Then, everything changed. Academics and business authors suggest that we get rid of them. But, the need for mid-managers is stronger than ever. It is the role of the manager that must be changed, transformed, and reimagined. Just be prepared for the pushback when you suggest this to a mid-manager. Most likely, their response will be, “I’m too busy.”

“But, the very future of your workers depends on your reinvention.”

“I’ll pencil it in over lunch…at my desk.”

Advancing technology is like a tornado from Oz blowing task work away. In its aftermath, we find entire categories of workers who need to change. This is why our managers must change, transform and reimagine their careers. As for employers, this is the time to carefully question if laying off the very people who know the most about your frontline is such a good idea. In reality, the mid-managers ought to be the first target for learning how to change and learning how to show others how to change as well.

As technology accelerates it is giving us freedom. The most cynical or contempt-filled reader will respond, “What, freedom from having an income?” But, it is giving us freedom from monotonous tasks, quotas, and other forms of mind-numbing work. The kinds of new work that is coming towards us are more interesting, visionary, and impactful in the world. The greatest social entrepreneurs are using technology to change the world. For example, Peter Diamandis says, “The best way to become a billionaire is to help a billion people.” Consider how lame that statement would have been just 20 years ago.

As the value of task work and its workers plummet, the work to be done is radically different. Instead of tasks, an endless stream of new jobs and roles is emerging. The new workplace will reward those with any or a group of these skills: Creativity, narrative, accountability, empathy, engagement, solving problems, influencing others, sales, and managing the “big picture.”

Robotics and software have been game-changers with blue-collar work. De-monetized services such as LinkedIn and Facebook are impacting millions of white-collar workers. But, Artificial Intelligence will cause disruption as we have never witnessed before. Wealth managers will need to become curators. Medical research will exponentially find more cures for disease. Higher education will be available without paying a cent.

The most valued middle managers will be the ones that are only too happy to let go of tasks so they can develop their employer’s greatest asset, its people. They will be responsible for helping others to embrace active learning, develop new life skills, and to use new forms of technology that exponentially grow personal productivity.

Don’t trust the senior executives, the academics, and the authors of self-help books to propose a solution. Even the Harvard Business Review, characterizes mid-managers as the most disengaged of all workers. They are overworked, undervalued, and the most at-risk during layoffs.

The rock stars are quite different. We recently finished an executive development project with one of the most brilliant scientists in the world. Until we met, his value as an individual contributor had received global recognition. But, in one promotion, he was responsible for hundreds of his company’s best and brightest scientists.

During our first meeting, I said,

“Up until today, you have been judged and promoted because you are a brilliant scientist. But, from this moment forward, your value will be measured in how you inspire hundreds of brilliant scientists to change the world.”

His eyes lit up. The new mission became the centerpiece in how he wanted to grow. Now, he engages with his direct reports with the central mission of rewarding high personal performance with breakthroughs in their careers. He is teaching his direct reports to harness the needs and expectations of their workers with growth, progress and other forms of success.

The greatest managers know the needs and expectations of every person that reports to them. They take the time to harness those needs into energy and action. A great manager will conspire to create a culture that people love because love pushes us to perform way outside of our comfort zones. Great managers teach active learning, influence, and help their highest performers connect with game-changing mentors. They not only make it safe to ask for help, they often reward employees who do.

Unfortunately, frenzy breeds thoughtlessness. In so many organizations, the CEO doesn’t think of the impact that disengaged managers have on their profits and customers. Many don’t realize that disengaged managers are actually dooming the CEOs future.

How do we get started? We begin by elevating the value of our time. After we deliver an engagement program to an intact team, most everyone wants to sustain the transformation. That happens when they use small rituals that produce mindfulness.

One of them is to answer a few questions at the beginning of each morning. Instead of reading e-mails and listening to voicemails, they take 5-minutes to answer a few questions that organizes their priorities.

Here is an example:

• Who most needs my attention and inspiration?
• What is the most valuable problem to solve today?
• Describe today’s ideal blend of tactical and strategic work.
• How can I best sell our ideas and solutions?
• How can I best take care of myself?
• What can I do to create greater engagement and effectiveness with our team?
• Describe one really valuable action that might require your courage.

It takes five minutes.

What is the point?

In the years ahead, technology isn’t taking away our value. It is up to us to make the kind of practical and visionary changes that elevate our value, the allow us to change the world, and to help the people around us.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Mid-Managment, Engagements Final Frontier! appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Think about it. If people are unable to think about something else for only 15-seconds, sales pitches don’t work and ordering people around will never produce employee engagement.

