Risk Mitigation: The #1 Reason To Have A Workplace Social Media Policy

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Social networking sites are everywhere, including the workplace. The number of problems I see each week with respect to issues arising from social media are astounding. They range from employee’s use of Facebook to  managers who recommend employees on LinkedIn  or reveal too much on Facebook. So, if you want to mitigate risk, this is the #1 reason to have a workplace social media policy. 

Clarence Bennett Social Media Policy

Clarence Bennett

There have been some other famous incidents of social media wreaking havoc in the workplace:

  • Greg Smith’s resignation from Goldman Sachs last month generated Twitter frenzy within minutes of Mr. Smith’s public electronic resignation post in the New York Times along with unproven allegations against Goldman Sachs.  Comments about Goldman Sachs continue to filter back to the Twitter hashtag #goldmansachs.
  • A part-time employee assigned to assist in cleaning up at the scene of a suicide in Ontario used his phone to immediately post photos of the deceased to his personal Facebook page with a caption identifying the workplace.
  • A New Brunswick teacher suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome after several former students posted false and defamatory content on Facebook.
  • A US IT staffing firm has sued one of its former employees alleging that she has violated the terms of a non-compete agreement through her conduct on LinkedIn by soliciting her former employer’s employees and clients and by communicating and connecting with a number of them by using the LinkedIn professional network.

In short, these are simply new variations of old workplace themes (i.e., defamation, violation of confidentiality, workplace bullying, harassment, non-competition and non-solicitation) but now with a global social media twist.  And then there’s that other issue of lost productivity and brand damage.  Employees may spend an excessive amount of work time on social networking sites and may also make derogatory comments about an employer, client or customer that can come back to bite.  If a business hasn’t already, it should revisit its existing policies to ensure that misuse is addressed accordingly and updated to include social media misuse.

Social networking impacts the workplace: 

social media policy and heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com

Image courtesy of spinsucks.com

  • People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook;
  • More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices;
  • More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook;
  • 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month;
  • 190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter;
  • Twitter is handling 1.6 billion queries per day;
  • Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users a day.

If there is a marketing or information exchange use for social networking, we recommend that your policies don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Instead, think about what limitations should apply to those individual employees who do use your social networking and maybe have a clear plan on how to develop social networking so that it is effective for you.

My advice is to update your policy so that you can encourage good social media use while enforcing some boundaries. Some aspects of a good policy include:

  • Whether an employee can use social media on company time or whether it is limited to personal time;
  • Define acceptable and unacceptable activities/use;
  • Social networking must not interfere with work;
  • Employees must make it clear that their personal views are theirs alone and do not represent the views of their employer.
  • Integrate with workplace harassment and bullying policies;
  • Ensure employees respect confidential and proprietary information including logos, copyright or registered trademarks;
  • Make discipline for violating the policy explicit and that termination may result;
  • A review process that ensures employees are given an opportunity to ask questions about the policy;
  • Well trained managers.

Develop a policy if you don’t already have one which embraces social media while creating boundaries that protect your business and your ability to manage your employees. Also, as the technology continues to evolve, keep up to date and routinely audit your policy to ensure that it continues to be relevant and protect your interests.

For more information on Risk Mitigation, check out : Mitigate Business Risks: Implement a Social Media Council

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About Clarence Bennett:

Clarence is also a member of the Labour and Employment with the Fredericton office of Stewart McKelvey. 

Clarence’s practice has focused on counselling employers over a wide spectrum of labour and employment law issues.  He has been a commentator on CBC radio and in The Lawyers Weekly on labour and employment issues and is the Editor of Atlantic Employers Counsel, a quarterly Labour and Employment journal published by Stewart McKelvey

Clarence is a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick and a member of the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers.  He also has a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall with a specialization in Labour and Employment Law.

Clarence has appeared before numerous administrative and arbitration tribunals, Labour and Employment Boards, and all levels of Court including the Supreme Court of Canada.

 

The Cost of Ignoring Social Media (What You Need to Know)

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Is your company still in denial thinking that you don’t need to embrace social media? If so, you are suffering a great cost which can be documented through research. For example, McKinsey & Company research shows that unlocking value and productivity through social media is significant. In fact, the study reports that social media could potentially contribute between $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value across the four commercial sectors studied.

