Tools, Tips, Ideas

Why employee branding is so important
10 maxims for marketing to employees
Internal marketing terms
Creativity and problem solving
New technology tools for communications and feedback
It's time to rethink reorganizing
G.R.E.A.T. employees
Hire an ambassador instead of a receptionist
Try acting like a new parent

Why Employee Branding Is So Important

Look at our definition of employee branding on the right. The more positive employees feel about the company, the more energized and productive they'll be. Great employees want to know what's going on. They want to know where the company is going and how their individual contribution can help get the organization there. The more marketing to employees that you do, the more unified and informed people will be.

Employee branding is also important when people leave the company. Even when there are downturns, if people feel they were treated right, they'll speak positively.

10 Maxims For Marketing to Employees

1. The CEO leads the charge. Invest the time in internal Marketing. It's the choice of being proactive now or reactive later.

2. Be visible. Practice management by walking around. Express yourself. Let people get to know you.

3. Communications have to be ongoing. It must be planned, frequent, and consistent. Make your communications real and believable.

4. Have a flexible plan and budget. Be sure to budget for internal marketing. Have a plan that is easy to implement and may be changed as required.

5. Have feedback processes and mechanisms in place. To create a dialogue, have simple ways employees can provide feedback. Honor the feedback, whether it's negative or positive. Use face-to-face meetings, email, phone, Intranets and other creative ways.

6. Have measurements. You need benchmarks to measure how well you're doing.

7. Have a rallying cry. Whether it's a vision or mission statement, have one. Provide all employees with a simple statement of your company or organization's purpose, reason for being. Make it so simple to understand and communicate, that all employees know it by heart.

8. Communicate company goals. Make sure every employee knows your short term and long term goals. Articulate them clearly and often. When employees know your company goals, they will use their creativity, energy and determination to help you because these people will be fully engaged.

9. Share successes and setbacks. Have a well oiled system in place to internally publicize wins--and not just sales wins. When you hit bumps in the road, as every company will from time to time, let employees know. They might provide some good ideas.

10. Tap into the company informal leaders. In every company there are official leaders and executives and there are informal leaders. These are the people that employees in the company listen to and often follow. Informal leaders can be positive or negative. They can help or hinder you. Get to know who they are and establish relationships with them.     (Back to Top)

Internal Marketing Terms

Creativity and Problem Solving

When it comes to thinking, the biggest challenge we all have is our own internal mind locks. We revert back to what we know or how we've always done it. We often don't risk going after something new which might be a breakthrough idea. So the first thing to realize about creative problem solving is that we have these mind locks.

Discontent is a prerequisite to problem solving. Positively challenge the norm. Challenge assumptions, the way things are done. Ask the right questions. For example, how might we do this better? Or, what would it take to do this in half the time? Focus on turning negatives into positives.

The key to breaking free in creative thinking is asking the right questions. Start with these three:

1. What prevents us from?
2. What would happen if?
3. How might we?

Next, follow this creative problem solving process:

1. Accept. To take on the problem and commit to solving it.
2. Analyze. To dig in and examine the problem from all angles.
3. Define. To clarify what we think the problem is.
4. Ideate. To search out our options, alternatives.
5. Select. To determine the best way to solve the problem.
6. Implement. To take action.
7. Evaluate. To determine the effectiveness of the solution, our progress, and if any changes need to be made.

Here is a good link for further information about creativity and problem solving. Innovation, creativity.

New Technology Tools for Communication and Feedback

An effective way to communicate information to employees is to hold a "brown bag" lunch session, and follow it up with an online employee quiz. It's a fun way to reinforce learning. Make the quiz easy to do.

Allow people to review handout materials. More than anything else, you want involvement. With the quizzes, employees can take them when they want and find out their score instantly. Try Interactive Test to do a quiz. (You'll need to spend a little time learning how to use it.)

Another valuable tool is online employee surveys. There are several low cost or free tools to develop online surveys quickly and easily. Check out the link to Zoomerang.

It's Time to Rethink Reorganizing

Very often, when executives are having difficulty executing, they use a popular technique called reorganizing. In fact, companies love to reorganize. The problem is that reorganizing often doesn’t work. It’s a superficial fix. Dig deeper and it probably isn’t an organizational or structural problem, but a communications or relations problem.

Parts of the organization are in conflict, not working together. Instead of reorganizing, it may be more effective and appropriate to take action that "reconnects." What would happen if the focus was on improving communications within the organization or between parts of the organization? Instead of changing the structure, change the way the parts connect or relate.

For example, if you were having problems with your family, would you reorganize it? (No, we call that divorce.) Instead, you’d step up the communications, the collaboration, and the bonding between family members. You’d garner everybody’s creativity to come up with solutions. Then you’d get everyone’s commitment or buy-in. You’d do things differently. You’d be open-minded to finding new solutions, but you wouldn’t change the family structure. Why not try reconnecting instead of reorganizing for a change.     (Back to Top)

G.R.E.A.T. Employees

Goal-oriented
Responsible
Energetic
Appreciative
Talented

Great employees will give you everything. They will give you their all, period. They will propel you to good times. They will dig in and stick it out with you through tough times because they know that their success is mutually dependent on the organization's success. Great employees are this way simply because it’s in their nature.

Great employees want to be challenged. They crave leaders, not managers. Great employees want people who will discover their hidden talents and capabilities, leaders who will pull out their best.

Great employees will follow leaders under one condition--if they feel that they are appreciated, respected, and valued for their skills, talent, and grit. Great employees will walk through fire if they know that their leaders will without hesitation reciprocate and do the same for them.     (Back to Top)

Hire An Ambassador Instead of a Receptionist

Want a competitive edge that most companies overlook? Spend a lot of money and hire a very talented person to answer your phones. Don't hire a receptionist. Hire a phone ambassador. Get someone with both outstanding people and phone skills.

If your company gets tons of phone calls each week, you need a phone ambassador. It's amazing that companies spend hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars on advertising and marketing campaigns to help create a company image or brand. Yet, in the final analysis, the caller's perception of the company is the one he or she gets from speaking with the receptionist. Hey, don't scrimp here. Get the finest, most talented phone ambassador you can find!     (Back to Top)

Try Acting Like a New Parent

In a fast-paced, changing organization, things can get tense. People and departments may blame each other for problems and mistakes. There may become less trust and offering the benefit of a doubt.

Contrast this with the magic transformation that takes place when a couple has a baby. Even the most aggressive, hardened or negative person, suddenly turns into a marshmallow. New parents are helpful, understanding, forgiving, and encouraging. Parents realize that there are going to be mistakes and growing pains.

So, the next time you feel like finger-pointing or getting angry with someone in your organization, change your approach. Act like a new parent. Be helpful, forgiving, encouraging and understanding. Of course, if that doesn't work, be flexible. Treat 'em like a teenager!     (Back to Top)