We are motivated by one outcome: Fulfilled Expectations.

When we become skilled in accessing the needs and expectations of our stakeholders, we are more able to help them succeed. When stakeholders candidly talk about our strengths and weaknesses, we are more able to change. In a rapidly changing workplace, the ability to connect with others skyrockets. When we are able to motivate our teams in genuine ways, that investment pays off.

We designed our first leadership program for one of the world’s biggest media companies. When I ran that curriculum past our internal partners, they had strong reactions.

“If our managers ask these questions directly, someone is going to get hurt.”

I came back with, “Why on earth would you want a manager who is averse to hearing the truth?”

Prior to designing customized interviews, we invest a great deal of time learning details about each significant stakeholder relationship and business issues. We probe interpersonal relationships. We look for current and desired future states. This information helps us develop strikingly specific and brilliantly good questions. For the executives, the immersive experience of asking these questions and respectfully listening to the answers tends to be a life-altering experience.

Why is masterful inquiry such an important skillset?

Asking and listening was always preferable behavior than giving people orders. Stakeholders are far more driven when we connect with the needs and expectations. Socrates believed that we get the truth by asking the right questions.

Connectivity, this ability to fluidly find the truth of our stakeholders becomes especially important during accelerating change. Today’s leaders have to make changes more frequently and often with significant disruption. Hanging on to the old motivation chestnuts such as, “Do this or else” or “You should be happy to have a job,” destroy productivity and buy-in. Far greater success takes place if our language speaks to their expectations. In other words, finding ways to honor our expectations as well as theirs produces far better results.

We ask our leadership clients to tell us when their executives are receiving their packages from Inspired Work. There are always a few calls that begin with, “You can’t be serious. You want me to ask these questions?” Our reply is always the same. “Yes. Please note that all of them have received letters telling them what to expect, to be candid, and if there is any kind of retaliation to call us. We have yet to receive such a call.

It has been said, “the truth will set us free but first, it will piss us off.”

Consider the impact of just two questions:

“What do I do that motivates or demotivates you?”

“What can I do to become a more effective leader?”

My interpretation of humility is simply to be open. Albert Einstein once said, “I want to know the thoughts of God. The rest are details.” We often confuse humility with humiliation. The smartest leaders that I know are always humble, open to suggestions, eager to improve, asking for help, and acutely listening to others.

The most impressive leaders that I know are absolutely clear on their mission, vision, and purpose. But, they demonstrate real humility and skill in making it safe, even compelling, to tell the truth, find the truth and live in the truth.

This is the kind of leader that connects and improves employee engagement.

This is the leader that lives in transparency. Why is this so important? Everywhere that we look, we find organizations and leaders being toppled by the transparency revolution. Technology has taken our culture to a place where nothing is private, very little can be hidden, and if we attempt to do just that, the results can be spectacularly awful.

There are many organizations and individuals that have been totally caught off guard by the new reality. The payoff from full transparency will be spectacularly good. In alignment with the value of truth, transparency will force us to change for the better.

Consider the lost opportunity and the missing truth when we send out a consultant to conduct 360s or we have employees go online and participate in a “confidential” 360. As the landscape around us continues to speed up, the truth becomes of our most valuable assets.

Transparency will force us to work with nothing to hide and run our organizations with nothing to hide.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Just Why Do Leaders Need Truth? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

• United Airlines or Southwest Airlines?

• Google or Yahoo?

• Vons/Safeway or Trader Joe’s?

Odds are high that you have identified the better employer with each example simply through word-of-mouth or direct customer experience. Or, you might be seriously interested in working for one of these organizations and have read employee feedback at Glass Door and Indeed.

The war for talent is back but it bears little resemblance to the war employers were having just 12 years ago. According to Gallup’s latest global engagement survey, only 13% of the world’s workers are engaged. Today’s costliest and yet game-changing segment to recruit is the engaged worker. You know them. They are the ones who are awake, present, interested, actively learning, and able to change with the times.

Successfully reaching them requires a new mindset, especially around the weight and importance we give to brands.

• Consumer brands determine what we promise to our customers.

• Employer brands define what we become.

Here’s the rub. if we skimp on the second, the consumer brand becomes a lie.

True employer brands are not sanitized pitches. The best capture the very essence of a unique tribe with its mission, rituals, with expectations so clear that it is easy to define whether someone is a fit or not.

