the secret to profitable talent management: your brand

THE SECRET TO PROFITABLE TALENT MANAGEMENT: YOUR BRAND

LEVEL5 LEADERS FORUM SERIESISSUE 1, VOLUME 6

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

FEBRUARY 2014

LEVEL5 LEADERS FORUM SERIESTHE SECRET TO PROFITABLE TALENT MANAGEMENT: YOUR BRAND

FEBRUARY 20142

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3

In Attendance .......................................................................................................... 4

Defining Brand and its Organizational Impact......................................................... 5

How Does Brand Impact Talent?................................................................................6

How Do You Use Your Brand to Attract and Hire Brand Talent?.................................8

How Do You Use Your Brand to Develop and Nurture That Talent?..........................10

How Do You Use Your Brand to Assess and Reward Talent?................................... 11

The Branded Business Opportunity......................................................................... 12

About LEVEL5 Strategy Group ..................................................................................13

Additional Reading on this Subject....................................................................14


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Imagine if you were to ask the executives on your team how brand could influence your organization and drive profitable growth; what would they say? Most would probably talk about its role in marketing or reputation management.

Now imagine if you were then to ask them how they could make their people more productive and effective – more profitable – what would they say? Some would probably talk about culture while others may talk about “talent management” and performance and incentive systems.

Few, though, would see the association between the two questions and realize they are inextricably linked. Yet at LEVEL5 we know that brand can, and should, be used not just for reputation and marketing management but for talent management as well in order to drive bottom line results (amongst a whole host of other vital management activities).

And even for those few enlightened leaders who do believe that brand should be used as a key tool in talent management, it’s not an easy thing to do. We’re constantly asked how it can be done so we decided to bring eight of the best and brightest together over dinner, some of the “few”, to get their diverse perspectives on using brand to manage talent and organizational capability, not just marketing.

LEVEL5 LEADERS FORUM SERIESBRANDING AMONG THE UNBRANDED

In attendance were:

• Dale Hooper: SVP Sales & Marketing at Rogers Media Inc. with 20 years of marketing experience and previous senior roles at Cadbury and Pepsi,

• Leanna Faulkner: Former strategy and marketing executive with Deloitte Consulting’s global enterprise risk practice,

• Rod Malcolm: Executive Vice President at DHR International Executive Search with over 30 years of experience across leading brand driven organizations like P&G, Pepsi and KFC Canada,

• Jennifer Davidson: General Manager at Molson Coors’ Six Pints Specialty Beer Company and formerly with Unilever,

• Nick Foster: Formerly the VP Global Marketing at Softchoice Corp. with responsibility for brand marketing and sales, HR and who now runs cultureXbrand, a firm focusing on creating sustainable brand-based cultures,

• Shawn Omstead: Vice President, Residential Products, at Bell Canada with over 20 years of experience including former senior roles at Sony,

• Carter Powis: Senior Consultant with Spencer Stuart, one of Canada’s leading executive search firms and whose experience covers roles at Colgate, Pepsi, and McKinsey consulting,

• Rubina Havilland: CEO of Bank of America in Canada, a veteran of the financial services sector with leadership roles at Scotiabank and National Bank.

Over the course of the evening, we asked these business vets four critical questions:

1. How does brand impact talent management?

2. How do you use your brand to attract and hire talent?

3. How do you use your brand to develop and nurture this talent?

4. How do you use brand to recognize and reward that talent?

We’ve drawn out their key insights and recommendations to assist you in your efforts in managing your own talent through the power of your brand.


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DEFINING BRAND AND ITS ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT

Before our participants could comment on the first question, we first needed to define the word “brand” and come to a common understanding of its potential impact on the organization.

We began by defining brand as “the value of a promise consistently kept™,” or as one participant put it, “your brand is defined by how the company operates.” Both mean the same thing, since how the organization operates is what determines whether its promise can be consistently kept in the marketplace and workplace; a company that operates according to its brand principles will enable the brand promise to be consistently kept.

In terms of its potential impact on an organization, the group quickly agreed that a brand can, and should, be used to manage all aspects of an organization. Or, in other words, you should consider that “your brand is your business system™,” and used to guide and align all activities and decisions across your business system.

With that understanding, the group was able to attack the first question.


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Employee

Customer

HOW DOES BRAND IMPACT TALENT?