Research from Genesys points to the fact that more than half of customer-facing Fortune 500 Corporations “suffer from social shyness”. Specifically, 55% fail to list a Twitter handle and 51% fail to list a Facebook page on their “contact us” page.

The Cost of Ignoring (COI) social media is more significant to businesses than just being socially shy. It comes down to dollars. According to a recent Forbes piece, “social media is more pervasive than ever among customers: 50% of the population currently use Facebook and more than 37% use Twitter.”  This same post also suggests that only 16% of surveyed CEOs were participating in social media. The logical conclusion? Your customers are using social to connect and communicate; therefore, you should too.

The COI of social media comes down to missed opportunities. As a business, you need to question your opportunity costs. If you and your organization don’t have a listening and engagement plan in place, here are five areas where you are experiencing COI right now:

1. Customer Service

Conversations are taking place right now about your products and/or services. Some are very positive and helpful to you.  Some are very negative, perhaps even inaccurate. If you are not listening and engaging, you aren’t taking the steps to correct misinformation.  You are also not taking the steps for a rapid response to fix an issue and delight your customer. Rapid responses save time, which saves money.

2. Reputation Management

If you haven’t secured your company’s social identity, someone else will. They could communicate with your customers under the guise that they represent your brand. We all know that one of the things keeping the Boards of Directors awake at night is the possibility of a social media crisis that damages the company reputation.

3. Crowdsourcing to Build Loyalty

Perhaps one of the most effective companies at utilizing crowdsourcing for this outcome is Starbucks. They have successfully built brand ambassadors through contests and more. Best of all, when done well, it also engages their employees and results in profits.

4. Collaboration

Companies like Dell use their invention of IdeaStorm to bring collaboration to life. According to McKinsey & Company, improved communication and collaboration through social media could raise the productivity of interaction of workers by 20 to 25 percent.  This has huge potential.

5. Recruitment

Some of the savviest candidates have strong social profiles. They have their resumé on social networking sites like LinkedIn. They are researching potential employers through social sites, commentaries, and the social profile of an employer. Being absent can send a strong message to potential candidates.

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A version of this post previously appeared on the Marketing Cloud blog.

12 Questions Experts Avoid Asking in Interviews

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As hiring managers or recruiters we all want to hire the best people for our organizations.  After all, a hiring mistake is a costly mistake.  While it is difficult to fully assign a concrete number that everyone can agree on, you do need to think about lost productivity, additional recruitment costs, training costs, etc.  On top of these quantitive costs, there are some qualitative costs to consider.  For example, impacts to team morale, reputation impacts if mis-hires happen frequently, etc. For cost reasons alone, getting to know your candidates is important.  However, the experts agree that asking outdated and predictable questions won’t net the results that you need.  Skilled candidates can answer questions with the answers you want.  So, let’s explore the most outdated questions that don’t produce results:

Image Courtesy of Linkedin.com

Image Courtesy of Linkedin.com

  1. Tell us a little about yourself?
  2. Where do you want to be in five years?
  3. What are your greatest strengths?
  4. What are your greatest weaknesses?
  5. If you were an animal, what would you be?
  6. What would your employees say are your weaknesses?
  7. What is the last book you read?
  8. What is your dream job?
  9. If I were to call your former employer what would he or she say about you?
  10. Tell me about a project you worked on that didn’t succeed?
  11. How would you sell me this book, pen or iPhone?
  12. Why should we hire you?

Some of you might be asking why these are outdated, and quite frankly terrible questions since so many organizations still use them.  My answer is simple.

  1. First of all these questions are highly predictable.  You can google them and find some good suggestions on how to answer them to make you look good.  Therefore, the hiring manager and HR is not learning about you.  They are getting a canned answer that doesn’t reveal anything about the candidate as a person and what makes them different.
  2. Likewise, as the candidate, you are not really learning about the potential employer.  After all you should be using this time to interview the potential employer.  These useless questions are taking up precious time.  If you are hired, you will hopefully want to spend a few years with the employer and you want to make sure that there is a cultural fit both ways.

A lot of these questions don’t really give any insight into the candidate and how he or she will fit into the culture of the organization.  If you made it to the interview stage, you should have the credentials to do the job.  The skill set that will really set you apart from other candidates is whether or not there is a belief that you have the ability to fit in with the company culture.  This is quite frankly the area that is missed most in hiring. 

