I had coffee this week with one of the strongest practitioners in the Employment Branding space, Heather Polivka at UnitedHealth Group. Heather is a great example of the Marketing meets HR competency needed to get effective Employment Brand strategy the top down support and traction necessary to have some significant long term impact on the business. What kind of impact?
-Increase in hew hire satisfaction
-Increase in Hiring Manager satisfaction
-Significant reduction in recruitment marketing spend
-Dynamic and growing talent networks through the recently launched social media strategy
The foundation of this 2 year journey was based on a significant research and discovery initiative to determine the unique, differentiated and compelling EVP that now serves as a foundation for all of the tactical deployment and communication both inside and outside the organization. Driving consistency across such a large and complex organization is both a significant undertaking and accomplishment.
Her extraordinary work effort and contribution to her own employer is being recognized by Electronic Recruiting Exchange where UHG is a finalist for Best Employment Brand (winner to be announced during the upcoming Spring ERE Expo).
I am sorry I won’t be in San Diego to witness the well deserved recognition firsthand but enjoyed Heather’s insights and perspective this morning around how she has achieved success, the recently deployed UHG social strategy and what is coming next! Her words of wisdom follow:
I typically don’t walk away from conversations about Employment Branding and Employee Engagement blown away. I have a pretty decent perspective on the industry and its evolution. Friday’s conversation with Polly Pearson, VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement for EMC was the exception.
Polly is a progressive communications executive with vision for the impact EB initiatives can have on culture. She is a no BS, brand from the inside out thought leader and our conversation confirmed for me the impact and significance having the right leader in the EB role can have on business outcomes.
We talked a bit about the misconception that EB was a strategy specific to talent acquisition. From her perspective, that is the easy stuff. The hard part is “winning over the hearts and minds of their people.” Banking on the idea that people inherently want to be successful and contribute in meaningful ways to meaningful work at some level it means simply removing the barriers that inhibit potential – and just getting out of the way. It also means being forward thinking enough to let people do more of what they love and not being confined to the limitations of job titles, policies and procedure.
EMC is clearly winning with a culture of “collaboration and connection”…..and you can learn more about how she drives this initiative and her ideas for 2010 at her blog Building and Branding Careers, Culture and Cool (and yes, they are hiring!).
Employment Branding isn’t all about image. It’s about execution and experience. Polly delivers and provides keen insight and best practices that other organizations can learn from and leverage to make some real progress in the talent engagement arena.
If you get the chance she is definitely a webinar or conference keynote worth watching!
Remember the movie, Meet the Parents? Where Gaylord Faucker was hopelessly left outside his soon to be father in law’s magic circle of trust despite his every effort and very best of intentions. Once he was outside the circle it took quite the herculean effort to get back inside.
TRUST is a major issue in the workplace today. Employee engagement has waned and the prevailing feeling in so many organizations can only be described as anxious and trapped. It matters little whether the marketplace is talent rich, if the talent on the team isn’t aligned to the objectives and invested in the outcomes. And invested just enough not to get fired doesn’t count. I know a lot of passive jobs seekers, working and waiting for something better to come their way.
Sales and Marketing have a Circle of Trust with their customers. So does Recruiting and Leadership with their employees. And trust and engagement are never higher than the moment someone says YES! Once the big decision is made the trust should solidify and escalate into endearing loyalty and evangelism. But it usually doesn’t. The circle breaks down.
When interest is elevated and engagement is high its a violation if the ‘experience’ doesn’t meet the ‘expectation’. Brands (and employer brands) that can deliver an experience, that exceed expectations consistently (exceed once and fail twice and you’ll drive people crazy and right into the hands of the competition) build loyalty and have the opportunity to drive evangelism.
Transparency and Authenticity are the new mandate. You better BE what you SAY. I read a great quote about this on the Edelman site last night.
“Audiences expect companies to interact with authenticity and transparency. Companies need engagement. Both will only achieve these if driven by compelling content that courts, plays and engages with credibility and professionalism. As Peter Whitehead wrote in the Financial Times, Web 2.0 is a world in which anyone can have a go at generating content; Web 3.0 is where professionals take the lead in shaping that content. And those professionals are the production experts and the multichannel, multimedia engagement experts. A new world, needing a new marketing offer. It’s all for the taking.”
Content is everywhere. Quality is another matter entirely. And better communication inside and outside the company is imperative. And experience is what really counts.
Authentic, Sincere, Transparent, Timely and Relevant Communication builds TRUST. With employees and customers.
