Comms Across Cultures: How Cultural Intelligence Elevates Internal Communication

Samantha Grandinetti: Hi, folks, welcome to the You’ve Got Comms Podcast. I’m Samantha, and I’m thrilled to speak with Regine Nelson, internal communication and employee engagement lead at Couchbase. In this episode we’ll be discussing how to resonate with a globally diverse audience, and how understanding other cultures and even other languages can help you meet your employees where they are. Regine, I’m thrilled to tap into your wealth of comms knowledge today. But I’m also excited to speak to you about something that’s pretty unique to you.
You’ve told me about your very interesting background. You’ve told me you speak four languages, and you often spend months traveling with your family and working from Europe. And first of all, I’m so jealous. That must just be incredible. Do you have any trips coming up soon?

Regine Nelson: Yes. Actually, in 10 days, we will be heading to Spain for our annual summer trip. So we’ll be there June and July. We’ll hit up Germany, and we’ll also hit up Portugal. So it’s going to be an amazing time as usual. And yes, I’m bringing along my husband and my three sons who are currently 12 and I have identical 11-year-old sons as well.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh my gosh, that’s going to be a lot of energy. Are they train kids? If they go on the train, are they going to be thrilled? Because I know some kids that are just like, “Whoa, this is so different than in the States,” right?

Regine Nelson: Yeah. No, they’re train kids. And to get to the different destinations that we will be in, we will probably turn it into a trains, planes, and automobiles type of deal as well. There’s many ways to visit and see a country, and we like all modes of transportation. Of course, we’ll be bringing on our carry-on size luggage, and we’ll be able to do laundry while we’re there. So no need to pack the entire kitchen sink with us to go.

Samantha Grandinetti: I think carry-on is the way to go. You know, you have just so much more flexibility, and mobility, and you can be so agile, and waiting for your luggage, if it even makes it there, I don’t know, that’s not the vibe for me. I totally understand that. But ambitious with all the kids. I love it.

Regine Nelson: Yes, yes, yes.

Samantha Grandinetti: So I’m so curious, because this is obviously very different than how a lot of people live their lives, with all of this travel. What has this sort of multi-lingual, multicultural lifestyle really taught you about the world?

Regine Nelson: I’d say growing up as a first-generation American with parents, both of my parents are from Haiti originally, immigrated to the United States in the early ’80s. And I speak fluent English, French, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. I have learned from the multi-lingual aspect that language is more than words, right? It’s identity, it’s context, it’s connection. And so traveling and working across Europe, and my current company now, they allow you to work from anywhere in the world for 30 days at a time. And so during my summer travels, I take advantage of that. Parts of my European excursion is going to be spent working.
I’m going to be working out of the beautiful Laxe, city of Laxe in the Galicia region in Spain. And it is beautiful. It’s a town of about 3,000 people and there is an amazing co-working space, co-working, co-living space called Islowco that we go to for the last two years, and we love it. Great programming for the children. And it’s one of the only three current co-working, co-living spaces that are for families. There’s a chateau in Spain that offers this as well, as well as a co-working, co-living space in Quito, Ecuador, as well.
We love spending time in Spain because our family, not just myself, we are multilingual. My kids speak, read, and write French and Spanish. And my husband learned Spanish after college, so he speaks Spanish, too. So traveling and working across Europe with my family has made me deeply aware of how culture shapes communication styles and expectations. When I’m communicating in Spanish, I have a bit of a more warmth to it, right, as opposed to when I am speaking in English, it can be in a more formal setting, depending on who I’m interacting with.
Overall, this has shown me the power of perspective, how different truths can coexist. And then obviously also being able to honor the nuances to not only build stronger relationships with my family, with the people that I’m interacting with, but also at work, translating into stronger teams, et cetera.

Samantha Grandinetti: That is fascinating. And first of all, I’m taking notes about these co-working, co-living spaces. Had no idea about that. That sounds absolutely ideal for family, work, and travel, and balancing all of that. Oh my gosh. Second of all, I love how you’ve talked about these different like, not quite realities, but there’s different contexts when you speak in different languages. I think we’ve all, when learning a language, we’ve encountered a translation that you go, “That doesn’t quite . . . that’s not quite equal.” Right? You might say something in English, and then in Spanish, it kind of has the same meaning, but it’s not a direct translation.

Regine Nelson: That’s right.

Samantha Grandinetti: And so I think you can learn a lot about a culture with how they say different things in different ways to you. Do you have a favorite saying in another language that makes its way into your household a lot?

