Brand and employee engagement lexicon

From my upcoming book The Talent Journey, part of the upcoming 55-minute guide to … series .

Definition Of terms

Attraction – Getting the right people to want to come to work for you and not your competitors.

Brand – The sum total of what and how people think and feel about your organization, its people, and its products and services.  Typically a significant intangible financial asset seldom managed like one.  It’s what they say it is, not what you say it is.

Brand engagement – Broadly, how connected people feel to your brand.  In this context, brand engagement is about how well your employees and other stakeholders are connected to, and prepared to go the extra mile, for your products and services.

Employer Brand – Your reputation as an employer amongst potential and existing employees and other stakeholders.  Again, it’s what they say it is, not what you say it is.

Employee Journey[1] – Whether it’s broken down into two stages or 12, there is a well-embedded concept that breaks down the experience into touch points.  In broad terms, thinking through how your engagement effort applies to people at each of the following stages of the employee journey can provide great insight into who needs to be involved, the potential ROI and benefits to the business, the best media and engagement techniques to apply, and what other actions need to be taken:

1. Brand – A person knows something about your organisation, or learns about it, through a variety of touch points.  These may include your consumer/corporate brand, product and service experience, word of mouth, recruitment advertising, or online experience.
2. Employer Brand – At some stage, the person considers your organisation as a place where they might like to work.  They seek information about your organisation – again from a range of sources, most of which your organisation has no control over whatsoever.
3. Attraction & Recruitment – The person decides to find out more about you, and to seek a job offer from your organisation.  They experience your attraction and recruitment process and decide to join you or not join you.
4. On-boarding and induction – The person is inducted into the organisation and experiences “on boarding”.
5. First 90 days – The person experiences their initial time with your organisation, including initial perceptions, setting of initial goals, objectives and expectations, and forms a picture as to whether what you offered is what they receive.
6. Engagement – The person continues to develop in their role (or not), and at various stages, they consider looking for a different role or challenge – with your organisation or with another organisation. Or, the organisation considers finding a different role for the person with itself or another organisation!
7. Departure experience - The person leaves employment with your organisation – and may (or may not) consider rejoining at another stage, continuing to advocate your organisation as an employer, and its products and services.

Employee Value Proposition – What you say and do to show what you offer as an employer and what people can expect of an employment relationship with you. 

Engagement[2] – Employee engagement is broadly how much people care about, and are willing to do something extra for their career, their company, their colleagues, their communities and their customers.  When it’s working well, therefore, employee engagement is a good thing for everyone on your stakeholder list.  Employee engagement delivers:

• Commercial and cultural benefits to the organisation, and
• Personal and professional benefits to the stakeholders involved.

 Insanity[3] – Doing the same thing but expecting different results.  Often prevalent in employee communications. Alternatively, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!”

ROI – Return on Investment (or Return on Involvement) – Getting more out than you would if you put your money in the bank or invested in something else (or if you want to calculate it, let us know your current discount rate). 

1.  Engagement builds shareholder value
Smart companies understand that how they attract, engage and retain their people has as much impact on their business performance as their R&D, products and services, and marketing communications.  Companies that do it well outperform those who don’t. 

2.  Engagement builds brand equity
Your brand and intangible assets represent something between 40 and 70 percent of the total value of your organisation on your Finance Director’s balance sheet.  People make or break your reputation.  And people are your greatest asset (according to your annual report).  So it makes sense to manage your reputation, as a business and as an employer, like the important financial asset it is.  External brand building in the employment space is no longer just about recruitment marketing and advertising, either.  It’s just as much about marketing, advertising, PR, HR and internal communications.

3.  Engagement enhances productivity
There are always going to be employees who go the extra mile, and those who don’t. The trick is to have as many of the good ones as possible.  People don’t join a company with the intention of “not being engaged.”  If you invest in making sure people have the awareness, attitude and tools to contribute, people will be more productive.  They will contribute more, and the good ones will stay longer.  Make sure your employer brand, employer value proposition – whatever you want to call it – is working hard as a business asset.   It’s critical to ensuring that you get the right people, that they get productive quickly, and that you don’t have to go through the process of hiring them all over again.