As outlined in Bloomburg Business Week article, cultural fit is trumping qualifications in many cases.  In this highly competitive fast paced environment, people can’t afford high turnover rates.  Asking outdated questions doesn’t net the results that organizations need. There is a real need to get to know the candidate.  So, hiring managers need to rethink the process and HR Recruiters need to step up their game.  As the economy improves, competition for skilled resources will increase.  Are you ready?

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Be a Branding Genius Like American Pickers’ Mike Wolfe

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How would you like to debut your brand to 3.1 million people?  That would be pretty amazing right?  Well, that is exactly what Mike Wolfe did in 2010, when his show, American Pickers debuted on the History Channel making it the highest rated debut since 2007.  This didn’t “just happen”.  When you dissect it, Mike Wolfe is a Branding Genius and you can learn from his success.

Image courtesy of the Mike Wolfe American Picker Facebook Page

Image courtesy of the Mike Wolfe American Picker Facebook Page

Now, before getting to Mike’s genius, let’s be clear what a brand is.  Far too many people think a brand is a logo.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  There are a number of definitions for brand, but I think that Seth Godin’s best captures it:  “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”   Now that we are all on the same page, let’s break down what Mike did to create a brand that has resulted in growing his business and brand recognition that we all dream of!

1. Leadership and Vision

Before you can establish a great brand, you need someone who has a great vision.  On top of that however, you need a leader who can execute on that vision. (Click to Tweet)

Mike is definitely “that” person.  His business Antique Archeology has a different take on antiques.  In effect, he is creating and curating his own story all the way from the experience in-store to going out on the road with sidekick Frank Fritz to collect “rusty gold”.  He is unearthing great finds.  It truly is archeology.

 2.  Differentiation

In 2010 when American Pickers debuted, there were no other shows like it. In fact, Mike understands differentiation more than most.  As a result, it was important to have his on-site in-store person to be outside the expected norm.  Danielle definitely fits that bill.  Tattoo-Clad, ring adorned and burlesque-dancing Danielle is definitely not what you would expect at a traditional antique’s store. (Click to Tweet)

In addition to Danielle being an unexpected twist, Mike’s take on going antiquing is truly different.  Crawling through barns, garages, junk heaps and even junk yards, he is willing to go where no man has gone before on TV.  His cringe-worthy approach made us all think twice about the junk we see and what it might be worth.

Image courtesy of the Mike Wolfe American Pickers Facebook Page

Image courtesy of the Mike Wolfe American Pickers Facebook Page

And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that his approach has definitely converted many men to rethink antiquing trips with their wives.  No longer is it about fancy or precious items that are to be looked at.  No, Mike has created a whole new focus by getting junk-drunk with “mantiques”.

3.  Consistency

For brands to be really successful communicating their brand value, consistency across all channels is essential.

Mike is using seven different channels:  TV, Website and of course social:  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest and ebay.  Across all these channels, there is a high level of consistency with colour, themes and content.  Mike continues to flawlessly curate stories.   You know when you are looking at a Mike Wolfe asset.  His touch and likeness are everywhere.  Everything you see you can tie back to Mike.  He stays true to his area of expertise and interest.

4.  Passion

Hand-in-hand with consistency is passion.  Mike has a passion for what he does. You can see it and feel it.  He specializes in a few areas, including bikes – both man powered and engine powered.  For the most part this is a real man’s passion.  Engines, testosterone and finding the ‘honey-hole” of picks – that is Mike Wolfe and the American Picker brand.

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How To Look Like a Recruitment Rockstar

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According to Jobvite and its annual Social Recruiting Survey, social recruiting has become an essential HR practice with 92% of U.S. companies using social media to find new talent. By leveraging social for recruitment, you can position yourself as a rockstar saving both time and money and increasing your effectiveness while hiring. Here are six ways to deliver best-in-class results:

HA MacLean Photo

HA MacLean Photo

1. Have a Plan

Understand and know the persona of the typical candidate applying for a position at your company. Also, know what your company wants from a successful candidate.  Relying on a job description that was based on the person in the role previously may not be the best option. Interview hiring managers to understand their current needs and develop the job description from that point going forward. Be sure to incorporate the latest details from the industry so that successful candidates will be challenged.

