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Employer Brand – time to value your values

Ian Buckingham — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:23:00 GMT

"The CEO is dead, long live the ceo" the Ian Buckingham column.A brand is nothing but a set of physical guidelines, a logo, strapline and empty promises - without employee engagement. Regardless of the cost of brand development, employees hold the answer to successful return on investment. The current global economic downturn is as much the result of a failure within leading brands to develop requisite culture as it is the result of inadequate regulation or misdirected financial practice. It's about time the HR community reinvented itself after decades of process management and cost control focus to rise to the challenge of proactively taking control of the internal culture and linking this to the development of the brand.

We are entering an age when the lip service paid to employee engagement may finally be backed up with genuine empowerment and HR may even acquire a frontline role in the economic recovery. How can I make such an assertive comment at this time, when it's clearly an employer's market and even the best people are obsessed with subsistence rather than self actualisation? Well, I've seen the power of true employee engagement in practice many times and it not only drives income and cuts costs, but it saves lives.

But what is employee engagement?Employee engagement is an increasingly abused term, but for me it describes a state of deep understanding and active and passionate pursuit of the goals of the business as an act of free will. Engagement, unlike push communication, is not something that can be conscripted or forced. Engagement stems from involvement and is the product of people willingly listening, buying into, supporting and then initiating actions that are "on brand". They do that when they can relate to what is being communicated and the most likely way to bring that about is to connect with their values, aspirations and beliefs.

The importance of valuesIt is only possible to understand what "on brand" is if the behavioural aspects of a brand are at least as clearly articulated for the internal audience as the physical brand attributes. Traditionally these behavioural aspects include the brand values. However, the perpetuation of additional value sets by the HR and organisation development functions, for example, complicates the overall brand landscape. The notion of an employer brand that is somehow different from the brand represented to customers is a further complication and threat to effective brand development.

All too commonly, culture management and values and behaviour programmes operate independently of brand development initiatives. The result is the development of an internal organisation culture which is at odds with the image projected to the external market. It's the equivalent of officially sanctioned behavioural brand creep and can lead to the type of brand disasters we've recently seen in the financial markets.But if you're one of the avant garde, those courageous internal change agents who can rise above the "nay sayers", can see through the doom and gloom and who has an eye for the opportunities that these times present, why not try the following:

5 steps to valuing your values

Make sure you promote an early alliance between the lead sponsors of the internal and external facing parts of the business (typically HR and Marketing)
Carry out a culture, values and behaviours audit to understand the prevailing way things get done within the business
While you're doing this work with the top team to build a profile of the type of culture, people and processes you're going to need to get things done in the future (this calls for a timeline of 3-5 years, not the 18 month rollercoaster we've become accustomed to)
Contract with internal and external stakeholders to re-negotiate expectations and re-frame delivery timelines according to this new 3-5 year plan rather than quarterly reporting cycles
Devise and implement a comprehensive organisation development strategy with key deliverables linked to the vision, strategy and brand and deliverables including:

- identification and re-design of all key people processes

- explicit focus on values and behaviours

- revolutionising internal communication and basing the strategy around the values

- adopting a values-led leadership model

Don't make the common mistake of trying to carry out some form of internal "coup de tat". Clearly this will all need to be owned by the CEO and senior team and will need inspirational change management. But one of the few benefits of a crisis is that the need for change is there for all to see.

Although turnover may be under pressure this is just the time to focus on both doing things better AND doing better things, one of the best strategies for slowing the pace of the inevitable loss of confidence that comes from underperformance is to empower employees to work on strategies to prepare for the upturn. It's certainly not the time for doing nothing.

Working on the powerful intangibles, the behaviours associated with your brand can yield powerful returns for comparatively little cost. Let's face it - there's nothing attractive about the alternative, metaphorically crouching in a corner like the skipper of a doomed corporate submarine, desperately hoping the engine will re-start yet bracing for the messy impact of "rock bottom".

Ian Buckingham is a brand and employee engagement specialist and the widely published author of Brand Engagement - How Employees Make or Break Brands. He also runs, Bring yourself 2 work (http://www.by2w.co.uk/new.html a UK based consultancy of brand and engagement specialists.

Introducing social media into your organisation

Editor — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:50:00 GMT

Rob Marcus, Chat Moderators

Social media is an increasingly popular brand marketing tool for many large enterprises today. It provides a fantastic opportunity for businesses to connect with existing business partners and prospective clients.

Choose your social media platform carefully

Once you’ve settled on your objective, you’ll be well placed to choose which social media platform will suit you best; for example social networking profiles/comments, blogs, story comments, forums, chat rooms, picture galleries.

