On most Friday afternoons at Coinbase in San Francisco, California, CEO Brian Armstrong convenes an informal meeting in the company cafeteria. He encourages employees to drop by to raise an issue or ask a question about any part of the business.

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, regularly sends encouraging emails and gives inspiring speeches to his employees. He has also invited famous people such as George Takei and Jeremy Edberg to address his workforce.

Whenever possible, Doug Herbert, president of Herbert Construction Company in Metro Atlanta stops into the new employee orientation to briefly talk with new employees, thanks them for joining the company, and shares the three main behaviors they can do to be successful at our company:

1. Be productive. If they are asked to get lumber from the truck, bring back five pieces in one trip instead of making five trips.
2. Keep learning. Primarily unskilled and inexperienced, they need to learn what we do and why. Then they can take on more responsibility, become more valuable, and make more money.
3. Be safe. Ask for help when they need it (such as when lifting heavy items). Watch out for the safety of coworkers.

If employees have questions, issues, or suggestions, Herbert encourages them to come talk with him. “When they see the president of the company thanks them for joining the company, and makes himself available to them,” says Herbert, “I think they feel more connected to their new company.”

Michael Tatelbame, vice president of human resources for Villa Healthcare in Skokie, Illinois, reports:

As part of my servant leadership work, I've been very focused on Stephen Covey's speed of trust concept: connect-trust-act. Dr. Covey talks about the importance of taking time to connect with others, to build trust, and then move to action. Leaders (and others) tend to move right to action. At Villa, I've implemented Coffee Talks, a chance for me to explain the concept and live it by connecting with our corporate staff. These Coffee Talks are limited to six corporate staff at a time. Offered monthly, staff voluntarily sign up, but there's a buzz in the office and staff wait and watch for the sign-up sheet each month. We all take time to share at the level each person is most comfortable. I talk about the power of vulnerability, that everyone has a story. As a result, the group realizes how we are more similar than different. Right now, only I am doing these, but soon we will expect our facility leaders to do Coffee Talks with their staff. It's extremely powerful in so many ways.

When Heather Machado was chair of the nursing recruitment and retention team at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, they developed an initiative called the Sixty-Day Hire to ensure new nurse hires had a voice with senior leadership early on in their career. An onboarding survey was sent at the sixty-day mark to understand the experiences of new nurses. At the ninety-day mark, the new nurse hires were invited to a breakfast or luncheon in their honor to explore and gather feedback regarding their onboarding experience. “Nursing senior leadership attended to hear feedback, and I served as the facilitator,” says Machado.

We used classical music, a “Welcome” place mat, candles, and balloons to set the tone. Using our ten leadership behaviors and core values, we were able to save twenty-five new nurses within the first year just by listening, acknowledging, and taking action. The result was a 95 percent retention rate the first year for those who attended, and a $1.6 million dollar savings in turnover.

A new graduate nurse program was adopted later. The initiative protocol and results were presented at the state and national level. Our major finding was—relationships matter:

• The relationship with the direct nurse manager matters.
• The relationship with the health-care team matters and is important when assimilating into a new environment.
• Nurses need the resources and tools to do their job.
• A streamlined orientation specific to their work environment is critical.
• Improvements were made based on their feedback.

At Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center (RMC), based in Anniston, Alabama, with three hospitals in Anniston and Jacksonville, Alabama, senior management is doing several good things to better engage employees, reports Don Stuckey, a consultant working for the company.

Louis Bass, CEO of RMC, has a meeting once a month with all middle managers. At each meeting he invites one or a group of staff employees to the meeting to recognize for outstanding performance. How does he know whom to recognize? He gets input from “Dear CEO” boxes throughout the hospital, and he also makes rounds regularly and listens and observes. When he recognizes staff in front of middle management, he brings them to the front of the room, tells their story, and hands them an envelope with a gift card in it. Once a quarter, the executive team has multiple town hall–style meetings where each employee is invited and is informed on what is going on and how the company is doing.

Strategy and mission are very important at RMC, and there are several ways that employees learn about these. The executive team covers it in an orientation of all new employees. Signs are located in multiple places in the hospital. All employees are rated in their performance review regarding how they have contributed to the goals and live the vision: “To provide state-of-the-art health care with integrity to the people we serve.”

Stuckey created a corporate university—RMC Academy—where midlevel managers are trained on about twenty different topics including engagement, recognition, selection, setting expectations, and so on.

