From Ford’s perspective, both employees and dealers are the brand’s greatest ambassadors, and that makes nurturing the relationship between the two parties essential to the overall health of the business. To ensure those partnerships thrive, the automaker hosts a variety of live events and experiences throughout the year, from the Driving Ford+ Program to the annual Ford Performance Season Launch event, that are designed to strengthen the bonds between its internal stakeholders—a strategy that ultimately helps facilitate more impactful customer-facing interactions.
The company’s most recent endeavor, Ford Building Together, combines the desire to enrich employee-dealer relationships with the brand’s long history of philanthropy. The new global community initiative, which was introduced in Michigan at a launch event in June, and centers around food and blood drives, was built to enhance the synergy among Ford’s expansive dealer network, employees, and key nonprofit partners, and help create a lasting impact on the communities they serve.
In September, the program was rolled out worldwide, and with the aid of Feeding America, Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Team Rubicon, 9,000-plus Ford dealers in 31 countries mobilized their teams and communities to participate in what became the world’s largest auto dealer-led food drive, yielding more than 2 million pounds of food and essential supplies for local charities. (Agency: Imagination)
“This year, we started thinking about how do we focus on conversations around community with all the dealers’ existing efforts, all Ford employees’ efforts,” says Caroline Pernot, global dealer community engagement director at Ford Motor Company. “How do we focus that conversation and bring all the goodness of the collective power of Ford? That’s where Ford Building Together came about, so that is a big strategy for engaging with our employees, our dealers and our nonprofit partners.”
We sat down with Pernot for a deeper dive into Ford’s internal engagement strategy, and how the approach generates lasting impact.
RALLYING AROUND A CAUSE
The Ford Building Together launch campaign united internal stakeholders and nonprofits under a single purpose, motivating them to work in unison to support a meaningful cause. In fact, the program was initially built to hit 15 global markets, but when dealers from other areas showed a strong desire to participate, that number more than doubled.
“It was something that every dealer could rally around. They really understood what it meant, what they were contributing to, and they wanted to be part of this bigger [initiative],” says Pernot. “The dealers collected and worked directly with the employee teams, who then went to dealers to deliver the food. So there was really a camaraderie there because they all believe in it.”
DEALERS DO THE LOCALIZING
No one in the organizational orbit knows local communities better than the dealers who serve them, so for the Building Together rollout, Ford put its trust in dealers in each market, who ensured the items the brand and its nonprofit partners provided were catered to that area’s needs. Countries in Africa, for example, were provided with fresh fruits and vegetables, while in Germany, there was a greater need for clothing and canned foods.
CLEAR LINES OF COMMUNICATION
In a similar vein, Pernot says that having consistent and clear lines of communication among employees, dealers and nonprofits was key to the success of the Building Together food drive, and to building companionship and trust among those groups.
“Communication is key,” she says. “So communicating frequently, especially when you’re dealing with 31 markets, different languages, different cultures, and then being able to understand those cultures. Only the markets can do that. Only the dealers can do that.”
PROGRAMMING FLEXIBILITY
Event planning always requires a nimble approach, and that’s especially true for a company that aims to keep both employees and a vast dealer network feel supported and engaged.
“It’s listening, understanding where the needs are, and adapting to that,” Pernot says. “Because when we started, for example, we said food only, and then, as we learned working with the markets, some markets actually cannot do food for either legal reasons or the way of distribution. So it was being able to understand where it’s going up front, which then means planning time ahead is very critical, and that’s where we saw the flexibility help… It allowed for everyone to be able to participate.”
INSTILLING PRIDE
With every experience or environment that Ford creates, the brand is intentional about building touchpoints and programming that are designed to instill pride in employees, which makes community outreach crucial to its internal engagement playbook.
The Ford Volunteer Corps, Team Rubicon, participation in Global Caring Month, and an array of disaster relief efforts are all part of the company’s approach. This year alone, 5,500 Ford employees participated in 183 community projects, resulting in 65,422 hours volunteered.
COLLABORATIVE SPACES
For Ford, providing employees (and dealers) with the time and space to collaborate and ideate is vital to strengthening internal relationships and advancing the business. The company’s sparkling new world headquarters in Dearborn, MI, which opened this week, is a prime example. Among perks, the building was designed with “redefining the work experience” in mind, including providing Ford’s product development teams with more opportunities, and more spaces, to collaborate. Pernot says that dealers will also be regulars at the headquarters.
“As we introduce new retail facilities, it relates to what we do with our dealerships,” she says. “It’s bringing the experience to the employees. It is a beautiful place, a transformative place where we’re working together. So it’s that collaboration, that togetherness, that really is the key, and we saw it when we did our community work. We do so much more when we are collaborating.”
Photos: Courtesy of Ford Motor Company
