How one of America’s largest electronics retailers is using video and dialogue to transform its corporate culture
The impressive Best Buy Corporate Headquarters in Minneapolis, MN – home to innovative corporate communication strategies
I recently had the opportunity to attend the CMMA Professional Development Conference at Best Buy’s corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The agenda for the events today were as follows:
- Keynote Dialogue: Video Fueling Culture. Brad Anderson, Vice-Chairman and CEO, Best Buy
- Fueling Communications Culture Topic & Discussion #1: Advocating for the Audience (Best Buy’s TAG TV Team)
- Fueling Communications Culture Topic & Discussion #2: Listening to Employees (Best Buy’s Employee Communication Team)
What I discovered was far more than just another corporate event – it was a masterclass in how one of America’s largest electronics retailers is revolutionizing its approach to internal and external communications.
Leadership Insights: Dialogue with Best Buy’s Top Executives
Brad Anderson
Vice Chairman/CEO
Brian Dunn
President/COO
The day began with a powerful keynote dialogue featuring Brad Anderson, Vice-Chairman and CEO, and Brian Dunn, President and COO of Best Buy. Their candid conversation revealed how Best Buy’s leadership views communication as fundamental to their business strategy and company culture.
Anderson shared how Best Buy conducted a revealing video series where they asked customers who were leaving stores empty-handed to explain why they hadn’t made a purchase. This simple yet effective approach provided invaluable insights into missed sales opportunities and reflected the company’s commitment to understanding customer experiences.
“In our old days, we sold products to customers instead of solutions for customers.” – Brad Anderson, reflecting on Best Buy’s evolution from product-focused to solution-focused retailing
One particularly memorable moment came when Anderson shared a story about one of Best Buy’s first China employees. When asked why she wanted to work for the company, she pointed to her palm and said, “Mr. Anderson, do you see this? In that time, I want to help change China.” This powerful anecdote underscored Anderson’s philosophy that “We want to be the kind of place that attracts people who have big dreams.”
When asked about the future of consumer electronics, Anderson provided a thought-provoking response about how consumers often feel like “slaves of their devices” and how Best Buy aims to enrich people’s lives by solving the complexity that frustrates many technology users.
Additional insights from the leadership dialogue:
- People want to do business with companies they can trust – transparency is key to building that trust
- Best Buy creates video spots where employees tell stories of customers they’ve helped
- Communications is described as “the conscious of the organization”
- Leaders who have difficulty with transparency “end up being the butt of the jokes”
- Best Buy distributes “TAG TV” videos to stores
- They don’t actively measure video effectiveness, but employee engagement with videos is considered a success indicator
When asked about the story of Best Buy and how it ends, executives emphasized:
- The center of Best Buy is its employees
- Things that don’t have a reason to exist tend not to
- Organizations as large as Best Buy can’t grow without communications and technology that support those communications
The Art of Listening: Best Buy’s Employee Engagement Strategy
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Best Buy’s communication strategy is their sophisticated approach to employee listening. Jennifer Rock and Barry Johnson, both Directors of Employee Communications, shared how the company has developed multiple channels and methods for gathering employee feedback.
They presented a compelling case study of how listening changed a major company decision. When Best Buy reduced employee discounts to save money, they created “The Water Cooler” – an online forum where employees could share feedback. The response was overwhelming, with 54 pages of comments. After just five days, executives reversed their decision based on this feedback and sent a company-wide message saying, “We heard you” and acknowledging their mistake.
Best Buy has developed a sophisticated framework for employee dialogue, recognizing that different types of organizational changes require different levels of conversation. Their approach ranges from simple measurement to complex listening strategies that drive company direction.
The company’s dialogue framework includes four types of interaction, with more complex changes requiring more active dialogue:
1. Measurement – “Rate This”
- Survey
- Annual Audit
- Poll
2. Download with Feedback loop – “Get, then tell”
- Meeting w/ Q&A
- Post event survey
- Suggestion box
- Survey
- News w/email
3. Communicate & Discuss – “You jump in”
- Town Hall
- The Chair
- Discussion Boards
- Social Network
- Learning Session
- News w/comments
4. Listen, plan, target, discuss – “Give insights, drive strategy”
- The Chair
- Group Summit
- Survey
- Discussion Boards
- Virtual Town Hall
- Poll
- Focus Group
The company employs several innovative listening methods:
- Yearly Communications Audit: Measures both how important each communication attribute is to employees and how well the company is performing in areas like strategies & values, managers as communicators, and tactical information
- The Chair: A simple yet effective 1:1 feedback mechanism where two chairs are placed in a busy traffic area with an easel with a sign asking for someone that walks by to sit down and talk
- “If you were COO for the day”: Invites employees to share what they would do if they ran the company
- Employee News site: Used to convey tactical information to more strategic communications. The example shared was an article titled “Why Do I have to Change my ‘#@&$#*$(‘ Password?” Users can rate every comment up or down. No comments are anonymous except one which dealt with health care (they originally allowed anonymous comments but the community requested this feature be turned off)
- Water Cooler: The online discussion board tool at Best Buy and the number one way they listen to employees. Not pretty but highly functional, it uses open source tools and includes categories like My Company, My Location, My Department, and My Groups. At the time of presentation, it had 233 visitors in the last hour and over 1,130,574 posts with 64,537 topics to date
Event Photo Gallery
Below are some photos captured during the CMMA Professional Development Conference at Best Buy headquarters:
Best Buy Corporate Campus Videos
Experience Best Buy’s corporate campus through these video tours:
The Future of Corporate Communications
What became clear throughout the conference is that Best Buy sees its employees as the center of its business. As one executive noted, “Things that don’t have a reason to exist tend not to” – and Best Buy recognizes that meaningful communication gives purpose to their organization.