2. Know Your Audience

Candidates go online to search for job opportunities as opposed to old standard searches. Understand the search preferences and ensure that you use the right channels to share your job openings. Remember that mobile should be an important part of your strategy and toolkit.  In 2014 and beyond, mobile is key to your recruitment efforts.  If you fail to incorporate this, you will lose out.

3. Leverage Social Media

Be sure to have well thought out branded social channels. To be successful, you must have the appropriate resources to post information to these channels, and someone needs to be actively listening and responding to potential candidates. Information should be fresh and in line with your overall brand.

4.  Leverage the Power of the Brand

Using branded social channels is only a part of the equation.  The real power comes from the leveraging the power of your brand.  As a result, we are seeing a significant trend towards marketing and Human Resource professionals working side-by-side versus being mutually exclusive.  With the economy improving, Human Resource Practitioners are realizing that they are in a selling role.  They need to be able to understand the brand value and what it means to be associated with the brand.  Candidates increasingly want to work for organizations that are respected and trusted.

5. Unleash the Power of Employees

Give your employees both the power and the tools to share job vacancies with their friends and families. Jobvite will also confirm that employee referrals are the highest quality, lowest cost source of hires at any company. To be successful, this means that you must not only trust that your employees will utilize social media appropriately during work hours, but you must actually give them access to various social channels in order for them to share.

6. Understand the Numbers

LinkedIn alone has more than 200 million members in more than 200 countries. More than 2.6 million companies have pages set up on the network. Facebook has more than 1.11 billion active users and Twitter has more than 554 million active users. You can learn a lot about current trends and skill sets available in each of these channels. This will help you hone your search.

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A version of this post previously appeared on the salesforce.com blog.

Interview with Jeffrey Hayzlett – The Influencer Series

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Jeffrey Hayzlett is a Primetime TV Show Host, Bestselling Author and as he likes to say, a ‘sometime cowboy.’  What he doesn’t say is that he is an industry influencer and people listen to him.  He also doesn’t say that he is someone you can actually speak to and get real and practical advice from.  It is for all of these reasons and more that I am pleased to have had an opportunity to interview Jeff for my Influencer series for my blog.  Be sure to follow Jeff at @JeffreyHayzlett. I know you will enjoy his posts. Now on to the interview!Screen Shot 2014-03-11 at 11.49.15 AM

One thing you will learn from reading Hayzlett’s books is that he understands the complexity of issues around organizational change and also human nature.  He is quite up front with the fact that you sometimes have to make difficult decisions that result in people changes.

MacLean:  What advice would you give a CEO who has marketing efforts that are not meeting expectations?

Hayzlett: First of all CEOs have to ask themselves a question:  Am I being realistic? Is the dog eating the dog food?  If you are being realistic, then you’ve got to go looking for the problem.  Is it the team? Idea? The Budget?  Then you’ve got to fix it.  Sometimes it could be all three things, but typically the problem is in the execution because we hire smart people but something is stopping us from executing correctly.

MacLean:  Would you recommend hiring a CMO, particularly if they have no experienced marketing staff?

Hayzlett:  Certainly if the CMO possess key characteristics, particularly reliability and competency.

MacLean:  If realizing the company is missing a strategic plan – would you hire a CMO before or after going through the process

Hayzlett:  Definitely before! You have to think about who is going to implement the plan. You aren’t going to do it yourself. What CMO wants to inherit a plan someone else has built before they can tie in what they can do.

MacLean:  What advice would you offer a company that’s on the cusp of a major breakthrough in it’s life cycle but has employees that struggle with the change?

Hayzlett:  Change those employees. It’s the rule of thirds; 1/3 get it right away, 1/3 eventually will get it and 1/3 never do. You don’t want to drag people on a journey that they don’t want to take. It never works to take your kids somewhere they don’t want to go – that never turns into a good experience. Why would it be any different in business?