How is your company doing? Are they inside your circle?
The following post was contributed by Employer Brand International Chairman & CEO, Brett Minchington. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Brett the last couple years and watching him evolve into the industries leading authority on global employer brand strategy. Leading? Absolutely. You get there by getting on a plane. Landing. Doing the work. Repeat. 30 cities. 20 countries. 24 months. Workshops and round tables with the regions leading Consultants and Practitioners. While globetrotting on this world tour he also managed the build out of a world class global consultancy and advisory team, published a book (Your Employer Brand), some terrific research and developed the community portal employer branding online. I understand there is plenty more coming. That is how you develop global expertise. He is the master of the work/life blend – “it’s all living mate” and brings a very broad, futurist perspective to bear on Human Capital trends. He’ll be back in the USA this spring and will be participating in my keynote on Employment Branding 2.0 April 13th for my hometown HR community at the HRP-MN Conference. You can follow Brett on Twitter or check him out on YouTube to see what’s coming next! Here are his thoughts on Employer Branding 2020:
Employer branding towards 2020….Consider
Having spent the best part of the last decade researching, writing, speaking and consulting in the field of employer branding, I thought as this new decade begins now would be a good time to reflect and share my opinion on employer branding trends towards 2020 and how they will impact on the workplace.
My views have been shaped by leaders, practitioners and academics I have been fortunate to collaborate with over the past 10 years with the past 3 spent travelling to 30 cities in 20 countries as part of my Employer Brand Global Masterclass Tour.
Some of the trends below have already started and will gain momentum towards 2020. Whilst it is by no means a complete list, I hope it will provide insights, awareness and facilitate discussions into how I see employer branding evolving over the next decade and your preparedness to meet these challenges.
Global companies such as Google, Sodexo, Apple, McKinsey & Co, Southwest and Philips have been frequently spoken about as leading employer brands over the past decade. Whilst there are many lesser known or visible employer brands, they are in fact in all industry categories and in companies of all shapes and sizes. These companies consistently articulate a clearly defined employment proposition to their target audience and align systems, policies and processes to ensure an authentic employment experience for employees across the employment lifecycle. In short they care about the welfare of their employees and have leadership conversations to better understand what drives superior performance in their teams.
Companies who are judged as the leading employer brands over the next 10 years will be those who identify, react and adapt to the people and product/service challenges that lay ahead. These include:
1) Time replaces money as the new currency
With increasing amounts of women entering the workforce and one parent working families’ being a thing of the past companies who can trade time for other rational benefits such as pay and career development by embracing flexible work practices and ensure work commitments align with social and family responsibilities will be highly sought after. The notion of ‘work’ will be replaced by striving to provide an employment experience which is closer aligned with living a rewarding life throughout all stages of the employment lifecycle (e.g. recruitment, induction, promotion, etc) rather than working towards retirement merely being seen as a reward at the end of a lifetime of work.
2) Functions will blend
Employer branding is not a HR function, it is a business philosophy and all functions have a role to play. The business environment is dynamic and moving way too fast for Human Resources, Marketing and Communication professionals to continue driving the strategy in isolation whilst trying to achieve alignment between people, products and consumers. The study of employer branding will continue to make its way into the University syllabus in HR, Marketing and Communications courses and the science of employer branding will advance as an increasing number of academics and students undertake research in employer branding building upon the research previously undertaken in employee engagement, organisational psychology and brand management.
3) Less is more, small is big
As every dollar spent has come under closer scrutiny during the Global Financial Crisis, this culture will continue towards 2020 and leaders will need to demonstrate a ROI of investment in employer branding and how it impacts on delivering the company’s mission and vision – two areas the top company’s get right whilst others’ actions fall well short of their promise leading to disengagement and lack of trust amongst employees.
There will be an increased focus on employer brand strategy development to avoid brand fragmentation and confusion which exists when the market produces innovative ways to attract, engage and retain talent faster than companies can keep up with. There will be less focus on creative communications and more focus on relevancy, customisation and authenticity as companies’ invest to build their brand from the inside out and reward behaviours which reflect a defined employer brand positioning and strategy which takes a holistic approach to the employee lifecycle and diverse employee segments.