4.  Engagement improves talent attraction & retention
The simple act of making the effort to engage and give people a voice is often enough to make a difference, even to cynics.  What’s more is that your employees can act as a key channel to market for your reputation as a business and as an employer.  It’s not just about being nice – it’s about cost saving and improved productivity.  You can reduce recruitment advertising costs as well as agency fees if people become employer brand ambassadors.

5.  Engagement affects customer attraction & retention
Organisations invest heavily in their infrastructures, in developing products and services, in sales and marketing, in supply chain and getting their products and services to markets at the price that will yield them the most profit. The problem is, you can get all of that right — and still lose customers and market share.  The truth is that for nearly all products and services, even if your performance and pricing are perfect, poor service and interaction with your people – sales forces, procurement people, customer facing, client facing and service staff – is where your reputation is made or broken.  Customers are willing to forgive a lot if your people treat them well.

 Stakeholders – Depending on your objectives, your stakeholders may not be limited to employees of your organisation.  Often, engagement efforts need to take into account other stakeholders who may be affected by changes in the way people inside your organisation think and behave. 

 These can include:

Your organisation

o     Senior executives and leaders

o     Business and people managers

o     Employees (and their families and friends)

o     Contractors (and their families and friends)

o     Former employees

o     Future (potential) employees

Other organisations

o     Outsourced functions (HR, IT, etc.)

o     Suppliers

o     Partners

o     Regulators and government & related bodies

 The broader community

o     The investment community

o     Shareholders / investors

o     Environmental and Corporate Responsibility interests

Your customers/consumers or clients

o     Potential customers or clients

o     Current customers or clients

o     Past customers or clients

Your competitors

o     Direct ‘traditional’ business competitors

o     Non-traditional and indirect competitors

o     Competitors for talent

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[1] Gower Handbook of Employee Communications, Gower Publishing, London, 2009.

[2] Gower Handbook of Employee Communications, Gower Publishing, London, 2009.

[3] Albert Einstein, 1879-1955.

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand, brand engagement, employee communication, employer brand, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication, pr, social media, stakeholder engagement

Design Thinking continues apace

A good article over at BusinessWeek on how design thinking is gaining pace and  starting to gain traction.  In essence it’s broader, more creative thinking about how to solve problems and drive strategy than traditional silo-managed and owned ways of working.  Dave Armano pushes it into social media and the idea of a “collaboratory“.  Have a gander…

It links in to systems thinking and Dan Gray and my ongoing crusade against an internal communications / change communications / employee engagement / employer brand community that seems hell-bent on driving incremental competence-led changes rather than higher-level approaches to delivering more to the organisations we work with.

In other words, to paraphrase Einstein, the thinking that got us here is not the thinking that is going to get us out of here.  It’s not about better employee surveys, or using social media as a communication channel, or getting better at writing for the web, etc.  These are all tactics, and valulable ones, but we need to be looking at a new toolbox, or a bigger van…

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand, brand engagement, digital engagement, employee communication, employer brand, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

… and some Just Don’t Get It

I found an interesting comment on an age-old post on another blog on another site talking about “The end of internal communications.”  The blog argued a point similar to mine that internal communicators sometimes don’t spread their wings wide enough to embrace the “big picture.”

Here is the comment:

“I think that people in business often think that communications is an easy task, that as (the majority of people) have the ability to ‘communicate’ i.e. they can speak and write – that they are therefore ‘good communicators’.  Internal Communications is a specialist role, and without us ’specialists’ it can and does go wrong.