Regine Nelson: Oh, well, one of my favorite Spanish sayings is actually “Chévere.” And I don’t know, again, to your point of how do you translate that? It’s something that you just say. It’s something that’s really cool, authentic, interesting. “Qué chévere.” So it’s definitely a positive connotation to it. But then you have different phrases that are just funny, and just tantalizing to the tongue as well. So it’s just going to depend on what context. I find myself versus when I’m in Spain, versus when I’m in South Florida with my family in Spain, I’m saying “Vale” a lot. “Okay, great. Let’s go.” Except when I’m in South Florida, we don’t really say “Vale.” We say “Dale,” “Let’s go.” Let’s do it kind of thing.
So the connotation sort of changes. And then, growing up, I spent a lot of time going between . . . for my summers. This, what I’m doing with my family right now, spending summers in Europe and other locales is not something that is new. This is something that my parents did as well when I was a child. So up until the age of 12, every other summer, I alternated at least 4 to 6 weeks at a time in either France, in Montreal, Canada, or in Haiti. After 12 years old, there were a lot of inconsistencies in the political environment in Haiti. And so I stopped going to Haiti and just retained going to France, and going to Montreal, Canada. But it was the same, right? Embedding and spending my time there, the cultural nuances.
What you will find is when I speak French, you will try to figure out, where am I from exactly? Because I speak with a French cadence, but then I drop in some Québécois words. Then you’re like, “Where are you from? Where did you learn your French, et cetera?” Other nuances as well, right? and so you get to see the little nuanced differences and the cultural context of even speaking the same language, but in a different region.

Samantha Grandinetti: I really love those examples. And I’m Canadian, so I know that Canadian French is a totally different thing. And yeah,  I love that example of “Vale” versus “Dale”, and how it’s used, and the differences there. I think that’s fascinating. One of my absolute favorite things to learn about new languages is what their pause words are when you’re trying to think of something. So I speak the tiniest bit of Italian. And in Italian, you say, “Allora.” And it just basically means, “Ah, well, okay.” It’s like a segue word, right? At least that’s the way that I understand it. If there’s Italians watching who want to beg to differ, feel free. That’s how I understand it. And I just love that it’s such a sing-songy little segue. It’s so much more elegant than, “Ah, well.” I love it.
We’ve talked a little bit about what the benefits of the multilingual upbringing is like, about how different contexts appear in different languages, the way that you use words, even if they have a direct translation, might have a different context. How does that come up for you in your work as a communicator? You have a global company that you work for, and your job is to represent the internal comms needs of everybody across multiple different countries. How do you really leverage your own experience for that?

Regine Nelson: That’s a great question. So for me, cultural fluency is not only in the languages that I speak, it’s in my curiosity for other cultures, and other peoples as well. And so that helps me to catch the things that potentially get lost in translation. Do I speak Mandarin Chinese? No, I can count to 10 in Mandarin, but I don’t speak Mandarin. But understanding how Chinese people live and what are some of their customs, they are a very high context culture. So that helps me to really translate some of the content that we have when we’re speaking to people predominantly in that region.
It’s taught me that tone, formality, timing, and even silence play a role into how we communicate to people across regions and cultures. And so with that said, at work, I don’t just write for understanding. I really write for resonance. So that means understanding and knowing how different teams interpret clarity, hierarchy, and belonging. Whether it’s translating our values, which I believe in wholeheartedly, into employee touch points, or even localizing, as I was stating in the Chinese example, leadership messages, cultural context is everything. It’s not just the language capabilities.

Samantha Grandinetti: And how do you coach leadership when they’re doing communications in, I don’t know, a town hall, or a video, or something? How do you translate that to them and really show them what to do?

Regine Nelson: So that part is a little bit tricky. It involves really working with them to shape not only the agenda, but how they deliver. Our e-staff is very, very strong in how they communicate with our audience, so I don’t have much coaching that I need to do. When we do our dry runs of our big company events, I do make sure that we tend to stay away from idioms, or different axioms that may not be translatable across other regions. And we also, where possible, have recordings available, as well as captions.
Captions are super important when you’re working with a diverse audience because you may speak at a tempo that is quite easy for a native English speaker, for example, to understand and grasp the concepts, but you may go a little too quickly for someone who is a non-native English speaker, or for that fact, who speaks three other languages ahead of English. And so I think creating some of those accessibility measures goes a long way.
And again, it’s not only up to leadership to communicate in a way that can hit a large audience group of understanding. It’s also up to those managers as well of those individuals to distill some of the key points and takeaways that directly impact what’s happening within their team and within their organizations.

Samantha Grandinetti: These are all very good points. I’m curious if there’s ever been a time where, I don’t know, maybe there’s been a crisis or an issue that’s come up, and you’ve really had to lean into your cultural sensitivity and your understanding of different diverse cultures, and how that’s helped you in a crisis scenario.

