Leadership development series entertains staff on just $15 (for theme music)

Rockwell Collins, like many other organizations, introduced a manager assessment program in which employees provide feedback about their managers’ performance. The plan included delivering tips and tricks to managers about addressing common leadership pitfalls. It also had a video component—which has won Rockwell Collins first place in the “Low-Budget Video” category of PR Daily’s Video and Visual Awards.

“We knew we wanted to do a video,” the team says, “but we were getting tired of stuffy talking heads and didn’t know how far we’d get with pitching a business case to get funding and resources to pursue a video.” The team opted to “just do it,” though, giving birth to “Jack Chat,” a video series produced with an iPhone and iMovie, hosted by leadership development program manager Jackie Pelland. 

New videos are posted every 2-3 weeks on the organization’s internal Leadership Development Google+ Community, where nearly all of Rockwell Collins’ leaders are members. Recent episodes have been viewed nearly 3,500 times on the organization’s intranet, and the series has generated considerable internal buzz. 

Pelland has become something of a celebrity around the organization; she’s received a number of requests to speak at group events, where she is introduced as “the star of Jack Chat.” So far, the entire series has cost Rockwell Collins only $15, the fee paid to secure the rights to use the video’s theme music.

Congratulations to Pelland and series producer Kim Garrett.