4) The talent crisis becomes the matching crisis
Companies will tune into the global network of untapped talent in emerging economies such as India, China, Middle East and Turkey where technology and access is accelerating skill build in these regions. As organisations become more knowledge and technology reliant the demand for more diverse skill sets will result in companies building virtual teams of specialists on retainers in order to keep up with the accelerating pace of market change. Companies will leverage affordable, high quality technology to connect virtual teams and provide an environment where employed and contracted talent feel valued and a sense of belonging, – an experience much like the one today being enjoyed by millions on social networking sites. The uptake of Talent Relationship Management (TRM) software will accelerate in much the same way as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology did in the 1990’s as companies strive to find competitive advantage in TRM – let’s hope the same mistakes aren’t made!
The demand for specialist virtual consulting will accelerate towards 2020 as the demand for real-time access and transfer of explicit to tacit knowledge to optimise performance demands real time reflection, feedback and action. The game will be won by the companies who can match talent (from anywhere on the planet) to be up to speed on roles and responsibilities much quicker than today’s 3-6 month onboarding period allows.
5) Relationships will replace reputation
The key to sustainable business success has always been established in the relationships between the people involved, not just in a superior product or service. The cost of a bad hire or vendor selection is costly so companies will rely less on a ‘pitch for service, ’and‘ tender processes and choose partners based on a previous working relationship or referral when allocating resources for employer branding initiatives.
The key shift will come in defining, nurturing and evolving relationships based on a value return as opposed to the ‘bigger is better’ approach companies and agencies have strived for the past 20 years leading to redundant information and disenchanted candidates and vendors.
6) Employer brands become global
In the past decade employer brands have been highly localised. That’s why an organisation that is judged a number 1 employer in the USA may only rank number 6 in Asia. The evolution for the world’s leading employer brands is to find closer alignment between the culture nuances in attracting and retaining talent in different countries and cultures. This will require increased communications between Head Office and Regional leaders. I am amazed of how many global brands talk about having a global employer brand strategy and when I meet their regional leaders they advise, “What Global Strategy.” Technology will support improved global collaborations between regional offices but it is going to take a culture change of moving from a “command and control employer brand leadership” at headquarters to a “collaborative and evolve” employer brand leadership” style to enact engagement across regions which enhances business performance.
7) Slow is fast
Information will be delivered faster towards 2020 but the churn of redundant information will become slower. Technology and tools will get better at filtering out noise that has the tendency for employees to waste productive time online and on social networking channels.
Training will become a daily occurrence inside organisations and tools will allow for knowledge to be requested, captured, customised and transferred to employees via their hand held communication devices. Employees will receive real time updates aligned with their career development plans and leaders will be able to view real time updates on performance to plan and provide coaching and mentoring before or at the moment when it is most needed rather than 3-12 months later at a formal performance review.
Organisations will get naked
Just as reality TV shows have become the norm the past decade, reality workplace TV will become the norm towards 2020 as companies allow access into the culture of the organisation through web streaming and reality shows about the day to day operations of what makes the company a success or a failure. Viewers will be encouraged to participate in and solve workplace problems similar to how crowdsourcing works today. Job offers will be made and filled within hours as companies exploit the benefits of crowdsourcing.
9) Work becomes living
Companies will empower employees to come and go as they feel is required to deliver the outcomes of their role. The level of distrust in corporations today will be a tipping point for talent to move to an organisation that provides an employment experience which is closer aligned with their lifestyle choices.
Exiting baby boomers will pave the way for a new workplace dynamic where Gen X’s, Y’s and Z’s will provide a melting pot of skills, attitudes and a ‘can do’ attitude with lower levels of bureaucracy. Just maybe, this reduction in bureaucracy will provide talent with an increased sense of ownership of time as efforts are focused on outcomes and performance rather than politics and bureaucracy.
10) Connected, cleaner and greener
The penetration rate of the internet is growing at rapid speed in emerging economies and along with the increasing speed and lower cost of delivery, companies will increasing opt for greener consulting services which can be delivered over the web rather than in-person and in doing so, save on time (which will add value to #1 trend) and carbon emissions. This will add up to significant tangible savings and market support for companies amongst all sections of the community.
Top talent will choose between companies who can demonstrate they care about making the world a better place to live rather than just maximising profits at the expense of society’s negative externalities.
………………….and some closing thoughts
If the economic downturn has taught us one thing, it is the value of the three business performance pillars of trust, communication and leadership in building competitive advantage. The rate of technological innovation is increasing at rapid speeds and the greatest challenge for business will be to manage the needs of shareholders and employees to ensure that profit is returned in a manner that is both healthy for the environment and for employees. We should not forget these pillars have always been within our reach, the challenge will be how we balance our focus on them whilst managing the complexities of the workplace towards 2020.