For example, Panasonic decided on a picture gallery and competition which suited their brand well, but the same initiative may not work as well for an organisation which is not associated with the photography market. It is deciding what works best for each individual organisation that can make or break a new social media initiative.

Rules are needed

It's essential that before a social media initiative is set up a stringent set of rules are agreed by the organisation and the moderators. Even though the moderators may be existing employees, it is not a given that they will understand exactly what the brand finds acceptable when it comes to content on their website. This will allow the moderators to make judgements which are fair and consistent and most importantly in line with the brands message. The moderation policy should be a written document, signed by all parties, illustrating the rules with examples of acceptable and unacceptable comments.

Continue to take interest post-launch

After all of the hard work which has gone in to planning and executing the new social media initiative you must stay close to it. The early days of any new venture are important and the same goes with social media.

It's important that cliques of troublesome users are not allowed to develop and keeping on top of submissions from the beginning can help. It's easy to get distracted after the initial launch but it's in the organisations interest to keep the momentum of moderations going in order to reap the real benefits of social media and avoid associated problems.

Nothing stays hidden for long

Even when your brand is doing everything right there will always be the odd person wanting to poke fun at it. This can quickly turn from a few light hearted comments to abusive and brand damaging material. This can encourage brands to shy away from introducing social media as it is deemed too risky.

Although engaging in social media does not mean having to publish the unrestrained rants of others, especially if they are directed at individual employees. A moderation team must quickly identify undesirable comments, without becoming a censor, while understanding that justifiable criticism of their brand must be allowed. Otherwise the integrity of the whole initiative can be compromised.

What are you prepared to share?

How prescriptive are you going to be about the content that you are happy to publish on behalf of your customers and prospects? In many cases, the tighter the brief the less attractive it will prove to your audience. You must promote free speech in order to keep your audience engaged and encourage them to return.

Any attempt you make to deny justifiable criticism will compromise the integrity of your social media initiative and at best your audience will think less of you, at worst they’ll leave. It's important though that you distinguish fairly and consistently between negative comments that you can ‘take on the chin’ or perhaps even own up to (and sometimes respond to), and negative comments that serve only to indulge their creator.

Implement a rigorous registration process

A rigorous registration process must be in put place for all new social media initiatives. This can help to identify and deal with troublesome users as well as simply monitoring the audience levels to see how successful it is becoming.

By building a database of email addresses of participants it makes it easier to market to them. You will now know which customers are interested in what and target them accordingly.

Choose appropriate software

Choose software that supports your budget and capabilities; perhaps hosted solutions for low budget activity and perhaps open-source based bespoke software for higher budgets and where you have access to technical competence. Also ensure that it supports your brand and follows the rules set.

Assess software not only from design and user interface perspectives, but also from data mining and moderation ones. This software can help your social media initiative run smoothly and take away some unnecessary risks.

Come down swiftly on trolls

Trolls, otherwise known as troublesome users, must be dealt with quickly and heavily. Troublesome users must not be given the opportunity to ruin the experience for other users or possibly land the brand in trouble by posting libellous comments. By appointing moderators this type of behaviour can be kept to a minimum.

Be aware of the legal implications

The case for moderating to prevent brand damage is simple – if you don’t want to be associated with inappropriate, offensive or potentially abusive material then moderation will seem like a relatively small price to pay. However, some brand owners are confused about the legal obligations of moderating a social networking initiative. Over the past few years I’ve seen some cases of negligence caused by brands not effectively managing user-generated content (UGC) – but whether they face prosecution or not is where the uncertainty lies.

For example, brands should not tolerate race hatred or discrimination, and must delete an item as soon as a complaint is made.

Keep the content fresh

In order to keep the audience engaged in social media, brands must regularly update the content and applications available. Users will only keep coming back if there is something interesting and new to keep their attention. By creating competitions, games, forums and comment pages which are regularly updated, an organisation can reach their audience in new ways and hopefully keep them coming back.

How to engage with your talent through internal social networking

Editor — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:31:00 GMT

Richard Doherty, Jobpartners

What benefits can social networking offer in the workplace and how can you implement a corporate network to engage your workforce and enhance your employer brand?

Social revolution

An engaged workforce delivers significantly more shareholder return and employee productivity rises. The importance of social networking is increasing as its ability to create value for the organisation is recognised.

Social networking sites have revolutionised communication and the art of personal marketing. A huge number of people now have profiles on sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. They spend a significant amount of time communicating with friends and colleagues via these sites, as well as using these tools as a means to create their own personal brand to stand out in the crowd. Facebook alone has roughly 150 million users.

Many businesses are now recognising that the communication benefits social networking technologies provide in the consumer world can also be applied to the corporate world, and as a result are looking at ways of harnessing Web 2.0 technologies.

