Branding Isn't Just for Marketing

This morning while enjoying my three-mile walk, I passed a service truck with the advertisement "We Protect Your Brand" painted on the sides. Branding of course is a critical business element, so it caught my attention and I wondered how they did that – protect your brand?

As I considered the tagline, I couldn’t imagine how a vendor could provide this protection. Shouldn’t protection be provided by employees? Thinking about how employees understand and protect brand strategies, it occurred to me that unless the organization does a good job of communicating the brand strategy, it would be difficult for the employees to protect it. Those thoughts led to others focused on the best practices for ensuring employees "get" the brand and acknowledge their responsibility to promote it, as well as protect it - something I’m not sure we’re always paying attention to.

Why Branding is Important

I think when most people think about branding, they think about a logo. The American Marketing Association (AMA) goes a little further as they define a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers." Businesses focus a lot of time and money on the creation of the appropriate brand because it can give them an edge in an increasingly competitive market.

The brand is the organization’s promise to its customers. Not only does it help an organization differentiate itself from others, it also assures the organization’s customers of what they can expect from products and services. The foundation of a brand is understanding what the customer needs and is usually anchored through the company’s logo and then builds throughout the marketing and communication channels: website, marketing materials, packaging, and promotional products.

However, another key area where branding is critical is human resource engagement. It’s a very logical connection – recruiting and hiring processes are very similar to the processes used by marketing to attract and retain customers. We want talented individuals to understand what the company’s vision, mission, goals and values are so they can evaluate if the organization is a fit with the type of philosophy and culture they believe in, and can excel in.

Building the Brand through Employees

The objectives of a good brand which should consistently be applied to marketing and communication efforts, as well as human resource management activities, include the following:

• Clearly deliver the message of what your company stands for
• Confirm the credibility of your organization
• Connect with customers, as well as employees on an emotional level
• Motivate action – to buy – or to come to work
• Solidify the loyalty of the customer or the employee

Integrating the importance of understanding and demonstrating brand into human resource processes can be accomplished through the following eight practices:

1. Ensure sourcing and recruiting materials are consistent with the brand messaging
2. Provide training and certification for internal and external recruiters so they understand and can clearly communicate the brand before they begin talking with potential candidates
3. Include values, goals and mission statement information on the career opportunity section of your website
4. Incorporate the company’s mission and values into the interviewing process by asking open-ended questions to identify if the candidate’s personal values align with the firm’s
5. Integrate brand messages into the on-boarding process and help the new employee understand the responsibilities for demonstrating and protecting the brand
6. Periodically offer employee training on business ethics including case studies challenging brand protection and re-enforcing how to appropriately handle business and ethical situations 
7. Include a focus on brand in development goals and executive coaching engagements
8. Align the strategic business, marketing and human resource plans with the brand messaging

It takes more than just a talented individual to help your organization be the best that it can be. That individual of course must do a great job, but they also have to do that great job with the passion and commitment to deliver on the promises you’ve made to your customers. Your brand is derived from who the organization is, who the organization wants to be, and who your customers perceive the organization to be. Your employees are on the front lines. Help them understand how their personal actions reflect brand. For example, if the brand is focused on quality services, it’s imperative that employees do what they say they are going to do. There’s a complete mismatch when the organization says they deliver quality, and then employees consistently do not return phone calls or respond to emails.

I have an excellent example of such a mismatch of brand values from a shopping trip the other day at my favorite grocery store, where I am a loyal customer. Usually this store employs staff who go out of their way to ensure that you find everything you need. The cashiers, especially, engage with shoppers to produce a personalized and "we’re so glad you shopped with us" experience. This gentleman unfortunately didn’t engage with anything or anyone, other than his poor attitude. There was nothing about my experience working with him that matched the brand. On my way out I commented to the manager and she knew exactly who I was speaking about without me even mentioning his name. Her comment was, "We’ve been trying to work with him to see if he’s going to be a fit."

Even in an organization where the recruiting and hiring processes are focused on aligning with the brand, some mistakes are made. Once it’s obvious the values of the employee do not align with the organization’s brand, it’s best to reassign the employee to a job away from customers, develop a performance improvement plan, or terminate the employee. Misalignment of personal and organizational brands results in lost customers! I’ll go back to that store because I know that wasn’t the usual experience, but if I was a first time shopper there, I would definitely find a different store!