Travelling in style on the Dallas Cowboys Tour Bus
Today the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East with a dominating win over their in conference rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. They enter the playoffs with an 11-5 record and a high powered offense making them legitimate contenders for the Lombardi Trophy.
Whether you are a Cowboys fan or not, if you follow sports at all its very likely the notion of America’s Team evokes some level of emotional response. Love em, or hate em there is no denying the brand strength of this enterprise. The Dallas Cowboys have the most valuable brand in the NFL and the 7th most valuable brand in all of team sports behind 5 soccer teams and the NY Yankees (surprised?). Category leading brands create highly engaging, emotional reactions. The Cowboys certainly fall into this category of one.
This fall I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend in Texas attending a couple events and traveling in style on the Cowboys Tour Bus. Not a bad way to roll and experience brand evangelism, Texas style. Where big is better, attending a Texas event in official Cowboys transportation is a sure way to generate interest and enthusiasm (and a minor spectacle) among the locals. They LOVE their Cowboys! And the Cowboys provide their fans with an elevated brand experience.
The brand new 1.2 billion dollar Cowboys Stadium is the most expensive in the NFL. The new stadium includes a retractable roof, glass doors allowing each end zone to be opened, and a center-hung video display board. It is the largest high-definition television screen in the world – 160 by 72 feet (49 m × 22 m), 11,520-square-foot (1,070 m2) giving every fan unprecedented access to an up close and personal brand experience. These are but a few of the more prominent amenities fans get to enjoy on game day.
A brand is a promise…about an experience that creates expectations in the hearts and minds of customers and employees. The Cowboys provide a compelling, unique and differentiated brand experience converting customers into loyalists every Sunday. The organization has a Passion that is on display and embedded into just about everything they do. The way they do it is special. And the Purposeis clear. Super Bowl Champions.
And just like in business, over the coming weeks the talent and teamwork will determine the organizations ability to realize the vision.
Enjoyed a great conversation today with Employer Brand International Corporate Advisory members Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Manager at Sodexo and Heather Polivka, Director of Employer Branding & Marketing at United Health Group. The conversation covered top of mind territory around Employer Branding as business strategy (and not just recruiting strategy) and the cost/benefit analysis and opportunities specific to leveraging social media for talent acquisition. Kerry and team Sodexo have built brand ambassadorship and a clearly defined social strategy that includes active participation/engagement and adheres to some of my general best practices (participation drives relevancy; transparency equals trust; listening is more important than talking; define the objective; and validate). I am sure she’ll be sharing valuable insights around the Sodexo journey on panel at the Social Recruiting Summit later this month in NYC. Heather (and Heather) at team UHG have a carefully vetted and clearly defined EVP leveraged across a variety of key internal/external Talent initiatives including the deployment of their new content rich careers portal.
Both are world class practitioners delivering for organizations that have strong leadership support for bringing new ideas and innovation to the talent function (which is certainly key to expedite transformation). And both are HR transplants that come to the discipline with a marketing background and competency. A new trend? Will more companies adopt these titles & roles embedded into the HR/Talent function? Is there an opportunity for more cross functional collaboration between HR/Marketing/Communications and PR in support of talent? Perhaps…
Today’s conference call would have offered valuable lessons for anyone in sales/marketing. That is certainly part of the new talent acquisition competency.
These are two Talent Innovators bringing Passion AND Purpose to the profession. Fun to watch!
I am putting the finishing touches on my preso for Mega Session Monday – where I’ll have an opportunity to speak about the trend line and evolution in HR Communications and branding for talent (Employment Branding 2.0) at the Garden State SHRM Annual Conference. It should a great event.
The conference is appropriately titled Blueprint for a Changing Reality. They nailed it. The business of Human Resources is in the midst of transformation and will need to look very different coming out of this recession than it did going in. While products, services and technology evolve at a pace that minimizes differentiation and signals more commoditization in the marketplace TALENT moves to the forefront as the key competitive business advantage. Its heavy on the mind of any C suite exec that has his/her eye on the prize and whose vision exists beyond the next quarterly earnings report. You can shed until your dead or game plan to win with a TALENT first strategy. The future of HR will be about building readiness and responsiveness to meet the evolving TALENT needs of the organization. And I look forward to hitting this topic hard Monday afternoon with the tremendous HR talent in New Jersey.
