [request] => SELECT wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_name = 'toyota-corporate-advocacy-program' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'resources' ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC [posts] => Array ( [0] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3649 [post_author] => 12 [post_date] => 2020-06-22 19:40:48 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-06-22 19:40:48 [post_content] =>

Challenge: Helping Employees Find Value and Meaning in Advocacy

When Stephen Ciccone came to Toyota as Group Vice President of Government Affairs, he drove the team to thoughtfully create a culture of advocacy across the company. Legislative and regulatory policies can have major impacts on Toyota’s long-term success, and therefore the future success of its employees. That is why Ciccone and the government affairs team created Toyota’s grassroots advocacy program, Policy Drivers, so that they can work together to better address public policy issues impacting their employees and business. Policy Drivers’ mission is to share Toyota’s story with lawmakers.  Doing so maximizes their employees’ ability to influence legislation that impacts the auto industry.  They grew the program by going in person to all facilities and plants across the country to introduce Policy Drivers, help them understand the issues affecting Toyota and explain the impact of employees participating in advocacy. Toyota’s grassroots program is a voluntary, opt-in initiative, meaning that it’s critical for the team running their advocacy efforts to thoughtfully show the impact of advocacy, respond to the needs and interests of their employees, and make advocacy something the team seeks out and is excited to participate in. “We don’t want to just send them things to keep the program alive and active just to say we’re doing things,” said Becca Steele, Digital Advocacy Strategist and Associate Director of Government Affairs at Toyota Motor North America. “We want our advocates to find meaning from everything that we’re asking them to do.” With this mission, Toyota sought a digital software partner to provide its government affairs team with tools to engage employees as advocates.

Solution: A ‘Surprise and Delight’ Program That Embodies the Toyota Brand

To build a program that employees would be excited and motivated to participate in, Toyota turned to Quorum. Since partnering with Quorum, Toyota has been able to build a fully branded and gamified grassroots experience that employees are excited to take part in.

A Fully Branded Action Center

With Quorum, Toyota is able to manage its full grassroots website without relying on software developers to make updates to the site. The customizability of the grassroots action center was critical for Toyota as the team added legal disclaimers, customized logins, and company branding to every aspect of the advocate experience in Quorum. [callout align="right" heading="5 Website Design Strategies that Drive Advocate Engagement" button_text="Implement them" button_link="https://www.quorum.us/blog/5-design-strategies-that-drive-advocate-engagement/"] “We were able to work with your team to create the caliber of design and of a website we expect for a world-class company,” Steele said. “Our design agency LGND worked with your team to come up with an action center that really felt like Toyota and that filled in all these brand elements from Toyota but also pulled in elements from Policy Drivers and really helped us promote the Policy Drivers advocacy brand.” [post_title] => How Toyota Built a Corporate Advocacy Program Employees Love [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => toyota-corporate-advocacy-program [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.quorum.us/?post_type=resources&p=3649 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 1 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3649 [post_author] => 12 [post_date] => 2020-06-22 19:40:48 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-06-22 19:40:48 [post_content] =>

Challenge: Helping Employees Find Value and Meaning in Advocacy

When Stephen Ciccone came to Toyota as Group Vice President of Government Affairs, he drove the team to thoughtfully create a culture of advocacy across the company. Legislative and regulatory policies can have major impacts on Toyota’s long-term success, and therefore the future success of its employees. That is why Ciccone and the government affairs team created Toyota’s grassroots advocacy program, Policy Drivers, so that they can work together to better address public policy issues impacting their employees and business. Policy Drivers’ mission is to share Toyota’s story with lawmakers.  Doing so maximizes their employees’ ability to influence legislation that impacts the auto industry.  They grew the program by going in person to all facilities and plants across the country to introduce Policy Drivers, help them understand the issues affecting Toyota and explain the impact of employees participating in advocacy. Toyota’s grassroots program is a voluntary, opt-in initiative, meaning that it’s critical for the team running their advocacy efforts to thoughtfully show the impact of advocacy, respond to the needs and interests of their employees, and make advocacy something the team seeks out and is excited to participate in. “We don’t want to just send them things to keep the program alive and active just to say we’re doing things,” said Becca Steele, Digital Advocacy Strategist and Associate Director of Government Affairs at Toyota Motor North America. “We want our advocates to find meaning from everything that we’re asking them to do.” With this mission, Toyota sought a digital software partner to provide its government affairs team with tools to engage employees as advocates.

Solution: A ‘Surprise and Delight’ Program That Embodies the Toyota Brand

To build a program that employees would be excited and motivated to participate in, Toyota turned to Quorum. Since partnering with Quorum, Toyota has been able to build a fully branded and gamified grassroots experience that employees are excited to take part in.

A Fully Branded Action Center

With Quorum, Toyota is able to manage its full grassroots website without relying on software developers to make updates to the site. The customizability of the grassroots action center was critical for Toyota as the team added legal disclaimers, customized logins, and company branding to every aspect of the advocate experience in Quorum. [callout align="right" heading="5 Website Design Strategies that Drive Advocate Engagement" button_text="Implement them" button_link="https://www.quorum.us/blog/5-design-strategies-that-drive-advocate-engagement/"] “We were able to work with your team to create the caliber of design and of a website we expect for a world-class company,” Steele said. “Our design agency LGND worked with your team to come up with an action center that really felt like Toyota and that filled in all these brand elements from Toyota but also pulled in elements from Policy Drivers and really helped us promote the Policy Drivers advocacy brand.” [post_title] => How Toyota Built a Corporate Advocacy Program Employees Love [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => toyota-corporate-advocacy-program [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-02-23 15:27:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.quorum.us/?post_type=resources&p=3649 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [found_posts] => 1 [max_num_pages] => 0 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => 1 [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => [is_tag] => [is_tax] => [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => [is_privacy_policy] => [is_404] => [is_embed] => [is_paged] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => 1 [is_robots] => [is_favicon] => [is_posts_page] => [is_post_type_archive] => [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => b706ef15ea6c67d79ce9c1c93b95bc8e [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => [thumbnails_cached] => [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => query_vars_hash [1] => query_vars_changed ) [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => init_query_flags [1] => parse_tax_query ) )
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Case Study

