Beyond the Logo and Mission Statement

I am inspired to write this blog as I was responding to an expertise request on the possibility of building a corporate identity – is there such a thing as a real corporate identity or is all of this just a make believe created through messages and logos?

While I am sure that is a lot written on the subject, I am putting forward my personal convictions based on over fifteen years of working in both large and small corporations and having seen firsthand how identity can build trust, dedication and success, not only at corporate level but on project levels as well.

Firstly, we must define what we mean by corporate identity. Let’s think of ourselves for a moment.  We are all consumers and as consumers our favorite food, clothing or cosmetics are brand driven most if not all of the time and very often when we talk about these things we identify them by their brands.  We are loyal to the brands that work for us.  Well, that’s how we must begin to think about corporate identity.  A corporate identity that goes beyond the logo and tag line is what is needed to ensure corporate culture.

Many of us can recognize our company’s logo and the mission statement but sadly, there is not much personal identification with those two things and this is predominantly why there fails to be a corporate culture.  Building corporate culture is simple and really does not need the fancy models and high consulting fees.  Any smart organization with great internal communicators and strong leadership with a desire to truly engage its people and build corporate identity hand in hand with a winning operating culture can be the architects of their company’s culture.

Let’s pause for a moment and reflect on the following questions – what has more meaning to you: is it that system you constructed after meeting with its users and getting all their input or a system handed to you with the expectation that you learn to use it and adapt to its quirks? I would imagine your answer is the former as there is personal gratification as well knowing that the users are happy because it fits all their needs and they identify with its values.  The other system will take a long time to create user identification while generating discontent and distance – association with becomes an uphill battle.  The same is how we can think of corporate identity and corporate culture.

So my simple recommendation for really igniting your employees into fueling the fire of your corporate culture is make them part of the process of creating the corporate values.  Having a logo – that image that represents who you are without words and that mission statement that qualifies what you stand for is the beginning of building your culture. With those two things in place, gather your employees depending on the size of your company; you can have groups based on area of work if the numbers are manageable or you can use your intranet if the company is a large one. Build strategic questions and discussions around what your employees would like their company’s culture to be.  What would make them feel associated with the company’s service or product? You may find those in the manufacturing area talking about quality; those in packaging talking about speed;  those at customer service talking about attention and fast response; those in administration may talk about efficiency and impeccable execution.  Use the flip camera and go around campus, get them on video talking about why or what makes them feel part of the company.  Get your internal and external communicators involved – let them moderate the sessions, gather the info and you will soon be on the road to creating your company’s culture with your employees’ input. Once you roll out the final values – be them five or seven, they will represent what your employees identified with – how they see the value of the company.

After the exercise above, I will ask you to take the company values one step further into embedding it into the culture.  Incorporate them into your biannual or annual appraisal reviews.  Have employees cite an example of how they accomplished “impeccable execution” and so on based on your final list values. Place posters of the values in strategic locations where people gather. Create internal promotional pieces with your messages of your values.

Take caution to ensure that your new employees also have a way of becoming identified with your company’s values.  Excited employees will be your best ambassadors at telling the stories and getting others on board.  Build your reward system based on the company values as well. And, remember your communicators must constantly look for the avenues to consistently deliver messages around the company’s culture.

Communicators must ensure that senior management is seen and heard living and talking about the values as well.  Encourage townhalls, breakfast with the leaders – be creative – make your people feel like it’s their own business.

The end result of all this is simply one thing: success!  Dedicated and passionate employees who feel that they are part of what the company stands for do no harm but only generate great service, quality work and they will take pride in what they do.  That’s good for the bottom line and future growth!

The Motivation Factor

My last feature talked about rewards and its impact and ended on the note of making recognition programs impactful through how it is done rather than what is done. Today, I read McKinsey's Motivating people: getting beyond money which featured three "non-cash motivators" that are more effective than monetary rewards in creating employee satisfaction, engagement and commitment.  This article only reinforces the message of my last blog, which is - making people feel you care - having that face to face connection and making recognition more warm and visible among peers.  Bottom line:  people like to know that someone is interested in who they are, what they do, thier accomplsihments and what drives them. 

Mckinsey's three non-cash motivators as revealed through their survey are: praise from immediate managers, leadership attention (having one on one with senior leaders) and being given the opportunity to lead projects. They have found that these three factors in no way is less motivating than cash and in some instances produce greater motivational forces.  Comparing these findings to my post-reward surveys, I also found that, as mentioned in my last blog, the rewardees rated the personal attention, the small group meeting with senior leaders and the ability to interact and ask probing questions of thier leaders are big motivational factors that pushed them to work harder each year to get a second chance for those up close moments and attention.  It was not about the cash as much.

So in today's economic downturn and the fact that it is no longer the business as usual model, should HR managers and business leaders be paying attention to what really makes their employees wake up with passion and commitment to the job?  Yes! 

A company is its people; a company's success comes through the dedication and enthusiasm of its people when they are given a chance to do what they do best and to rise to bigger challenges through senior leaders endorsement and recognition.  I have discovered that public recognition can often create higher degrees of motivation over a slient cash reward.

So, let's take a look not only at what drives our high potentials, but what can also push the enthusiasm buttom on those that are one step behind the high potentials.  Conversations can take us a long way in understanding our people; communciation especially face to face have great merits - it is a two way channel that can lead to many undiscovered elements towards driving employee engagement.  Instead of paper surveys, how about townhalls, or group breakfast with leaders - listen to what engages people through conversations.  I am sure you will find two things: attention will always be welcomed and public recognition will always be unforgettable!