This blog is about the relationship between organizations and the people who work for them. And, it’s dedicated to the millions of people around the world who go to work every day wanting to do a great job.
Brand
We’ve come a long way ladies! Or not.
Last night I attended a very successful ‘friend raising’ event in Toronto for Equitas: International Centre for Human Rights Education. Thanks to the generosity of the TD Bank, it was held on the 54th floor of a tower in one of the few Mies van der Rohe buildings in Canada. The room overlooked the twinkling city below. Simply breathtaking.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the board room of a bank. The last time was 30 years ago when I was a freshly minted MBA.
I remember walking into the board room of the Bank of Montreal as if it was yesterday. Not because of the no doubt important presentations that were made. Not because of the incredible Canadian art that hung on the walls and stood on plinths along the hallway. Not because of the endless walnut paneling and brass fixtures. Not because of doors that were almost too heavy to open. Not because of the rather small, simple, historic original board room table almost forgotten in the corner [somehow very touching surrounded as it was by all this opulence]. Not because of the incredibly long boardroom table that extended from one end of this enormous ball room sized room to the other. Not because of the over 60 blue leather and walnut chairs sitting around the table. Or the matching leather mats at every place.
No, I remember that day because of the carpet. It went on forever. From the elevator, down the hall, into the reception area and then on into the board room. As a woman in heels it was almost impossible to walk across that plush carpet without keeling over or twisting an ankle. I knew then, if I’d ever had any doubts, that this was a place designed by men for men.
And so it was last night. Just one thing had changed besides the glorious view and the name of the bank. Today, the carpet didn’t fill the entire floor. Instead, it sat like a plush [though still dangerous] island under the board room table. We’ve come a long way ladies. And, we’re getting closer to the board room table if the carpet means anything.
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A dirty little secret
I watched a talk by Diane E. Ragsdale, who was then at the Andrew Mellon Foundation. She was talking about Surviving Culture Change in the Arts. Somewhere about half way through this great talk she referred to the ‘depth of loyalty and the quality of engagement’. Now she was talking about external stakeholders. But it got me thinking.
It’s an interesting thing, but we don’t hear very much about employee loyalty. We hear about building trust, employee engagement. And very occasionally about encouraging employee pride: pride in their work and their organizations.
When it comes to loyalty, the focus tends to be on customers. Why is that? Is it because we think that since we pay the employee that they are loyal? Or that since the job market is tight employees are loyal.
I find it a funny thing. Loyalty is something so tied to trust and pride and engagement and it’s virtually absent from the general discussion.
I think it may reveal something that makes me pretty uncomfortable. And that is that even with all the talk of humanizing organizations and the workplace there’s a dirty little secret. Underneath all this nice talk about building relationships there’s an assumption about employees. And that is that it’s really all about the transaction. We can buy loyalty. Or we get “loyalty” because employees have limited choices.
Is your organization’s employee experience “cultivating true fans” and advocates? Is designed to build employee loyalty? And, if it’s not, is it because after all they get a pay cheque. Are all our good intentions built on this assumption: in the end the employee ‘relationship’ is ‘short-term’ and contractual? Not a relationship at all.
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On being authentic
The first time I ever heard the term authentic used in an organizational setting was only a few years ago and it might have been the last time it made any sense.
I was doing a small project for Nike’s Marketing team at their head office in Portland, Oregon. They often referred to authentic Nike. At first I thought it was some meaningless corporate jargon [there’s generally a lot of that going around at HQs wherever they are]. It took me a while, but I finally realized that for them a product was authentic Nike only if it had been designed with a world class athlete to improve their personal performance. Now, that’s authentic.
Three years ago, The Authentic Enterprise concluded that “…authenticity will be the coin of the realm for successful corporations and for those who lead them.” And, that “Communicators are uniquely positioned to become experts on the new art and science of organizational trust.” Now, I need to say up front that I generally find this whitepaper interesting and compelling. And not surprisingly I’m pretty keen about their conclusions for communicators.
The problem I have is that this paper and the discussion that has followed is based on two flawed assumptions:
- Institutions can be other than authentic
- Being authentic is always going to be good.
I don’t believe either of these assumptions are true.
First, how could an institution be anything other than authentic. They are what they are. They do what they do. Their behaviours and actions, the decisions they take or don’t take reflect their underlying beliefs and values. And, whether you like them or not they are a totally authentic.
Second, authenticity has lost its meaning. For Nike it was real and good. The challenge for many institutions today is that what is authentic is not that good. What’s real is not good. Think of British Petroleum or the Vatican. Their behaviours and actions tells us much about their authentic institution and it’s not good.
Importantly, though authentic and transparent are often talked about in the same breath, you don’t have to be transparent for anyone to get who you really are and what you stand for. Here’s an example:
A young friend of mine, a recent MBA grad, got a job offer from a fortune 100 global high-tech company early this summer. He was told that his candidacy had to go through the CEO. He stopped his job search – he’d received and accepted a formal offer [reflects his values]. It’s been weeks and still no word. This one act tells us a lot about this organization. And, perhaps more than my young friend would like to know. First, even though one of their 5 values is respect they have put a young debt-ridden new grad in this position. Second I believe my friend can be confident that control will be one of the most important underlying values – not innovation or accountability. Two other values that are listed on their site.
On being authentic. That’s easy. Now how to make institutions authentic and forces for good?
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From the inside looking out
Earlier in my career I worked for one of the most admired brands in Canada. It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud. You walk into any situation and people are all over you about how great it must be. Except it wasn’t. The buzz and hype had created an external brand that didn’t match the internal reality.
What brings this to mind is that two more of the world’s most powerful and valued brands have taken big hits to their reputations in the past few weeks. And both of them for misleading customers.
DELL is accused of hiding significant and potentially dangerous technical issues from their business customers. Recently unsealed lawsuit documents reveal cover-up and purposeful deception that may have gone on for years.
Apple’s iphone customers have complained of dropped calls since the first iphone hit the market. They were told it was a network problem. A small problem of design which meant you just had to hold it a certain way. Then a software problem. Now, according to consumer reports the phone’s hardware is flawed. And it looks like Apple may have known about this problem for some time.
The thing is when we say DELL and Apple knew and have been misleading customers, we mean DELL and Apple employees knew and have been misleading customers. Certainly not all employees new. But, most certainly some of them did. And, no doubt many of them suspected the truth.
What’s it like to be on the inside of brands like these? To know that the customer’s brand experience is build in whole or in part on a myth. To know that if anyone really took a look behind the curtain they’d find behaviours that were questionable if not unethical or illegal. To know that your boss or your colleague is misleading you?
Rising employee cynicism and plummeting trust in leadership tell the tale. So the next time you’re asked how communications can help reverse these trends don’t start drafting new and better messages to push. Stop yourself from building a inspiring internal campaign or refreshing the intranet. Do start thinking about how you can help set the conditions for getting the right conversations going with the right people around where and how the employee experience is not aligned with the brand and discovering what needs to change.
Some additional reading
I went to see if I could find the values statements for DELL and Apple. Read in the context of what is in the news now, they are pretty interesting.
- Check out Dell’s official ‘Soul of Dell’
- Apples doesn’t publish its values statement on the web, but I did find a pdf post that looks pretty credible. If the actual values statement “customer empathy” is especially chilling.
And, I’ve been following the animated discussion on the smoke and mirrors of employer branding with Sean Trainor at CIPR Inside that adds another dimension to this post.
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Recent posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
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- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
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