Getting social with your talent

For HR in particular, social networking represents a fantastic opportunity to create a sense of community among employees. It also allows them to promote communication, and the sharing of knowledge and ideas, and as a result boost employee engagement and ultimately enhance the internal employment brand.

As we’ve heard time and time again, the war for talent is getting fiercer so you need to do all you can to attract and retain the most talented individuals. Not only do you need to familiarise yourself with social networking sites but you also need to seriously consider implementing a corporate networking solution to keep the key talent that you have.

Engaging with Generation Y

Generation Y is beginning to hit the talent pool. As it’s important for a company to change its marketing strategies to reach new consumer tastes, so is the need for you to adapt your talent strategies and build on your internal brand.

A social networking tool is effective at engaging Generation Y, for whom Facebook is part of everyday life. Social networking encourages collaboration, helps to foster knowledge and idea sharing right across the company.

For example, staff can communicate on items as diverse as what to do for the Christmas do, to coming up with new ways for boosting customer loyalty. Globally aware companies recognise and understand that corporate networks also bring down geographical barriers enabling employees to talk to and share information with colleagues in other offices, in the UK and worldwide.

New recruits can also benefit through learning about the company and its culture, and connecting with others sharing experiences, helping to speed up their induction.

Creating a personal brand

Vital to the X and Y generation is the ability to create a personal identity and brand to improve visibility and career mobility. By providing details on career goals, experiences and skills, HR and managers can get to know their employees better which can greatly help internal mobility programs that can reduce external recruitment costs.

Employees are empowered to interact directly with senior level managers, which may not have been possible before. This encourages employees to take a more active role in the development of their own career, and as a result, creates a stronger sense of company loyalty. By presenting a holistic view of the employee from both a personal and professional perspective, employees can remove false stereotypes to better understand and engage one another.

Flexible delivery

Before introducing any new technology, organisations need to develop a blueprint for implementation. Increasingly, we are seeing a move away from “one-size-fits-all solutions", as massive ERP systems simply cannot be tailored to the unique needs of a business without significant cost or delay.

Organisations are looking for flexible solutions that will adapt to their business processes instead of having to adapt their business to a solution. Organisational readiness and agility will be the name of the game as organisations look for software as a solution applications, which require no hardware or direct implementation from IT.

This added flexibility gives organisations access to external skills they may not otherwise have been privy to and also provides them with an additional layer of governance to ensure internal social networking policies can be adhered to.

Establishing guidelines

Within the business case, benchmarks must be established in order to assess the success of the network, such as what is the target number of users for the new networking tool and how will the tool be measured?

By creating your own network you can use your existing resources to get the staff you need through referrals, alumni and interest groups. This can be much more effective than searching public social networks which can pose a security and staff retention threat.

Finally, a corporate social network is not MySpace or Facebook but a professional environment that requires some basic ground rules on what is appropriate or inappropriate content.

Guidelines for establishing forums and groups need to be thoroughly explored to prevent creating unintentional situations of exclusion that could be deemed discriminatory.

Communicating the benefits

Sponsorship and active involvement at the highest rank is crucial to creating a new culture of active engagement to motivate a company. A misguided word from an executive can very quickly cause a project to fail, before it has even started.

Once the network has been implemented, employees should not be left to discover it on their own. Communication is absolutely vital to ensure take-up. HR & managers must market the new tool to employees and provide some basic training for how social networking will be used within the company. For example, assign super users to initiate conversations, and to create groups and forums so that people are actively encouraged to use the network.

You also need to either monitor the network itself or appoint a team to do this in order to ensure that people are making the most of it. This may include dealing with any negative uses of social networking such as too much gossiping, or unsuitable comments.

Assessing success

The great advantage of an internal network is that there is no risk of embarrassment externally if an inappropriate comment is made as there is with sites such as Facebook.

However, an internal network still needs to be monitored to avoid potential disclosure of confidential information or an impact on morale if someone says something negative.

Lastly, to assess its success, feedback should be sought from employees on the corporate social network. Find out what they enjoy about it, how much they use it; and how it benefits them in their everyday jobs.

The benchmarks which were established in the business plan should also provide a way of measuring success, for example how much of an impact the corporate network has had on internal mobility.

An engaged community

Ultimately, the benefits of a corporate network are too strong to be ignored and HR should be embracing it now. Internal social networks can stimulate employee involvement and knowledge sharing, which ensures that every person within the business counts helping to create a strong feeling of community.

This in turn can help boost employee engagement and productivity as well as reinforce the employment brand. During these hard times anything which can improve engagement has to be taken seriously.

