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!

Posted in Brand, Communications, Employee Engagement

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?

Posted in Brand, Communications, Employee Engagement, Recruiting, Sales, Uncategorized

Tags: Trust

With another year passing and new decade upon us comes a moment of opportunity unlike most any other throughout the year.  It’s a time that mandates real reflection.  Individuals and organizations taking inventory of decisions and assessing opportunity on the horizon.  A fresh start.  Clean slate.  Optimism.  And for many of us that means resolutions.  Find a new job?  Quit smoking?  Balance my work/life?  Lose 10 lbs?  Grow my business?  Some of the more popular choices that typically make the ‘wish list’.  I’ve been a “Resolutioner” – setting ambitious personal/professional targets and sprinting out of the gates January 1 only to lose momentum by the time the snow melted (that would be late April in Minnesota).  And I know that I’ll see the Resolutioners out in droves packing the health club next week.  It usually thins out again mid March. Why the fall off?  My own self assessment related to both personal and professional/corporate objectives is lack of process and planning.  Turning resolutions into results requires a game plan.  A clearly defined strategy.  What I am referring to this year as ‘Resolve 2010‘:

Review:  Change requires an honest inspection and assessment.  What specific decisions lead to the destination?  And the critical component of a good resolution review is accountability.  As a leader/manager, individual contributor or in your personal life its best to focus inward.  Take stock of the I that impacts the “we” or “they”.  Understanding where you’ve been is critical to help you get where you want to be going.

Reinvent:  2010 is a time for reinvention. Your company, your strategy, your brand/marketing and your career.  In fact, the entire Jan/Feb issue of Harvard Business Review is devoted to this concept and offers a great read for the recalibration that is going to be required for many of us coming out of this recession.  Transformation requires BIG ideas.  But this is the exciting part.  Change.  Business models being ripped apart and reconstructed.  Customer expectations evolving.  Value propositions being reset.  A global marketplace.  New skills and competency required to compete. Opportunity that is now a constant moving target.

Reset:  What I like to refer to as adjusting to the new normal.  A faster pace.  Constant change. Continuing education.  A climate that mandates real authenticity and transparency to earn trust.  Where BOLD innovations are required to stay even.  Real reinvention requires working a different way.  And communication and competency are critical components of execution in an environment where what you say is openly evaluated against what you do on a daily basis. When you hit reset as an organization you have a clearly articulated strategy and alignment around mission – vision – values.  These guiding principles are clear in the minds of stakeholders and create a culture of engagement, performance, accountability and trust. And the organization of ME, Inc. can apply those very same principles.

Relationships:  The most essential aspect to my own professional reinvention has been relationships.  And a big part of my own Resolve 2010 plan is to do some real relationship inventory and focus on renewing and respecting the important relationships I have.  It’s an essential ingredient to success.  As a speaker, consultant and novice blogger I am fortunate to have collected new and increasingly important relationships over the last 12 months.  It’s likely that people I didn’t know 12 months ago will read this, comment, offer a word of counsel, support or constructive criticism.  That is a gift.  And as the former Chief Strategy Officer for a division of a Fortune 500 enterprise, success was directly attributed to the strength of my relationships with colleagues, customers and the community (industry) we served.  As a Manager, I was responsible for driving results for an organization that required a massive commitment from the team.  As a Leader, I was responsible for serving and guiding others so they could realize their full potential personally and professionally.  I’ve been in the Relationship Business a long, long time.

Resolve:  This is the most essential ingredient for turning a resolution into reality.  The elevated sense of discipline and commitment required to see it through to result and the understanding that effort and results are two very different things.  It also means focus and clarity.  Deciding what not to do and where not to spend time are essential ingredients to staying the course. If you want to accomplish a BIG thing personally or professionally in 2010 it requires alignment of a lot of little things along the way. And the elimination and avoidance of unnecessary and irrelevant distractions.  In the words of legendary football coach Vice Lombardi you have to “plan your work, and work your plan.”  What gets eliminated from the game plan is just as essential as what stays in.

I know that I am solely responsible for making my own Resolve 2010 plan a reality.  But I am lucky that I’ll get by with a little help from my friends along the way.

Happy New Year!

