Tag: internal marketing

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Engagement Marketing

Listen & Engage Your People or Else …

In Lewis Green’s recent blog post (Leaders Reap the Benefits of the Reality They Create) about why nearly two-thirds of U.S. workers are considering switching employers, he says higher compensation is not the answer. It’s more about creating better organizations for everyone: “We should set our goals to create a great culture, to keep our promises to our customers, and to create a better world …” A key ingredient in improving one’s organization is to listen to both employees and customers and “hear what they’re saying.”

His sage advice is reinforced by John Maver who has found employee frustration with management is based on employees “not understanding or having ownership of the company’s actions” although employees are held accountable for results. In his article, Aligning Employees with the Strategic Plan, Maver advocates talking to employees, training them, and engaging them so they “understand that their work fits into the success of the organization and how it fits in. People [need to] see how [the company’s] strategy is going to make them better off through job security, promotions and pay increases … as well as making the company more successful.” In other words, communicate what’s in it for them and the mutual benefit for the organization.

Want to improve employee ownership of business results? Want better retention? Then listening to and engaging employees is well worth the effort.

Thanks to Toby Bloomberg for introducing me to Lewis Green & John Maver in a recent Diva Marketing post.

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Engagement Marketing

Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You

Seems almost everybody I talk to who’s in the current job market has stories on how they’re ignored by prospective employers when they apply for jobs. Only a few organizations extend the courtesy of a postcard or letter confirming receipt of an applicant’s resume.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s an entry-level or executive job search … new job or job-change … for-profit or nonprofit … too many organizations do not acknowledge their job applicants.

I’ve heard the excuses before: HR & other departments doing the hiring are short-staffed and/or there are too many applications flooding into the system. But there’s enough technology out there to automate the acknowledgment process.

At the very least, firms can better manage applicants’ expectations by putting a disclaimer in their want ads that tell people “You won’t hear from us at all unless we’re interested in you.” Don’t assume every applicant takes “no news is no news” as a given.

The smart organization can actually create a favorable brand impression by extending the courtesy of communication to its job applicants. Consumers, including prospective employees, judge an organization by how well they’re treated by everyone in the organization they come in contact with. In other words, EVERYONE in the organization impacts the brand. So ignoring job applicants doesn’t do much if you want to be known as an employer-of-choice.

To those involved in the hiring process, listen up: someday YOU may be the one looking for a job who is ignored.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

“Fun Works” (Really!)

If you’re interested in creating and maintaining a positive corporate culture, check out the 2nd edition (updated & expanded) of Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work by Leslie Yerkes.

Her book lays the foundation for the “fusion” of play and work. She showcases companies that consciously chose to integrate fun into their corporate culture, but it’s not an add-on or forced “let’s-take-a-break-and-play-a-game” type of fun ala The Office. According to Yerkes, “I don’t want to be put in charge of fun. That makes it a job and that would not be fun.”

Yerkes explores how different companies integrate fun into their normal course of business, creating positive experiences for employees and customers, to illustrate “there’s no right or wrong way to engage in serious fun.” She shares what she calls “Principles of Fun/Work Fusion” and the resulting benefits that include:

  • reduced employee absenteeism and better retention
  • a buffer for stress and potential burnout
  • enhanced employee commitment
  • stimulation of creativity & innovation
  • positive impact on productivity.

From my work in internal marketing, I’m familiar with the power of a corporate culture that encourages a sense of humor and appropriate play in the workplace. I found Fun Works a good reinforcement.

Trying to deal with my own workload pressures, I found this book a great reminder that I need to adjust my own Puritan Work Ethic (i.e., work first, play later) to achieve a better balance. (Maybe I need to take a break and catch up on my favorite cartoons … )

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Gaining Employee Support through a New Type of Journalism

[2014 update: the following content still resonates, although the original links in this post were removed because they are no longer available.]