How Toyota Built a Corporate Advocacy Program Employees Love

How Toyota Built a Corporate Advocacy Program Employees Love

Challenge: Helping Employees Find Value and Meaning in Advocacy

When Stephen Ciccone came to Toyota as Group Vice President of Government Affairs, he drove the team to thoughtfully create a culture of advocacy across the company. Legislative and regulatory policies can have major impacts on Toyota’s long-term success, and therefore the future success of its employees. That is why Ciccone and the government affairs team created Toyota’s grassroots advocacy program, Policy Drivers, so that they can work together to better address public policy issues impacting their employees and business.

Policy Drivers’ mission is to share Toyota’s story with lawmakers.  Doing so maximizes their employees’ ability to influence legislation that impacts the auto industry.  They grew the program by going in person to all facilities and plants across the country to introduce Policy Drivers, help them understand the issues affecting Toyota and explain the impact of employees participating in advocacy.

Toyota’s grassroots program is a voluntary, opt-in initiative, meaning that it’s critical for the team running their advocacy efforts to thoughtfully show the impact of advocacy, respond to the needs and interests of their employees, and make advocacy something the team seeks out and is excited to participate in.

“We don’t want to just send them things to keep the program alive and active just to say we’re doing things,” said Becca Steele, Digital Advocacy Strategist and Associate Director of Government Affairs at Toyota Motor North America. “We want our advocates to find meaning from everything that we’re asking them to do.”

With this mission, Toyota sought a digital software partner to provide its government affairs team with tools to engage employees as advocates.

Solution: A ‘Surprise and Delight’ Program That Embodies the Toyota Brand

To build a program that employees would be excited and motivated to participate in, Toyota turned to Quorum. Since partnering with Quorum, Toyota has been able to build a fully branded and gamified grassroots experience that employees are excited to take part in.

A Fully Branded Action Center

With Quorum, Toyota is able to manage its full grassroots website without relying on software developers to make updates to the site. The customizability of the grassroots action center was critical for Toyota as the team added legal disclaimers, customized logins, and company branding to every aspect of the advocate experience in Quorum.

“We were able to work with your team to create the caliber of design and of a website we expect for a world-class company,” Steele said. “Our design agency LGND worked with your team to come up with an action center that really felt like Toyota and that filled in all these brand elements from Toyota but also pulled in elements from Policy Drivers and really helped us promote the Policy Drivers advocacy brand.”

Quorum also enables the Toyota team to embed relevant content on its advocacy efforts to aid in advocate education. For example, a video on the homepage of the action center gives an overview of the Policy Drivers program and an embedded feed of the @ToyotaPolicy twitter feed keeps advocates informed of the work of the government affairs team.

Gamified Grassroots Advocacy

As a way to make the advocacy experience more engaging, Toyota used Quorum’s grassroots gamification tools to create a unique advocacy experience. Toyota customized the gamification experience with advocates progressing through various levels of ninja warriors.

When an advocate takes action on Toyota’s advocacy platform, they are awarded points for participating. After a certain number of points, they move up to new ninja levels and earn a new ninja. When you take a new action or reach a new level, a ninja —designed just for Toyota—pops up doing a ninja “move” on the screen. The ninja imagery carries throughout the site, with the actual design of the ninja changing as you move through the levels.

In addition to the on-screen fun, Toyota is building a program to reward advocates who reach new levels with prizes like ninja stickers, foam ninjas, and ninja t-shirts.

“
“In marketing, it’s called ‘surprise and delight’ — you’re always trying to have those moments for your customers. That is how we view [our advocacy program],” Steele said. “The ‘surprise and delight’ reinforces an important action that people are taking.”
Becca Steele, Digital Advocacy Strategist, Toyota Motor North America

Impact: A Growing Engagement Rate and Executive Buy-In for Advocacy

The adoption of Quorum features like gamification incentivized employees to participate more and gives us an opportunity to thank them in a small way for their support.

50%
The Average Response Rate for a Policy Drivers Call to Action

“It says a lot when every call to action has averaged a 50% response from our Policy Drivers. This goes back to Toyota’s guiding principle “Respect for People”, said Donna Rhudy, Associate Director of Government Affairs, Toyota Motor North America. “We kept this in mind when we first launched the program with the support of each location’s leadership team. And we continue doing so whenever we communicate with our Policy Drivers on the outcome of important legislation that they took action on, and most importantly to thank them for making a difference. Executives across the company have come to recognize the program as one of the company’s most valuable assets, and we are grateful for that,”

“We want to keep growing or at least maintaining the number of people who are engaging with the program,” Steele said. “If you have 25,000 people in the program but only 1 percent of them are taking action, that isn’t as strong as when you have 3,000 advocates that act when you ask them to act.”

With Quorum as a key tool in Toyota’s digital advocacy efforts, Steele, Rhudy, and the government affairs team have grown the program from a pilot of 40 employees in DC five years ago to an impressive 8,000 active employees today.

See How You Can Build a Corporate Advocacy Program Like Toyota's with Quorum