Hayzlett’s experience and advice are sound and provide good food for thought.  From experience I can say that having the right marketing resources are key to success.  If you are looking to expand your brand, be sure that you have someone who understands branding and the importance of the brand voice as well as the brand value.  If you are looking to expand your digital presence and build your assets, be sure to have someone that can lead those efforts.  When you are building out your marketing team, be sure to have a senior person with experience.  If you can’t hire a CMO yet, hire a senior enough person with the right skills, experience and education.  When doing your hiring though, do keep in mind to build your job requirements with great thought.  Combining some skills for your leadership might not be right.  for example, asking your leader to be skilled in PR and marketing is one thing, but adding art director to the mix is an unusual skill combination.  If you don’t have the background or skills in the marketing area, there are firms that can help you design the job and identify the right skills.

Looking for more resources on marketing and/or to build out your marketing team?  We can help.  Be sure to visit us at taylormadecanada.com

How Not to Get Hired (Or, Get Fired Once Hired)

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Over that last several months I have been working with clients helping them build out their marketing and communications departments.  I have done the needs assessment, workforce planning, along with job descriptions, application review and interview design.  Through the application review process I have to say that there is one shocking theme emerging – the inflation of one’s experience.  Needless to say, inflating your experience is either the best way to NOT get hired or, should you manage to fool the hiring manager, it is a sure fire way to get fired!

I work in a pretty small market.  I tend to know who is who when it comes to my industry.  If I don’t know someone, I can easily call someone and ask about the person.  So, it is really concerning to me when I see people inflate their resumes, including their LinkedIn profiles, with details that I know to be questionable.

Even if I didn’t work in a small market there are some telltale signs that raise eyebrows.  While it is entirely possible that you were waiting tables or someone’s receptionist one week, it would be more rare that that your next job would have you leading teams that approved the top dog’s speeches and/or press calendar.

I am not saying that you can’t work on a team that supports senior management, but I have to confess that professing that you were single-handedly responsible for the approval process for either a CEO or a senior politician such as a Senator, a Provincial Premier or even a leader of a country is a bit far fetched.  In the last two weeks I have read resumes that have made such claims.  In one case, the candidate had been a receptionist and his next job was working for a Premier of the Province “approving” his speeches and speaking points.  In another case, the candidate had managed a bar and the next job she was the CEO’s press secretary and responsible for approving all interview requests, messaging and speeches.  In both cases, I know the person who actually performed those roles.  As a result, I know the candidates were not performing the actual duties that they claimed to have done. I also know that people are not moved into such roles with no experience.  These roles require a fair amount of expertise and experience.

Inflating your experience is a dangerous practice and here’s why:Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 3.45.34 PM

  • On the front end, experienced hiring managers and/or HR Professionals will rule these candidates out.  That is expected, but it becomes more serious as we look at this further.
  • In small markets, your reputation and creditability will be impacted sooner than later.  People know each other and it doesn’t take long to lose your credibility.
  • Another scenario?  Suppose you try this in a market that isn’t so small and you get the job.  Things might be good for weeks or months, but eventually, it will become clear that you don’t have the experience claimed.  The results then are be bad for both parties.  Neither of these outcomes are preferable for either party.

Many organizations are taking steps to weed out false information in the event that it was not discovered in the screening and interview stage.  They use companies that investigate your education, work history and even credit history.  So, beware that more and more companies are doing this. If an employer finds out you misstated your experience, the end result is quite simple. You will be shown the door.

The cardinal rule is to tell the truth.  Eventually it comes out and it can be far worse and devastating to all parties concerned.

Want to learn more about issues and risks to your business, connect with us at www.taylormadecanada.com.

Business Counsellor’s: The Top 10 Tips to Start Your Own Business

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Guest Blog Post by Andrew Campbell, Business Development Specialist

As a Business Development Specialist with Enterprise Fredericton, I work with entrepreneurs on a daily basis counselling them and helping them succeed.  Based on years of experience working with these enthusiastic entrepreneurs I have developed my top 10 tips to start your own business.

Courtesy of womenonthefence.com

1.  Research, research, research!

Put on your detective cap and dig up all you can for market research.  This is one area that people don’t spend enough time on.  Gain superior knowledge on the marketplace that you will be operating in (demographics, logistics, and trends).  You have to determine that there is current and future demand for your product or service, and that there are customers willing to buy/use it.  Spend the time on this before you jump into debt.

2.  Understand Your Funding Requirements

Are you able to finance your new business yourself, or are you going to have to get additional financing?  Most people will require additional investment through banks, or other lending vehicles.  You might have to get creative and stack some funding options.  Prepare a detailed list of your start-up costs.  Then gather information on all potential sources of funding (financial institutions, government programs, etc.).