In terms of brands impact on talent, the process of clearly defining the promise that needs to be consistently kept in the market (i.e. the brand) is one of the biggest determinants of an organization’s talent. It is the promise that should define who gets hired (and fired), how employees get trained, and what the required behaviours are throughout the organization to create the desired customer experience. This is especially powerful when the promise incorporates or relates to a set of core brand (or company) values because they can be used as very specific criteria within the hiring, training, and firing process.

In hiring, the defining brand values can work to naturally attract the right talent, as those candidates that share the same values will be attracted to the organization and culture in the first place. This criteria can be also be used when interviewing or conducting psychological testing of potential employees. In training, these criteria can be used to create specific development programs designed to promote those behaviours that are aligned with the brand promise and are known to drive organizational success. In short, if you bring on the right talent – talent that shares the same values and principles as the brand promise – and train them in the right behaviours – those directly tied to the brand promise and culture – the organization’s success can almost take care of itself organically.

What results is consistency and focus across all touch points that clearly differentiate the organization and drive profitable growth.

Similarly, and as described by one attendee, it can also be used as criteria to terminate employees. For those that consistently demonstrate a misalignment with the values/principles, it quickly becomes clear they no longer fit with the organization and may even hurt its ability to deliver its promise.


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THIS PLACES A PREMIUM ON AN ORGANIZATION'S “BRAND LEADERS” TO BOTH DECLARE AND DEFINE ITS BRAND VALUES AND MAKE CLEAR HOW THEY LINK TO SUPPORTING AND DELIVERING ITS BRAND PROMISE TO CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES AND ALL OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IN THE BRAND’S ECOSYSTEM.

Brand’s impact on talent is undeniably large no matter how you slice it. Whether it’s from the bottom up in hiring, training and firing employees, or the top down in bringing on new Board members with the right capabilities, brand’s influence and direction on talent may be one of the biggest (and underleveraged) determinants of an organization’s success.


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As an example, the group pointed to the Four Seasons. Its leaders hire people who share the organization’s values and believe in its brand promise and culture of providing the highest levels of customer care. It then trains them to execute those principles at the highest level. In an industry so dependent on a consistent and high quality customer experience, half the battle is already won since the people hired and trained to deliver that experience share the values and principles of the organization from day one. And those that don’t meet the criteria are either weeded out during the recruiting process or are let go before they can do much damage to the brand. That means training costs less and is more effective, the customer experience is more consistent and aligned with the brand, and employees are happier and work as better team mates, and are therefore more productive.

Of course, how you identify and define the organization’s brand values is no easy feat. As one participant quickly pointed out, “brand” is one of the most misunderstood assets within an organization and many of the brand’s custodians - managers responsible for hiring, training, and daily operations - often are either misinformed or even uninformed as to the brand’s core values.

This places a premium on an organizations “brand leaders” to both declare and define its brand values and make clear how they link to supporting and delivering its brand promise to customers, employees and all other stakeholders in the brand’s ecosystem.

A number of participants pointed out that “best in class” brand examples go one step further and even put their brand’s definitions to core values, customized to suit the brand’s promise in the market. For example a core value such as Caring will have a very different context and meaning for Four Seasons than it will for a health services brand such as Sunnybrook Hospital.

Another participant pointed out that the people ultimately responsible for the success or failure in hiring brand talent throughout the organization is the Board. It is they who hire the CEO, and it is the CEO who needs to be the ultimate brand champion and ensure that all employees are behaving in ways consistent with the organization’s brand promise. According to one senior executive recruiter, this recognition is becoming more prevalent as a hiring strategy at the Board level itself, where audit experience is giving way to brand experience as one of the most desirable traits for Board members.

KEY INSIGHT: Brand’s impact on talent is undeniably large no matter how you slice it. Whether it’s from the bottom up in hiring, training and firing employees, or the top down in bringing on new Board members with the right capabilities, brand’s influence and direction on talent may be one of the biggest (and underleveraged) determinants of an organization’s success. Not only does it significantly influence those that deliver the customer experience but, because a brand experience is usually delivered across so many touchpoints, it also offers the ability to scale and affect talent throughout the organization in a way that builds quality into the organization, creating the consistency and alignment needed to drive bottom line results.

HOW DO YOU USE YOUR BRAND TO ATTRACT AND HIRE BRAND TALENT?