Here are a couple of examples:

During a leadership program at The Walt Disney Company, someone asked me to describe what I thought the company’s employer brand might be. I responded, “To produce magic at great profit in the midst of chaos.”

Disney has given far more thought to this topic. However, I have observed that if someone loves making magic at great profit in the midst of chaos at Disney, they will be there for decades. When someone isn’t cut out for that tribe, they will exit quickly and possibly become part of the naysayers towards the Disney culture. In any culture, there will be hires that don’t fit. A great employer brand helps identify that mistake quickly.

Make no mistake. The CEO must be in charge of the culture. All too many CEOs walk down the hall to human resources and tell the CHRO to, “fix the engagement problem” or “redefine the culture.” It does not work! Human resources executives tell people they are fixing the culture. Immediately, the tribe looks to the CEO and witnesses business as usual. They take an employer survey. All this accomplishes is to make the managers feel even more inadequate. Managers are sent to retreat centers. They come back enthused and the employees think, “So what.” Then, they start over.

I have a wide variety of individual clients who are human capital executives. Some are launching their own businesses, others are working towards stronger performance, and many are looking for new roles. I tell all of them, “If the CEO isn’t leading the culture, keep your bags packed.”

When a CEO leads the employer brand, we remove confusion from the tribe. In cultures that are led by a visionary and balanced CEO, the results can be spectacular.

The average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier is 18 years. The company boasts some of the most enviable customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and profit figures in the industry. The late and great founder Joe Coulombe established a culture of democracy and equality. Successors uphold that culture. Dan Bane, the company’s current CEO continues to visit stores and actually take action on feedback. Recently, I asked a cashier of 26 years why she is so loyal to the company.

She responded,

“It’s like this. A couple of weeks ago, I was the second person in the door. The General Manager had arrived early. He was in the bathrooms scrubbing floors and taking out the trash. She didn’t come over and ask me to step in. No one pulls rank here. I have always felt respected. I have always looked forward to coming to work.”

Today’s strongest employer brands are built on:

Transparency

Technology has produced a revolution in transparency. It is no longer enough to make up a story to recruit people when it isn’t true and the company either doesn’t or can’t live up to the brand. Glass Door and many other platforms pulled the covers off employers. Today, a savvy candidate can learn more about a hiring manager than many direct reports.

Don’t make things up! Build a strong employer brand that is based on the truth. If the truth isn’t so hot, fix your culture. The Transparency Revolution has impacted our culture with such force, most organizations are only beginning to come to terms with the fact that we can no longer hide anything.

Consider how transparency is impacting wrongdoing in organizations that paid off victims of sexual assault. Many of them have become cultures where the most skilled and self-confident talent won’t even consider working there. Because, everyone is a journalist and everyone has access. Candidates can find out whether your culture is a dead end, a place to launch a new career, an environment that is fair, a place where realizing potential is greeted with career growth. Many will know if the green initiative is the real deal or just lip service. They will go onto social networking sites and gather information about virtually everyone working in a department.

Don’t like this development? It doesn’t matter. Whatever your employer brand is, it ought to hold up to all scrutiny. In other words, it is far easier to live with nothing to hide.

Equality

I’m not suggesting what most people are thinking.

In the 70s, American business was seduced into an ideology that made shareholders the king of business. The new model actually led to CEOs becoming softer rather than stronger. They no longer had to give equal attention to customers and employees. With businesses viewed as commodities, the organization began factoring in how much irritation a customer would absorb in return for low prices. Employees became assets during good times and liabilities the moment there was a downturn.

We have paid dearly for that blind turn. If we want optimum performance in all settings, we have to respect all segments of the business. Strong employer brands give customers, shareholders and employees equal importance.

We need more CEOs who apply this kind of vigor to their own roles.

A Defined Tribe

The CEO or owner must define the tribe because any other attempts will become corrupt with differences and turf.

Virtually every great employer brand contained in this article produces images of the type of people who work there and what it feels like to be there. The brand tells a story so clearly that the morals, values, ethics are clear. The contract between employee and customer is effortlessly envisioned. For example, if you have ever had to call Apple for service, you have probably encountered someone who is accountable, personable, interested, and committed to solving your problem. Try that with a big box cable company. Many of us would view Apple as an abusive environment simpy as an extension of Steve Jobs personality. But, Jobs expected the same performance standards that he practiced on a personal level. Warts and all, he wasn’t one of those CEOs who promised the masses perfection without the necessary action to fulfill that vision.