How social media is changing the way brands engage with employees

Editor — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:20:00 GMT

Eliza Dashwood, Ambergreen Internet Marketing

As times get tighter, finding the most qualified professionals to fill vacancies is becoming more challenging than ever. At the same time, technology is making efficient communication with your workforce easier.

Finding a match through social networks

The way potential employers and candidates look for and find each other is changing. More and more people are looking to the web to try to find the right match, and rightly so. With the advent of business social networks such as LinkedIn and Plaxo, finding out about individuals and companies has become much more straight forward.

Individuals can turn to the web and business social networks to research companies and the people in them to decide if that is where they want to be. Similarly using the same methods, companies looking to recruit new staff can get a better picture of what individuals have done in their careers from looking at CVs, which are more easily available on the web.

Getting the word out

Businesses and recruitment agencies alike have always struggled to find a strong pool of candidates to fill vacancies as they arise. Using traditional means such as national press, trade magazines and online job sites have been the main weapons in their arsenal up till now.

However, micro-blogging sites such as Twitter can be used to post up to the minute vacancies to a much wider audience. The word of mouth nature of social media also means that individuals can forward interesting posts to their friends, having a much better idea of what is relevant to the people in their group than a company or agency could.

Twitter can also be used to inform users of when posts have been filled, which could potentially save people the time and trouble of applying for vacancies that have already gone.

Building up the brand

Some companies have struggled to understand the importance of social media and how to use it for their business. But if used correctly, social media can be a powerful tool in raising brand awareness and engaging with the outside world.

People are going to discuss companies, their services, products and policies whether brands want them to or not. Rather than attempting to stifle or control the conversation, smart brands are joining in, using social media engagement as a way of understanding people’s perceptions of the brand and offering value in return.

By listening to what people have to say on forums, blogs, social networks and new sites, companies have the opportunity to make constructive changes to their business that can ultimately have a positive impact of how their brand is perceived and the caliber of people it attracts.

Internal efficiency

Although some companies might argue that using social networks can be a drain on internal resources if abused, there are some organizations that are embracing technology to make internal communication and collaboration more efficient.

Particularly for large companies that are home to thousands of employees, it's not always easy to organise a meeting or a call to get people working together and sharing ideas. Using internal forums, business social networks and micro-blogs can provide a solution.

A great example of this is IBM that realised early on that a great way to share information internally among its thousands of employees, was to create their own internal version of Twitter, called BlueTwit. IBM has also created Beehive, a social media network similar to Facebook, which allows users to share content and keep up will colleagues, including top executives.

Tying it all together

One of the key things to consider when using social media channels to create brand awareness, facilitate communication, and bring people together is that there needs to be an underlying strategy that ensures these channels are working together. This means understanding the objective behind the use of each social media element in order to create a universal message that is mirrored throughout an organisation and to the public.

It is all about making sure your LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, internal forums and blogs all feed into each other to maximize the impact of any message and captures the information you’re looking for easily.

Employer branding in a Web 2.0 world

Editor — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:08:00 GMT

Alice Streatfeild, ORC International

While the link between employer branding and networking is long established, the growing popularity of social networking and web 2.0 websites means that employers cannot afford to ignore how employer branding is shaped by the internet.

Internet - feast of information

The increasing prevalence of the internet is creating a feast of information. Whether this relates to Joan from Fairford’s favoured fairy cake recipe, to the latest spotting of Elvis, the information is varied both in content and in quality. With 65% of the population being regular users of the internet, opinions are increasingly shaped by the information supplied by the web, however tenuous or reliable the source is.

In its simplest form, an employer brand painstakingly constructed by an organisation can be further enhanced, or indeed detracted from, by an employee’s blog. Links to a company’s website may have a ‘meet the employees’ blog to enhance the culture conveyed by recruitment literature, providing a more personal touch. Such tactics, as used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, bring a greater understanding to the wider public about what the organisation does and also help to give potential recruits a better, more informed idea, about what a career could be like.

Harnessing social networking’s potential

The relationship between employers and social networking sites such as Facebook varies, but like or loathe them, networking sites have a huge presence within the digital world. Although some employers may believe that the only relationship they have with such sites is the grievance they feel towards employees spending work time on them, other employers are wise to realise their potential.

Rather than blocking access, some recruitment companies are actively encouraging their employees to use their Facebook networks to look up potential recruits and to create a professional relationship through a social medium.

Second Life and Yell.com

Second Life provides people with the opportunity to explore and build an alternative ‘life’ online and the website even invites organisations to ‘build a community’ around their brand. How this relates to the world of employment was successfully illustrated by Yell.com. In 2007, Yell.com won a CIPD Innovation Award for their use of the site when they created a team of “avatars” dressed in Yell branded shirts who mixed with locals and encouraged them to visit their branded phone boxes in order to find out about careers within the organisation.