So What’s Next?

The recession has complicated the marketplace. There are many organizations redefining their brands as customer needs and expectations have changed. If your organization is reexamining your brand, make sure the process and final results are communicated not only to customers, but existing employees as well. Help job candidates and employees understand how to communicate and demonstrate the new brand through successful performance interactions. The success of the organization rests on their performance. Take immediate actions to review your Human Resource processes to ensure you are sharing the most appropriate information about your expectations for how the brand looks and sounds in the everyday workplace.

It turns out the truck I saw belongs to an organization that calibrates scales used in the distribution of food products. After I researched the company and understood the service they were providing, the tag line makes complete sense. They help ensure that the public can rely on the quality, consistency and trust of the products their clients sell.

There are many voices out there competing for business in my profession and yours. Defining our brands is a journey of business self-discovery. I’m curious, what practices are you employing to ensure that human resource strategies align with company branding? Post comments, questions, ideas below.

Brett McQuinn

Collaborate for a Solution

www.evolutionmgt.com

770.587.9032

Building a Team Takes Team Work

I’m often asked to include team building objectives into the meetings, retreats and interventions I am designing for clients. In many cases, the client initially thinks about the team building request as an exercise, or a get-to-know-you mixer. What I like to share with them is that team building is not a ‘once a quarter’ event. It’s an on-going, dedicated effort by the leader and team members to be open and engaged in an effort to explore and learn more about each other. As a result of their experiences with each other it will be easier for behavioral shifts to take place to improve relationships, communications and overall workplace effectiveness.  

Although we often think of fun, games, assessments and group simulations when we hear the phrase ‘team building,’ there is no quick, one-time magic fix for improving team cohesiveness – it takes work. What’s your plan for building and enhancing the working relationships of your team members? If you’re just developing a plan, or want to enhance your existing strategies think about incorporating the following points.

It All Starts with the Leader
Yes, team building will eventually involve the entire team, but initially we need to start with the leader. This is a very important step and one that is often overlooked by management. When a team attempts to engage participants without ensuring the leader is ready, the group is bound to experience confusion and misaligned messages. Before rolling out the team building activities, skill building and revised performance metrics with the expectation that behavioral changes will take place and performance improvements will be realized the leader should be ready for the team to act differently, and therefore ready to alter his or her leadership style, Usually when there is a disconnect between the leader and the process, depending on how the leader reacts, the team members will become skeptical, suspicious and leery of the probability of success. So the first step should always be to make sure the leader is ready.

And what should the leader be ready for? The leader needs to set the tone for open and honest conversations. There needs to be a sense of trust among the team members that the leader will not take advantage of situations where members may be vulnerable – i.e., when sharing information or trying out new behaviors and skills. The leader also needs to be comfortable with a style that encourages and motivates open, collaborative, creative and diverse work and communication styles. The leader can’t ask for creativity and then belittle a team member for trying something new. Or worse, reprimand team members for failing to reach a goal as a result of trying something new. How quick do you think those team members will volunteer the next time the leader asks for an ‘out-of-the-box’ idea?

The leader is critical to the success of the team moving from Point A to Point B and beyond. It’s the leader who will demonstrate commitment to creating the corporate culture that aligns with and supports the success of the team. Executive coaching or working with a mentor are two successful methods for ensuring the leader is comfortable with who he/she is and is ready to take the team from a silo environment to one that is collaborative, respectful, professional and highly productive.

The Next Step
Once the leader is on board with loosening any "command and control" reins in favor of a shared and participatory style, these additional components to team building strategies can be incorporated:

Vision – the leader needs to be able to excite the team members about where the organization is headed. Each team member needs to understand the desired outcomes the team is responsible for and how each member’s contributions are valued.

Commitment – requires an atmosphere of trust where open discussions about expectations, fears and doubts can be shared and members can take the time to understand what they are committing to. A process designed to be inclusive allows for team members to express their excitement, as well as their concerns while they all work through the process together.

Trust – team members need confidence in their leader and the vision of where the organization is going.

