Employees as brand evangelists

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), of which the Philippines is an active member, just turned 40. It was a celebration made more meaningful with the staging of this year’s world conference in Toronto, Canada, from June 5 to 9, attended by thousands of communications professionals from all corners of the world. Six focused tracks — employee communication, public relations, marketing and brand, change management, global trends, and communication leadership — were made available for delegates to choose from. This writer, together with Ritzi Ronquillo, IABC North Asia; Jeffrey Remigio, ABS-CBN Global; and Liza Vengco, Unilever, represented the Philippines.

One session I found truly relevant was the session on brand integrity conducted by Gregg Lederman, an expert who provides the path to creating high-performance work cultures and sustainable outcomes. He defines brand integrity as a philosophy and management strategy that is easily communicated, which engages and demands accountability from all employees. It’s an approach that classifies who, what, and how today’s most productive and profitable companies generate results. It fits into place the company workforce, making them think, speak and live the corporate brand, and embrace the willingness to provide discretionary effort to speak positively and stay respectful of it.

Brand integrity engages employees to out-behave the competition as it turns them into brand ambassadors who will strengthen the organization’s work culture and make its customers happy. It peels back the onion, so to speak, to differentiate the corporate brand in the minds of customers, employees, and the marketplace. In this session, Lederman introduced the participants to the “Five Brand Performance Dimensions,” which serve as the foundation for building a visible and powerful corporate brand. When put in operation through correct employee behaviors, the dimensions dramatically impact and enhance the work culture and drive consistently good, more profitable customer experiences.

These five dimensions are the pillars of a great brand. Once defined, they will bring out a clear picture of what your company wants to be and how it will deliver based on its promises and commitments to employees, customers, and key stakeholders that will lead to a more strategic decision-making and performance management process.

Leveling up your organizational communication and group spirit. The first dimension of organizational culture and team covers the company’s internal environment, and measures how employees interact with each other, how management communicates, how it recognizes and holds employees accountable for what they do or don’t do, and how the company’s vision, mission and values influence the employee experience, performance, personal and professional relationships.

Leading by example. This measurement addresses the responsibilities of all employees to demonstrate what the ideal behavior within the organization should be. It means standing up when needed, taking ownership of individual and group responsibilities and functioning, and carrying out duties and assignments with a high level of integrity and trust.

Bringing out your best for less. This aspect of operational strength is driven by how employees work and how they conduct themselves. It focuses on accomplishing optimal quality with limited resources, and includes leveraging technology and systems, prioritizing work effectively and focusing on continuous improvement. 

Exceeding customer expectation. The facet of customer-centric service revolves around a clear understanding that for an organization to survive and thrive, it has to meet — if not exceed — the needs of customers. It addresses internal behaviors, skills, and processes that characterize a company’s customer experience, as well as how employees deal directly with them. This calls for designing the sales experience that makes customers want to buy, and buy and buy again. People deal with people they like and trust. Just imagine the profit impact when employees are engaged to learn how to consistently demonstrate the non-negotiable actions and experiences that make customers want to buy your product and become loyal to it.

Promoting your products, knowledge and expertise. This pertains to the end products or services your company delivers to customers. It covers fostering, learning, sharing of information, demonstrating creativity and innovation, and promoting products and services to increase sales.

Lederman underscored that employees will pass through a series of phases in their trail to understand, commit to, and take action on corporate branding. Thus, each step in the pathway is critical to ensure that their buy-in is solicited and eventually sealed. The pathway, Lederman shared, develops in stages, from denial to commitment:

1. Denial. This results from a lack of understanding about your business reality and corporate branding as a viable strategy. Employees think this way: “I don’t understand what we’re trying to accomplish. This brand strategy is a flavor of the month. Stop wasting my time so that I can get my work done today. Or tomorrow. Or whenever I get to it, since I define what success looks like because you have not.”

2. Resistance. This is caused by strong beliefs about the presence of hindrances or hurdles that will disallow successful execution of your corporate brand strategy. Their mindset: “Our company doesn’t have the right people or operational processes in place to really do the brand strategy — we won’t be able to keep the promises our leaders want to make, and since we’re doomed to fail because of the people we have, this branding initiative will only increase my workload. Ugh!”

3. Exploration. This signals the employees’ desire to learn more. Their thought: “Okay, the company might be onto something meaningful after all. What can I do to bring the brand to reality?”

4. Commitment. This is generated from the employees’ belief that change is good and desirable. Their discernment: “Leadership seems pretty committed to this. They’re still talking about it. Wow! This might not be a flavor of the month after all. The leaders seem to be aligned around this cause.”

Brand integrity leads to profitable branding anchored on more engaged and motivated employees who will unhesitatingly play the role of brand evangelists to help promote why the organization and its products or services are good for their customers. As a final reflection, Lederman carved out 10 truths that, when embraced and acted on, will lead a more engaged, motivated workforce towards more profitable growth for your company.

• A brand strategy is the ultimate business strategy and often the least understood.

• True branding is about being different, not saying different things.

• If you think you know your brand image, you’re probably wrong.

• Only wimps and egomaniacs are afraid to investigate their company’s reality.

• Marketing and advertising can kill your brand.

• Behaviors and experiences make the invisible visible.

• Employees are not your greatest asset.

• Gaining buy-in is the only way to execute a brand strategy.

• Most companies suck at capturing successes and recognizing people.

• Only leadership has the power to ensure brand success.

* * *

E-mail bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions and suggestions. Thank you for communicating.