Regine Nelson: Yeah so, I’ve had some crises in the past such as, I joined an organization a few years back that had a lot of mergers and acquisitions happening. And throughout the process, the senior leader of this organization mentioned that no one would lose their jobs, everything would remain the same. And of course, that was the death sentence right there. You never say anything like that in a merger and acquisition scenario because redundancies are always found, and always need to be resolved in one fashion or another. So I find that during times like that, tough transitions, whether it’s restructures, mergers, or office relocations, I tend to use a layered comms approach to all of that.
Whenever there’s challenges or crises, empathy first, clarity second, and action last. And when you look at cultural fluency, empathy first may look different, right? Some cultures want you to fall on your sword as an expression of empathy. Others just want you to acknowledge the mistake that you’ve made, and what will be the remedy of that solution. So that’s the general approach that I like to take, act with empathy in the case of that merger and acquisition. And then several months later, us having to really restructure the org and lay off a part of the US contingent in the restructuring, we had to lead with empathy first and say, “We know that we said earlier on that there will be no changes made, but we made that statement in error. And as a result, we have noticed that there are redundancies and there are going to be changes made within your organization, et cetera.”
And so empathy always has to lead first, then you can follow that up with clarity. And then lastly, what is the action that you’re going to take? You soften people up and you make them more receptive when you begin with that empathy first, which will allow you to segue into clearly defining what you want to say before getting into the action aspect. I like to start with what employees are feeling, not just what they need to know. And people do not resist change, they resist feeling unheard, unseen. So I also bake into that feedback loop as early and as often as possible.

Samantha Grandinetti: I totally understand that. I think approaching change comms projects with the, “Hey, if I was in this person’s shoes, if I was in this department, what would I be thinking immediately? What would I be feeling?” And how can you address that right away to make sure? Because if you’re in a fight or flight scenario, if you hear merger acquisition and you’re going, “Oh my gosh, there’s layoffs coming. Oh my gosh, what about my health insurance? Oh my gosh, what about my job?” You’re not listening to the details. You’re not curious about how things could . . . maybe some things are going to get different in a good way. Maybe not, but you’re not curious about that. You’re panicking, right?
I think that empathy is just always so important to remember. Gosh, it’s just such a red thread in like everything. Everything related to comms, really. I’m just very curious about this. You mentioned that some cultures, when you make a mistake, or there’s some changes, or something negative is happening, that they expect you to fall on your sword. I’m wondering if you can expand on that a little bit. Which kind of cultures have you seen that in, and what would be an example?

Regine Nelson: High context cultures are cultures that need a lot of relationship with you before they can trust you. They want to get to know a little bit more about you. What you’ll find, this is very typical in Asian cultures. So before you do a business deal, you want to go out to lunch, you want to go out to drinks, you want to get to know them a little bit, invite them to your home. “Is this somebody that I enjoy being around? Can I do business with them?” Versus on the more casual side for Americans, as an example, you can come into a meeting for a contract and you can say, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to discuss.” You’re like, “I’m reading over the contract. This looks good, I’m going to sign it, or we’re going to negotiate back and forth.” So that’s more low context.
You don’t need to build that relationship aspect. So in American context, it’s very easy for you to say something like, “I apologize, this happened, and we’re going to fix this situation.” But in a high context culture, you need to fall on your sword. Falling on your sword looks like really taking ownership for what you did. Not just saying, “Oh, I’m sorry.” You need to say, “You know what, I did X, Y, and Z. I’m sorry, that was not my intention. Here’s what I’m going to do to fix it.”
It has to be very outlandish and very public for people to take you seriously, because they’ve built all of that capital into building this relationship with you and you’ve hurt them deeply. And it’s not necessarily that they want to see you hurt. They just want you to understand the gravity of what you have done. And that requires taking accountability, and in a lot of instances, that’s public accountability.

Samantha Grandinetti: I think that’s so interesting because if you’re talking about a high context culture, you’re talking about building these really robust business relationships. If you make a mistake in your own household, a place where you have very robust relationships, if you make a mistake, you’re expected to say sorry. You’re expected to acknowledge what you did, and come clean, and talk about it, right? I think that, for me, that translates. It’s you have built these robust relationships, maintain them, repair. That’s really important.
I think that’s so interesting. So we’ve talked a little bit about how to prepare leadership to do comms in different cultural settings. We’ve talked a little bit about how to do really tricky things, really tricky conversations like mergers, acquisitions, stuff like that. Let’s talk about global events, and things that are totally out of your control. When you are working with your global community of employees and something is happening in the US, or something’s happening in, I don’t know, Spain, for example. I’m not sure exactly where all of your offices are, how do you respond to different global events with the cultural sensitivity needed while keeping things also relevant for each audience? Do you have any tips for that?