I’ve worked as an Internal Communications Manager covering various areas from Finance (Risk, Finance, HR etc) to the Public Sector (Policing, Human Rights) to Sports (Football, Rugby orgs) – and I’d like to say that I was very effective in each of these arenas despite not having ‘relevant’ business experience in any of them. A good communicator doesn’t have to be an expert in the field. They have to be an expert in finding information, and communicating it in the best way for their audience.” [ emphasis added].

OK, on the plus side, of course we all know the cliche “everyone thinks they can communicate” argument IC so often resorts to. And it’s true.

But really, ‘Finding information and communicating it in the best way for their audience?’  Whose audience, the communicator’s?  What information, the information the communicator says is important?  Isn’t this just “internal communications as channel and message management” instead of adding value?

Being an expert in finding information makes the role sound like an interrogator or librarian, not a dialogue starter.  Can you say  “Push” communication, anyone? 

I prefer to think that the purpose of information is is to get communication, not the other way around.  Thanks, Facebook dude!

PS – great post by Steve C here

Filed under: brand engagement, employee communication, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

If you’re going to navel gaze, why not look at someone else’s?

David Ferrabbee and I had lunch recently, and asked the question, what value do we add, really, as “communication experts”?

The main reason many of us seem to keep our jobs could arguably be because we serve the outdated management thinking and organisational structure of our employers, not because the skills we bring to the table matter to the business.

I know, that’s a bit harsh.

But a small movement is gathering.  A newish generation of those who are a bit fed up with the old guard and their relentlessly incremental, inward-looking, clubby and self-congratulating thinking…

The point is,  have a look at, say, Euan Semple; or Guy Kawasaki; or Mike Williams; or Russell Davies; or Flo Heiss… Euan has more followers on Twitter as there are international members of several communication associations. 

Maybe it’s just me.  I have a sardonic edge; I’m suspicious of clubs that would have me as a member; I don’t like groupthink; and ultimately maybe I need to admit I believe can make a bigger difference being on the outside of the tent pissing in.

And maybe it’s the world I inhabit – designers, digiterati, most under 30 (25 even) and constantly not only tapping apps on their iphones, but developing apps for iphones.  I’m sort of an honorary member of their club; the older guy who gets it.  Who is, in fact, often their champion on projects.

Once again, I wish internal communicators and our broad associations would start looking over the fence into other people’s yards, because to be frank theirs are a lot more interesting.  And we can get inspired by what they’re all doing, rather than eking another 1% effectiveness out of how to run employee surveys, or write for the web, or use social media internally. 

That’s how we will remain relevant, and valuable. That’s how disruptive innovation occurs.  The time for incremental improvements in employee engagement is past, I’m afraid.

The guys on the other side of the fence are looking at ways to destroy – for all the right reasons – everything our profession seems to stand for.  Not in a meanspirited, evil way, but just in a way that reflects that the incremental audience-message-channel-measurement view of the world is just so … flawed. 

The founder of Facebook recently said, “The other guys think the purposeof communication is to get information. We think the purpose of information is to get communication.”

That is a massive shift in thinking no number of awards for “internal communication excellence” as is going to be able to stave. 

I mean, THIS is interesting (from Publicis sister agency Fallon):

(And I’m a twitter sceptic)

And THIS isn’t:

 Well, I’m tired of it.

Anyone want to join the Evolution, drop me a line.

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand, brand engagement, digital engagement, employee communication, employer brand, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication, pr, social media, stakeholder engagement

Simplicity, specialisation, complexity, strategy … a theme emerging

The whole theme of moving from complexity to simplicity and from specialisation to a broader “multi-specialist” skill set has loomed large for me (and this blog) over the previous year.

The recession we are in – largely due to specialisation in obscure financial instruments that many didn’t fully understand, with no one taking a “big picture” view (or those who were supposed to not succeeding).

The circumstances in internal organisational politics and responsibility – where internal and external is overlapping and marketing, HR, internal comms, IT and others rubbing shoulders- largely due to specialisation.  Some organisations have appointed strategic-level people to oversee this; most haven’t.