Securing your employer brand

On the flip side, sites with user driven content have the opportunity to undermine branding efforts. Aside from the an individual’s page or profile, where friends or members of the same network can see any comments about their job, user generated groups also have the potential to reach wider audiences. Groups such as: “I Have Worked For An Employer That's A F#ckin' Joke!!” may use veiled references to specific employers, but other groups clearly reference the employer in question, mentioning managers, customers and wider working experiences.

Meeting these groups head on are large employers such as Goldman Sachs, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Barclays who all have networks which allow their employees to “meet” each other, network and share best practice. Only possible to join when individuals provide their work email address, these networks prevent others from looking in, thus securing their employer brand.

When blogs go bad…

Who can forget in 2005 when a Scottish man blogged about his working life at a thinly veiled employer: ‘Bastardstones’? He was subsequently fired and the media helped to fuel the fire by widely reporting it. The comments may have just been the rantings of a disgruntled employee, but the fundamental difference here is the potential audience; rather than sharing their frustrations or personal grievances with immediate friends and family, the company was brought into ‘disrepute’ as the whole world, and its dog, could learn about how bad their day at work was.

Although potential recruits could have taken these comments with a pinch of salt, such blogs are an undeniable ‘touchpoint’ that could form a part of an employer brand, however unintentional.

Rather than treat symptoms, cure them

An employer brand should reflect reality. Why spend time and effort creating an effective image to attract ‘the best’ when current employees view the reality as being entirely different? Previously, employees may have just talked about their day with friends at the pub and could have been overheard by a few people; now there is the possibility that their thoughts could be ‘overhead’ by a world-wide audience.

Where an employer brand matches reality, this would not be a problem. In fact, such testimonials would further consolidate a picture promoted by an organisation. The problem arises when they are contradictory. When creating an employer brand, you need to understand the pertinent issues of both current employees and also your target recruitment market.

Budget wisely

Within an economic downturn, the initial reaction may be to cut branding and research budgets; however it's important to consider the longer term issues which will have a bearing on an organisation’s success. Aside from having a disengaged workforce, CIPD reports that the cost of a recruitment error ranges between £5,000 and £50,000 (depending on seniority and potential for business errors) and it's wise to think carefully about which budgets are scrapped and which are maintained.

While customers become choosier about where they spend their hard earned money, employees can have the same thoughts about which organization they will invest their hard earned intelligence, expertise and discretionary efforts. The high calibre and loyalty of your employees can help your organisation succeed where others fail.

Understanding is everything

Without the right information to hand, how can you be certain that the decisions you are making about your employees, or the employees you are trying to attract, are the right ones? Think about conducting some extensive qualitative and quantitative research, supported by desk reviews, so you can use the information you need to better inform decision making and to establish a harmonious picture.

Armed with such insights, you can better target the messages spread corporately to potential recruits. By harmonizing your employer brand and reality you can let your employees be your spokespeople, and viral messages could no longer be something to fear but instead a welcomed asset which further reaffirms your status as an employer of choice.

If I make the effort will I achieve my goals?

Bowland Solutions — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:41:00 GMT

A continued research effort around our performance review whitepaper led me back to a model we work with to describe how performance related pay fits in with performance appraisals. The model is built from a range of standard theories - Vroom's expectancy theory, Locke's goal setting, Porter/Lawlers views on intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and others. Diagramatically it is represented as follows

The model demonstrates the basic "line of sight" required for performance related pay to work. If I increase my effort, then my performance should increase which lead to rewards that are aligned with my personal goals.

To achieve the link between effort and performance we need : effective goal setting for alignment, we need the opportunity to deliver that performance (e.g. the external market allows it) and the ability (often where training plays a part). We also need to be sure that our role is clear - we don't want to be doing the wrong thing!

That performance is then rewarded - either through a feeling of a job well done, or other intrinsic rewards or through extrinsic rewards such as pay and bonuses. That reinforcement (think Pavlov's dogs) makes us want to do it again! Finally those rewards need to be linked to something we are seeking - our personal goals.

When put like this it leaves me a little cold and has a large company imposing managerialistic processes feel about it. But, if you are implementing performance related pay it forms a very useful checklist and model to have in mind as to why and how you link the sections on the performance appraisal form with the pay and bonus and of course why you are doing performance appraisals at all.

Brendan

Nervous about your employee survey? Considered Appreciative Inquiry?

Ian Buckingham — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:28:00 GMT

The CEO is dead, long live the ceo - Ian Buckingham's weekly column celebrating the people who really bring brands to life.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an organisation development process or philosophy that engages individuals within an organizational in its turnaround, renewal, change and focused performance.