Regine Nelson: Yeah so, as a company, Couchbase, we have employees that work all over. However, we do have offices. One in San Jose, California, one in Austin, Texas, primarily sales here in Austin. We have two in the UK. We have one office in India, and then we have tertiary offices that are smaller in Israel, France, Singapore, et cetera. But we have employees based all over the world that work remotely for us. And so when we’re preparing for company-wide comms, whether it be about something that’s happening within the United States or outside of the United States, we tend to check for, again, language accessibility, and clarity across cultures.
So we want to avoid idioms, avoid jargon, and unless it’s something US-specific, we want to avoid US-centric references. So when I’m writing something for the global audiences, then I tend to use the standard English, US English spelling. But if I know that I’m sending a communication specifically for the Bangalore office or for the UK office, then I tend to use UK English standardized spelling. Replacing our normal US Z’s with S’s, for example, and adding the U to color, and other words where we’ve dropped it off in the American Standard English. So you know, things like that.
But also, looking to time key comms around local holidays and major events because context matters. I have a calendar and I have a list of where all of our employees are. So I’ve pulled out not only the holidays that we offer as public holidays for our organization, but I also look at major religious celebrations within the context of those cultures. And so when you look at my comms planning calendar, I can say, “Okay, you know what, this week is not a good week to send out this comms because we’ve got, for example, Easter, we’ve got Ramadan. We’re going to have a large swath of our population that are fasting. They may be less receptive to this type of communication or change because they’ve already got an external stress factor that they’ve got going on at this time.”
So it’s important to be aware of, not only where your employees are living and the cultural context there, but also right from a holiday and a local perspective, understanding that context as well. Because one person’s launch day is another person’s potential day of mourning. So we have to be very, very mindful of that. If we can’t localize everything, I try to prioritize meaning and intent. And then I work with regional leaders to tailor where needed.

Samantha Grandinetti: I totally relate to that. And I think, when I first started at Staffbase, Staffbase is based in Germany. That’s where our big HQ is, and I’m in the States. And I had to find my footing a little bit when it came to my comms rhythms. I had to learn things like, “Hey, if you don’t publish things in the German morning time, you’re going to miss out on a whole bunch of readership.” Because when they wake up, they log in, and our folks in Germany are the most engaged audience that we have. And so if you just miss their morning, that’s like such a silly mistake to make if you really want somebody to know what’s going on.
As well, I have made the mistake, Germany has a lot of public holidays, I have made the mistake of publishing something during a public holiday and going, “Oh, I might as well not have said anything at all.” Because now it’s, it gets buried under the next day’s content, and no one’s around to read it that day. So you do have to be extremely mindful of what’s going on because the consequences are, it doesn’t get read. It doesn’t get noticed. And then you have to pivot.

Regine Nelson: That’s right. Actions aren’t taken. Because, generally, we’re not sending communications just to get noticed, just to get read. We want them to know, feel, or do something, right? And so they can’t do that thing if it’s being delivered at a time . . . you might as well have sent it on a Sunday then. So thinking of things like that, and you have to be intentional. I can’t even, for example, it’s something that I have to do every single year. I can’t just say, “Repeat this date on this day,” because, of course, something’s changed based on the phases of the moon.
And then things change depending on whether it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, if the day off is going to be that Monday, or if the day off is going to be that Friday. And so you have to be intentional with these systems that you have in place and adapt as necessary.

Samantha Grandinetti: Can I ask, what is the feedback, or, what have you noticed about how your employees respond to this cultural sensitivity? What have you felt from that?

Regine Nelson: At Couchbase, and I’ll give you this example, I haven’t had a lot of feedback, because it’s just embedded in what we do. So it’s not something that would naturally stand out as, “Oh, this is something that we’re doing that’s new.” A part of our values, we have six values and they’re broken up into two different phases, if you will, or ways to approach them. One is how you create value, and one is how you are valued. And so one of our values that leads into this cultural sensitivity portion is serve your family as defined by you.
And this is very important, right? Because we have a policy of, depending on the region that you’re in, although if it’s not unlimited DTO, then we have a very generous time off policy. So that way people can take time to do the things that they need or to observe the different observances that they need. So for us to be able to actively act on that value, we need to do things like what I just talked about, understanding when people take time off, what are the cultural contexts of those times off in particular, and also, make tomorrow better than today, starting now, and be a good human always.
We can’t be a good human always if we’re not looking around and understanding, not only our perspective as a human being, but the perspective of our fellow colleague who may not look and act and talk like us as well. And so it’s not something that’s particularly, “Wow, Couchbase does a really good job of leaning into our cultural differences when communicating,” it’s, “This is what we do, this is Couchbase.” And so it’s pretty standard status quo here. At other organizations that I’ve worked at, and we’ve implemented some of these policies and practices on a global scale, we have had good feedback from employees about how they’ve noticed that there’s been a change in how we communicate, et cetera.
And of course, having the proper tools in place to help us adhere to that. At Couchbase right now, we’re exploring some tools that are going to allow us to do more time zone sending content, for example. Because my mornings are the time where it’s quietest, and I can actually log on before my workday, and I can actually start getting through some of my emails. So I’m definitely much more engaged. Being a company that is headquartered in the US, specifically in the Pacific time, we tend to align with 9:00 AM Pacific for most comms that we send out. But these new tools that we’re exploring are going to allow us to send it at 9:00 AM across various time zones and regions where it’ll be better received, and receive better engagement as well.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah, that’s really key, isn’t it? Because you’re right. You do have to meet people when they’re receptive to different communications. And I’m glad to hear that you’ve had some really good feedback about that in other organizations. I’m so curious, and I’m not like trying to stir anything up here, but have you ever had like a misstep with this where you’ve noticed you’re like, “Oh man, I really could have done that better?” And did people notice? Did you get feedback about it?