Here’s a fascinating concept to add to your internal marketing & communications toolbox: Workplace Journalism — “a conscious effort to make employee communications at least partly about employees and their concerns, not just the business and its issues.”

I learned about this from Barry Nelson, who believes business communicators can have a positive impact by adding more “empathetic, employee-advocacy journalism … into their otherwise business-results focused reportorial mix.”

He recommends that in addition to communicating corporate strategy, goals, progress & results, (which employees need to know), companies should also share stories of how employees cope with on-the-job issues & stresses (which employees want to know). According to Barry, we need to give “at least some prominence to our employees’ human concerns” such as “how and why to get along with the boss, make friends on the job, cope with stress, live the brand, be a good teammate, and other aspects of a satisfactory work life.”

The Pay-Off

This isn’t just ‘feel-good’ communications for the heck of it. Organizations that share these types of stories demonstrate their care and concern for employees, and this contributes to a strong sense of employee commitment and loyalty in turn.

To learn more, check out Barry’s guidance on getting started with Workplace Journalism.

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Marketing: Not an Insular Job

Don Schultz’s May 15, 2007 column in Marketing News focuses on marketers’ new job description. As our field continues to evolve in a fast-changing economy, we need to better:

  • Understand our markets, including finding the best ways to segment and/or aggregate markets
  • Develop and deliver customer-focused brand value propositions
  • Monitor our effectiveness in actually delivering on the brand promise.

Inherent in our ability to deliver the brand promise is the need to get buy-in and support from everyone in the organization that impacts brand value. Don clarifies: “… marketing is something the organization does, not what the marketing department does.”

As a result, the new marketing manager’s responsibility goes beyond managing the marketing department to work “horizontally across the company to involve operations, finance, sales, HR and all the other groups that cumulatively create and provide the customer’s brand experience.”

Internal collaboration is critical to marketing’s effectiveness. If you only view it as “other duties as assigned” on a marketer’s job description, don’t bother to apply.

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Engagement Marketing

To Strengthen Employee Relationships, Follow Me

Want a great way to foster mutual respect among the employees in your organization? Try this on for size.

Akron, OH-based ad agency Hitchcock Fleming & Associates (HFA) launched an “In Your Shoes Day” where employees in different departments shadowed each other to better appreciate the various jobs in the organization. After all, they depend on each in order to best serve their clients.

Julie Biddle, an Account Coordinator at HFA, told me it was an extraordinary experience. In her own words:

“For my shadow day I was in the shoes of someone in our production department.  It was eye opening to spend a day with him and to see what his job in the agency is like.  I even got to participate by doing his job for a couple hours.

Staring at the computer all day and working at making sure you notice every little detail was challenging, and I could finally see why some of the production people I work with are exhausted by the end of the day.  The next day, when I went back to being in my own shoes, I not only realized that I am definitely in the right area of work but I also gained a higher respect for the people who work in the production department.

This was definitely a worth while training experience and I praise my company for making all of us participate! “

[Thanks for sharing, Julie.]

You can find other company examples of ‘trading places’ in a previous post. It seems there’s no better way to create empathy, understanding and mutual respect among employees.

See how it fits in your organization.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

“Work continues to be quite strange”

That’s the opening line of an e-mail I received from a friend.

The message continued:

“On Friday our department went out to celebrate two colleagues’ birthdays. Management thinks that treating people poorly is completely canceled out by occasional lunches — which we each have to pay for. A half-hour before we left for the restaurant, the department head held a staff meeting. We all gathered in the conference room and she began to cry as she told us she had just figured out that she is a terrible manager and that we all hate her! This announcement was met with silent stares until the weakest among us felt compelled to say something comforting. And then we all went to lunch.”

Sometimes poor working conditions are caused by personality problems of bosses, as well as co-workers, despite a decent organizational culture.

As my friend commented about being in this Dilbert-like situation: “Retirement cannot come a moment too soon.”