3.  Build a Business Plan & Financial Projections

I say “build” a business plan because an effective plan is built in sections.  Each section contributes to a solid business proposal.  This plan is your blueprint for success.  Creating a viable business plan and financials will be vital in achieving your funding goals.  Don’t think you can write in one sitting.  Remember, you are asking someone to lend you money for your business idea.  It is in your best interest to put in the appropriate time.  You only get one chance to impress a lender.  Make it count!

4.  Know Your Customers

I owned a retail store for over a dozen years and I was constantly asking customers about my products and quality of service.  Before I opened, I would go visit the competition and watch people shop.  I’d ask the clerks what people were interested in, and what made them come back.  You have to know the pain & pleasure points of your customers.  You want to reduce/eliminate their pains, and reinforce your WOW factor.

5.  Know Your Competitors

The old adage rings true here; “keep your friends close and your enemies even closer”.  You can’t be shy as a business owner.  Call and visit your competitors often.  Get to know them.  Know their strengths and weaknesses.  Know their specials and pricing.   Become an expert on your competition.  This way you can adapt to changes proactively and not get “surprised” by new developments.

6.  Have a Well-defined Value Proposition

A value proposition (VP) is a statement that clearly identifies what benefits a customer will receive by purchasing a particular product or service from a particular vendor.  It’s kind of like your “elevator pitch”.  It should be simple and easy to remember. It should emphasize both the benefits the customer will receive and the price the customer will be charged as compared to the competition.  An important goal of a value proposition is to convince the customer that they will be getting many more benefits than he/she is being asked to pay for.

Andrew Campbell, Business Development Specialist

Andrew Campbell, Business Development Specialist

7.  Build Your TEAM

Although choosing quality employees is a key component to running a successful business they are not the only players to include on your TEAM.  Your team also consists of mentors, advisors, your accountant or bookkeeper, your lawyer, banker, even your insurance agent.  All of these experienced professionals are in your corner to help reduce your risk of failure.  Use these connections to your benefit at every opportunity.

8. Network.  Network.  Network!

Before and after you open your business you should be finding ways to network in the community.  Again, you cannot be shy when you are an entrepreneur.  You have to make your business a success.  You want to get to know other business owners and community members.  You should be active, attending civic functions and relaying your value proposition to potential customers.  Get to know your city council, provincial/state and federal government representatives.  You never know when having them as an acquaintance may be of a benefit to your business.

9. Be Resilient

As a business owner you will face many obstacles.  Keep treading forward.  Be adaptive to potential problems and turn them into positives.  Become a problem solver.  Some days will be difficult, others will be fantastic!

10. Enjoy the ride!

If you are serious about starting a business then look to do something that interests you.  As a business owner, you will be spending many hours on your baby (yes, it will feel like an offspring).  It’s not a 9-5 commitment.  Soak up the experience.  It is a milestone moment in your life.  Enjoy it!

Andrew Campbell is a Business Development Specialist with Enterprise Fredericton.  Andrew provides free, confidential business counselling services to local entrepreneurs and businesses in the Greater Fredericton Region.  Prior to joining Enterprise Fredericton, Andrew owned and operated his retail business. He joined Enterprise Fredericton after selling his business.

Good Leaders Don’t Preach, They Act

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Over the years I have worked with some brilliant people.  I have also worked with some less than brilliant people.  Thankfully there were learning opportunities from both.  In fact, I have learned what to do and what not to do.  Perhaps the biggest lesson however, is that good leaders don’t preach, they act.

Image courtesy of www.sdanational.org

Image courtesy of www.sdanational.org

Here are the top 5 lessons I have learned from great leaders:

1.  They Listen

Really great leaders are able to listen to other people.  They actually hear what is being said.  They also listen to people regardless of where they might be in the hierarchy.

As one leader put it, “I see things from a certain vantage point.  My executive team sees it pretty much from my vantage point, but the manager on the floor or the employee on the front lines sees it from a much different way.  I can’t always seek their input in making decisions, but there are times when I need to hear about their issues to make an informed decision.”