As previously noted, one of the best ways to attract and hire talent is to first clearly define the brand itself (i.e., the promise to be consistently kept). A big part of the process is also clarifying the organization’s vision, which is defined as “the challenge of what you are to what you want to become.” Brand Vision is vitally important because it is often the aspirational and inspirational source from which an organization’s values spring. A clear, compelling and inspiring vision of what the organization strives to achieve, when combined with the values it stands for, helps attract potential employees who best fit with the brand and its culture.

On a more tactical level, there is also a process that can be used to translate the brand into criteria for hiring. As one participant related, the first step is to identify a limited set of values (no more than five) that represent and support the brand. The next step is to translate those values into competencies that align with the brand. Hiring managers can then use those clearly defined values and competencies to develop questions that will help determine if the candidate believes in those values and has those competencies. Of course, this process can take time. In one participant’s organization, it took four years to refine those values and competences to ensure that everyone, especially hiring managers, understood how that applied to the business.

The core competencies a brand requires for success are of course, different for every company, but some overarching themes arose. For example, most agreed that technical competencies such as computer and digital skills, financial acumen and written/presentation capabilities are “table stakes”, and having a general business perspective was critical. As one attendee related, in today’s business world, CMOs are now being judged not just on their marketing skills and experience but on their general business experience as well. Having this general business competency (“perspective”) also suggests that any employee, regardless of whether they come from manufacturing, R&D, or finance, could be considered “brand talent” and therefore be a candidate for brand/organizational leadership.

Another desirable competency identified was the ability to effectively tell stories, especially for senior executives who need to inspire and mobilize entire organizations and shareholders while also engaging the ultimate consumer.

One top executive recruiter felt that there were two other key competencies that should be tested for when hiring brand talent. The first is having a customer obsession, which has become increasingly important for all employees since the customer is playing an ever-larger role in defining most brands.


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ONE OF THE BIGGEST BARRIERS TO USING BRAND TO ATTRACT AND HIRE TALENT IS THE MISUNDERSTANDING BY MANY THAT BRAND IS A MARKETING TOOL ONLY.

The second key competency was an operational expertise in the digital world. Even today, many years since the Internet has became a standard business building channel, many senior people still don’t get digital and don’t know how to dive deep in this critical area. As a result, they don’t know how to represent the brand effectively beyond traditional channels such as print, TV, radio and in-store advertising, restricting their ability to create a consistent experience across all platforms…let alone conduct business through this channel.

At a very tactical level, some members of the group saw a growing trend around the use of psychological testing as a critical step in the hiring process. But an important concern was raised around the flexibility of turn-key and standardized psych testing to align with the very customized brand values and competencies of any given organization. One possible solution discussed was to use more “culture fit” based testing designed to demonstrate alignment between the candidate and the organizational culture.

Another possible solution was to use profiling. With this tool, an organization’s best people are profiled, and those profiles are then used as benchmarks to assess new talent. On the downside, this approach is more backward looking and may create a homogenous talent pool that lacks the diversity required for innovation. Regardless, everyone agreed that fit and culture have become increasingly important.

One of the biggest barriers to using brand to attract and hire talent is the misunderstanding by many that brand is a marketing tool only (which hints at a deeper language/terminology issue). With that perspective, hiring “brand talent” too often focuses on the marketing-specific experience and skill sets of recruits. Yet as the group acknowledged up front, your brand is your business system™ and that brand should be considered a comprehensive management tool that applies throughout the entire organization. This definition then suggests that criteria for hiring also needs to incorporate basic competencies associated with running a business and managing a P&L, such as critical thinking, financial analytics, effective communication and team leadership. This indicates an appreciation and understanding of how brand can be applied throughout the company to drive the bottom line.

But is this realistic, especially when hiring entry level or junior workers? As one attendee said, you won’t find very many people, even in their late 20s, who have had operating experience in, or exposure to, running an actual business. Hiring bright people who share the values of the organization and have the competencies required to deliver, combined with the right training to develop that P&L perspective as much as possible, is a more realistic answer.

KEY INSIGHT: Using your brand to attract and hire brand talent depends on three critical ingredients: 1. a clear, compelling and inspiring vision, 2. values that define what the organization stands for and has meaning for behaviour, and 3. competencies that enable these desired behaviours.


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Using your brand to attract and hire brand talent depends on three critical ingredients: 1. a clear, compelling and inspiring vision, 2. values that define what the organization stands for and has meaning for behaviour, and 3. competencies that enable these desired behaviours.

Employee

Actions

Employee

Beliefs

HOW DO YOU USE YOUR BRAND TO DEVELOP AND NURTURE THAT TALENT?

