Tag Archive for 'employees'

Brand This!

Published
by
Ehren
on June 12, 2008
in Aspirations, Mentions and marketing
. 1 Comment

Branding. Branding. Branding. Everyone is worried about their brand and their reputation. Does it make a difference? If I made cardboard boxes and they were boring looking — where as my competitor had dynamic-looking boxes, my brand would gradually be identified as the boring one. Can I improve my brand by aggressively pushing it?

Likely not. Let’s look at it another way — if I were lazy (Not that I actually am … but yes I was told many times as I grew up that I was lazy and that I should work harder — it’s one of those things that you get accustomed to growing up in a Chinese Canadian family) and delivered rather work that was merely good enough — i.e. it served its weak purpose. Then that is what people would identify me with regardless of how often I can try and tell them that I am an innovative individual that excels in integrating new technology with evolving business objectives.

Let’s look at it this way, you can’t change your brand unless you change the approach to your product first. I was talking with a co-worker today about how annoying it was to have Rogers Communications suffocating us with their so-called “branding” attempts.

I get to see them on the subway, bus, station ads, tv ads, radio ads, and all the cell phones that are prominently displayed at various store locations. Not only do I have to deal with their constant presence wherever I go, but Torontonians have to deal with the fact that the SkyDome was officially renamed as Rogers Centre after Rogers Communications purchased the building. Can a business get anymore overbearing? Probably … but no matter how often Rogers keeps throwing their name at us, I’m still going to think and feel the same way.

The SkyDome is an integral part of Toronto’s identity so it represents a HUGE opportunity for Rogers to shove its brand in our faces. I think this is a flaw in handling branding. Branding shouldn’t be regarded as a way to inundate your potential customers with the name of your company. Rogers is generally identified by friends and acquaintances as a monopolistic, large communications corporation with plenty of policies but lacking in solid products that deliver true value to customers. Most of their customers are using their services because they have to, not because they want to. See the flaw in thinking? The goal should be to focus on delivering such great a product that customers WANT to use it and would not hesitate to encourage their friends and family to do the same.

SkyDome and CN Tower

The SkyDome (oops I meant Rogers Centre) and CN Tower in Toronto, Canada

Rogers is primarily an example despite I realize that their heavy branding push is meant for consumer attention. Nevertheless for businesses out there that have lengthy discussions on brands and whether it makes an impact on sales — the simple response is: your product defines who you are. If your product is lousy, then your company name is associated with lousy products. If the design on your packaging is lame — then your company is identified as the one with lame packaging. Don’t forget about what your own employees think about your product — they are a real testing ground. All too often employees and their opinions are overlooked. Why? Because we trust focus groups more? Fine — go spend ten thousand dollars for an opinion that you could possibly get by simply asking your employees for feedback.

The case for individuals and each employee works in an almost identical fashion. There are a lot of articles on managing online reputation or personal branding but most of them come to the same conclusion. By no means am I suggesting faking anything — the key is to simply be the best of who you really are.

As Stephen Covey and many others after him (including my old project management instructor) put it … “Begin with the end in mind.”

Who are you? How do you see yourself within the bigger picture?

What and how will you deliver?

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The Life of a Career Employee … or not?

Published
by
Ehren
on June 5, 2008
in Aspirations, Mentions, marketing and work
. 1 Comment

How do you approach your work at the workplace? Many people point out that it is wrong to give too much of yourself to the employer, but I disagree — it’s not that simple. True you don’t want to have your employer take advantage of you but at the same time, it is important to invest yourself in whatever you want to do and to do what you feel may be right for yourself and/or the people you work with.

Milo Sindell and Thuy Sindell, authors of The Career Bill of Rights, suggests that this is a definition of a career employee, particularly because the employee’s relationship with their job has become blurred:

A career employee is an individual who spends their career working as part of a company, as opposed to working for their own company.

Classic examples from Dilbert:

Obviously Dilbert is a little too involved with his work but I’m pretty sure that a lot of people are, myself included. The thing I recognize the most about engaged employees are that they are objective oriented and that they look for meaning in the work that they do. That said, is it worth it to do whatever it takes? That’s up to you. I can honestly say that the many different stints in various industries has taught me that there are three ground rules to work with:

1. Never forget where you worked and never forget how you felt, and what you did when you started working.

2. If you’re going to do something … don’t do it the way you think should be right — do it right for yourself, your colleagues, and for the people you serve (i.e. customers or citizens). (…or at least the best you can)

3. Make sure you fail over and over again until you manage to not fail. If you don’t fail, what’s the point?

That is how I generally operate. But what the Sindells are suggesting is quite interesting. They are proposing that career employees (aka. engaged employees) should formulate and embrace their own bill of rights. Here’s the gist of it:

Enter the Career Bill of Rights
1. You have the right to take advantage of your employer.

2. You have the right to only give as much as you can.

3. You have the right to roam.

4. You have the right to the truth.

5. You have the right to enjoy your work.

6. You have the right to more. [Look out for more of this!]

7. You have the right to leave an inspiring legacy.

8. You have the right to fire your employer.

As the Sindells’ state, “they are the rights you have as a person who chooses to work for another individual.” Whether you decide to exercise those rights is up to you. I don’t necessarily know if a bill of rights will make life easier for the engaged employee but it is something that I have pointed out to people before.

We have the freedom to decide where/when we want to go and where/when we want to stop. Just like we market our products, the act of hiring a particular employee is a form of marketing as well — except the fact that employees are the customer. We either buy into the work we do — or we lose interest and become disengaged. The funny thing about this is that it demonstrates the simple importance of a company’s ability to market their own product and policies to their own employees — if it doesn’t work for your own employees, why would it work for your customers?

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