Posted in Communications, Employee Engagement, Leadership

I remember my first real  internship.  Cold calling thousands of C- leads to try and squeeze out some level of moderate interest for the VP of sales at a transportation company in the suburbs of Cleveland, OH.  A cubicle, phone, lead list and survey I was instructed to conduct if I was able to keep a prospect on the phone long enough to actually answer a question.  Which didn’t happen very often.  Not exactly “field experience” or a big resume builder but it was what I thought I needed at the time.  Truth be told I learned far more about professional selling, customer service, internal client relations and leadership working as a waiter for 5 summers than I did smiling and dialing with my handy transportation survey.

So, this summer, when I was managing my own intern I had hoped to provide a bit of an elevated experience.  And while I stumbled often, I am pleased to say that my intern (Lora) decided to stick around past our end of summer expiration date and continue to lend a hand at REA.  And she rocks.  Organized, efficient and interested in learning and growing her skills so she is better prepared to enter a competitive job market when she graduates this spring.  The other day I was actually wondering if her ‘internship experience’ was proving beneficial (and was hoping it was a little more useful to her than my own).  So I asked.  And her perspective on the experience offered me some terrific feedback and ran a bit contrary to some of the stereotyping associated with Gen Y (specifically around social media and loyalty).  And Lora’s perspective is one worth sharing.  Plus, it wouldn’t be an internship if we didn’t have fun assignments like write your first blog post.

So, a few thoughts from Lora, our Rock Star Start Up Intern!

About me:

I am Lora Berthiaume, a senior at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. I am studying Marketing and Advertising, in hopes to have a job that allows me to be creative in every way possible. When I am not in class or studying hard, you can find me interning at Ryan Estis & Associates.

What I am learning in my intern experience that I didn’t already know:

Throughout my internship, which started in June 2009, I have gained more hands-on knowledge and business experience than words can even describe. I have been able to sit in on client meetings and project planning meetings, those alone opening my eyes to the real world.

I also was put in charge of calling and emailing speaker’s bureaus, which I absolutely dreaded. I now know after all of that, that it is not so bad to have to make calls. It was nerve racking the first couple of times, but the more I knew what I was talking about, the easier it got. I believe that experience has helped my communication and speaking skills grow.

Before the internship started, I did not have a Linkedin or Twitter account. I was definitely a skeptic of Twitter, but Ryan Estis made Kristi Jones (an employee at REA) sit down with me and teach me the ways of Twitter. Now I realize how helpful and fun it actually is.

I am learning that it is imperative that employees work together and build on each other in order to have success within a company. If no one is collaborating with one another, goals and objectives will not be accomplished in a timely manner.

My thoughts on social media, job searching and how we (Gen Y) use these new web tools:

Social media is a crucial part of our (Gen Y) lives both personally and professionally. Facebook is probably the most common type of social media used for us. It is our way to connect with classmates and old friends, procrastinate on work that we should be doing, as well as keep up to date with the social lives of everyone (also known as Facebook stalking). For the most part, we try to use Facebook strictly for social purposes with friends. Since we do like Facebook for social purposes, it tends to be questionable when a company or employer tries to contact and recruit us via Facebook. I think most of us agree that it would bother us and would feel like it was an invasion to our personal and social lives if employers or companies added or messaged us on Facebook. It is not that we do not want information on opportunities, because with this economy we will take just about anything, but more so it is our perception that Facebook is not for professional use. To most of us, recruitment opportunities should be sent via Linkedin and Twitter.

As indicated above, Linkedin and Twitter are our links to the professional world. Linkedin and Twitter are still foggy areas for our generation, but I think they are growing on us slowly but surely. Most of my classmates and friends have a Linkedin account, but do not use it to the full potential. Only about 20% of my friends have a Twitter, and to be honest, a lot of non-users seem to be extremely skeptical of it. My thoughts on the skeptics are that they do not know the benefits Twitter has; Such as links for blogs that might provide you with helpful hints and advice for interviewing, links that list job openings, or just random information (or gossip) about your favorite celebrity!

As far as job searching goes, most people I know use their university’s career development website that provides job and internship opportunities. Those types of websites usually are able to get rid of the scam job listings that most other public job search sites contain.

Why I still work for Ryan even though he doesn’t pay me?