2. They Praise in Public and Coach in Private

We have all been in situations when a manager or other senior leader in the organization has made a point to publicly acknowledge the contributions of a team member.  During those moments we really admire that individual who can take the time to recognize others.  And secretly, we want to be on the receiving end of the recognition.  Be honest with yourself…you know that you do.

We have also been either witness to, or worse yet, the subject of what could be a public flogging or at the very least a very embarrassing moment when the boss decides that he is going to put you in your place in front of your peers, his peers or customers.

In the former situation, individuals are showing leadership and acknowledging that it takes a team to succeed. It build trust. It builds team.  It build respect.  And, on top of it all, it creates an environment where people will follow that leader to the end of the earth.

In the latter situation, it is quite different.  This type of action is not about leadership.  It is about someone who has to exert  a sense of power or control over another.  Often times this is done to counteract the insecurity of the so-called leader.  In fact, I have witnessed this in cases where an individual is very good at what he or she does and is being recognized for success.  The leader has become threatened by the success of his or her underling and takes action to “show who is boss.”  The end result is not admiration or respect for the leader. In fact it is quite the opposite.

3. Know Leadership is More than Dolling Out Books

Don’t get me wrong.  I love reading.  I collect books and never want to dispose of books.  They become a part of my being.  When someone recommends a book to me I take that seriously.  Of course I want to explore what this person experienced in reading said book. This is particularly true of people I really admire and respect.

It has been my experience that really great leaders keep up to date with most, if not all, of the greatest books, but they are very judicious in terms of which books they recommend to others.  The reverse is also true for not so great leaders.  I can recall working with one individual who had a new book recommendation for his staff on nearly a weekly basis.  Not only did he order the book for us, which was nice, but he then told us how quickly he read it and would bring it out in meetings.  Of course, the book of choice changed nearly weekly.  Unfortunately so did his focus.  It didn’t take long for the books to collect on the shelves of those that reported to him.  There were some good ones in there, but unfortunately the build-up of dust was a telltale sign that his subordinates no longer took him seriously.

4.  Appreciate and Celebrate Differing Points of Views

When I look at the great leaders that I have had the pleasure of serving with, they are pretty comfortable in their own skin.  They are confident in their expertise and recognize that they need to build a team that is second to none.  Because they are confidant, they not only appreciate, but they seek out and celebrate differing points of views.  They know that hearing different ideas, they will make decisions with all scenarios in mind.

I worked with one CEO that would listen carefully to members of his executive team, his or her ideas, concerns and proposed solutions. He often already knew the course of action that he wanted to take, but through hearing out his team he did 3 things:

  • he tested this theory to ensure that he had all the information;
  • practiced how he might present/defend to the board and other stakeholders; and
  • brought his team along with him through discussion.

In the end his team understood the issue thoroughly and because they had the opportunity to share their thoughts, they felt tied to the decision.

I think it is important to note that this same CEO did not rule by consensus.  Don’t get me wrong.  He had no issue making his own decisions and he often did make decisions without a group discussion. When he did however, his team respected him and more importantly “trusted” that it was the right thing to do.

5.  They Care

This might seem obvious, but I don’t believe it to be the case.  Working with people who care does make a difference.  For those that think it is a weakness to care, I would suggest that you might be a leader in name, but you won’t have the minds, hearts and dedication of those that work beside you and for you.  When a person genuinely cares for another person it is obvious.  When a person is only focused on his or her own interests, that is also transparent.

Want to learn more about leadership, marketing and developing your business?  Visit us at TaylorMade Solutions

How You Tell Your Customers (on a daily basis) That Your Brand Sucks

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First off, a brand is not a logo.  A brand is about the emotional reaction that your product and/or service causes.  For example, how do you feel when you think:  Apple, Range Rover or Canada Goose? What you thought and felt is the brand – good or bad!  More importantly, ask yourself how do you want people to react to your brand?  What do they think when they hear your name?  So, repeat after me:  a brand is not a logo.   And people who continue to think that a brand is a logo are likely the same people that don’t understand why they are having customer retention issues.  These same people are telling their customers and prospects that their own brand sucks in these three ways:

Image: TaylorMade Solutions

Image: TaylorMade Solutions

1.  Unknown Company Values

If you haven’t really thought about what your company values are, your employees will be left to make them up. Needless to say, consistency might be an issue at best.  Worst case scenario?  Your customers won’t like what they see and bail.

