Before the last few years, diversity and inclusion helped to boost recruitment and retention efforts. Now, they are critical imperatives. That’s where Knight Agency, a creative consultancy that builds business through human connection, can help.
“The pandemic and social unrest have realigned personal values, emphasized the desire for meaning and purpose and elevated the demand for a work culture where individuals can be themselves and belong, have a voice in the room and have a fair shot to grow and succeed. Diversity and Inclusion strategies, developed and executed with authenticity and full company buy in—from the board to the front line are now imperative to attract and keep talent,” says Danielle Krischik, CCO, Knight Agency.
Established in 1994, Knight Agency has been leveraging marketing, communications, and engagement to connect people in ways that propel organizations forward. Today, with a dedicated organizational transformation team, the consultancy drives performance through diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, company purpose and culture, talent management, digital education, and learner engagement.
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“When employers were focused on diversity, Knight was pushing toward inclusion. When inclusion was the trend, we challenged companies to create a culture of belonging. Today, we are focused on humanity creating more human workplaces by being less prescriptive and more individualized,” Krischik adds.
Inside Out Brands
Knight Agency builds brands from the inside-out—as they believe that without a strong, positive, and rewarding employee experience, consumer promises can’t be fulfilled. This is why the consultancy’s approach always begins with listening sessions, both with the organization’s decision-makers and employees at all levels.
In these conversations, Knight’s research team asks those second and third layer-deep questions that yield insight clients simply can’t get from annual or pulse surveys. With its deep experience in communications and engagement, Knight enables leaders to connect differently with their teams, manage strategy and adjust along the way.
Inspiring Acceptance, Connection, and Belonging
What separates Knight Agency is its ability to execute, measure, and manage instead of just assessing challenges and developing strategies. The consultancy has in-house design and production, education and curriculum development, research, and HR platform expertise. They bring next-generation technology to learning, and events to life with well-known guest speakers and artists. This ensures that the conversation is led through trusted industry experts to make a bigger impact on a global scale with a client base existing in many corners of the world.
Knight Agency is well-positioned to take on post-pandemic workplace culture transformation and make a real impact
For example, one of Knight Agency’s larger, global clients asked for their help in creating an experience that would drive education and awareness and increase support for its DEI initiatives, targeting its 250 top executives at their Annual Leadership Event. The company knew that in order to turn action into impact, it needed to gain the endorsement of its most influential decision-makers.
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Knight created a custom experience that included an interactive, four-sided display that invited leaders to touch the screen and reveal impressive inclusion data and stats. This also allowed the leaders to watch videos inspired by storytelling and make a real commitment by typing it in as to where it would be displayed for creating post-event engagement. The experience was gamified, as every attendee swiped a smart key and earned points for interacting with the content and adding a commitment. After the event, the display was re-created in the company’s headquarters for employees to experience.
Soon after this event, employee surveys and listening sessions revealed a high percentage of awareness and appreciation for what the Global Inclusion office is doing to create a culture of belonging. Today, it continues to be a key driver of retention for the client.
Using Technology in a More Human-Centered Way
Having assisted several prestigious clients over the years, Knight Agency is heading toward a promising future. The company is planning to expand its team. This will allow them to analyze how people think, feel and act and then enable and empower them to enhance their lives. It is also underway with metaverse development to humanize and personalize virtual meetings and leverage AI solutions to analyze qualitative research.
Knight realizes that the post-pandemic era will bring a whole new set of challenges for its clients, many of which are yet to be revealed. The company is energized by the idea that there are many opportunities to understand the new workforce, communicate, and connect with them differently, and provide solutions in ways that have not been tried before. The consultancy is implementing a new layer of research and analytics and using technology in a more human-centered way.
“Being in this business for as long as we have has led us to a new season of being more selective on who we work with,” mentions Hinn. “Our goal is to work with clients who genuinely care about the human impact of what we do together and we will continue to expand our consulting practice against that vision.”