At Hireology, a hiring and talent management platform based in Chicago, Illinois, cofounder and CEO Adam Robinson and vice president of business development Kevin Baumgart know that saying things the right way can have big impact on employee development. In Corey Fein's initial position with the company, she had difficulty seeing meaningful results. The company had many metrics associated with her job. When it came to hard metrics like actual sales, the numbers didn't necessarily match her work efforts. After making over 900 calls during the first three weeks on the job, she did not see good results. That's when Adam and Kevin approached her. Fein says, “Instead of blaming me, they said, ‘We're so proud of you for the effort you're putting in every day. We just know that the rest is going to fall into place.’” Their encouragement resulted in her wanting to perform better. She started to see great results within a few weeks after their conversation. Fein has since been promoted six times over a four-year period.

Treating his employees like family has helped Jeff Anon—founder, president, and CEO of Berryhill Baja Grill, a Mexican restaurant chain based in Houston, Texas—build an energized and productive workforce of more than 250 employees and annual sales of more than $22 million. Says Anon, “We get involved with their families. We support their Little League teams. We go to their weddings. It's a big, extended family that we have.”

Every Monday, Michael Yormark, president and COO of the Florida Panthers professional football team in Sunrise, Florida, holds a rally for the Panthers staff, and every morning he sends out a good-morning email message welcoming employees to work. Says Yormark, “I remind our staff that I have an open-door policy. And, from an employee's perspective, whether you're an entry-level employee or an employee that's been here for multiple years, you want to be able to feel that you can effect change in a company.”

After losing more than $2 billion in its US operations in a recent year, new Mitsubishi North America chief executive Hiroshi Harunari believed that one of the first things he needed to do to turn around the company's fortunes was to win back the trust of its dealers. Within his first two months on the job, Harunari personally visited 139 different Mitsubishi dealerships in twenty-nine states with the goal of listening to dealers' concerns. In the year after his arrival, US automobile sales increased 8 percent, and Mitsubishi made a $5 million profit on the operation. Says Hiroshi Harunari, “Visiting a dealer's place of business is like visiting their home.” It shows “we appreciate them.” Says Mike Graeber, who owns a Mitsubishi dealership in San Bernardino, California, “We finally feel like our voices and concerns are going to senior management.”

After being promoted into a position leading the BT network (formerly British Telecom) planning function, a senior manager invited two members of his team—one a manager, and one a front-line worker—to videotape a three-minute interview with him where they are to ask just one question: “What's on your mind, Bob?” The senior manager then says what's topmost on his mind. The video is then distributed to the rest of the organization's employees via regular team meetings, with an open invitation for them to comment via a dedicated space on the company's intranet. The video was so successful that it has become a monthly event. Says Andrea Wyatt-Budd, leader of engagement and internal communication at BT Wholesale:

His sense at the moment is that, from the emails that he gets, he has a much more committed organization. People are having more honest conversations. They're not just telling him good news. And they are getting to grips with his vision and direction much more readily.

At Fortune 500 automobile parts manufacturer Tenneco of Lake Forest, Illinois, a lack of trust—driven in part by high turnover in the top-management ranks—was causing rampant employee dissatisfaction. This situation was turned around when Tenneco's top-management team began to speak frankly with line employees, rebuilding the bridges of trust. As a result of this initiative, more than 80 percent of the company's employees believe the company is on the right track.

I know around 250 of the company's 391 employees by name, and I make sure I call them by their names at every opportunity. I think that helps uplift an employee's spirit, and helps them perform better.

Nick Read, CEO of the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region of mobile telecommunications manufacturer and service provider Vodafone Group of Newbury, United Kingdom, sends a personal video update message to his 10,000-plus employees in more than 350 stores and offices each month. The employees can view or listen to the message on their mobile phones or on their computers via the company intranet.

Automobile manufacturer Chrysler has instituted For Our Information sessions to help connect frontline employees with the company's senior leadership team. These sessions, which usually last an hour, are held monthly and put different members of the company's executive committee together with a cross-section of about sixty employees from throughout the organization. Each session opens with a five-minute briefing by the company officer—the latest company news, what's on his mind, and what's got him worried. The balance of the meeting is devoted to a frank question-and-answer session.

At Sun Microsystems, the manufacturer of computer network servers, workstations, and storage systems in Santa Clara, California, the company's chairman, Scott McNealy, used a special forum (WSUN) on Sun's intranet to solicit employee opinions and feedback and to maintain an ongoing discussion with employees on the topics of corporate goals and direction. President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz uses his personal blog to engage employees on the company's technology directions. Business unit heads and executive vice presidents are each tasked with holding six town hall–style meetings with their employees each year, wherever they may be located around the globe. By reaching out in these and other ways, Sun's top management team helps build passion and excitement among employees and their families.