It is not enough to say that you strive for excellence for example, you need to ensure your entire team knows and understands what this means.  What excellence looks like and what it does not.  In December I wrote of an experience with Keurig Canada that demonstrated that they weren’t operating on that premise of  excellence.  Thankfully they were listening on social and called me to rectify the situation.  You can read about that experience here.

2.  Not Responding to Customers

This is no doubt the best way to tell your customers or prospects that they don’t matter.  First and foremost you have to be present in the channels where your customers and prospects are.  So, that means telephone, email and in some cases social media. (I differ from most marketers with respect to social.  I believe you have to be realistic about your business and who your customers are and make an informed decision, but this deserves its own separate blog post.)

Here is the critical piece, however:  be sure that you properly staff these channels and respond.  Seems logical right?  Unfortunately not.  Would you sit next to a ringing phone and not answer it?  Probably not. At least I hope not.  So, why then do some brands ask people to email them and then never respond?  The same goes for social media?  You are sending the wrong message.

Not responding to customers happens all the time.  Not responding to prospects happens all of the time.  These results in lost business.

Here are two recent examples:

  • Robert Burns Day got me thinking about Haggis.  So, I wanted to buy some.  I googled and found Stahly Quality Foods. Great!  However, not so great!  When I tried to order a notice came up for North Americans.  Not to worry, I could reach out to a regional distributor via email.  I sent that email more than two weeks ago and have not received an acknowledgement or answer.  So, I put a message on Stahly Quality Foods Facebook page…and you guessed it…nothing.  In fact the last time they actually posted on their Facebook page was October 2013.  So, exactly why do they have a Facebook page?  Why do they list their distributors with their contact information?  Frankly I have formed an opinion of this brand.  It is not a good one.  I now can’t imagine buying food from them.Screen Shot 2014-02-05 at 10.04.12 AM
  • I was helping a student with his cover letter and resume for a specific job.  The company doing the hiring requests that applicants send their information via email or snail mail.  They are a large company with a full HR department.  They had approximately four jobs listed on their website at the time this student applied.  The issue that he faced is that he could not get anyone to respond to his request to confirm receipt of the email.  He even tried a delivery receipt, but received a notification that their system was set up so that a delivery acknowledgement was not possible.

Many HR departments that do this often claim that because of volume of applications and only successful candidates will be notified of an interview.  I say “B.S” to that.  First and foremost you can have an automatic response that acknowledges receipt of the email.  Secondly, you can set rules to sort applications by job number.  So, saying that you get too many email is really and truly B.S.

What you are doing is setting the tone for candidates.  Some may decide that this is not the type of organization that they want to work for.  This could certainly be the case in markets where there are more jobs than candidates.  Or, you can be setting the tone for how, if successful, they should act towards their colleagues, prospects and customers.  After all, mediocrity begets mediocrity (tweet this).

3.  Lacking of Training and Management

We all need training.  Sometimes it is training rooted in the technology we need for the job, some times it is in safety, working hours, etc.  What many brands forget to train their employees in, is customer interaction.

Have you ever gone into a store and saw a number of employees clustered together laughing and carrying on?  There are many things that could be going in here.  The first thought might be, wow, this is a great place to work. These people are happy.  This is great.  However, as you are in the store longer you see that these same employees continue to stay together and are completely oblivious to the customers around them.  They don’t see the customers who need help.  They deliberately avoid eye contact.  This is often systematic of a lack of training and management.  It can be a very easy fix.  Train your employees on the importance of the customer. Ensure that your managers are always focused on the customer and lead by example.  There is nothing wrong with a team huddle and good camaraderie.  Actually it is great.  It only becomes an issue when your comrades don’t focus on the customer and the customer walks out.

The Fix

These are three ways that you and your employees tell your customers, on a daily basis, that your brand sucks.  Thankfully there are easy fixes:

  • communicate your values to all employees
  • consistently enforce your brand values and acknowledge your employees when they live the brand values
  • make brand training a regular operational practice
  • ensure that your customers are prospects are at the forefront of your communications and expectations
  • communicate your expectations
  • test your employees – secret shoppers help identify issues for improvement
  • remember to focus on issues and not individuals – praise publicly and coach privately

What would you add to the list? Want more information or help? Feel free to connect with us.