Regine Nelson: Yeah so, a few years ago, I don’t know if you remember how in the US we overturned Roe v. Wade. Different states were now at the helm of deciding if they were going to allow people to terminate their pregnancies at various stages. And so I was working for an organization at the time that really wanted to make a statement as it pertained to the US employees, which was great for them to do. However, in the context of all things, this particular organization had a heavy presence in a European country that was quite Catholic. And so they were not even offering this type of benefit for their employees in-house that were on the ground in that country.
And so came across a little flat, as they were really touting and really standing on this moment in solidarity with their US employees, they were also in turn neglecting their large employee base, which was based in a European country at the time. That was a misstep that I refer back to often. There’s context, there’s context, there’s context. Before you put out a statement, whether it be internally or externally, really understand how this may be perceived in both the positive and the negative light, because what they were trying to communicate was definitely something positive and forward-facing.
But when you look at it in terms of what’s happening within their specific HQ and where their organization has a large presence, that is something that was not seen in a positive light from that regard. So again, and this happens whenever you have any sort of political thing. You can voice your opinion, or you can sit back and just watch as things unfold. Either way, you’re sending a message, and you have to understand how will that message impact not only your employees, but your customers and the public at large?

Samantha Grandinetti: I’m very curious because, as a global organization, we also do that as Staffbase. How do you make decisions about what you talk about and what you don’t? You don’t have to get into like the total nitty-gritty because I know it’s really hard.

Regine Nelson: It is.

Samantha Grandinetti: I’d love to know just what your thought process is.

Regine Nelson: Yeah so it’s really hard because it’s going to depend on a number of factors. Number one is, are you a public or are you a private company? Because at the end of the day, if you’re a public company, then you have your stakeholders that you need to uphold. And so you definitely want to make sure that you’re careful in how you say things. So if you’re a public or private company, that definitely plays a role. And then, the level and the dedication that your e-staff has in regards to that. The most vocal proponents within your organization are generally going to be your e-staff. Executive team, and your sales org, and your marketing org. They’re usually out and about, and talking to press, and what have you. So internally, you need to understand what type of organization you have.
I’ve worked at orgs where they don’t want to make a comment politically, no matter which way it goes, because they don’t want to be the center of attention when it comes to these types of conversations. They want to be known for their products, not for their political views. But then you have some leaders and organizations where a particular topic may have a personal leaning for them, and they may want to be vocal about it from that standpoint. So it’s going to depend, and you can’t blanket a decision making process or hierarchy for your organization or another. It just depends on the crises at the time, and their comfortability with speaking out or about that specific topic.

Samantha Grandinetti: So understand the type of organization that you have and really lean into your leadership’s strengths or your leadership’s instincts about this as well. That’s really good advice, because it’s something that’s going to come up for every communicator. Someone’s going to say, “Hey, are we going to say anything about X, Y, Z?” And you’re like, you have your own feelings about everything. Your own feelings don’t carry the weight of what the organization needs to say either internally or externally. There’s a lot of other things to consider.
I want to pivot into a more fun direction here. Because we talked about some harder stuff, for sure. You mentioned that you’re going to spend a lot of time in Spain, and that you have been to Spain quite a bit. I’m wondering if there is a part of Spanish culture that you really love and try to emulate in your own life and work.