In an era where morality is becoming more precious every day, an employer brand states clearly, how it handles issues of gender equality, diversity, solving its internal problems, and how it responds to crisis.

A great employer brand defines how to build strong relationships with other workers, which becomes the glue, it seems, within our best employer brands.

There is much more about employer branding and the CEO’s role in building a culture in my latest book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press).

In the interim, I welcome your comments.

The post Why the Employer Brand is the Most Important Brand of All appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Let’s start with the good news. Barra has made bold moves towards the future by investing in self-driving cars, electric vehicles and ride-sharing networks. In 2016, GM purchased Cruise Automation for $1billion, a start-up that has become one of the leading technology houses for autonomous cars. Today, that unit is valued at $14.6billion.

Mary Barra has led the company into the black posting profits of $4.6billion in the first half of 2018. Stock value was stronger, especially in comparison to Ford. But, compared to overseas competition, General Motors continues to carry forward the shortcomings that have blunted the American car industry. In terms of developing aspirational consumer or employer brands, Mary reveals her utter lack of imagination. Business journalists are applauding the company’s improvements in profit performance, but compared to what? Daimler Benz, Toyota, and BMW continue to outperform GM by wide margins.

In my book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press), research strongly indicates the vast differences in philosophy between the CEOs that develop category leadership and the CEOs running cultures of mediocrity. This is where Mary Barra’s lack of imagination is leading to more of the same from American car companies.

America almost lost its car manufacturing industry during the recession. In the years since, many of us have treated their comeback as a success story. However, those of us who read car magazines know that nothing has really changed in terms of producing cars that people aspire to own. Much of the problem emerges from a lack of commitment to brand as well as people. Quite simply, if it isn’t working out, throw out the garbage.

Most of us can instantly envision a Porsche 911, a Mercedes S class, a Toyota Camry or a BMW 3 series. That is because of the kind of pride that can only happen from continuous improvement. Auto journalists continue to rank GM products as deeply inferior to the overseas competition. Interiors are bean counted into mediocrity. And, if people are not buying the brand, simply get rid of it. For example, the Impala used to be a legendary name until Chevrolet demonstrated its lack of commitment by periodically plastering that name on cars that offered little pride at all. At times, the name was abandoned for years only to be thrown onto a car because of its poor market performance. This cynical view of the consumer is demonstrated the moment they open the door and sit in the car.

Mary Barra’s biggest failure of all is in GM’s commitment to employer brand. My greatest concern for America isn’t about lowering unemployment; it is about rapidly growing underemployment. Upwards of 48% of our country’s workers characterize themselves as underemployed. This means that about half of our workers are getting kicked to the curb by change.

But, in countries such as Germany, underemployment is a non-issue. As we blame technology for the loss of jobs, German auto manufacturers lead the world in the use of robotics. But, they don’t lay workers off, they train them to do new and more interesting work. The German government is an active partner to the auto industry. Government subsidies are provided for apprenticeship programs. BMW and Mercedes consistently rank amongst the best employers in the world while GM continually brings up the rear.

Many business journalists are applauding Mary Barra’s decision to ax cars and people as a commitment to the future. Let us be clear. Her strategy demonstrates her commitment to trucks. How will GM ever compete in the war for the world’s best talent? In our research, we cannot find one iota of information that it has even crossed her mind.

There-in lies the rub. GM will no longer make mediocre cars, it will provide big sports utilities and trucks, a place where consumers tend to be more forgiving on quality issues.

The most predominant aspect of GM’s employer brand is mediocrity as well. We see the results in the company’s disloyalty. But, the real failure is in pride. How would the world’s greatest designers and engineers aspire to become part of a culture where talent isn’t developed and employees are treated as a commodity on par with the cars? It is a bit like a top graduate student from Stanford trying to choose employment between Apple and Yahoo.

We learn nothing of value by studying dysfunction. General Motors ought to be emulating what is happening with the most profitable automobile manufacturers in the world. They could become enlightened about how to build better cars as well as more profitable cars. All the possibilities of why she wouldn’t study success have uneasy answers.

It has been said that “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Unfortunately, yesterday’s debacle didn’t offer up the courage, to tell the truth, and make a commitment towards excellence.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post The Truth Behind Mary Barra’s Debacle appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

In 1990, I launched Inspired Work out of my condo in Malibu. I was excited, scared, proud, and resolute. Right after getting my corporation papers, I took off for my branch at First Interstate Bank. I remember walking through the door holding those papers as if they were first prize in a contest for personal change. The representative gave the paperwork a glance and with a dismissive sweep of her hands said I was missing a document and to come back. A few days later I did come back to shut down my accounts. In the next few years, First Interstate was swallowed up by Wells Fargo. I left because I didn’t want to be with a vendor that viewed me as just another task.