It's a particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future that fosters positive relationships and builds on the basic goodness in a person, a situation, or an organization. Put another way, it's an approach that believes in the power of positive thinking and seeks to draw out the superhero in every employee rather than a self-fulfilling belief that all employees are scheming super villains.

Used effectively, it enhances an organisation's capacity for collaboration and change. It's a fantastic way of signaling an energising alternative to the depressing and draining, downsizing mentality of a recession.

Appreciative Inquiry utilizes a cycle of 4 processes focusing on:

DISCOVER: The identification of organizational processes that work well.
DREAM: The envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.
DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that would work well.
DESTINY (or DELIVER): The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.

Even the headings are inspirational.

The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than just trying to fix what doesn't. It is the opposite of problem solving. Instead of focusing on gaps and inadequacies to find blame and remediate skills or practices, AI focuses on how to create more of the occasional exceptional performance that is occurring (and there will be examples), regardless of conditions, because a core of strengths is aligned.

The approach acknowledges the contribution of individuals, in order to increase trust and inspire best practice. The method aims to create meaning by drawing from stories of concrete successes with the potential of becoming best practices and lends itself to cross-functional social activities. It can be enjoyable and natural to many managers, who, let's face it, are often sociable people when they come out from behind the badge.

There are a variety of approaches to implementing Appreciative Inquiry, including mass-mobilized interviews and a large, diverse gathering called an Appreciative Inquiry Summit Both approaches involve bringing very large, diverse groups of people together to study and build upon the best in an organization or community.

The basic philosophy of AI is also found in other positively oriented approaches to individual change as well as organizational change. AI fosters positive relationships and builds on the basic goodness in a person, or a situation. The idea of building on strength, rather than just focusing on faults and weakness is a powerful idea in use in mentoring programs, and excellent performance evaluations - where superheroes come into their own.

If you're wondering what to do with your employee survey and are a little nervous about how any internal benchmarking activity will be received; if you've had enough of the pessimism and would like to know more about the power of Appreciative Inquiry or just need a hand spotting those brand champions quietly battling the economic doom and gloom, get in touch. We're happy to share ideas.

ian@by2w.co.uk

http://www.by2w.co.uk/whoweare.html

Internal Communication 101 – why re-invent the wheel?

Ian Buckingham — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:43:00 GMT

The CEO is dead - long live the ceo": Ian Buckingham's weekly column in support of the people who bring brands to life from the inside www.by2w.co.uk

Would it surprise you to learn that the most senior communications professional within one of the leading petro chemical companies currently uses sensitive state of the art IT technology to monitor webinar and teleconference effectiveness and participation?

Would you be shocked to hear that one of the most high profile government departments has the slickest team briefing process you'll ever read or that one of Europe's leading utility companies has the highest intranet and so called "social media" involvement rates you're ever likely to see?

I guess we all expect major corporates and professional organisations to be at the forefront of internal communication management. So why is it that each of these organisations came bottom in a recent cross industry employee engagement poll?

The bare faced truth of the matter is that, despite their focus on state of the art technology and exceptional process design, they just don't get the basics right.

The petro chemical company has no top level communications calendar, their intranet is an over-burdened supertanker which has run aground on a reef of indifference and employees have started voting with their feet at Town Halls held by their senior leaders.

The government department employed an expensive creative agency to develop their team briefing collateral but thousands of worthy, well-meaning newsletters are casually cast aside. Forgotten, forlorn and unread because the newsletter content ignores the interests of the audience they have:

- no explicit link to strategic objectives

- they discourage feedback from readers

- they are full of self-congratulatory spin and HR propaganda

- they fail to acknowledge the real issues

- and they lack humanity and authenticity.

Their team briefing process has become a written cascade because their senior civil servants find it difficult to overcome the traditional hierarchical structure and few have the skills and ability to engage effectively with their line reports.

Each organisation talks about "inverting the pyramid" and bringing the employee voice to the fore. But in the admirable pursuit of internal communication excellence they've lost sight of the basics and the employee voice is more of a nervous whisper.

An interesting contrast comes in the unlikely form of a technology company I've had the pleasure of working with over the past few years and have watched grow both in the UK and globally. They are true innovators and leaders in the field of technology driven customer communication yet their own intranet is only an afterthought in their ten strong internal communication channel strategy.

