In writing for Brilliant Ink clients, we get the opportunity to see first-hand what stories engage our employee readers most closely, what fires their imaginations, what makes them proud and what gives them a sense of belonging.It turns out that it’s not the recaps of corporate strategy meetings and news about great partnership deals that connect employees most closely to their company. What appeals to employees are rather the stories of achievements by individuals or teams that spread the amount of good in the world, that describe this community -- joined together by work -- as something more than the sum of ticking off boxes, building a product and collecting a pay check.A recent example for us was a profile of a team concerned with Web accessibility for people with disabilities. While the story included hard business detail about the strategic purpose – wider accessibility for an underserved market translates to more online consumers and hence more advertising revenue – the response to the story was telling. Not one commentator mentioned the business purpose, every single one focused on how this work to make Web access easier for people with disabilities made them proud to be a part of the company. The responses ranged from the cheerily supportive to the deeply personal outpouring of stories about family members whose lives had been immensely changed and improved by accessibility work.Another outpouring of pride in the company greeted a story about a colleague who received a prestigious award for his efforts to encourage diversity and support minority employees, and a team banding together to publicize the fate of a rescue dog that shared the company name.These are the stories that encourage employees to talk proudly about their company and to share details of their working lives with family and friends. These are the stories that support their belief that they have found a working environment consistent with their own values and where a sense of community encourages them to work to the best of their abilities.There is always a need to provide education and information to help employees understand their contribution to the whole enterprise, but education is not the same as engagement and it seems that the “softer stuff” plays a more important part in effective internal communications than it’s often given credit for.- Alison Harrison, Communications Strategist and writer