My accountant referred me into City National Bank and I have been there ever since. For consumers as well as employees, there couldn’t be a more stark contrast between the two.

This past week, Wells Fargo admitted that it improperly foreclosed on 40% more borrowers than first reported. But, to put the latest scandal into sharp focus, let’s review the organization’s behavior over the last two years:

2016

• Regulators fine Wells Fargo $185 for creating as many as 2 million fake accounts to juice the bank’s books. The bank dismisses 5,300 employees who were acting under the orders of the divisional head. None of the transcripts reveal who was pressuring such a large number of workers to commit fraud.

2017

• It is revealed that Wells Fargo retaliated against workers who tried to blow the whistle on the fake account practice.
• New allegations are lodged that the bank modified thousand of home mortgages without getting authorizations from the customers.
• The bank admits it charged 570,000 customers for auto insurance they did not need.
• A class-actions lawsuit is filed in behalf of small business owners for overcharges on credit card transactions.
• The year closes with a new scandel. Thousands of mortgage holders were fined for missing deadlines. And yet, the notices were purposely delayed to orchestrate even more income.

2018

The Federal Reserve makes an announcement that Wells Fargo will not be allowed to grow its assets until it cleans up its act.

Consider the pact with the devil that employees of Wells Fargo have had to embrace in order to work there. Perhaps the single biggest blow to the shareholders of this organization is that premium talent will no longer consider Wells Fargo as a premium employer.

The Contrast

The first time I became aware of City National Bank was in reading about the kidnapping of Frank Sintra, Jr. The criminals contacted his father and refused to return the young man unless he brought them $240,000. The bank’s first CEO got out of bed and personally counted out the money in their headquarter’s vault.

I’ve been with the bank for 28 years and have never had a hiccup. Everyone that I know who is with City National has this kind of fierce loyalty and I can only wonder, why do banks such as Wells Fargo even have clients?

The entire ethos of City National Bank’s consumer and employer brands is reflected in one employee. I was her favorite customer.

For years, Jennifer was A.J. Kroener’s assistant at the Century City Office. Whenever I walked in the door, she would call out, “David, how are you?” She always made it clear that if I had any problem, she would take care of it. Trust me, I was not their wealthiest client. But, she treated me as if all valuables in their vaults were in my name. After years of hard work, I was able to order a new BMW convertible. Jennifer took care of all the paperwork. At the time, I was single and spending a lot of time on the road. Jennifer became the person that actually celebrated the purchase. The day it was delivered, I dropped by the bank to make a deposit. I remember walking in the door and Jennifer yelled out, “Did you get it? Is it here? Take me on a ride.”

She took a break and walked out to the garage. I put down the roof, cranked up the stereo and took off. Her hair was flying as she held her hands in the hair yelling, “Woo hoo!” I thanked her for being so kind in helping me get the car. She laughed, “Help? You’re my favorite customer.”

A few days later, I walked in the door and Jennifer wasn’t there. The energy was off and I asked what was going on. Jennifer had a heart attack and passed away.

Hundreds of people showed up to her funeral.

Most of us were customers. Some of us walked up to the podium and declared we were her best customer.

The thing is, many of the customers and employers are still there and we recount how her enthusiasm and kindness changed our lives.

Here is what I propose. If you are a business leader and you are trying to develop a strategy for making real money, compare the two stories.

Which one would you emulate?

The post Does Your Bank Love You or View You as an Easy Mark? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

A consumer brand tells the world why you exist.

An employer brand is who are actually are.

In our country, entire tribes of CEOs perpetuate an idea that in order to offer low-prices customers are willing to have a mediocre buying experience. There was a time in our history, where they could work. However, technology is evening the playing field. For example, when we can order just about anything without leaving home and have it delivered in hours, why go to the mall and deal with irritated employees?

Let’s take a look at two comparisons. Each demonstrates the power of solid employer branding:

• Von’s Pavilions and Trader Joes
• United Airlines and Southwest

We live next door to a Von’s Pavilions located at the beach. Online critiques of the store include statements such as, “The store’s employees ought to be on suicide watch.” Von’s nationwide has one of the lowest customer service scores amongst all of the largest grocers.

Vons is owned by Albertsons. The company posted its first profit in years on February 24.