Inclusion – I find the best way to engage individual team members in the process is to facilitate individual and small and large group discussions that invite members to speak openly and honestly about the realities of the workplace and to create a safe place to share ideas for improvements. The two-way communication that occurs in these exchanges must be respectful, non-judgmental, and part of a larger process for team discussion, prioritization and goal setting. Often this facilitation is best guided by an unbiased third party or an external resource.

Goal Setting – building off of the work completed by inviting all members of the team to participate, the leader is now positioned to catalyze consensus – not issue orders – about goals, actions, metrics, etc. This is a point where effective teams can often have lively discussions and begin sharing very divergent viewpoints.

Allowing these conversations to take place allows the team to resolve unanswered issues and gain knowledge and information. Ultimately consensus of the team – being able to agree to acceptance, not necessarily agree with a particular approach – is reached as team members feel they have been heard and their thoughts have been considered.

So What’s Next?
The workplace of the future needs great leaders and strong teams to be successful with technology advancements, flexible work arrangements, workforce diversity, and the fast-paced nature of global competition. In order to ensure success, workplace culture must also be aligned to support an environment that encourages the sharing and brainstorming of ideas and creativity. If you didn’t have a chance to read the January Fast Company article by Jon Kolko on the importance of culture, please do. I believe you’ll get some new ideas from it.

In addition to having a culture that supports the organization’s focus on teams, leaders must be skilled at leading work and dismiss the old concept of directing work. Organizational structures still hanging on to "silo" mentalities must be demolished and an emphasis on holistic approaches and the power of synergy and collaboration must be embraced. HR must be strategic with workforce planning and committed to hiring the skills needed to accomplish not only today’s goals, but more importantly tomorrow’s. As Jim Collins advises, moving from good to great is an evolution, not a program – it’s a long-term commitment, not a fad.

Team building is certainly an aspect of meeting and retreat planning. However, supporting those once-in-a-while encounters should be a foundation of long term nurturing and organization development strategies that ensure meaningful on-going success.

www.evolutionmgt.com

770.587.9032

 The Marshmallow Challenge

Wanted: Global Managers

Do you remember the 1964 World’s Fair Disney exhibit, "It’s a Small World"? (It debuted the song you can’t get out of your head as soon as you hear it.) Well fast forward to the 21st century and we’re there – "it’s a small, small world." The notion of a global marketplace is no longer a prediction; it’s here, and its impact is far reaching. 

Globalization not only impacts companies that import and export products. It influences the operations of all types of industries that have facilities in the U.S. and overseas, as well as totally U.S.-based enterprises that have competitors in foreign countries. Today, companies with an Internet presence and a few employees can, and do, compete effectively in the global marketplace. Globalization - the movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integration - is impacting all types of businesses, regardless of size.

We’ve grown beyond just large corporations like Coca-Cola and Sony needing to pay attention to how international business is driving changes to our education systems, leadership development programs, customer service approaches, technologies and financial decisions. Business investments in products, services, workforces, facilities, technologies, and communities all have to consider what’s occurring in the global marketplace. Is your organization considering these influences? Is your leadership team designing strategic initiatives for competing and winning in a smaller world?

A "World-Wise" Road Map
The 2010 IBM Global Chief Human Resource Officer Study, titled Working Beyond Borders, found that "while organizations continue to develop and deploy talent in diverse areas around the globe at an accelerated rate, the rationale behind workforce investment is changing." The study findings indicate that:

• expansion requires workforce redirection to locations providing the greatest opportunity, not just lower costs
• management strategies to reflect an increasingly dynamic workforce must be re-imagined
• competitive success will depend on leadership talent to assimilate information and share insights among a diverse group of employees living and working around the globe
• social networking and collaboration "soft" skills also have a beneficial bottom-line consequence

Supporting the IBM Global Study findings, the May issue of HR Magazine, (available to SHRM members), includes an interesting article by Kathryn Tyler entitled, Global Ease.

Kathryn’s article focuses on the strategies necessary to help organizations build "culturally competent" Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO). I saw the value of these strategies carrying over to any manager responsible for leading international work teams; not just HR. So I’m offering them for your consideration.