I spent some time recently in an American Intensive Care Unit with my dad; specialists had all kinds of information, but no one seemed to have a grip on the big picture.

I’m not saying we need to be experts in anything.  One could never be.  But I truly believe the next several years will see the pendulum swing back towards bigger, more holistic, more consolidated views of things in the business world.  People who can see the connections, dig into the complexity and then unravel it and make it simpler, who can join things up will be worth their weight it platinum.

With this comes accountability.  With this comes efficiency and cost savings since the left hand and right hand will be working together.

What do you think?

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand, brand engagement, digital engagement, employee communication, employer brand, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

Annual Predictions 2009

For the third year I will be making my predictions for the coming year.  In January I’ll revisit last year’s predictions and see how I did.  That way, I have to write a blog posting, see? 

I have to admit I’ve had less time to think about it than in previous years.  However… here goes:

1)  Strategy, design and communications businesses will fare better than advertising and PR.  (Duh)

2)  The new must have / bling thing will be exclusivity — that will be the thing — invitation-only music sites, for example.  Fewer, quality things in our lives.

3)  Similarly, Luxury brands will have to go ever more bespoke and tailored. 

4)  Similarly, social media sites will see ever more exclusive and bespoke content.  “Discoverability” will emerge as a common term. Pull communication will disrupt old models.

5)  HR and Marketing will solidify ownership of the employee engagement and brand engagement space, and will more likely co-opt corporate comms/corporate affairs than the IC community

6) Large multinationals will embrace employer brand and EVP efforts as a way to cut through attraction noise; but smaller (still big) companies will question how this differs from the behviour touch point of their corporate brand.  Smart multinationals could well head this way too. 

7) At the same time, consolidation of internal communications around brand and HR issues — driven by marketing and HR, see 4, above — will expand dramatically, with actual process changes emerging rather than just communication about issues/processes.

Mobile.  Bigger and more present than ever; my new laptop has a bloody SIM card in it! Unlimited data! Slow, maybe; cool – very.

9) Astronomers will uncover our first ever evidence of life elsewhere in the Universe.

10) Greenwashing on a major scale will be uncovered across at least 3 Fortune 100 companies, wiping billions (more) in brand value off their balance sheets.

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand, brand engagement, digital engagement, employee communication, employer brand, hr and brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication, pr, social media, stakeholder engagement

Effective audience-centric presentations

I work within a communications group with a French corporate headquarters and am always amazed at the number of bullets and words and data packed into every slide for most of their presentations.  It’s a cultural thing. Or is it? Truth be told, I once worked for the British MD of an investment bank (back office) who had the same approach.

When it’s important to make a point, you add a bullet, and when the slide is full you add another slide.

Then you read the slide to the audience.

In one case, I was asked to present results of an employee survey conducted by our colleagues in Paris; 150+ slides with the summary at the end.  Assuming the audience was conscious, even alive, by the time they got to the summary was a pretty long-odds bet.  (I of course deleted about 125 slides.)

To be fair, I’ve been just as … well, occasionally perhaps nearly as … guilty myself on occasion.  I finally had a chance to speak to one of my French colleagues about this.  Their response was that “Yes, but what if they see the presentation itself without the oral information?  They won’t know what you were saying! Idiot!”  (Last word was impled rather than stated).

My response was, shouldn’t you make the presentation as engaging and interesting as possible, and if you need to provide detail for those not in attendance that can be done in a handout or takeaway?

To quote an Elvis Costello song, “There are some things I shan’t report / The memory of their last retort / Things really haven’t changed that much / One of us is still getting paid too much.”   It was as if I was speaking a different language.  Which, in fact, I was and not just linguistically.

Filed under: Employee engagement, employee communication, employer brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

SAS Event

My employer is running an event this Thursday morning (13 Nov) called “Brand impact from the inside out.”  Don’t blame me for the title borrowed from 2006.  It should be a good event – some case studies from BT, LECG, and work we did engaging 50,000+ people at AXA over 24 hours.

