The yellow brick
road to employee engagement
Blog: Paul Hitchens is Author of
‘Create the Perfect Brand’ and ‘Successful Brand Management – In a Week’
published by Hodder Education. He is the Course Director for ‘Brand Strategy
& HR’ hosted by Symposium Training.
The Wizard of Oz is an evergreen favourite and the stage show
'Wicked' is set to run and run. At the heart of L. Frank Baum's fantasy are
some very down-to-earth values. I recently watched the London West End
production with my family and was struck by its underlying foundation of core
values and the parallels with employee engagement, corporate culture and
motivation.
Employee Engagement is the spirit of the Employer Brand. Engaged
employees that love their role and understand the part they play in fulfilling
the organisations vision are the lifeblood of a healthy culture. Conscientious,
engaged employees bring brands to life and deliver the best brand experiences.
The period of time in which the first Oz books were published
coincides with the boom in the ‘American Dream’. A belief in the ‘Land of
Opportunity’ motivated many people to leave the old world of Europe behind and
pursue prosperity and personal improvement. From 1900 L. Frank Baum published
14 books on the Land of Oz and I am sure we are all familiar with the Technicolor
1939 MGM version. The themes and values of Baum’s work would have struck a
chord with anyone considering starting a business and building a brand.
Values that resonate with entrepreneurs:
·
COURAGE to realise your dreams.
·
LOVE and passion in your work and the products of your labours
·
WISDOM to sustain the success and grow a long-term business.
Themes that apply to building strong motivated teams and esprit de
corps:
·
TEAM WORK Solve problems by working together.
·
CONFIDENCE Follow your gut instincts.
·
HONESTY Be true to yourself and don’t hide behind a façade
·
MORALITY Don’t give up on your principles,
·
TRUST Believe in good and good things will happen.
·
THE BRAND There’s no place like home.
Back in the real world
Values can often become a
list of clichés that are poorly defined and generic. Annual Reports, Corporate
Brochures and Induction Packs are bolstered with pages dedicated to corporate
values. But how were these values arrived at originally and are they still
relevant today?
For example: Trust is a
commonly held value that should be implicit in every brand. What exactly does
‘trust’ mean and how is it defined inside and outside of the organisation? Can
employees trust senior management to keep their word? Can the customer trust in the product or service?
In order to succeed and have
relevance, values require the complete endorsement of the boardroom supported
by clear evidence that the management team is practicing what it preaches.
These values will need to be interpreted and understood at an individual level
so that employees can integrate them into their job description.
If you are part of an established
organisation with a legacy of values, it could be time to re-evaluate their
effectiveness. Choose a ‘Values
Focus Group’ from across the organisation including; Senior Management,
Marketing, Human Resources and Line Managers. Ask the group if these existing
values are capable of delivering a unique customer experience or a generic one?
If the legacy values are of the generic ‘me to’ variety they will add nothing
to the personality of the brand. Too many values can be as ineffective as no
values at all. If your employees have trouble recalling your values, it is
better to keep them short and succinct and limited to a core number of
five.
Considerations for choosing Brand Values:
·
Are
the values sincere and memorable?
·
Do these values help to differentiate the
brand?
·
Are
the values relevant to the brand
experience?
·
Can
employees realistically live up to these values?
·
Do
the values provoke measurable behaviours that will enhance or transform the
brands performance?
It may take several days to
arrive at your new values system, but they will have a long lasting and
positive effect, so it is worth every effort to get it right. The publication
of the new values will directly influence decisions for hiring employees,
measuring their performance and awarding rewards.
Appoint Values Ambassadors
from all levels of the organisation to disseminate the values across the
workforce. Ensure that every employee is within reach of these Values
Ambassadors, from Senior Management to temporary staff. Values are best shared
and practiced ‘face to face’, you cannot expect them to thrive if they are
buried away in a document.
Thank
you
Paul
Hitchens
I
help people and companies to build strong brands inside and outside their organisation.
I often ask delegates at my workshops to describe their favourite brands and I
expect them to reveal the stand out qualities and the stories they associate
with those cherished products and services. This is because strong brands have
meaning and stand for something that’s relevant to us.
Paul
presents the following one-day courses with Symposium Training -
Brand Strategy and
Human Resources – Building the Employer Brand
21 May 2014 – London
2 July 2014 – Birmingham
2 July 2014 – Birmingham
Your brand needs you! The power of employer branding.
Copyright
© Verve Interactive Ltd 2014
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