Emily B. Schilling | Corporate communications
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Campaign design and implementation in collaboration with clients, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts to define project goals and devise sustainable creative solutions. Identifying and enhancing company culture; strategizing content and communications channels to support organizational goals, mission, and values. Campaign elements can include regular emails, town halls, broadcasts, magazine, newsletter, digital editorial and production management; speechwriting and coaching; employee training/empowerment and recognition/reward programs; and team-led process improvements based on quality management principles.
Projects and clients include:
Manager, communications, corporate quality & customer satisfaction
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (1997 – 1998)
Manager, employee communications
Macy’s West Division, Federated Department Stores, San Francisco, CA (1996 – 1997)
Manager, employee publications
Armstrong World Industries, Inc., Lancaster, PA (1990 – 1996)
Projects and clients include:
- Past clients include: Ancestry.com, Armstrong World Industries, Compaq Computer Corporation, Cspace.com, Forbes ASAP, Quokka Sports, and NBCOlympics.com.
- Consumer products marketing strategies for Cspace.com clients including: Avon, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Calvin Klein, and GSK.
Manager, communications, corporate quality & customer satisfaction
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (1997 – 1998)
Manager, employee communications
Macy’s West Division, Federated Department Stores, San Francisco, CA (1996 – 1997)
Manager, employee publications
Armstrong World Industries, Inc., Lancaster, PA (1990 – 1996)
Employee communications
Leadership Communications: Prepare for Growth
Essay excerpt, 2020
Essay excerpt, 2020
A pitfall for companies, especially startups that succeed quickly, is not preparing for growth. It’s great to run a young company of fewer than 50 to 100 employees: everyone knows everyone. Leadership personality plays a key role; if the CEO is perceived as a good person, dedicated, smart, and relatable, then the small company can form a happy team without an onboarding process, internal communications system, or even an employee recognition program. Maybe the CEO is very accessible on Slack or other team tools.
Success happens, the CEO is less accessible, and members of the original team find themselves outnumbered by new hires who haven’t been given a formal orientation as to what the company stands for. If their manager is unavailable, where do they get information, and do they trust it? What if their manager is also new to the company? If the company goes public, a new layer of accountability enters the picture, and the little startup's culture changes. Gossip becomes a news source, and disgruntled employees can cause irreparable harm to the company's reputation.
Good leaders set the tone and prioritize regular, consistent conversation within the company. A solid internal communications process is an essential component of productivity and employee well-being, directly affecting customer satisfaction and the company's brand.
Success happens, the CEO is less accessible, and members of the original team find themselves outnumbered by new hires who haven’t been given a formal orientation as to what the company stands for. If their manager is unavailable, where do they get information, and do they trust it? What if their manager is also new to the company? If the company goes public, a new layer of accountability enters the picture, and the little startup's culture changes. Gossip becomes a news source, and disgruntled employees can cause irreparable harm to the company's reputation.
Good leaders set the tone and prioritize regular, consistent conversation within the company. A solid internal communications process is an essential component of productivity and employee well-being, directly affecting customer satisfaction and the company's brand.
All-employee magazine recognizes workers' volunteerism and their community's causes.
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Management-only newsletter
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Praise for Armstrong Today from Ragan Communications:
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Honors & awards:
- For Armstrong Today: First Place, Magazine; First Place, One-Time Special Section in a Magazine, Women in Communications, Central PA
- For Emily: Two Manager’s Awards for Excellence, Five General Manager’s Awards for Excellence, and the President’s Award for Excellence (firm’s highest honor), Armstrong World Industries
- For Armstrong's Building Products Operations: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, 1995. Emily co-wrote and produced the application and speeches for executives (scroll down for sample).
Macy's West/Federated Department Stores: We livened up the company newsletter to focus on employees rather than merchandise and transitioned to a more engaging design. By moving production in-house, we were able to print in full color rather than two-color, at a lower cost.
BEFORE I started working for Macy's West ...
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AFTER our redesign
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Issue focused on diversity
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Sample speech
Acceptance remarks delivered by Henry A. Bradshaw
Written by Emily Schilling with William "Bo" McBee and Henry Bradshaw (Armstrong World Industries, Inc.)
1995 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Roosevelt Room, The White House, March 6, 1996
Written by Emily Schilling with William "Bo" McBee and Henry Bradshaw (Armstrong World Industries, Inc.)
1995 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Roosevelt Room, The White House, March 6, 1996
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Thank you, Mr. President.
On behalf of the 2,400 employees of Building Products Operations, I’m proud to accept this award, the highest business honor in America. We’ve worked hard to engage every one of our employees in improving the business. Today, improving our jobs is part of our jobs … it’s the way we do business and the reason for our high level of performance. Our story is nothing less than a traditional, heavy manufacturer using the principles of quality management to totally transform ourselves into a highly capable, global competitor. For the past year or two we’ve been seeing the huge leaps in performance … and the swift but sure development of capabilities … that are the payoffs for sustaining our commitment to quality. It was working for us before, but now it’s giving us results of enormous—and very gratifying—proportions. On behalf of the Armstrong employees here today, and the others who are working on process improvement and capability development as I speak, I want to thank some groups of men and women:
With help from all of these groups, our employees got us where we are today, sharing the winners’ circle with Corning and the great American companies that are past winners of the Baldrige Award. I am grateful to all who support Armstrong’s Building Products Operations. |
"Tightening Our Grip" feature was part of a series in 'Armstrong Today' employee magazine on quality management.
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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and President Bill Clinton congratulate Armstrong's Henry Bradshaw at the 1995 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards ceremony.
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'You don't have to be glamorous to be world-class. We're not high-tech.
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With help from all of these groups, our employees got us where we are today, sharing the winners’ circle with Corning and the great American companies that are past winners of the Baldrige Award. I am grateful to all who support Armstrong’s Building Products Operations.
Albert Einstein said, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” Over the years, we’ve learned from many other companies’ examples, as well as from Armstrong’s other business units, and today our people in Building Products Operations stand ready to show the world… …that the power of quality management can be used to transform your business, no matter what industry you’re in. You don't have to be glamorous to be world-class. We’re not high-tech. We're a traditional American manufacturer, and we’re part of the life-blood of our country. Armstrong is among the older companies in America, and we’ve been through a lot, just like our country. Armstrong has struggled, survived, and prospered … by aiming for excellence, valuing our employees, and delighting our customers. Tom Armstrong said, in 1860, that he would run his company by these words: “Let the buyer have faith.” Armstrong employees remain true to our founder’s vision. We have always been a quality company; that is our corporate culture. We formalized the quality improvement process in 1983, and since then we’ve integrated quality management into our business process, creating value for customers, shareholders, and employees. Armstrong employees—in all of our operations around the world—are committed to excellence in business. Thirteen years ago, we began our formal quality improvement process. Today, we pause to receive this great honor. Tomorrow, we begin again. |
Cover of 16-page booklet introducing Armstrong's new bonus program based on EVA, printed in English for U.S., English for U.K., French, Italian, Spanish and German.
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