To help employees feel more connected with the company's top-management team, General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz started the FastLane Blog, a place for him to post his thoughts about the company, its products, and employees. Says GM's director of communication research Kathy Collins, “It's a way for an employee on the shop floor on the other side of the world to feel connected to our leadership on a more personal level.”

John Featherman, chairman and CEO of First Chester County Corp. and First National Bank of Chester County in West Chester, Pennsylvania, sponsors a Chairman's Birthday Breakfast each month at a local country club. It is an informal venue for him to engage employees where they talk about work as well as how each person is doing personally. A result: Annual revenues increased to more than $68 million.

At Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in Highland Heights, Kentucky, president James Votruba makes a point of personally meeting each and every employee soon after they are hired. According to Votruba, he tells the new employees that he and the university are “devoted to advancing the dreams of both our campus and our community.” He goes on to say, “I quickly add that I know that they have dreams as well and that I hope that NKU can support their dreams whatever they may be.” No doubt James Votruba's proactive approach helped the school earn recognition recently as a Best Place to Work Award winner for Greater Cincinnati. Said one employee of the university, “NKU is truly an exceptional organization with engaged leaders trying to do things right while focusing on the right things to do.”

General Motors (GM), one of the world's bestselling automobile manufacturers, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, integrates its senior leadership team into the creation of an engagement culture by way of its Go Fast program. Based on General Electric's WorkOut model, the Go Fast program encourages employees at multiple levels of the organization to engage in small group discussions to solve problems, reduce redundancy, eliminate waste, and streamline decision-making. Every GM executive is required to sponsor at least two Go Fast sessions every year. Anyone in the organization can initiate a Go Fast session—from frontline employee to senior executive—if there is a problem that the company needs to address. Go Fast sessions generally last two days and involve ten to twelve employees. According to Kathy Collins, GM's director of communications research, Go Fast provides opportunities for problem-solving to enhance business results. It also shows workers that company leaders value and want everyone to proactively work together to develop innovative ideas.

Global chairman and CEO James Turley of tax and accounting firm Ernst & Young encourages employees to take their vacations by sending an annual voicemail message to them. In this message, Turley outlines his family's vacation plans for the coming summer, and he emphasizes the importance of taking vacations.

Paul Spiegelman, CEO of Dallas-based Beryl Corporation, hand-writes birthday, get-well, and congratulatory notes to his employees—sometimes as many as 300 a month! Although turnover in Beryl Corporation's industry (call centers for the health care industry) is historically high, the company has only one-fourth the industry average for turnover while being a leader in profit and growth.

The CEO at Quicken Loans sends hand-signed birthday cards to all team members and sends birthday cards and gift certificates to employees' children on their birthdays—despite the size of the increasing employee population.

During stressful times, executives at the Cigna Group, the insurance giant in Hartford, Connecticut, wheel coffee carts throughout their offices, providing welcome refreshments to employees on the front line. They find that employees often choose this form of engagement to raise and suggest solutions to current work issues.

When Herb Kelleher was CEO of Southwest Airlines, he sent copies of complimentary letters from passengers along with a personal memo to the employee involved.

When Nance Dicciani directed Honeywell's Specialty Materials unit, she hosted Coffee with Nance, informal meetings with employees in their offices. Dicciani used the time to briefly address business performance and encouraged people to ask questions. On a grander scale, she treated employees who were a few organizational levels below her to Skip-Level box luncheons. She inviting as many as 224 employees but not their managers. Dicciani says:

These were very well received. It put me in touch with the people in the organization in a way I could not be otherwise. But if there is follow up, you do indeed have to follow up.

Regular weekly senior leadership meetings at Microsoft begin with a segment CEO Nadella calls “Researcher of the Amazing,” which highlight a success story from a work team. For example, engineers at Microsoft Turkey recently presented a new app that reads books aloud for visually impaired people. During these meetings, which sometimes last up to seven hours, Nadella often asks for employee opinions and gives encouraging feedback. The sessions clearly demonstrate Nadella's team approach for the company culture.

Former Mattel CEO Robert Eckert lunched with ten to fifteen employees in an informal roundtable to exchange ideas. Workers were chosen by HR to be a cross-section of levels and departments and all employees were encouraged to email Eckert with their ideas.