Even when an organization clearly defines its brand, vision, values, and competencies, arguably the hardest part is still left to do: using those brand elements to develop and nurture that talent.

After a lengthy discussion around this topic, the root of how best to accomplish this eventually did arise and was focused on two things: measurement, and the performance standards and growth metrics that define it.

Most agreed that the best way to apply this is through an “academy culture” where structure and processes are put in place to create a formal training culture and program tied to the brand. Unfortunately, this approach seems to be dying and many organizations seem to be taking a more entrepreneurial approach or outsourcing training. Unfortunately this often results in an unstructured approach to thinking by employees. This makes the consistent application of brand throughout the organization challenging.

The few organizations that do maintain an academy culture, like Molson Coors, Canadian Tire, SoftChoice, and some of the larger consumer packaged goods companies like Unilever, generally offer ongoing training across a variety of subjects, such as negotiation, positioning, product development, and leadership…often at a global level! Offering such a broad curriculum to employees is very consistent with the broad business skills required for any employee to manage their part in delivering the brand and its promise consistently in the market. And not only do training academies teach the requisite business skills, but more importantly, they translate the brand into metrics that can help promote a common set of values, language and processes that help people prioritize and make better decisions.

An offsetting challenge suggested was that employees may only be loyal to the experience. Younger employees are increasingly showing reduced interest in staying with one organization for the long term – they see their careers as a set of short term experiences, regardless of where they are in the organization, and are always looking for the next one. This is another factor that creates a sizable challenge for organizations, since employees may not stay in one place long enough for a measurement-driven approach to work and for the brand to realize a real or perceived ROI.

KEY INSIGHT: The best way to use your brand to develop and nurture talent is to ensure that its elements are translated into measurements and metrics that can affect behaviour and therefore be developed and coached. While a clear ROI to this measured approach is at increasing risk due to employees increased “job/career mobility,” it is still seen as the best solution – and investment – to developing and focusing brand behaviours.


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After a lengthy discussion around this topic, the root of how best to accomplish this eventually did arise and was focused on two things: measurement, and the performance standards and growth metrics that define it.

HOW DO YOU USE YOUR BRAND TO ASSESS AND REWARD TALENT?

Assessment and reward can take many forms, including recognition, involvement in new opportunities, and traditional compensation. Yet the various elements inherent in brand, including values, competencies, and behaviours, allow managers to undertake a talent evaluation process that is more nuanced – i.e. the measurements and metrics that measure what employees do as well as how they do it.

This more holistic evaluation system is based not only on achieving tangible business objectives, but clear demonstration of the desired brand values and behaviours. Employees are able to demonstrate their value in a number of different ways that create unique value yet don’t necessarily have a direct relationship to the bottom line. For example, an employee who misses her numbers over the short term, yet still lives the tenets of the brand can act as a role model for others and create significant value for the organization.

For those with experience with this approach, a holistic, brand-based evaluation needs to be performed twice a year to signal the importance of the process to the organization and that this should include both management and peer group “360 degree feedback”. While this requires a significant investment in time to do properly, the team’s commitment itself can act to reinforce the brand’s core values, and well worth the investment.

That said, each attendee also recognized that strong values-based performance organizations could only go so far to save an employee who continued to miss their numbers; another benefit of ensuring measurable brand behaviours. Numbers don’t lie!

KEY INSIGHT: Using brand to assess and reward talent allows for a more complete and detailed picture of how employees create value for an organization. This ensures that organizations get the best “return” on their employee investment by recognizing that the bottom line can be impacted in many different ways, both directly and indirectly.


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EMPLOYEES ARE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR VALUE IN A NUM-BER OF DIFFERENT WAYS THAT CREATE UNIQUE VALUE YET DON’T NECESSARILY HAVE A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP TO THE BOTTOM LINE.

THE BRANDED BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Over the course of our discussion group, many different insights were uncovered but, as mentioned, four stood out:

1. Brand has a huge impact on talent management and may be one of the biggest influencers of growth and profitability.

2. To get the biggest employee bang for your buck, your brand needs a clearly defined vision, set of values, and competencies that can be used to attract and hire talent.

3. To best develop and nurture talent, your brand (and its associated value drivers) need to be as measurable as possible. Only then can it be used to direct the behaviour that creates differentiation and drives profitable growth.