Regine Nelson: Yes. A strong emphasis on try because I don’t always do this very well. But I do love, love, love, love, love the unhurried, slow beauty of Spanish life. I mean they are a masterclass in presence. I’m talking about long lunches, walking everywhere, meeting neighbors, taking the kids to the playground after school, and having a glass of wine or a latte and chatting as adults while the kids play. So my time in Spain has really reminded me to remember to build space in my day for joy, for rest, and for reflection, even in my work. I tend to pause more. I turn to listen more.
But that unhurried pace, as Americans, we’re always going from this to that activity. And I’m a parent of three, right, so there’s always something going around, hustle and bustle. But remembering to slow down and to enjoy where we are at the moment is something that I try to implement and practice in my life. And strong emphasis on try, because like I said, I’m not always doing it perfectly.

Samantha Grandinetti: Things get busy, but I really love how you describe this, because I think sometimes you think about slowing down. You think about taking rest, and it feels counterintuitive when you’re trying to be productive, or it feels, you have social media influencers, of course, who are like, “We all have the same 24 hours, go, go, go, grind and hustle.” But that presence, I really resonate with what you said. That is presence. When you decide that when you are resting, you are resting, when you are working, you are working, when you’re engaging with your family or your friends, you’re engaging with your family and friends. And I absolutely agree.
That is such a lesson that we can all take away because it allows us to be the best at whatever we’re doing at that time when you’re not trying to juggle a million things. There are times you have to juggle.

Regine Nelson: That’s right.

Samantha Grandinetti: Obviously, there are times you have to juggle. But I love that note about just presence. Definitely. Let’s talk a little bit more about comms in general, because we’ve talked a lot about different cultural aspects. I’m so thrilled with everything that you’ve shared with me today. Let’s talk about just some more general comms things. Are there any comms trends that you’re seeing right now that are very exciting to you?

Regine Nelson: Yeah I mean one, not just comms trend, but gosh, trend in general, is AI. All that it can do, all that it will do and all that it’s doing now. I, for one, am so glad that Couchbase is one of those organizations that does allow us to use AI in our work, and quite frankly, encourages us to use AI. Not to do the work entirely for us, but to augment us in such a way that we can be more efficient with our time and leave time for either more strategic matters, or for relationship building time. I think one thing that AI will not replace anytime soon is going to be the relational aspects of being human.
Sitting down to lunch, to coffee, to somebody seeing their facial expressions, their body language, et cetera, right? Or even if it’s just a phone call, hearing the tone and the tempo in which they speak is going to be super important to pick up those key nuances of how someone is either really feeling, or unable to express. I love what AI is doing for us in my everyday work. It just helps me to either synthesize content that I want to share to various audiences, or it even allows me, quite frankly, to translate not into language, but into different modalities, if you will.
So somebody likes a more smart brevity style. Give me the what, why and what I need to do. Some others want more longer form content. So being able to write something, and then having it change into four or five different types of content has been super helpful. And the research also is lightning fast. Again, you have to fact-check a lot of the stuff, depending on which AI model that you’re using. But I think in the last 24 months, I’ve seen AI grown leaps and bounds in what it was able to do at the outset and what it’s able to do now. Now, the other thing, and this is AI as well, it has to do with images.
I love how AI is allowing us to be a little more creative in how we express visual imagery. You can give it a prompt, and it will give you a type of visual imagery that maybe you imagine in your mind, but you couldn’t see how to bring it to life. And it’s giving a lot of us non-actual creatives when it comes to painting and drawing and that kind of thing a venue to be able to express ourselves in that way. And that’s not to diminish what true, skilled and learned artists are doing, because what they do is beyond magic. And I don’t think that AI will be able to be that creative to create their own unique, authentic art, but AI does a very good job of copying and mimicking what others have done before.

Samantha Grandinetti: It’s true. And sometimes when you’re really just a team of one or two, like a lot of internal communicators are, sometimes you just have to lean on the assets that you’re given. Right?

Regine Nelson: That’s right.

Samantha Grandinetti: You obviously embrace AI, which is great. I’m just curious. Are you one of those people that says thank you and please to the AI?

Regine Nelson: I do. You know what? That’s just a part of who I am. I generally say thank you to individuals. And so I think of AI as my thought partner, and partner in itself is inherent that it is somebody that is you’re working with, so I am kind to it as well. I say, thank you very much, or, “Can you please do this.” And quite frankly, I grew up in the Terminator space, and so if the machines do want to take over, thinking about Terminator, thinking about Matrix, they will remember that Regine was kind to them, and maybe they will not take over in my little part of the world as they would in others. And so kindness goes a long way, even to the machines. Are you hearing me, Darknet?

Samantha Grandinetti: Something must be, yes. I love that. I’m also on the please and thank you train, and it’s funny, I saw an article headline, and I’m not remembering the specifics, but it basically said that people saying just please and thank you as one-line prompts to chat GPT is actually costing, it’s costing them a lot of money. Which is funny.

