Building Your "Brand"

A colleague shared a great article written by Brett Minchington, an Australian consultant and expert on employer branding.

He mentions that he has been studying this issue for years and thought the start of a new decade would be a great time to explore it further.

It is interesting the reaction that you get when you say "branding" to the average business person. I usually get a reaction similar to what I get when I talk about engagement, both "functions" are thought of as belonging to marketing and externally focused. I find this interesting as studies have shown now for some time that the relationships that drive great organizations have their foundations internally rather than externally and are based on things like values alignment, clarity of organizational mission, clear expectations, and competent supervision.

When I talk about your employment brand I don't mean your recruitment brochures or candidate sourcing software. I mean taking the time to see your organization as a "product" that you want to get in front of your desired "customer" base and retain them.

Minchington mentions and I agree that building this "brand" doesn't belong to HR, Marketing, or Communications; it belongs to all three.

You might ask why I think it is important now; unemployment is high and employees are sticking tight to their jobs. The answer is why are they staying? Information about employee dissatisfaction and low levels of engagement would suggest they aren't staying because they are committed. Add that to the idea that the demand for "experienced" talent is going to increase while the supply decreases would suggest that relying on the recession to keep people captive is bad strategy.

I would also suggest that building your employer brand takes time and energy. It is intriguing to me how many employers still use a very reactive process to the acquisition and management of their human capital. They don't think through the totality of what they are looking for in an employee or candidate until an opening occurs if then. The urgency there usually translates into "find me a body".

There are of course exceptions. Top performing companies have created their employment brand. Businesses like Google, Starbucks, Apple, Southwest Airlines and others have a clear brand not only for "customers" , but for prospective employees. Even GE and EDS under Ross Perot were famous for what you "got" in their employment environment, not much ambiguity.

When I was an executive with a financial services organization we embraced a similar strategy. We rebuilt our "brand". Not only as a financial institution, but as an employer. We were clear about who we were and what we were seeking not only in customer/members, but employees.

In a little over three years we became an employer of choice. Our Recruiting Manager was selected as the recruiter of the year by our local national university beating out organizations like Nike, Intel, and Columbia Sportswear. We also enjoyed tremendous business success in the acquisition of desired demographic customers and increased "wallet share".

A colleague summed up our strategy quite nicely when she said " I understand now why you guys are kicking our ass. It isn't just the products and the services. Your people are better than ours at every level". She went on to say "Something tells me that isn't an accident". She was right. We didn't pay the highest wages or have an exotic employee fitness center, we built a brand.

Minchington says that over the next 10 years relationships will replace reputation in making business decisions. I agree in fact I would go further and quote Margaret Wheatley

"In organizations, real power and energy is generated
through relationships. The patterns of relationships and
the capacity to form them are more important than tasks,
functions, roles, and positions."

We have had six sigma and "lean manufacturing", ISO and other initiatives for years now and turnover is still costing the U.S economy alone an estimated $5 trillion per year with another $200 billion attributed to presenteeism, employees who show up, but don't engage. Isn't it time to explore some other solutions...?

I guess there is always plan B, if you have one.......