Tony Ling, vice president of HR at Internet portal Dianping, China's largest restaurant review website, describes a program to retain technical talent: “Zhang Tao [CEO] and I dedicate a lot of time to spend with staff. If you join Dianping, you will meet both of us within three months of joining. In addition, we are cognizant of the three-year itch,” he says, highlighting the common occurrence of employees leaving a company three years after their hire dates. Ling and Tao personally reconnect with employees at luncheons, where employees ask questions or raise issues on any matter. Ling finds that people typically ask about company strategy, health, compensation, and personal development—factors directly related to engagement and turnover. The meeting gives leaders a chance to remind people about their personal connection to Dianping's mission and strategy, and why the work relationship matters to them.

Captain Michael Abrashoff, commander of the USS Benfold, a carrier with one of the lowest levels of reenlistment in the Navy, was charged with turning around the morale of the crew. Captain Abrashoff wanted to do away with the perception of special privileges onboard his ship. On his first day, as he stood in the long buffet line for his lunch, one of his officers walked over to him and pointed out that as captain, he was eligible to wait in the much shorter line for officers (clearly visible to all). Abrashoff said, “No thank you, I'll wait in this line with everyone else.” After a few uncomfortable minutes, those in the “officer line” began to leave their privileged position and join the longer buffet line. This powerful metaphor helped Abrashoff break down class barriers.

Once when ENSR International Corporation CEO Bob Weber was traveling with a more junior member of the team, at the hotel he was told that he was eligible for a suite. He declined, saying he didn't need one, but asked the hotel clerk to give it to the most junior team member traveling with him. The story took on a life of its own back at the office in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Emily Weiss, founder of Glossier, the New York–based beauty and skincare company, met a recent college graduate who was looking for a job. “Come on in and interview,” she said, and the woman became her assistant. A year later, the woman wanted to work in product development. “She's twenty-two and never worked in product development,” says Weiss, “but off she went to product development and helped to develop four of our best-selling products. That's the nature of building an inclusive company. When you listen to everyone, you'll find they all have something valuable to say.”

When Malden Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, burned to the ground, the smart decision would have been to take the $300 million in insurance and retire. Owner Aaron Feuerstein was in his seventies, and other textile manufacturers in the area were leaving New England. But Feuerstein pledged to rebuild the plant and keep all employees on the payroll during reconstruction. A few years later, employees repaid him when the company's performance was suffering. They agreed to avoid overtime work and took a cut in pay.

Danny Wegman, the CEO of Wegmans Food Markets, has chartered jets to fly all new full-timers to Rochester, New York, for a face-to-face welcome and introduction to the company's headquarters staff.

An employee at analytics software company SAS in India had a very supportive interaction with a member of upper management. When he attended the company's annual party, the managing director approached him. The employee said he was afraid, at first, because he had not achieved his objectives. The director told him he valued his work, and reassured him that the company appreciates and invests in people.

Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, believes in transparency. He posts the unedited version of the board of director's annual review of his performance on the external wall of his office. He also posts a profile of his personality preferences, feedback from other executives, and data on how he uses his time. Because the majority of the company's 8,200 employees will not ever come near his office, Smith sends all the information to each employee—every year. During tax season, he devotes time to answer customer calls alongside frontline employees.

When former MGM Grand president Gamal Aziz joined the company, he held open-ended, face-to-face meetings with small groups of workers. Aziz recalls, “I would sit with a combination of people from different departments, and we would have breakfast and talk about whatever was on their minds.”

At North Shore-Long Island Health Systems, CEO Michael Dowling speaks for ninety minutes with newly hired employees who assemble for orientation every Monday at 7:30 a.m. Dowling and members of his executive team also teach employee classes, and Dowling himself leads management instruction.

Campbell Soup's former CEO Doug Conant was known for writing personal notes and pinning them on employees' bulletin boards. He explains, “If I were just sending emails, it would feel gratuitous and automatic. In every note I try to recognize a specific thing.” He ended each day by writing twenty notes to employees and partners. He estimates that he wrote 30,000 notes in his time at Campbell's.

Conant describes himself as a perennial “student of wisdom.” He routinely scours leadership articles for insight into how he might “be just a little bit better tomorrow.” Hundreds of management and leadership books fill his office shelves, making the point that here is a chief executive who values learning.

John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, communicates what's on his mind to all employees via a video blog every quarter. This communication is paired with We Are Cisco, a tool that links all Cisco employees and encourages general interest stories, holiday photos, and so on. It is not unusual for John himself to chime in on a particular subject of interest.

When Paul Levy, CEO of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, decided to communicate with employees through a blog, his advisors told him not to do it. “What if you have to go back on something you've said?” they asked. “Is it wise to give competitors access to information?” Levy responded, “Any organization that is not leveraging such networks is missing an opportunity.” He has managed to speak to a significant cross-section of his staff in a forum that they have come to love.