Regine Nelson: Yeah. You know it’s so interesting, because you have to think about it this way, and one thing that I hold, I hold AI close, but also at the same time at arm’s length, because AI is built on data and information, and the more different types of diverse audiences that can use and play with the tool, the better it will be, right? Currently, a lot of the teams that are developing and growing in the AI space, they’ve got a homogeneous feel to them.
And so I think as more people enter into that space, it’s going to become more accurate, because, quite frankly, if women were at the forefront of building AI, it would probably be doing different things, and it would have these please and thank you mechanisms potentially built inside as a generalization of women and our kind-hearted nature. But if you have men doing that, they want generally a task to be done. They’re the hunters and we’re the gatherers. So it’s a different approach, so I’m excited for what AI holds for us in the future, and I’m excited for the diverse minds and voices that will be putting input into it as well.

Samantha Grandinetti: When I think too, we can tie this in with the conversation we had before about cultural context and things like that too. You have this machine that’s learning from all of us, and learning from the different minds that are contributing across the web. But you can also use that to help you craft things for different audiences. What I like to do, for the example of people who speak English as a second language, you mentioned, oh, I don’t want to use idioms, I don’t want to use different slang because it might not translate.
I also don’t want to publish a master’s level thesis type language on our company intranet, because the people who are going to understand that are . . . it’s not accessible. It’s not accessible for a lot of people who do speak English as a first language. Sometimes what I do in ChatGPT, for example, is, “Can you please rephrase this to write it at say a grade eight reading level?” Or something, because you level the playing field. You are presenting something that’s way more accessible in the context of anybody who speaks a different language, an additional one to English, right?

Regine Nelson: 100%.

Samantha Grandinetti: So we’ve talked a little bit about AI. I’m curious, is there any other tool or strategy that you think every internal communicator should try this year?

Regine Nelson: You know, listening. Listening not just in the form of surveys. And I know budgets are being trimmed and cut back, but I think there is still value if you have hybrid or physical offices to at least spend a couple of days in the offices that your organization has. Try to see if you can get some budget to just be around and understand what the sentiment is within that office. And then if you’re fully remote or have a large remote contingency, just putting random meetings for 10. . . sorry, 15 to 30 minutes to get to know somebody that’s outside of your department, outside of your region, and just to understand who they are as a person, how they’re seeing things at the company, et cetera.
Listening goes a long way. And with listening over time, you’ll be able to see themes that you can then bring to senior leadership, “Hey, were you aware that our employees have been feeling this way or thinking about this? Here’s some data that I’ve collected over the last six months.” So  I think if you combine your listening with some analysis by AI, then you will be able to get some really good results from that. Listening never goes out of style. That’s why I think we have two ears, two eyes, so that we can observe, and learn, and intake what we are seeing in front of us.

Samantha Grandinetti: I love that. And I love your note about not just surveys, because it’s true that there’s always a bias in who responds to surveys.

Regine Nelson: Right.

Samantha Grandinetti: And they are often people with a lot of great things to say or a lot of bad things to say, or people who are generally really engaged. And so I think, yes, just spending a little bit of time observing with your own ears and eyes, that can really change your perspective, for sure. That wasn’t quite like a tool, per se, but speaking of different tools to send your messages across and everything. I understand that you’ve recently started creating video content on LinkedIn. This is like a side project of yours. Can you tell me a little bit about how this journey has been for you? What have you learned? Is there anything that you’ve learned that you want to incorporate back into your work at Couchbase?