Ms. Tyler suggests that organizations and individuals can independently and collaboratively incorporate career learning opportunities, such as the following, to boost global leadership development:

Travel - A long term assignment may not be practical for everyone; but with a slight modification, perhaps taking an 18-month assignment with two-week trips back to the states every three months, it may be a workable option. Work and travel should be focused on countries and cultures that are important to the organization whether the location is dedicated to operations, labor or customer markets.

International degrees and workshops - Not all professionals need an international degree. Enrolling in global courses can be very educational and rewarding. Schools such as the Thunderbird School of Global Management offer courses on various topics related to globalization. However, for managers who have the time for and interest in an international degree, the experience can be valuable and allow for establishing a strong business network with executives from other countries.

Read globally - Keeping up on world news through country specific newspapers and resources such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Economist, Fortune and Harvard Business Review is a must. Incorporating discussions about current international events into management meetings can also lead to innovation and creativity.

International projects - Managers should be encouraged to study a new language, assisted by resources such as Rosetta Stone; and to volunteer for project assignments as they are identified. An organization can build a competitive advantage by locating managers in emerging markets for a year or two in order to gain an understanding of the way work and business relationships are accomplished.

Multicultural network - Leaders should be encouraged to network with other managers and executives who have international backgrounds and responsibilities, even if their role is not the same. Managers can also be matched with mentors outside the U.S. and should be offered access to opportunities where they could join in on international team projects.

So What’s Next?
The writing is more than on the wall: Globalization is here to stay, and leaders need to be taking the right steps to embrace it. Just by virtue of the word, globalization means business not usual. Therefore, it requires new thinking and new ways of doing things.

As I wrote about last week, planning and implementing organizational change isn’t a strong suit for American businesses; as demonstrated by a 70% failure rate. It takes time and commitment to successfully initiate change and to have it embraced by employees. But it can be done with the right leadership and change management approach.

According to Peyman Dayyani, VP of Organizational Development and Human Capital for Mobile Communication Company of Iran, who was quoted in Tyler’s article, "acquiring global skills should include a 70-20-10 learning approach: 70% learned by doing, 20% from being mentored by individuals with a global mind-set, and 10% by reading and attending classes." This formula can provide a good yardstick for developing the mixture of global learning experiences suited for specific organizational needs.

Not only do organizations need to consider the impact of globalization in their approach to strategic expansion, they also have to re-imagine their orientation, leadership development and human resource programs that support workforce analysis, succession planning, engagement, job rotations and more. Leadership development, especially to grow global cultural competencies, still seems to be elusive to many organizations. According to IBM’s Study, companies are struggling to both find and nurture effective future leaders.

Cultural competencies necessary for the success of global leaders according to Kathryn Tyler include self-awareness and the knowledge of how you are perceived by others; language acquisition, which not only provides a means for communication, but also allows for insights into the culture; and societal sensitivities, which allow leaders to be open to different solutions and adaptable to different cultures and work style norms. Leadership development programs focused on integrating these competencies along with the traditional leadership skill sets would go far in helping executives prepare for managing an international workforce.

The experts have gathered data, analyzed it and are laying out road maps for tuned-in organizations to follow in their quest to motivate and prepare leaders for the changing requirements of global management. What advice would you add to aid companies trying to strategize about how to prepare for success in a global market?

Professor Andrew Kakabadse

Developing Creative Teams - The Art of Working with Others

This ASTER image uses short wavelength
infrared bands to highlight in bright pink
the altered rocks in the Morenci pit associated
with copper mineralization.
NASA/GSFC/ERSDAC/JAROS and
U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The importance of team work and the ability to collaborate with others continue to be strong competencies successful organizations need to nurture.  With that as a background, I’m republishing this article which I wrote last year.  It is still very relevant and hopefully will spark some ideas for you about how to foster these capabilities within your own style, as well as in the work behaviors of those who report to you.　

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

When a team works well together it’s like viewing an inspiring piece of art. Unfortunately most business leaders report that rather than a creative team working in sync to innovate solutions, they are more likely to experience a lack of agility, creativity, communications, empathy and commitment. What are we missing in preparing employees for the real-life challenges of the 21st century?