On the other hand, mention Trader Joes and people’s faces light up. The average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier. While many CEOs will be dismissive of the comparison, Trader Joe’s prices are even lower than Von’s. And yet, Trader Joe’s isn’t a commodity, it is a carefully orchestrated consumer experience. This is a company that controls costs through tight inventory strategies and portrays a family to its customers. The average tenure of a Trader’s cashier is 18 years.

Trader’s doesn’t release its net profit figures. However, the company sells $1,734 per square foot per year while Whole Foods, the runner-up, sells $930 per square foot. Most Trader Joe’s customers smiling and kind staff as well as unique food values to be a winning combination.

Bring up United Airlines and what images come to mind? People being tasered and dragged off of planes, dogs dying in the cargo hold, and employees with absolutely no sense of enthusiasm.

On the other hand, Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of low rates, workers with humor, courtesy and playfulness.

Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of workers who demonstrate fun, courtesy, and playfulness and now they have added a profound dose to the employee as well as customer experience. Those characteristics had already made Southwest the most loved airline based in America. Commercial pilots hold up Southwest and FedEx as the gold standard for a positive work experience. A couple of years ago, CEO Gary Kelly, decided it was time to create renewed energy in their culture. He introduced a new set of aspirations for all of their employees. He asked everyone to support a vision of being the most loved, flown and profitable airline in the world.

Kelly suggested that one of the ways they would deepen their culture come from telling stories of how they improved the lives of the customers they touch. He said, “We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost travel.” He asked everyone to develop the art of storytelling and to become involved with the story’s behind each passenger’s travels and to find ways to elevate their lives.”

The heart behind this commitment is profound. It can be gut-wrenching. As I researched their stories, I found a letter from a woman named Nancy:

“Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.”

Her husband had to get his daughter as quickly as possible. He was on a business trip. In Los Angeles, the crowds were so backed up that he was going to miss the plane. TSA could have cared less. But, a flight attendant from the first leg of his journey had already called ahead to the pilot of the last plane. He ran to the gate expecting to see everyone gone.

The pilot and the ticketing agent were waiting for him. One of them asked, “Are you Mark?” The other added, “We held the plane for you and we are so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”

True employee engagement develops cultures that matter and businesses that we love with fierce loyalty. Because, all of them have heart. But, the greatest heart of all is an employer brand that orchestrates outcomes that are as rich as this story because heart cannot be faked.

Sure, consumer brands are good. But, employer brands determine what our businesses become.

The post Why Have Employer Brands Become More Important Than Consumer Brands? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The symptoms of disengagement are closely aligned with the turmoil rolling through our culture. While unemployment rates are lower than ever, the real scourge within our country is underemployment. In a recent survey 48% of America’s workers characterized themselves as underemployed. More and more people don’t see where they fit in with the future of work. Until we resolve this challenge, we cannot possibly turn around the dismal number associated with engagement. That kind of correction has to be corrected by none other than the CEO or the business owner. Far too many engagement programs fail based on the following chain of events, repeated in organizations every day.

The CEO visits human resources and ask that the “engagement problem” is resolved. By the time the CEO hits the door, he or she is disengaged. The chief human resource officer starts telling the organization, “We are going to fix the engagement issue.” The employees look past that individual’s shoulders to the CEO and witness business as usual. The organization takes an employee survey. The feedback makes managers feel even more inadequate in dealing with the problem. They are sent to a leadership program. They return to work with enthusiasm and the employees respond, “So what.” Sadly, the talent executive is usually held responsible for the failure.

CEOs have a long history of turning culture over to human resources. But CEOs from our most successful organizations, the category leaders, take charge of their cultures and recognize that talent is king in achieving ultimate success. We see this in CEOs like Bill Bechek at Bain, who makes the ongoing development of all employees as their #1organizational priority. We find individuals like Scott Scherr of Ultimate Software, who treats talent as members of the family and does everything he can do to give everyone a sense of life balance on their own terms. These are not metaphysical, float across the room in a Saffron robe to hit the gong pushovers. In fact, they are far more rigorous and honest than many other leaders. During the development of my book, we interviewed Adam Miller, CEO of Cornerstone on Demand. Throughout, we witnessed his thoughtfulness and his active responsibility in the culture of yet another category leader.

CEOs such as Adam Miller ask and get answers to questions like:

• What kind of employer brand will fulfill our vision? 
• What are the values, central competencies, and style of our ideal employees? 
• When people hear our organization’s name, how do we want them to envision our people? 
• How effective is our workforce with active and continuous learning? How can we build this practice into our culture?
• What is the current “engagement state” of our managers and how will we improve that? 
• What are the various forms of bias in my own dealings with talent as well as bias within our hiring managers?
• How will I orchestrate an engagement solution in my organization? 