Their directors strive constantly to ensure that they and their line managers work in partnership to prioritise:

- global face to face communication and only host webinars and teleconferences as an absolute last resort

- communication skills training and include employee engagement in their line manager's performance contracts

- fundamental communication skills courses in their management development programme including writing and personal impact skills

- storytelling structures in the way they communicate the evolution of the brand both internally and externally

- best practice in the way they facilitate their team briefing sessions

- face to face conferences, events and induction processes and refuse to communicate by email bulletin cascades

- achieving balance between process management and culture development

It's refreshing to see that the most effective approach to internal communication is to get the basics right first and foremost. In these austere times it's just as good to be reminded that, with a professional internal communication team in place, much of the above can be achieved relatively cheaply.

We all love a flash new toy or two but whether you can afford it or not, whatever you do don't develop a case of technology envy at the expense of promoting classic skills. With an objective nudge in the right direction and the modest investment of time, easily financed by a relatively simple re-focus of learning and development priorities, there really shouldn't be any need to re invent the wheel.

Ian is the author of Brand Engagement - How Employees Make or Break Brands.

Wellbeing - business survival tool

Editor — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:40:00 GMT

James Slater, Ceridian

The current economic climate is changing the landscape of the workplace: redundancy, pay freezes and growing levels of stress are impacting on employee motivation and health which in turn is impacting on business survival.

Changing landscape of the workplace

Now more than ever before staff need to be looked after and businesses should have wellbeing initiatives in place to support them. Wellbeing initiatives were traditionally seen as a nice to have by most businesses, a box ticked to show that they were a caring employer. However, wellbeing initiatives are now coming into their own as stress levels in the workplace are rapidly growing due to the economic downturn.

With redundancies on the up and surviving staff facing increasing pressures to work longer and harder, employers are being forced to take the issue of staff wellbeing more seriously - and rightfully so; taking care of ‘survivors’ is good business. There is ample evidence to show that businesses that do not pay attention to the wellbeing and morale of ‘survivors’ now, will fare less well in the long-term.

Failure to react with disastrous consequences

Although wellbeing initiatives may feel like a luxury, investment now will pay dividends in the future. It's vital for the business that employers get wellbeing initiatives right and are seen to be doing everything they can - if not, as soon as the upturn arrives, they risk staff jumping ship.

Maintaining an engaged workforce has a direct and positive impact on productivity. If employers can deal with the crisis effectively, and maintain the wellbeing of their workforce - it will strengthen their employer brand and stand them in good stead for being an employer of choice in the future; meaning that top talent will be seeking them out.

Why businesses should take action

Wellbeing initiatives provide a focus for re-energising and re-engaging employees at a time when organisations need to maintain and raise their game in increasingly competitive home and global markets. Employers are able to choose from a variety of measures in order to help maintain a healthy and productive workforce - most of which, if used and implemented correctly, are very affordable in the current climate.

The benefits of an EAP

Central to any wellbeing initiative should be an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). This is one way in which employers can help their employee’s wellbeing through difficult times by offering access to a range of support mechanisms. With a confidential telephone counselling service available - employees can talk through issues they may not normally feel comfortable discussing with their manager, or indeed family and friends. In addition most EAP’s provide access to face-to-face short-term counselling.

But EAP’s offer more than just emotional support. They provide access to a whole range of ‘work-life’ information services about health, childcare, eldercare, debt and budgeting and working life generally. Many EAP’s include online resources which allow employees to take a proactive approach to wellbeing issues, enabling them to act before the issue escalates into something more serious, which then impacts on their performance both at work and at home.

The need for manager support

The EAP is also a resource for managers, many of whom are in the front line of much of the changes and restructuring that is taking place within businesses. Most EAP’s offer ‘manager consultations’ which can provide a source of support and coaching for managers as they deal with the difficult and often emotionally messy process of change following redundancy and restructuring.

Health & wellness makes the difference

Alongside the EAP, health & wellness programmes can provide a proactive focus for re-energizing a demoralized workforce. In the increasingly turbulent and uncertain markets in which businesses are now operating, the energy and stamina of the workforce is an increasing differentiator. The need to support and encourage sustained performance by employees has been recognised by many organisations most notably GlaxoSmithKline, who have in recent years developed one of the most innovative health & wellness programmes in the UK.

Components of health and wellness programme

A successful health and wellness programme should contain a number of core components:

• A health risk assessment tool – this enables employees and organisations to identify risks in lifestyle and health related behaviour.

• Health and wellness information.

• Targeted health programmes to support employees at risk, stop smoking, weight management, stress programmes and healthy eating and exercise – these can include telephone or online support.

• Employee incentives to encourage changes in health behaviour and lifestyle.

Resilience can make a difference

A number of organisations, recognising that workplace pressures have significantly increased in the past decade, have taken wellness programmes a step further. Here they have developed resilience and energy management programmes, building on the work of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their book The Power of Full Engagement. These programmes equip staff at all levels with tools and techniques to manage themselves in high pressured environments.