IBM’s research last year, conducted with 700 Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO) from around the world, Working Beyond Borders provides some insights to the disconnects we’re experiencing between our leadership talents and the needs of the changing workplace. Based on their findings, how we train our leaders hasn’t kept up with changing global business circumstances. They suggest a more strategic and integrated business approach needs to be developed and implemented to close the gaps between where our businesses are with leadership development and the future needs of a global marketplace.

Organization development efforts need to focus on addressing an integrated plan to re-tool and educate employees, providing:

• new leadership skills and experiences, acquired and applied at a faster pace
• a restated business protocol that embraces needed workplace flexibilities to connect people to information and each other
• an updated business culture that encourages and rewards creativity and innovation vs. demonstrated performance that follows a "play it safe" status quo mentality

So how do we get there?

Strategic Challenges to Overcome
The analysis of the data collected from the CHRO’s boils down to three key strategies organizations should embrace in order to be prepared to grow and thrive along with the business trends moving us to the future:

• Organizations need to get a handle on the talents and skills they currently have and compare those to a reasonable estimate of the workforce knowledge, skills and abilities they will need in the future. (If you missed my blog last week on Preparing Workers for the Future, you may want to reference it.  Preparing this will help to clearly define how various workforce needs will be staffed, i.e., full-time, part-time, outsourced, etc. This assessment will also help identify high-potential individuals ready and capable of succeeding in a robust leadership development program.
• As the world spins faster and faster it is imperative that organizations improve the intensity and speed at which employees can develop and apply new skills in a creative manner without fearing consequences connected to failure. This paradigm shift provides an opportunity for organizations to think outside-the-box when it comes to training methods integrating dynamic on-the-job project approaches such as: job rotations, mentoring relationships, creative problem solving assignments, and job shadowing opportunities. EMI has found that programs built from a competency-based training model are much more targeted and lead to a broader integration of job responsibilities. Reward programs that motivate and acknowledge creative solutions to problems further demonstrate a culture change commitment to innovation.
• Study after study continues to point to the need to build collaboration skills within our current and future leaders. The ability of individuals to work well with diverse groups, either face-to-face or through the technology advancements that connect us, is essential. Individuals with low Emotional Intelligence (EI) and underdeveloped capabilities to empathize and communicate with others while managing their own preferences will have a role; it just won’t be as a leader. 

These challenges, deemed highly important by the CHRO’s, were also seen as ones that currently are beyond the capabilities of their firms to achieve. This acknowledgement provides a great opportunity for HR to collaborate with other C-suite leaders, as well as the business, academic, and consulting communities, to create practical solutions. Together, we can dialogue and work across silos to energize solutions that are creative and forward-thinking.

So What’s Next?
We’ve all heard the Confucius saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." That seems appropriate here. It can be overwhelming to think about the many changes involved with addressing the issues IBM’s research documented. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the first step -- acknowledging the need for a strategy that integrates solutions into an updated corporate culture and operational practices -- can be managed by breaking it down into workable pieces. Utilizing the skills of external expertise can allow the internal HR leader to actively participate in the collaboration and introduce an "unbiased" perspective to oversee the flow of the project.

Each section of the Insights from Global Chief Human Resource Officers Study ends with recommended questions to motivate thinking and planning. Here are a few to contemplate:

Matching resources to organizational needs:

• Which alternative work structures provide greater opportunity for efficient and more flexible deployment?
• How do you break down the organizational silos that prevent the best use of your talent?
• How can you reduce time to competence in your most critical jobs?

Cultivating creative leaders:

• How are you fostering creativity and borderless thinking among your leadership team?
• Are you radically rethinking leadership development to rapidly close the effectiveness gap?
• Do you integrate leadership development with emerging business opportunities to better prepare leaders for the future?

Fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing:

• What will you do to get multiple generations of employees to actively engage in online collaboration?
• In what ways can you explore, reward and integrate diverse and unconventional points of view?
• What novel techniques are you using to tap into the insights and ideas of employees around the world?

This is an important conversation for organizations to be having. I invite you to use this forum to share what your organization is doing to address these issues. Do you even see these as issues? How does creativity and workforce planning fit into your strategies going forward – or are you focused on something else?

Please click below and offer your comments. Also, if you found this blog sparked your creativity and interest to explore answers, please forward it to engage others who can partner with you. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Leadership Lessons