Regine Nelson: So what’s interesting is that some teams at Couchbase use video very well. The people in workplace team, our chief people officer, Fidelma Butler, she does an amazing job of posting, whether it’s on a biweekly basis, so every other week, a video, unscripted, just giving us a heads up on what’s going on with her, with the organization, et cetera. She usually gives out a shout-out here and there. But I’ve started making video content, and I haven’t been super consistent with it because with writing, I’m able to focus, and spend time, and I’ve got ideas.
But my videos, the intention is to make content so that I can connect with other internal comms pros. I want to show them some of the behind the scenes of this work. So it’s less polished and it’s more human, but it does take a lot of time. As I stated, we’re in time crunch right now to get ready to head out to Europe for two months. So I think I’m going to pick back up once I’m in Europe and I can show sort of some of the scenery and what I’m doing as well. But overall, I think sharing video is a different vehicle and modality that really teaches you about vulnerability, and how that can be a strategy.
Because sharing what I’m learning, what I’m doing, and who I am builds trust. If you notice the post that I made today, and today we’re what, May 29th, which is my sister’s birthday also, but I made a post. I do have ADHD. So my brain works very differently than a typical neuro person’s brain works. And so one of the things that I’ve struggled with in the past and I’m working to overcome is just feedback. Not that I have an issue with feedback in general, but I just have an issue with feedback that is unclear, that is personal. If you tell me, that what color that I’m wearing doesn’t look cute, I don’t compute. I don’t understand.
But if you tell me that the color that you’re wearing really drowns out your skin tone, “Oh, okay, that I understand.” So I think it’s more of people not understanding how to communicate effectively that really lands with me the wrong way as opposed to receiving feedback in general. So talking about stuff like that, and I am on a personal journey to make myself a better communicator, so more concise, more visual, and more real. And so video is an avenue that allows you to do that. People can see your true personality, the true vision of who you are, and not necessarily just something you can edit to ad nauseum to put your best foot forward.
And so that’s why I love joining podcasts like this one, because then you get to see a bit of my personality that you may not see or you may see it in a more elaborate manner as opposed to what I’m posting on LinkedIn. Because it’s still me. You can tell that it’s the same person, but it just comes across differently when it’s audio and visual, if you will.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, completely. I even feel the way that I write can be so much more direct versus when I speak I can be quite bubbly, I’m a little bit more gregarious, versus just how direct I can be when I write sometimes. So I totally understand that. And I love what you said about just how having these casual videos, you mentioned your chief people officer’s example of how she does these more raw, unscripted, here’s what I’m working on videos. If you could get executives to just film a quick, little vertical video talking about themselves, what would you tell them to say? What would you tell any executive listening right now? “Hey, you should just do a video, a quick little video for your organization. Here’s what you should cover,” just really quick.

Regine Nelson: I think, I would tell them, “Hey, what’s keeping you up at night? Can you talk a little bit about that?” Because it humanizes you, and it doesn’t keep you on this pedestal. When people think of e-staff, they think of the years of experience behind you, not just the salary that you make that can sometimes be exponentially more than theirs. But with that responsibility, comes a lot of work. And so people don’t get to see the behind the scenes unless they’re close to e-staff like I tend to be. So humanizing yourself in as many ways as you possibly can.
Sharing, again, what’s keeping you up at night, and some of the wins that you’ve seen in the organization. Celebrating others’ achievements. Whenever you can pull others up, people generally stand up and listen because they’re like, “This person notices that I’m doing well or they’re doing well.” So acknowledge what you’re really feeling, what’s really on your mind right now, and then also share some kudos when and where applicable are the way. That builds trust, that shows vulnerability, and that encourages people to tune in because they might be the next person shouted out the next time you pop up on video.

Samantha Grandinetti: We all love to see our folks winning. We love to hear about it. And yes, you’re right. When somebody notices somebody doing great work and they say something about it, you’re like, “Oh, that person’s paying attention. They have time to pay attention. They make the time.” I love that. And I think too there’s so many people that you say, “Oh, can you take a video? Can you just say a couple of quick things about X, Y, and Z?” And they go, “Oh, people don’t want to hear it from me. People don’t want to hear it from me.” Oh, they do.

Regine Nelson: I know, they do. That’s the thing. It doesn’t have to be a 20-minute video. It could be a 90-second video. You’re on the screen, and then you’re gone. Don’t overthink it. Don’t overthink it. Just make sure that your hair is combed unless the Albert Einstein look is your way. Then by all means keep that. I love that. If you like it, I love it. However you want to show up authentically as yourself, do that. You don’t need a script, just make sure people can see you. Your head’s not cut off from the camera view. A simple selfie will do.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yes, and also make sure that you’re not in some dark alley when you do it. That’s the other thing is I find that people in executive positions, they are constantly running to and fro different things. They’re like, “Oh, I have time to take a video.” I’m watching the playback going, “But where are you? Where are you? It looks dark, it looks scary.”

Regine Nelson: Keep a pretty background.

Samantha Grandinetti: You’re right. Don’t be too polished, but make sure it doesn’t look like a hostage situation, right?

Regine Nelson: Exactly.

Samantha Grandinetti: Man, I feel like I’ve learned so much. This has been such a like balm to talk to another internal communications professional today. I love chatting with you, Regine. I hope you’ve had a blast. I’ve had a blast.

Regine Nelson: I have, I have. Thank you so much for having me on You’ve Got Comms. It has been a pleasure, Samantha.

Samantha Grandinetti: Ah, well, good luck with your trip to Spain. I don’t even need to wish you luck. You sound prepared. You have an amazing place to stay. I just, I’m wishing for all the best for you, because that just sounds like a glorious way to spend your summer.

Regine Nelson: Yes. And stay tuned. I’ll be posting some photos, and some videos, and some recaps of all things living my summer in Europe.

Samantha Grandinetti: Ah, I love it. Can’t wait to see it. Thanks so much for joining us.

Regine Nelson: Thank you.