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Engagement Marketing

“The Power of Acknowledgment” – Myth-ing in Action

In my internal marketing workshops, I sometimes joke about positive reinforcement in the workplace being a lack of negative reinforcement. In other words, if you didn’t get your hand slapped at work today for doing something wrong, you might have done a good job. But how would you know when management holds back with its compliments and “atta boys?”

In her book, The Power of Acknowledgment, Judith Umlas explains why some managers are likely to withhold praise, and she effectively counters these ‘myths’ of acknowledgment.

Myth: If you praise people too often, it won’t mean as much

The law of diminishing returns does not apply to praise that is genuine and heartfelt. According to Umlas, “Imagine that your spouse or partner tells you every day with absolute sincerity how wonderful and incredible you are. Does that make you appreciate this deeply felt acknowledgment any less?”

Myth: If you tell people how good they are, they might not work as hard

Acknowledging people’s efforts will not take away their motivation to be better. “Acknowledgment and striving go together. When people feel validated through acknowledgment … they will go to great lengths … to get the job done the best they possibly can.”

Myth: A compliment given infrequently will be more valued

An acknowledgment means a great deal, especially when it comes from a manager who rarely gives praise. Umlas considers this from the employee’s perspective: “But what about all the time I spent worrying about … whether I’m doing a good enough job? … My concerns would be alleviated … and my performance might actually be improved if [managers] let me know on a more regular basis what they see as my worth and contribution to the organization.”

I’ve highlighted just the workplace-related excerpts from The Power of Acknowledgment. Umlas’ book provides a quick and easy read to help people harness this power in all their relationships.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

“Firms of Endearment” Already a Best-Seller

As I predicted, the new book Firms of Endearment is becoming a best-seller. [2014 Note: This book is in its second edition.]

I heard recently from one of its authors, David Wolfe, that the book is entering its second printing – just a few months after its initial release.

I cite some of the book’s findings in my forthcoming book on internal marketing, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care. But don’t wait for my book to read about the power of “Firms of Endearment.” Get it while it’s hot … it’s a great book to read and will be a great addition to your business library.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

My Publisher Won’t Let Me Get a Lobotomy & Other Lessons in Finishing a Book When Life Gets in the Way

Knowing I was under a great deal of stress, Yvonne DiVita, my publisher at WME Books, asked me if I needed anything. I jokingly responded: “How about a lobotomy?” (She said no way.)

We’ve been working closely together these past few months getting ready to release my book on internal marketing, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care. We’re in the editing phase, and it’s taken a bit longer than anticipated due to some scheduling conflicts. More recently, however, my availability has been limited due to serious family health concerns.

“It’s a hard knock life”

I’ve needed time in the past few months to be with my 82 year-old mother who was diagnosed with cancer. There have been various doctor appointments, major surgery, and soon she’ll start radiation treatments. My mother lives out-of-town (fortunately, I’m less than 90 minutes away) and when I can’t be with her, we rely on the support of “extended family” (i.e., wonderful friends and neighbors) in addition to our devoted relatives.

It’s been quite a juggling act, especially since I also want to spend as much time as possible with my brother, who is also battling cancer.

“Lean on me”

Throughout this ordeal, I’ve come to appreciate the tremendous support & encouragement offered by my friends, colleagues and clients. Since this is my first time working with a publisher, I’ve also learned that my publisher’s role goes beyond book development, production and promotion to include being coach, cheerleader and surrogate counselor. I don’t know if this holds true for all publishers; I feel extremely fortunate that empathy and extra hand-holding are part of Yvonne’s job description.

I’ve also learned to not worry about the “right” time for my book to be released – I was concerned that if the book wasn’t ready by early spring, we should avoid summer (peak season for more beach-reading than business-reading) and wait until fall to get it out. But being reminded how precious and short life is, it doesn’t make sense to hold it up. So I’m moving ahead with my book – allowing for family time as needed – and it will be released as soon as it’s ready.

Watch for the announcement of my book here. Your patience is appreciated.