This software exec ditched huge all-hands meetings for Snapchat

Imagine if you could watch your boss playing fetch with her Boston terrier, or if you could commiserate with her as she posts a frustrated selfie while waiting to deplane. Now imagine she’s sharing these relatable moments on Snapchat.

That’s exactly what a top executive is doing.

Jennifer Morgan, 45, is the president of software company SAP’s (SAP) North American division and oversees 20,000 employees, so naturally, town hall meetings tend to feel impersonal, if not downright ineffective.

“Traditionally, when you think about communication in the office, employees go to the leader. I’m trying to develop a way to speak with my employees in ways that work for them,” she told Yahoo Finance. “Though nothing can replace in-person events, I’ve discovered that people appreciate effective, efficient communication.”

So, after consulting with several employees — and observing how her 15-year-old son uses the app — Morgan scrapped the all-hands meeting and replaced it with a pre-recorded two-minute video that she e-mailed employees. At the end of the video, she shared her Snapchat code and said she would love to continue the conversation on the app. She anticipates this new format to replace the all-hands meetings from here on out.

“I was amazed at how many people thanked me for not only giving them back the time but opening up communication on a platform like Snapchat,” she said. “I think the app is a way to easily communicate in a perfectly imperfect way with my employees.”

She highlights that business executives can come off scripted, almost too polished, and are inaccessible to employees.

“What I love about Snapchat is it’s very real, very authentic, and you can show scenes of your personal and professional lives. A lot of people make these assumptions about both male and female leaders with regard to the pace, glamour and travel of our lives,” she said. “It’s fun to show that, sure, some of those assumptions are true — but at the same time we are all human beings tugging at our time, dealing with the same travel hiccups everyone else experiences.”

Jennifer Morgan, SAP
Jennifer Morgan, SAP

Morgan is now one of Snapchat’s 150 million daily active users. Other business leaders may want to take note.

It’s common knowledge that Snapchat is wildly popular among teens. Users spend 25 to 30 minutes every single day sending and receiving these ephemeral photos.

But, for Gen Xers, baby boomers, and even the millennials who aren’t sold on the entertaining utility of the app, this could be a goldmine use case that Snapchat can tap into.

Though she’s not part of the app’s core user demographic (70% of Snapchat’s US users are millennials), the app has gained traction with the older generations (parents (and grandparents) love Facebook, after all). And though the overwhelming friend adds came from her employees in their 20s and 30s, older employees have also created accounts to connect with Morgan.

“People who were already on the app added me right away. But others have been creating accounts — like me — now,” she said. “A lot of folks are increasingly curious about Snapchat, especially because they know their kids are on it.”

She said that she’s seeing a phenomenal return on her investment. Several hundred of her employees have added her and 5-20 people have been adding her every day.

“I don’t see it as work. It’s an easy, natural thing to do, and an everyday, on-the-go part of my job now,” she said. “My life blends. I work a lot so it becomes difficult to separate who I am at work and home — I’m pretty much the same person. When I signed up, I knew I had to be willing to put myself out there, for anyone to see.”

Of course, it’s a two-way street and employees are eager to share bits and pieces of their lives with her, too. Employees have been Snapchat messaging her directly: Someone based in the Berlin office, for example, gave her a tour of his part of the office.

Though she may have gained tons of friends on Snapchat, she did lose one.

“My son took me off of Snapchat because he told me it was weird.”

Well, you win some, you lose some.

Melody Hahm is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.

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