Using the brand to breathe life into the machine
Using the brand to breathe life into the machine
Richard Sauerman
Traditionally, organisations are thought of and run as machines that consider labour and materials as inputs, and products and services as outputs. Management's job is to optimise systems and processes so that they bring the largest financial reward. This is done by controlling productivity, efficiency and quality; and it is considered an engineering task to maximise output, minimise cost, and produce profit.
In reality, organisations are not machines, but living entities that display the full range of human emotions - because organisations are a group of people who come together to accomplish something they could not otherwise do on their own. In fact, 100 per cent of your employees, clients, and customers are people, and as people, they are not simply motivated by the physical workings of a mindless machine.
Whether you call it employee engagement, commitment or motivation, the mental and emotional wellbeing and satisfaction of people at work provides the ultimate answer to increased productivity, creativity, and organisational effectiveness. The intangibles that have been labelled the "soft stuff" are fast becoming the new "hard stuff"; the stuff that makes the difference between being good and great, between 5 per cent growth and 15 per cent growth, between being on budget and on fire.
At the heart of this new "movement" is the recognition that people do not just work for the pay cheque at the end of each month. Every workplace survey done over the past decade lists a heap of other factors - respect, autonomy, mastery, purpose - ahead of salary as the reasons why people turn up to work every day.
The bottom line is that people want to be part of something they can believe in; something that confers meaning on their work and on their lives. Organisations that see themselves as a living entity of human emotions already know this. They know that when their employees are encouraged to find meaning through their work - to make a difference at their place of work, to their customers, in their local community; and to serving the greater needs of society and humanity - they bring forth the deepest levels of motivation, creativity and loyalty.
This is not just a fairy tale or a nice idea. The Gallup Organisation's ten year survey of ten million customers, three million employees, and two hundred thousand managers across hundreds of organisations all over the world found the link between engaged people and organisational performance to be unequivocal. "The success of your organisation doesn't depend on your understanding of economics, or organisational development, or marketing," says Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup. "It depends, quite simply, on your understanding of psychology; how each individual employee connects with your company; how each individual employee connects with your customers."
Gallup then supports his claim with the Organisation's findings. Business units in the top half of employee engagement - compared with business units in the bottom half - show 86 per cent higher success rate on customer metrics, 70 per cent higher success in lowering turnover, 70 per cent higher success rate in productivity, 44 per cent higher success rate in profitability, and 78 per cent higher success rate in safety figures.
So how do you breathe life into the organisational machine? By creating meaning. The job of organisations today is not just to make money, it's to make meaning. When it comes to attracting, keeping, and inspiring people, money alone won't do it. People want to be part of something that involves a cause; a purpose that offers people a chance to do work that makes a difference, and which gives them a "reason why" they should care.
They don't want that cause to turn into the kind of predictable mission statement that plasters many a corporate boardroom wall. Along with the traditional - or mechanical - bottom line, highly successful organisations have a second - humanistic or emotional - bottom line vision, a return on human investment that advances a larger purpose. A powerful purpose that is both a magnet and a motivator.
Your brand is that powerful purpose, that 'reason why', that meaning. Branding is the meaning-making machine that drives high employee fulfilment and engagement. Branding is the meaning-making machine that attracts customers and earns their trust and loyalty.
Branding is simple. But that doesn't mean easy. There is an art to discovering the authentic drive, passion, and purpose that is at the heart of your organisation. There's also an art to bringing your brand to life, both on the inside as well as the outside of your organisation. Because at the end of the day your brand is what you do, not just what you say. Talk is easy, and sometimes cheap.
Brand is thus a leadership issue, not a marketing concept. A clearly articulated and authentic brand is the most powerful way to shift the attitudes and behavior of your people, shift your performance, and shift your world.
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