Find out more here.

Here’s the spiel:

Creating value by connecting employees to your brand using social media, face-to-face engagement and other methods.

Andaz Hotel, London, EC2M 7QN
08.30-10.50am, Thursday 13th November 2008

If ever there was an environment where we all needed to focus our brand investments exactly where it matters, it is now. The connection between employee engagement, delivering on brand promises and business performance is a well proven one. The question is, what is the best way to make that connection? This event explores exciting new and more pragmatic methods to help brand, marketing, HR and internal communications professionals to create communication and engagement programmes that connect with employees and create real brand and business impact, from inside to out.

Benefits of attendance:
· Insights into brand engagement best practice
· Understanding of how engagement can deliver brand impact and value
· Insight into the latest social media based engagement tools and methods
· Tips on how to overcome audience barriers to brand engagement
· Real life stories from practitioners
· Insights into the impact of face-to-face engagement methods, particularly amongst senior management
· Practical tips on maximising engagement effectiveness and efficiency
· Network with peers from brand, marketing, HR and internal communications.

To register yourself and/or a colleague, please download the agenda and follow the instructions or call Polly Clark on 020 7243 3232 or email events@sasdesign.co.uk .

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand engagement, digital engagement, employer brand, organisational communication

Theory & Pragmatism: two sides of the same coin

There’s been a lot of theory-bashing lately in the internal communications arena. 

I find this strange.  To me, theory and pragmatism are two sides of the same coin.  Theory drives strategy; pragmatism drives implementation.

But, it’s easy to see why people would blow this trumpet so loudly: listen to me, I’m the one who can give you a quick and practical solution, not some egg-headed academician with their head in the clouds/sand.  Who can resist the allure of The Pragmatist?

While it involves equal shares of art and science, there is a scientific grounding to good communication practice.  In essence, every communication is basically an experiment backed by a hypothesis — for example, “I hypothesise that creating a newsletter will result in an increase in people’s understanding of an issue and their interest in it.”

The problem with a lot of so-called “pragmatists” is that they are often short-sighted.  They have a quick solution to every challenge, but they have forgotten their hypothesis and quite often miss the bigger picture.

This is why companies end up with intranets littered with hundreds of standalone, disconnected pages, dozens of newsletters, and inconsistent internal communications in general.  Pragmatism often means quickly plugging a hole in one part of the system while unknowingly blowing a gasket in another as a result.  But, out of sight, out of mind. Pragmatism often spawns initiative-itis.  Why? Because it’s easier in the short run to appear to be “doing something”.

Yet the most valuable pragmatic solutions, in my experience, usually come after a good think through of the context, the issues, the whole system … and having a theory to support your decisions.

I’m all for pragmatism.  I just don’t see why it’s always positioned as being in opposition to theory. 

No one ever got fired for being pragmatic.  But many communicators fail terribly when their “pragmatism” comes back to bite them on the ass.

Filed under: Employee engagement, employee communication, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

New ideas, please

In the past month, I’ve encountered blog postings and articles and seen/heard about presentations on the following topics:

- Email etiquette (wouldn’t information fatigue syndrome be a more interesting expansion of this?)
- Nonverbal communication (it would be interesting if someone actually publicised the fact the the whole 70%/30% statistic is a misinterpretation of the original study everyone quotes with such enthusiasm)
- Why PowerPoint is so evil (how about not bashing the software and sharing some great presentation examples?)
- Non-core business philanthropy masquerading as CSR
- The business value of employee engagement
- Cross-cultural communication tips featuring such gems as the Chevrolet Nova’s failure in Mexico

Interesting … like, 5 years ago.  Flogged to death … like, 3 years ago.  The Nova example is STILL USED and is celebrating its 40th birthdday in a junkyard near you.

Surely we as professional communicators have some newer insights to share than THIS?

Filed under: internal communication, organisational communication