Employer Branding News

It’s easy to communicate authentically to staff, customers, and colleagues in good times. But it’s even more important when a formidable situation arises. During tough times, people are nervous about the economy, their jobs, and their futures. Here are four tips to make navigating a sticky situation a little easier:

 

- Be visible and solicit feedback.

- Communicate early. And often.

- Communicate in person.

- The next best thing to being there. Post a short video, have a live chat...

Creating positive morale in the workplace is often overlooked in a business environment, even though it's crucial to sustaining customer relationships and loyalty, reducing staff turnover and completing projects. Developing a process by creating lead indicators can help build company morale.

 

1. Communicate company goals, win their buy-in

2. Consider having daily huddle-ups or discussions with departments. 

3. Create scorecards for the lead indicators.

4. Celebrate/recognize successes. 

5. Do not leave anyone out of the loop.

Big companies are notoriously bad at keeping their best people. Here's why Dilbert lives in most big companies.

 

1. Big Company Bureaucracy. 

2. Failing to Find a Project for the Talent that Ignites Their Passion. 

3. Poor Annual Performance Reviews. 

4. No Discussion around Career Development. 

5. Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities.

6. Lack of Accountability and/or telling them how to do their Jobs. 

7. Top Talent likes other Top Talent. 

8. The Missing Vision Thing. 

9. Lack of Open-Mindedness. 

10. Who’s the Boss?

For otherwise outstanding leaders, it is a lack of clarity.

 

You may be a brilliant motivator and leader of great character who empowers their team for success and inspires them to move to action. You may be trustworthy and a leader who lives each value of the organization in an exemplary fashion. You may approach your leadership role with a servant mentality and recognize every success and strength of your followers and organizations. And you may be the most honorable and courageous leader on the field.

 

But if you are not clear on your:

- Purpose

- Vision

- Strategies

you will either lead your followers in circles, down the wrong path, or leave them confused and bumping into each other.

“Management is dead. To win today you need a culture and an environment where the unreasonable power of creativity thrives. Ideas are today’s currency not strategy. Martin Luther King did not say ‘I have a vision statement’ did he? He had a dream. You have to make sure you have dreams and your brand also needs a dream.”

 

“Business leaders need to become creative leaders. We need to change the language of business. Who wants to be a Chief Executive Officer? It sounds like you work for the government and who would want that? Being a Chief Excitement Officer would be better, don’t you think? The role of a good CEO is to get people to buy into their dreams and their company’s dreams.”

 

“The big idea is dead. There are no more big ideas. Creative leaders should go for getting lots and lots of small ideas out there. Stop beating yourself up searching for the one big idea. Get lots of ideas out there and then let the people you interact with feed those ideas and they will make it big.”

 

“Leaders need to become emotional thinkers. The difference between rational thinking and emotional thinking is that rational thinking leads to conclusions and meetings and more meetings. Emotional thinking leads to action.”

 

“There are three secrets to emotional thinking – mystery, sensitivity and intimacy. It is a lot about story telling. Brands need to tell stories on their websites, on their packaging and so on. Make sure your brand and company has a smell, it has a sound, it has a feel and an intimacy with people. Think about how you can build empathy. It is the small things that count and how consumers feel about our brands that count today.”

 

“Marketing is dead. The role of marketing has changed now. There is nothing new anymore. If marketers are just hearing about something going on then it is already old in today’s world. The further up in a company you go the stupider you become and the further away from new things. Speed and velocity is everything today. Marketing’s jobs is to create movement and inspire people to join you.

 

“Everyone wants a conversation. They want inspiration. Inspire people with your website. Don’t just interrupt, but interact. Asking about Return on Investment is the wrong question today. You should be asking about Return on Involvement.”

A good way to start is by working through a solution design process. Do a thorough assessment of your current recognition state by reviewing relevant employee survey data, conducting focus groups and executive interviews. Next, conduct a facilitated design session where you bring all your key stakeholders together.

 

- Alignment and impact: aligns with your goals, objectives, mission, vision, and values.

- Leadership development and training

- Communications – Keep recognition top of mind

- Measurement and assessment – Focus on metrics to drive ROI and validate to your key stakeholders that strategic employee recognition is good business

- Awards – What award currency works best for you? Frequency and reach.

- Ongoing impact management – Review and fine-tune to meet your changing needs.

- Technology – Recognition program–dashboards to track activity and results in real-time

Company morale is a key indication of employee satisfaction. Employers dream of having smiling employees who arrive to work early and motivated to produce results for their employer.

 

1 Determine what motivates employees through a survey.

2 Communicate how the company's vision and mission connect to individual employee goals.

3 Instill a sense of confidence in the company's ability to provide resources for employees to succeed.

4 Use a company mascots, casual dress day or themed apparel to promote a sense of team spirit. 

5 Lead by example. Model the behavior you seek in your employees.  

6 Promote open communication. 

7 Hold employees accountable.

This first installment of the Kelly Global Workforce Index 2012 findings highlights: 

 

Employees across the globe have experienced unprecedented economic turmoil, and they are restless. Many are unhappy in their jobs and are actively looking for new opportunities. Even those who are content in their jobs are seeking greater engagement and “meaning” from their work.