Market and Brand Communications

Where would one go to learn the fundamentals of employee communications? Here is an interesting link... The Employee Communications Manifesto Wiki - visit and read it! It´s an open forum for those who work with internal communication. http://www.employeecommunicationsmanifesto.com/index.php/Main/AboutPage

Welcome to the Era of Inspiration! The 21st century leadership has moved beyond coercion to inspiration. Read more about it in these article written by Dov Seidman: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/aug2008/ca2008085_228120.htm?chan=search

Sometimes we can forget what is the most important thing inside our organization. Do you remember? It´s the cash flow? It´s the machinery? It´s the president´s power point presentation? No, no. It´s simple. Fundamental. There is only one king to be served: our clients! They pay our salaries, they are the reason we are working, they are the reason we exist. To refresh memories, a great and simple statement from Disney University: "We have some pretty strong beliefs about things like who is responsible for service, and it's EVERY MEMBER of this ORGANIZATION.“ (Jayne Parker, Director). And to became more and more efficient, to serve our clients, we need the right people in the front. And they are our clients too: they are the employees - the professionals who will deliver the promisses that our organization is doing. So, another simple statement to be remember day after day, written by Hal Rosenbluth the author of The Customer Comes Second , a book focusing on how to create a gr...

Here we are again, talking about the basics: people, not products, deliver most brand promises. And if people makes the difference, talented people are the real innovators, those who go beyond the limits. So it´s time to think about the Employeer Brand .Big and small businesses are facing hard times to recruti and mantain talented people inside the companies. Think a little bit: your company is a great place to work? Your internal culture enables individuals to give their best performance and supports the organization in delivering on it’s brand promise?Well, if not, it´s time to make a change. The development of an Employer Brand is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees.So, how can you start? There are a few first questions to be done with your team! Yeah, the professionals that are inside your business, now! They know many anwsers but you have to hear them. Can you hear them? Remeber people is the competitive advantage.To help you in this task, let me point initial...

"Companies must be able to describe themselves—both internally and externally—because they are no longer adequately defined by the products they make. Customers buy the company and everything it stands for. So the company must be able to define itself in a connected and coherent way. The word religion derives from the Latin religare: to bind something together in a common expression. Corporate Religion is that which expresses the soul of a company and supports the building of a strong market position. In order to make a Corporate Religion come alive you have to describe your internal organization as well as your external market. These internal values create an internal movement which delivers the whole heart and soul of the company. " As you could read above, the book from Jesper Kunde: "Corporate Religion -Building a Strong Company Through Personality and Corporate Soul" is essential for those who work with internal communications and employee engagement. All the...

Spooky companies. Do you know any? Well, I know some. A zombie company is a dead organization. No, it´s is not a closed business, much worse. A zombie company still operates and is also making money. A zombie company is a sick one. Inside these kind of organizations, workers are just spending theirs times pretending they really work there. They can even make some action, do things. But they don´t believe in anything anymore. The mission of a zombie company is impossible to be achieved becuase the employees have no more faith in what is said and done by their leaders. They are like living deads waiting for the pay check by the end of the month. A zombie company cannot talk anymore. Because they had nevere talked before. Why was that? They didn´t liked people! Amazing. Business is made by people and for people, but some companies hate people. Starting by their own employees, the first clients any company have. We can recognize a ZC from outside too: the core business itself sometimes sho...

Believe it or not, silence has a voice, and this is absolutely normal in the human universe. Or do you think that only speech communicates? Silence also communicates. Even when silence is a strategic action, it’s not worth it. There will always be an interpretation. A take. And this makes a difference in any relationship. There’s no use pretending that no one spotted it, that it has gone unnoticed. It hasn’t. It won’t be long before someone will voice their take on the silence. They will interpret and form an opinion about it. The grapevine is instant, the gossiping quickly contagious. At coffee break, lunchtime or happy hour. All the employees will comment on what they saw in the official silence, in what went unanswered. And the Internet, with its plethora of e-mails, blogs, chats and other channels will multiply the versions and comments. This makes talking about things essential. And of course knowing what to say and how to say it is key. But it’s vital to talk about issues – strat...