My hats off to GSCSHRM for organizing a Conference 2.0 style event. They did it right with a strong web presence, linked in group and twitter hashtag (#gsc09) to build community around their lineup of first class content. For the Practitioners that opt in they will have a more robust conference experience and build stronger networks faster that aid in the sharing of best practices and cultivation of relationships across industries and disciplines. For a speaker like me it’s provided an awesome opportunity to share some of my relevant content/articles etc. in advance of the event in an effort to create some expectation around the experience I intend to deliver on Monday. And I likely won’t have to wait for the conference evaluations to know if my experience met with audience favor. We’ll live tweet the session and I will know real time if my message resonates. That’s a changing reality for certain.
SHRM President & CEO Lon O’Neil kicks us off Monday morning and the legendary Simon Bailey is the closer. It’s a privilege to serve as the middle reliever for this event. I better bring the A game!
My post dinner enthusiasm with D'Amico Kitchen Restaurant Manager & Brand Ambassador Angie Thyren
Returning home to Minneapolis last night after a speaking engagement on the west coast I decided to head over to the new D’Amico Kitchen at Chambers Hotel and enjoy a beautiful Friday night on the patio. Long a fan of the D’Amico & Partners restaurants (their D’Amico & Suns Turkey Dried Cherry Salad is the all time best) I was excited to hit their newest addition to downtown Minneapolis. And they didn’t disappoint. The stunning outdoor space, music and awesome menu were enough to make my Friday night special. However, the highlight of evening turned out to be the Passion on Purposeservice and brand experience delivered by team D’Amico.
Midway through dinner I sent my fork south to the patio floor. I flagged down a D’Amico staffer eager to remedy the situation with a new utensil. However, a bit of time passed, no return from said staffer. No new utensil. So, we tracked down the silverware on our own and continued with dinner. Not a deal breaker in my mind, after all, I was the one that made the mishap to begin with. The D’Amico staffer returned, apologized for the delay and indicated the message he relayed was misunderstood and our waitress didn’t carry through and deliver the fork in timely fashion. He offered to buy desert for us to apologize for the delay and make certain we left with a smile on our face. I was more than impressed and we thanked him for the offer. Concluding dinner we made mention to our waitress that we’d take a pass on the free desert and just continue enjoying the evening with another libation. And she promptly returned with the round of cocktails and shared with me that our entire bill would be taken care of. Now I wasn’t just impressed, I was floored and also indicated that was completely unnecessary. The food was outstanding, the service spectacular and we had and all around great evening. She said her Manager insisted. And I knew I had to meet this Manager.
Our waitress returned with Angie Thyren, the Restaurant Manager at D’Amico Kitchen. I thanked her for the generosity but also wanted to understand her decision. Why did she make the call to comp the tab when desert or a round of drinks alone would have been even more than expected for a utensil delay? Angie didn’t hesitate, “It’s simple, really. You can leave here feeling ok about us, or you can leave here feeling like we did everything we possibly could to make your Friday night special. You chose to spend your night with us and we want you to leave here a fan and come back again.” Mission accomplished Angie. You get it. You aspire to deliver more than just good food in a nice atmosphere. You want to deliver an experience that people never forget. It’s a great example of Passion on Purpose on display in the workplace. What a difference an engaged leader, passionate about her brand, delivering a customer experience with purpose can make. D’Amico & Partners earned my brand loyalty a long time ago. I’ve been dining at their restaurants for years. And I can tell you now, when I want a special night out in downtown Minneapolis, I’ll be making my reservations with Angie and team D’Amico. I know they will deliver for me every time out! Branding is all about proactively managing your image, reputation and experience. Angie delivers and also understands that brand is no longer just what you say about you, it’s what everyone says about you. I say when you want a special dinner/night out in Minneapolis, head over to D’Amico Kitchen at Chambers Hotel. They have it nailed!
A big round of applause to the Pixel Farm Interactive crew for the home run they hit with their Interactive Landscape. They continue to impress. From this blog design to my web site. No doubt, they get it. And for a window into their ideas and insights visit their Engaging Trends Blog. What is clear is that the interactive marketing business result will be achieved in the blend. Design & Usability are imperative. Success will result based on the Strategy. And the Human Element will always remain as a key component. Going to be fun to find more ways for us to work together in the future! Stay tuned…
This is a compelling presentation that does a fantastic job explaining the social media revolution. The notion that we are experiencing a fundamental shift in the way we connect and communicate is right on point. The game is changing – and smart/savvy organizations playing the new game, the right way, will generate a significant competitive advantage.
Organisations will get naked