My readers know that I advocate employee engagement as synonymous with our commitment and ability to change. We cannot have one without the other. Authentic personal change involves a certain degree of discomfort. But, when we expand the dynamics of personal change to a workforce, only a CEO can establish the kind of accountability necessary to transform the culture.

For years, we have told our participants that instead of debating about the philosophies of Inspired Work, try on our point-of-view for a couple of days and see where it leads. If it doesn’t turn out to be valuable, set them aside.

Answer the questions.

See where they lead.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post 7 Questions Every CEO Needs To Answer About Talent appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

• United Airlines or Southwest Airlines?
• Google or Yahoo?
• Vons/Safeway or Trader Joe’s?

Odds are high that you have identified the better employer with each example simply through word-of-mouth or direct customer experience. Or, you might be seriously interested in working for one of these organizations so you have read employee feedback at Glass Door or Indeed.

The war for talent is back. Unfortunately, many leaders assume their organizations can act in much the same way they did twelve years ago. We find that many employers could use basic good manners in how they treat candidates who are either seriously or not being considered for a position. For business reasons, talent acquisition ought to embrace the kind of world-class customer service practices that the market will talk about.

But, the biggest existential challenge in today’s employment market is transparency.

The biggest impact on talent acquisition is transparency. All of the sales pitches in the world won’t overcome bad word-of-mouth and or consistently negative reviews online. Today, with little effort, savvy candidates quickly learn how your organization treats its talent and whether the statements about culture are real. Transparency is beginning to introduce issues of survival for many organizations.

Once the word gets out, the premium talent runs when they hear your name. As CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, in a now legendary act of desperation, spent over a billion dollars acquiring smart start-ups. But, she wasn’t pursuing unique technology or new markets. She couldn’t get the premium talent required to turn Yahoo around. Think of it. When Stanford’s best graduates hit the market they might be thinking, “Google, Apple, or entrepreneurship?” But Yahoo? Some of the world’s better candidates would view a stint at Yahoo as a career killer. They envision a tribe of stagnant stakeholders that torpedo change. One client indicated getting anything done there was a bit like trying to get fresh bread in Russia.

For Yahoo as well as other employers, the employer brand determines what an organization become. For example, we live at the beach in California. There is a market within 300 yards of our home. But, we usually drive 5 miles to buy groceries at a market that easily charges 30% more. Why? The grocer next door routinely generates reviews on Yelp like, “The employees in this store ought to be placed on suicide watch.” At the other market, employees remember our names and do whatever they can to help out. They smile and look you in the eye. They love to work there.

The nearest Trader Joes is 10 miles from our home. We drive in once-a-month to get supplies. The average tenure of the company’s cashiers is twenty-one years. While their prices compete with commodity oriented stores, the customer experience is as good as any luxury brand.

CEOs are responsible for defining and leading their culture. When a CEO defines or allows their organization to become a commodity, they will spend most of their time trying to generate enough profit to keep the shareholders happy. All too often their strategy includes, “Just how much can we irritate the customer before they go away?”

If you can’t attract the best talent in your industry, you will never achieve category leadership. Your employees will actively or passively practice disengagement. Customers will have lower rather than higher expectations, which isn’t a good place to start any relationship.

Everyone knows this. With the advent of Glassdoor and Indeed, any savvy employee can find out what it is like to work for you. They know if your internal treatment of employees is vastly different from the promises in your ads. If you think an employer brand isn’t a big deal, think of the segment of workers that aspire to work at certain organizations and the workers that view work as “just a job.”

Today’s savvy CEOs will not tell human resources to “fix the engagement problem” or “improve the quality of candidates.” They will answer basic questions like, “Who do we want to be?” “When people think of our employees, what comes to mind?” “If we want to attract the best talent in this category, what kind of culture do we need to build?”

I have individual human resource clients from all of the world. When we begin a career marketing campaign I make it clear he or she will vastly improve the odds of success by answering a few questions. Perhaps the most critical question is, “Has the CEO taken ownership of the culture?” If not, they probably ought to keep their bags packed.