The company acknowledges that organizations as large as Best Buy can’t grow without sophisticated communications and technology to support those communications. Their investment in varied dialogue channels, video storytelling, and authentic leadership communications demonstrates a progressive approach that many companies could learn from.
Best Buy’s communication strategy reflects a fundamental truth about business in the digital age: transparency isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a competitive advantage. By creating systems that amplify employee voices and building a culture where feedback leads to real change, Best Buy is positioning itself not just as a retailer but as a leader in corporate communications.
Join the Conversation
How is your organization using video and dialogue to transform its culture? What listening mechanisms have you found most effective? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Deanna says:
I want to thank you for taking time to read this complaint. I dont know who is your general manager, was told his name was Adam, he is the biggest joke I have ever seen. All employes hate him, there was no teamwork, I watched standing at the side observing. All I saw managers do was walking around, turn down opportunity to help customers stated they were busy but would try to get someone. I ran a large store at one time and would never have put up with the actions of this at all. My General managers never asked anything they themselves wouldnt do. Gone is team work in your store. No wonder you are having mangers leaving. It makes you look bad because you are condoning this man Adam’s actions. I think it is time to ask your supervisiors and workers what they think would help since they are with the consumer the most. If you want to turn the store around you have to have a manager your staff will work for and look up too. Obivious it isnt Adam or you would still have the last 2 managers still there. I hope this has been ensightful, and helps. By the way your Jim Corbin was very enformative as was the other boy Bryant. Those are the kinds of employes you should be proud of. Please condsider removing the GM as I saw so many mistakes and see your store spiralling down because of his lack of knowledge. Just one corporate person to another. Thank you. Dee
maya.richardson29@yahoo.com says:
On Friday, October 14, 2011 I went to the store to pick up my pre-ordered iphone 4 with Sprint The young lady Jasime helped me the best she could, but then there was a young man by the name of B.J that rushed things in an abrupt manner and all I can say is I have a phone now that I did not want, I rushed to pay for phone just so I could hurry up and leave after begin there 1 hour and 47 minutes. The mobile department was ran EXTREMELY POOR had no organization at ALL. I could not properly ask questions to really decide on if I want the iphone 4 with Sprint or just the motorola photon with Sprint after leaving the store and going back to work I hate the phone and will return it today soon as I get off. Once I made it back to work I called the store location store # 572 and held on for 2 HOURS and no one ever picked up the phone not once to say I’ll be right with you or even to ask what I was calling for. 2 HOURS of me sitting at work with my work phone on speaker waiting for a rep to pick up, but no one ever picked up at all to say anything they picked up the line and hung up. I called back again and held and the same thing.
After work on Friday, October 14, 2011, I later went into the same Best Buy location to return my previous purchase of the iphone and I exchanged it out for the Motorola Photon. At that time I also had to return the outter box that I had purchased for the phone. The guy that was helping me was great. He also switched my numbers for me by assigning them to each line.
On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, I was finally contact by a Ms. Lakeisha Craft that works at the Best Buy location I went to. I explained what happened to Ms. Craft and she apologized to me for the service. She seemed very heart felt and sincere.
On Wednesday, October 26, 2011 I had an emergency going on and only had my work phone with me and when I went to use the phone I could not. It tells me that the phone is not activated itself. I was stuck without a phone and had to rely on someone passing by to ask them if I could use their phone to get in contact with my doctor’s office. So as of today 10/28/2011 I had not been able to make or receive calls on my phone at all. But yet, my cell phone provider will not want to hear that. I feel cheated and that Best Buy should be responsible. Don’t when you purchase a phone or do anything changes on a phone or account the sales person should make test calls and test the product out to make sure it is working probably?
I will be contacting the BBB and my local news station to inform them of the HORRIBLE situation. I would truly hate to contact legal reps, but if that’s what I must do to get people to hear my story and to assure this don’t happen to someone else I will.
Maya T. Richardson
(850) 358-1248
Eugene Elcik says:
Not satisfied customer: I purchase a HP computer Model QW699AA#AB SKU 4672416, Serial MXX21301D7, Purchased 05/29/2012. This item me trouble from day-one. Because of cancer issues I was not able to return or exchange my computer within your exchange or return time limit. When I was able to return to your Topsham, Maine Store; your store charged me $100 to back up the contents of the computer, they wanted to add another $199 for further service. That service fee adds up to 64% of the original cost of the computer. That’s a rip-off. I will not be doing business with your in the future.