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LWD 2010WK40 – On Culture, Brand & Branson

October 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Digest

About ‘Leadership Weekly Digest’ (LWD): The goal of this weekly newsletter is to highlight quality articles from the past week –in a condensed format– that discuss leadership, with a focus on employee engagement. Much of the content comes from those we follow on Twitter, and members of the Employee Engagement Network.

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Brand Is Culture, Culture Is Brand by William Taylor

In July, LWD featured a debate between Fast Company’s William Taylor and Nick Corcodilos on the value of the human resources (HR) function, which then spilled over into a discussion on this blog. HR took quite a beating from Mr. Corcodilos, who indicated that HR “needs to be invented.”

Mr. Taylor’s new post may indicate a direction that this re-invention could take, which focuses on the link between brand (think of the marketing function) and culture (HR).

That’s what helps you stand out among your customers, and stand out from the crowd in a hyper-competitive marketplace. The new “power couple” inside the best companies, I concluded, was an iron-clad partnership between marketing leadership and HR leadership. Your brand is your culture, your culture is your brand.

While I dislike the choice of ‘power couple’ to make his point, as it seems to easy to substitute ‘fad’, I do like the concept of a stronger interaction between these two functions. Both (strategic) HR and Marketing specialize in human behaviour, but their focus is internal and external respectively. It is only natural that they collaborate on improving the employee-customer interaction, which so important to a strong brand.

Taylor cites one company that has actually taken the step to merge the two functions under the same executive (Corner Bank) with the following benefits:

“Our people are our best marketing tool,” [SVP HR & Marketing] Jana [Dobbs] explained. “Advertising is important, the design of the Web site is important, but if customers have a positive experience every time they come into the bank, that’s what builds our reputation.”

Taylor goes on to detail more concrete examples of the brand-culture-brand linkage at USAA, a major insurer of U.S. servicemen, veterans and their families. In this case there is an institutional focus on creating empathy for the clients so they can “learn is to empathize with and see the world through the eyes of a soldier on active duty”. This approach has contributed to USAA blowing away their competitors in customer loyalty rankings. Read Taylor’s post for more detail on USAA’s approach.

I don’t think Taylor’s intent was to promote the idea that HR and Marketing be combined, but it does make for an interesting suggestion for anyone thinking that HR may need an overhaul. I hope Mr. Corcodilos decides to weigh in!

Richard Branson: Five Questions on Business Philosophy @ Entrepreneur.com

Richard Branson says these are the questions he is asked most often in his travels. I think he is fibbing. I mean, where are goodies like “Do you actually condone sex on your airplanes?“. Well, these are the 5 he chose to answer:

  1. What is the best advice you ever got? Answer: He actually chose two from his mom, and 1 from Freddie Laker: a) Never look back in regret, move on, b) Openly criticizing people reflects badly on your own character, and c) You’ll never have the advertising power to outsell British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive. [Which ones do you think were his mom? -ed.]
  2. What is the worst advice you ever got? A: He always sought advice on important issues from multiple sources, so he felt there was no such thing as bad advice, just bad ‘angles’.
  3. What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs on how best to start? A: “To remember that it is impossible to run a business without taking risks… You really do have to believe in what you are doing. Devote yourself to it 100 percent and be prepared to take a few hits along the way.
  4. In your career you have had lots of successes, but you have failed in some businesses. What have you learned from those? A: “Though I believe in taking risks, I also firmly believe in “protecting the downside.” This means working out in advance all the things that could go wrong and making sure you have all those eventualities covered.”
  5. Do you have any regrets? A: True to his answer in #1, he doesn’t like to dwell, but to move on. But if pressed, he admits that just missing out on the deal to run the UK’s national lottery, sits at the top of his business regret list.

A selection of our recent posts:

Filed Under: Best Practices, Brand, Customer Engagement, Engagement, Human Resources, Leadership Weekly Digest, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Quiz: Can You Recognize Good Performance?

October 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

[Skip to the bottom for the poll.]

It seems that the world loves certification. If the competence of a supplier can’t be determined, or testimonials aren’t available, a piece of paper with a seal and signature will often do just fine. If you can build a business around providing this certification, all the better…

Introducing the ‘Positive Recognition Accreditation Test’.

Follow these steps:

  1. Print this questionnaire.
  2. Choose the best answer for each question using an HB pencil, making sure to completely circle your answer.
  3. Attach a recent picture of yourself, and two proofs of purchase.
  4. Wad up the papers and throw them out the nearest window.
  5. Stop worrying, our process is really advanced, we will get your submission.
  6. Please allow 36-48 weeks for delivery of your certification.
  7. Once confirmed, please be sure to use ‘PRAT’ after your name, and wear your new found accreditation proudly.

The Questionnaire:

When should these meetings occur?

  1. Do them along with the corporate performance review cycle; once a year should do it.
  2. As a rule, every time you present your employee’s work as your own, you should take the time to provide them positive feedback.
  3. As close as possible to when the positive behaviour or outcomes were observed, in order to have the greatest positive benefit.

What is the best way to set up a recognition session with an employee?

  1. Inform the employee that you need to talk to them about ‘an HR issue’.
  2. “You, in my office, now!”
  3. Set up a short meeting with the employee regarding ‘positive feedback’ at a time where you can give them your undivided attention.

What is the appropriate agenda for the meeting?

  1. Set aside time to get to know each other, as this is the first time you realized that this person even reports to you.
  2. Time is money, make sure to ask the employee for other things you need to get done while they are basking in your adulation.
  3. Stick to providing the positive feedback, otherwise the session won’t really be a reward.

What is the best way to provide the feedback?

  1. Buzzwords, lots of buzzwords. e.g. “That was some real client-oriented  best-in-class hyper-collaboration in execution our game plan! You’re really taking it to the next level!”
  2. High-five, low-five, round the back, over the top handshake.
  3. Use precise, descriptive terms that indicate observed behaviours and how they related to positive outcomes.

How do you close the meeting?

  1. Say “Now go get ‘em champ!” as you smack their butt on the way out the door.
  2. Hug it out.
  3. Ask the employee to think on how to continue to build on this success, and to bring this up at the next performance & goal-setting review.

Filed Under: Best Practices, Employee Retention, Engagement, Leadership, Management, Recognition, Strengths-based development, Strengths-based Engagement Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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