People Create The Brand

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of working with my president, of Critical Mass, on a presentation around internal branding. I felt it was such an essential topic, especially since the people behind the brand create the brand, that I thought I should write a post on it!

I have referred to the importance of having a strong internal understanding and belief in the organization’s brand in a few of my previous posts. However, I have never gone into depth of what this entails.

All great brands are centered around a guiding purpose, which is an audacious idea/dream/goal. Take for example MGM, whose purpose is to be the hub of entertainment and buzz, or Google, whose goal is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and usable, or Unilever who aims to add vitality to everyone’s life, and the list could go on! But the point is having a strong and meaningful purpose gives the organization a compass to focus its efforts on accomplishing its audacious idea/dream/goal on a daily basis.

However, I read, awhile back, in the Harvard Business Review, that a whopping 95% of company’s employees don’t understand or know their organization’s strategy! This indicates that many organizations have a hard time communicating its purpose throughout the organization, which is devastating considering that the people are the one’s who drive the organization forward and, therefore, influence the market’s perceptions of the brand. And when I refer to “the people of the organization”, I mean everyone - finance, marketing, operations, you name it - everyone in an organization should reflect the brand!

So, I have put together 5 key principles for internal branding

1. The brand must be meaningful to its employees:

If the employees are not inspired by the brand’s purpose, they will have a hard time making the brand a reality for its customers. What I mean by this, is the products, services and any other actions taken by the organization won’t accurately represent the brand as it had intended.

So, the brand purpose should be stated in a motivational tone that inspires and excites its employees, so they feel they are contributing to the greater good, rather than just the bottom line.

2. Make the brand purpose tangible

This means the brand must be communicated internally in a way that employees can easily apply it to their everyday work. It’s one thing to communicate a highly motivational purpose to get everyone excited about what they are doing, but it’s equally important to put it into terms of what this means on a daily basis.

Google’s 10 Things is a great example of this. It communicates what their employees should take into consideration when working at Google - i.e. “Focus on the user and all else will follow”, etc. This helps employees know when they are on the right track with satisfying the overall brand purpose!

3. Avoid prescribing the brand

If the brand feels too forced, employees will resist it. So, instead, show employees how they are responsible for the brand & let them interpret the purpose as they see it.

Southwest Airlines empowers its managers and front-line staff to act as problem solvers to satisfy the customer on the spot if an issue arises.

The same goes for Nordstrom, who communicates its #1 goal, to provide outstanding service, to new employees, followed by its one and only rule - use your good judgment in all situations. This empowers its customers to do the right thing and interpret outstanding service as they see fit

4. Reward those who live the brand

It’s important to build the brand into key performance indicators that employees are measured on. This provides an extra incentive to act according to the brand. In fact, when people have done an outstanding job of living the brand, it’s essential to reward them publicly, so others can learn what it takes to live the brand from the top performers.

3M, whose purpose is to create innovative solutions to real human problems, has a number of programs designed to encourage staff to innovate, such as the “Golden Step” awards which are granted to those responsible for a successful new business venture. This is designed to help stimulate internal entrepreneurship & risk taking. They also have the “Carlton Society” whose members are selected in recognition for their outstanding and original contributions to 3M. This program helps encourage further development and innovation for the organization.

5. Living the brand starts at recruitment

Internal branding, although exemplified by top management, it should be grounded in recruitment, on-boarding & training. This ensures the brand hires those who are easily motivated by the brand purpose and who share common values, along with retaining those who continually live up to the brand and deliver on its promise.

Southwest Airlines does a great job at this. In fact, during recruitment, they have potential employees role play to help them find people with the right “spirit”. They hire for attitude and train for skills. This allows them to quickly spot those who will positively add to their reputation and long-term success.

Southwest also promotes from within. This ensures that those who move up through the organization have a thorough understanding of the brand’s purpose and know how to deliver it. In fact, they ensure everyone understands the role of each employee and how it contributes to the company.

These 5 principles are a great start to building a strong internal brand! So now, let’s start reducing that percentage of employees who don’t understand or know the organization’s goals!