That is a great question. I ask myself that everyday. Just kidding! Other than the fact that interning for Ryan Estis & Associates is a great résumé builder, I am not only learning different aspects of business and social media, but also time management. Interning in addition to working part-time and going to school full-time has tested my capabilities for meeting deadlines. I am now able to juggle all three responsibilities, and get everything I need to done. This is what I imagine it will be like at a “real” full-time job, and so I am glad I have the experience to know different ways to manage my time efficiently when I have multiple projects to work on. This internship is obviously not helping me pay off my massive student loans, but it is helping me receive priceless knowledge and experience, and I thank Ryan Estis for the great opportunity he has given me!

Posted in Employee Engagement

Tags: Gen Y, Internship

The practice of Human Resources is poised to look very different coming out of this recession.   Through the recent challenging economic climate employers have been forced to confront harsh realities around image, reputation management, cost containment, employee  engagement and productivity.  As we prepare for the next growth cycle our approach to competitive talent strategy will require transformation.   Globalization, commoditization, generational and technological  drivers are accelerating change and introducing new challenges to the way we acquire, engage and manage human capital.  Understanding the attitude and expectations of today’s workforce and building strategy to drive engagement, productivity and protect tier one talent will be mission critical to build the sustainable talent advantage necessary to win in today’s competitive marketplace.

While many organizations hit the pause button on infrastructure and investment in human capital over the last 12-18 months, those with more foresight and focus are poised to leverage an advantage.  HR as a function also has an opportunity to emerge from this recession poised to contribute to business in a much more significant way – as the true custodians of the organizations talent – a function that will that will likely be more meaningful than any other as it relates to the opportunity to accelerate business growth.

Over the next year we’ll watch HR grow up and continue to evolve into its rightful place as a critical and strategic driver of business growth and sustained success.  4 keys that should transpire:

1. Talent will emerge as a critical C suite issue.  There isn’t going to be a labor shortage, but demand will escalate for certain critical skills and competencies.  HR will need additional investment and resourcing will be procured by the practitioner community that can build a proof of concept business case and step into accountability that really matters to the business.  In sports when the owner spends money to upgrade talent they expect it show up in the Win/Loss column and eventually a championship.  Business is no different.  Time to fill?  Sourcing Data?  Retention and Engagement trends.   So what?  Show me where/how it saves (or preferably makes) me money, contributes to growth and helps the 5 year vision become reality.
2. Trust is a foundational issue impacting culture, engagement, performance and retention that many organizations must address to protect talent and avoid an exodus of skill as recovery provides more opportunity.  Reports of employee engagement rising slightly during this recession are indicative of people feeling more trapped than engaged and recognizing there were opportunity limitations in considering a career transition.  That will change. “54% of employed Americans plan to look for a new job once the economy rebounds.  The sentiment is even stronger among younger workers, with nearly 75 percent of those between ages 18 and 29 reported as likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around.”  At the heart of the issue is Communication and Competency.  Organizations must do a better job in the next 12 months connecting with talent and investing in their human capital (training).  That is part of the protection strategy.
3. Technology is an enabler that can help HR transform and the burden of assessment/selection relative to the right solutions suite for the business need is imperative.  The vendor community is a buzz with tools and claims creating more confusion than ever in the marketplace (and they will have an escalating  proof of concept challenge also).  A future directed HR organization will have embedded expertise to evaluate, integrate and leverage new tools and technology to accomplish business objectives.  The way we connect and communicate has forever changed and that is an advantage for organizations invested in building community to impact culture.  That doesn’t mean everyone needs to be on Twitter.  There is a balance and intersection between High Tech/High Touch.  You can’t automate relationships.  But you can expedite your opportunity to have more of the right kind of introductions and leverage new tools to aid performance.
4. Transition is a natural outcome and we’ll see more talent from outside the HR industry migrate in to drive innovation.  I see it regularly.  Good marketing/communications and PR talent entering the space.  Finance and operations migrating in as well.  As the practice becomes  ever more critical to business success HR could generate more interest from non-traditional talent and/or more placement from executives who demand a different outcome.

The Time for HR to rise to the occasion has never been better.  A favorite quote of mine from the Jim Collins book Good to Great is: “Great organizations preparing for the future know the ultimate throttle on business growth and success isn’t just about markets, technology, and innovation. In fact, there is one critical consideration above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.”  That should be the HR mission and for many companies that need to focus on Talent First, there is much work to be done in 2010.

The Best Talent Wins!