Investment makes sense

For businesses trying to survive the recession, doing nothing to support, motivate and re-energise employees is a risk. Job insecurity, organisational commitment and job satisfaction have all been shown to decline following a round of redundancies, while job stress and turnover intention tend to increase significantly. Investing now in programmes to support employees can make the difference between success and failure. Focussing on employee wellbeing sends a powerful symbolic message to employees but it also makes business sense in terms of retention, productivity and long-term survival.

Today's toughest leadership challenge: facing the economics of fear

Editor — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:30:00 GMT

Sylvia Lafair

Global financial tensions cause epidemics of fear and defensiveness in organizations. As stress escalates survival behaviour increases and responding maturely decreases.

Leaders who understand how to defuse anxiety provoked responses can help employees cope effectively.

Global anxiety

Back biting, gossip, and "in your face" fights are at the forefront of the present workplace environment. Office politics have always been a constant part of everyday business relationships, yet as economically induced stress escalates the desire to protect one's turf increases. There is global anxiety that everything is at risk that the proverbial wolf will huff and puff and blow the house down. No one and nothing is safe and so the only thing to do is hunker down and defend. Sadly, we can catch each other's emotional fears as easily as we can catch a cold.

Facing the epidemic of fear

In recent months I have received call after call from the "C suite" to mid-level managers bruised by the onslaught of angry and disillusioned employees who only want to blame others for mistakes and poor decisions. The lack of individual accountability has increased as economic indicators have been sliding. Leaders who have not spent time looking into their own personal reactions to the emotions surrounding economics are prone to take the path of least resistance and give knee jerk superficial responses when asked to intervene.

Personal behavior enhances strategic planning

Most business people have spent time pouring over spread sheets, analyzing profit and loss statements, and doing strategic plans. Fewer have delved into understanding personal behavior around economics and how we gain our perspectives around money. Once leaders can better observe and understand the emotional patterns around money, clearer and more effective interventions and decisions can be made.

Early stages of behavior

Our first learning about the glories and evils of money were learned in the family. That is where decisions surrounding the nature of the world were made and then "hard wired" into our nervous system. We learned early, before we took our first steps, to see the world as trust worthy or lacking. We take these beliefs with us throughout our lives.

When stress and anxiety hit the hot button the early beliefs takes hold and determine much of our behavior. The reflexive part of the brain, an almond shaped structure deep in the brain called the amygdala is the warning bell. It tells us in milliseconds to fight or flee.

Responsive behavior

This fear reflex helped our ancestors survive and can still keep us from being hit by an oncoming car or ducking when someone wants to throw a shoe at our head. However, to base long term success on early survival patterns without first sorting through whether we are responding out of childhood reactions keeps us hostage to the past. It is helpful for leaders to explore the beliefs and behaviors of parents and grandparents as well as the culture of one's youth for messages about money and meaning.

Rethinking inherited behavior

Take some time and ask yourself the following: Who made the financial decisions in your home? What was deemed of value? Was money horded or spent? What were the parameters of success? How and what was rewarded? What constituted helping others? How were goods and services prioritized? What are the financial legacies handed from your family? Your culture? As you begin the process of looking back at your inherited patterns you are then in a position to keep what is life enhancing and release the rest.

Leader’s scenario

One executive who took the time to look back on his life was awe-struck to realize that his "squirrel mentality" to save every penny and literally hide many of his assets in multiple bank vaults was based on a story his father told him over and over as a young child that: "you could be cheated out of every cent the way I was, so never trust anyone and never, never tell anyone where you hide your money."

The family lawyer was the only one who knew where the safety deposit boxes were. While the man felt "safe" by following his father's admonitions, it had not only cost him his marriage, he was estranged from his two grown daughters who said he was obsessed with money to the detriment of all else. They saw him as fiscally sound albeit emotionally bankrupt. He was also shocked to learn that his entire staff saw him as an unhappy Scrooge who cared about nothing but accumulation of cash.

New insights and resolution

While it took time to sort through the cacophony of emotions he recently came to new realizations about money and meaning. Economics based on fear have diminished for him and he has recently chosen to keep many employees who "need their jobs more than I need to hoard more money."

Key to being a good leader

When emotions run high it is your responsibility to harness them. Once you can target some of the older patterns that were handed to you, much like a family heirloom, you can make reasonable choices. Knowing that your mood can impact your decisions and that consequences last well beyond the present time it is to your benefit to take time out and think through implications of fear based economics. This is the right time for leaders to ask the important questions and take a new look at what really matters and how to lead from a place of deepened strength and integrity.