Cisco’s Raquel Cool on why great communicators lead with listening

Raquel Cool, leader of internal communications in Cisco Product, knows that sometimes the most powerful tool isn’t what we say, but how we listen. 

 It’s safe to say Cool’s experience from answering crisis hotlines early in her career to leading internal communications for one of Cisco’s largest engineering organizations has contributed to that understanding. She’s passionate about the art of listening, believes in focusing on results over tasks, and still finds time to be inspired by immersive art installations.

 Early in your career, you worked at a crisis center that triaged various hotlines, including a 24-hour suicide crisis line. If you could bring one skill or lesson from your time as a crisis hotline operator into every communicator’s toolkit, what would it be?

Listening is key. Every crisis counselor was trained in active listening, which is a conversational approach by psychologist Carl Rogers that supports people’s capacity for growth and self-reflection. Being an active listener meant taking myself out of the equation and tuning into what someone is saying, really saying,  to guide them towards a positive outcome. Every great communicator I know is also a great listener. They lead with empathy and curiosity and take strides to understand people’s point of view. 

 How do you define internal communications?

Internal communications is a bridge between leaders and employees. I’m in a coffee shop right now… here’s my back-of-the-napkin description:

This work is a conduit between leaders and employees. When I’m thinking through a large-scale internal communication, whether it’s a town hall, an executive video or a newsletter that goes out to 30,000 people, I strive to be at the intersection between what employees care about and leadership’s strategic priorities. This work takes a willingness to surface employee feedback to leaders, to draw connections between what employees are feeling and understanding — or not understanding — and to proactively recommend communications approaches that help close any gaps. 

You’ve worked on revamping town halls for one of Cisco’s largest engineering organizations. What’s one game-changing strategy or insight you’ve learned from that experience that other communicators could apply to elevate their town halls?

Town halls are one of the most popular communication channels. When I was prepping for my Ragan talk on Elevating Your Town Hall Strategy, I asked 100 internal comms pros what they were struggling with when it came to town halls. The replies:

“Too boring.”

“Too repetitive.”

“Too much content.”

“Too much ‘happy talk’ and not enough transparency.”

If you want to make a town hall as engaging as possible, keep a steady pace of interesting and useful updates. Mix up the rhythm of the session. Try shorter segments. Try a variety of content. I wrote this LinkedIn post that features creative ideas to elevate town halls.

 What advice would you give someone just starting in internal communications?

When I first started in internal communications, I kept a little dry-erase SCRUM board to manage bigger projects, like town halls.

It had a column for TO DO. It had a column for DOING. It had a column for DONE.

I’ve noticed that some people see their internal communications jobs as a series of many tasks. 

To me, the most interesting part of this field is in effecting results. 

And overseeing the end-to-end processes that drive those results.

Tasks are a part of that. But when uncoupled from the big picture, they are not inherently useful.

Focus on results, not tasks.

 What’s the proudest moment of your career?

The other day, my mom told my nine-year-old son, “See how hard your mom works? She works very hard for you.” She is right about that. My life and my career were in a different place when he was born. I decided to change tacks and shift into tech journalism, which became a career in executive communications. To be able to look around and enjoy the work I do, the people I work with, and the impact it brings to the world is something I feel grateful for every day.

What inspires you?

Art that lingers. The Visitors by Ragnar Kjartansson, The Clock by Christian Marclay, and this hopscotch installation by teamLab. It has been ages since I experienced any of these and I still think about them, years later.

Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.