Posted in Employee Engagement, Recruiting

Malcom Gladwell explains Passion on Purpose this way, “These three things, autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.  It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between 9 and 5.  It’s whether the work fulfills us.  If I offered you a choice between being an Architect for $75,000 a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100,000 a year, which would you take?  I am guessing the former because there is a relationship between effort and reward in doing creative work, and that’s worth more to most of us than money.  Work that fulfills those 3 criteria is meaningful.  Being a Teacher is meaningful.  Being a Physician is meaningful.  So is being an Entrepeneur.”

Sage advice.  Meaningful Work is a value proposition deeply coveted by many a person and often overlooked by the organization.  It’s necessary to building a true, sustainable talent advantage.  And personally, you gotta ‘love what you do’!

We’ll do a deep dive today with buisness leaders in Holland, MI during my keynote The Best Talent Wins.

I cannot wait to get to work today!

Posted in Employee Engagement

D'Amico Kitchen at Chambers Hotel

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 Purpose service 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!

Posted in Brand, Employee Engagement

Posted in Employee Engagement, Leadership

Attending the Blogwell event at General Mills in Minneapolis this week provided some interesting insights into how big brands are leveraging social media.  While the big brands each had varying degress of entrance into leveraging new tools there were central themes throughout the day.  One of those being the strong desire and interest among each brands community to connect online.  Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic talked about Mayo’s digital footprint and provided insights into their Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog that serves as a destination for the many wonderful stories inside the clinic.  Walmart talked about their MyWalmart Assocaites web page that connects over 430,000 regular users in their employee population (although banning access at work seemed a bit contradictory to their desire to foster these connections – trust?).  McDonalds talked their efforts around motivating and connecting employees to leverage their own social networks as Brand Ambassadors for the Golden Arches through strategies like Station M, where approximately 40,000 crew members engage.   And my favorite presentation of the day, from Ford’s Scott Monty depicted Ford’s Social Media Strategy: “to humanize the company by connecting consumers with Ford employees and with each other when possible, providing value in the process.”  My sense is while his toolkit may change, his strategy won’t and it’s a big part of the reason that Ford is one of the top social brands in the US.  It’s completely clear that brands large and small need a strategy.  With a clearly defined objective, some commitment and the requisite tools to build and measure the effort a value proposition around the investment can be derived.

The other great lesson of the day was the importance of listening, learning and participating as an active voice with your community.  Scott described it as “setting his content free” and each presenter seemed to recognize the relinquishing of control in the new communications landscape.  Conference host Andy Sernovitz (author of Word of Mouth Marketing) commented in his session on ethics that the biggest risk for a big brand in social media is the failure to train your team.  It’s important to understand how to use the tools and that knowledge can certainly minimize risk and enhance reward. Coincidentally one of the large health care brands in my hometown now has a Twitter account devoted to Careers.  The brand is a follower of mine (and I follow back).  Recently the brand sent a tweet and link to a requisition of a key management opening in their organization.  I responded back with a DM offering to connect them with someone in my network who met all the requirements and would have been an ideal fit for the position.  I never heard back.  And my point for this brand is…what is the point?  They miss the voice.  The human element.  The participation.  The opportunity.  And are falling well short of the new communication expectations on the social web.  As Scott Monty included in his presentation:  90% of social media is just showing up.  It’s the other half that’s hard.

Posted in Brand, Communications, Employee Engagement

Tags: Brand, Social Media

I have a number of friends and professional acquaintances doubling up on their smart phones.  Typically the corporate issue Blackberry and the personal i-phone.  i-Life junkies?  Not really.  The common  dilemma for the double down is to stay connected to one’s network (yes that would be facebook, twitter etc.) at work.  Someone, somewhere didn’t quite grasp the benefit of a connected workforce and decided the potential for lost productivity was too great a risk.  So the ‘Social Ban’ is on.  And the lost opportunity to harness all of the good that comes from these connections and lack of trust the organization is demonstrating is in full effect. Professional speaker and thought leader Tim Sanders offers up some terrific commentary in his The Digital Benefit Post.  His thought:  “offer the digital benefit or lose the upcoming war for talent.” On the money (and if you ever get a chance to see Tim speak live, don’t pass it up).  I had an opportunity to talk with Todd Raphael and Raghav Singh for an ERE Podcast on Social Media and recruiting and expressed my opinion that the ‘Social Ban’ is short sighted and simply isn’t in the best interest of the organization.  The foundation of any good relationship is trust.  The employment relationship is no different.  It is the very core of employee engagement.

Posted in Communications, Employee Engagement

Tags: Social Media