4. Brand enables a more holistic and nuanced view of employee performance that enables multiple approaches to reward and ensures true employee value is recognized in a range of ways.

When taken together, and put in the context of an increasingly commoditized and service-oriented economy, these four insights lead to one major Branded Business Opportunity for talent that can most impact the organization’s bottom line: Brand needs to be a CEO and C-Suite accountability.

Everything discussed over the course of the evening started with or pointed to a CEO - led perspectives on brand and its management. Whether it’s defining the vision, identifying the right metrics for success, or finding and keeping the right people to drive the business forward, if the CEO doesn’t buy in and take ownership of the brand, it will never be used throughout the organization to its full potential. As a result, a major asset will remain undervalued and an opportunity to drive the business forward will be missed.

To determine if your brand is being optimally used to manage your talent and drive profitable growth, answer these five questions – a “no” response to two or more questions suggests a great opportunity for improvement:


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ABOUT LEVEL5 STRATEGY GROUP

LEVEL5 is a boutique strategy firm with a unique perspective on brand, created to drive business growth for our clients.

We...

Guide organizations to create the greatest value in their brands by uniting their entire business system around a promise that guides every decision and action.

Believe brands are the most misunderstood and underleveraged assets in today’s business world.

Scrutinize every aspect of an organization’s business system and view it through the lens of the brand, taking our clients through a proven approach led by experienced business leaders who’ve walked a mile in your shoes.

Have worked with organizations large and small, from start-ups to blue chips, and across every sector in the marketplace.

Are business leaders – former CEOs and CMOs – who know what it’s like to be personally accountable for the growth of a company and who understand how to use an organization’s brand to be a source of competitive advantage.

Help organizations grow by creating competitive advantage resulting in stronger growth, enhanced profitability and sustainability, and reduced risk.

ABOUT SPENCER STUART

Spencer Stuart is one of the world’s leading executive search firms. Privately held since 1956, Spencer Stuart applies its extensive knowledge of industries, functions and talent to advise select clients — ranging from major multinationals to emerging companies to not-for-profit organizations — and address their leadership require-ments. Through 53 offices in 29 countries and a broad range of practice groups, Spencer Stuart consultants focus on senior-level executive search, board director appointments, succession planning and in-depth senior executive management as-sessments. We were the first global executive search firm to enter Canada in 1978, helping clients across the country achieve outstanding leadership solutions for their organizations from our offices in Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary.

For more information, please contact Carter Powis at 416 203 5575 or [email protected].

18 KING STREET EASTMEZZANINE LEVELTORONTO, ONTARIOM5C 1C4

416 361 3468

LEVEL5STRATEGY.COM


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For more information on how LEVEL5 can help you use a brand approach to drivingprofitable growth, call David Kincaid,CEOandManaging Partner, at 416 361 3468 extension 225, or send him an e-mail at [email protected].

ADDITIONAL READING ON THIS SUBJECT:

1. Henry Stewart Publications 2045-855X Journal of Brand Strategy Vol. 2, No. 3, 245-258 (2013) 'Aligning a company's people strategy with its business strategy and brand strategy', available at: http://henrystewart.metapress.com/app/home/ contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,10 ;journal,1,7;linkingpublicationresults,1:122564,1

2. Gallup Management Journal (2012) ‘Engaged employees inspire company innovation’, available at: http://www.richsmanagementblog.com/engaged-employees-inspire-company-innovation/management-principles/

3. Miller,K. (2011) ‘Why sustainable companies have more engaged employees’, Environmental leader, 22nd September, available at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/09/22/why-sustainable-companies-have-more-engaged-employees/

4. Gallup Inc. (2011) ‘Engagement at work: Its effect on performance continues in tough economic times’, Gallup meta-analysis summary of findings, p.1, available at: http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/161459/engagement-work-effect-performance-continues-tough-economic-times.aspx

5. James, G. (2012) ‘ Brand winners and losers of 2012’, Inc Magazine, 19th December, available at: http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/brand-winners-and-losers-of-2012.html

6. Bradt, G. (2012) ‘Corporate culture: The only truly sustainable competitive advantage’ , Forbes, 8th February, available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2012/02/08/corporate-culture-the-only-truly-sustainable-competitive-advantage/

7. Hsieh, T. (2009) ‘Your culture is your brand’, Zappos.com, 3rd January available at: http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/ceo-and-coo-blog/2009/01/03/your-culture-is-your-brandnotably

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the secret to profitable talent management: your brand