Employer brands are not perfect. However, the great ones are designed to attract the very people that fit into the tribe. The Walt Disney Company has gotten a great deal of mixed feedback in the market. In the 80s, word was that if you didn’t come into work on Saturday, don’t bother coming in on Sunday. And yet, the organization is filled with lifers. In the midst of delivering a leadership program at Disney, one of the executives asked, “What do you believe is Disney’s employer brand?” I thought about it for a moment and responded, “The employer brand is to attract the talent that creates magic at great profit in the midst of chaos.”

The room went silent for a moment and then broke out into gales of laughter. For someone who loves that, they will stay at Disney for years. If they don’t, they will find the environment insufferable.

This past year, United Airlines reminded millions of consumers of the cynicism and contempt that permeates their culture. Lost and dead pets, customers dragged out of their planes, unruly environments, lost and damaged baggage. Today, many travelers will only board a UA flight is there is no alternative. The company doesn’t have an equipment problem, it has a talent problem. But, one CEO after another places cost-cutting ahead of customer experience and employer brand. The results speak for themselves.

Uber might have been one of the country’s most successful start-ups in many years. But, their contempt towards female employees and drivers has led to perhaps the first time in business history where consumers are mindfully selecting Lyft because its spiritual and moral principles are superior.

Bottom-line? There are no shortcuts in building a great organization. People will sustain your success. Talent will make you a category leader.

Why has the employer brand become more important than the consumer brand?

Because the consumer brand is what we sell.

The employer brand is what we become.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Why is Your Employer Brand More Important Than Your Consumer Brand? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The business of retailing, like all categories, is facing wildly convulsive change. Quite a bit of ink has been spilled on the specter of Amazon taking over the world. And, while the press spends time looking at the dark ramifications of the company’s growth, little is said of why this is actually happening. When it comes to buying value, the only distinction in why people would go into a store rather than spending a few minutes on the computer is in the customer experience. And yet, the very organizations that are in the greatest deal of trouble are the ones that are so focused on short-term shareholder value, they cut expenses on the quality of their talent as well as the customer experience. The leaders of these organizations are bean-counting their businesses out of existence. In the end, the only way retailers will compete with Amazon is by providing a customer experience so faultless that people are willing to go across town to buy what they want.

Yesterday, after many years of loyalty, I ended my relationship with Walgreens. My customer experience deteriorated over time. I got used to long lines of people and staff members continually stressed out. I considered moving my business to the local CVS, but the disengagement of their workers is so bad that cashiers point to the self-service checkout kiosks instead of smiling, looking me in the eye, and demonstrating an interest in their job. So, I’m moving my business to a small pharmacy in the neighborhood and will pay the higher prices. Here’s why: In trying to deal with Walgreens over the course of one week, I lost four hours of my time. After making the decision to leave, I sent a note to Walgreens corporate. I only send notes in the spirit that a big store in our neighborhood influences the quality of our community. The store manager called. There was panic in her voice. She talked about how the most recent manager quit, they are short staffed in the pharmacy, she was offered the interim management position and would I be willing to come back? She offered a $20 gift card. I responded that when I added up lost time, my economic loss was several thousand dollars. I also pointed out that she wasn’t responsible, Their CEO Stefano Pessina is responsible for creating a culture where the customer and the employees take a back seat to short-term shareholder value.

Dan Banes is the CEO of Trader Joe’s where the average tenure of cashiers is eighteen years. At Trader Joe’s “team” isn’t an aimless marketing phrase. Their culture is so democratic that if a manager is the first person to walk a store, he or she scrubs the bathroom and the toilets. Dan shows up to the stores, just like his predecessor, and meets with the employees. He asks what they need and he listens. The company delivers value with a smile. Recently, I lost a pair of sunglasses at Trader Joe’s and they called by the time I got home. In thanking them, the assistant manager said it was his pleasure to do anything to make my day a little better and he thanked me for our loyalty.

The advancement of technology is leading us to a common-sense outcome. If our retailers are producing customer care workers who don’t look us in the eye, are waiting for the moment to leave, who feel they are not valued, leaders are perpetuating the day where customers will only interact with machines. Let us be clear. The tragedy isn’t Amazon, it is the failure in leadership of organizations who cynically believe that customers will tolerate abuse in order to get a deal. But, that thinking is dreadfully impacting large categories of workers that need an intervention, that could be awakened. Instead, these CEOs perpetuate a trance. As for the shareholders, the premium customers of these organizations left a long time ago.

Perhaps it is time for the shareholders of United Airlines, Walgreens, CVS, Spectrum, and Wells Fargo to recognize that customer experience will always trump cutting expenses. Their awakening could be the realization that loving the customer requires loving their employees. The empty complaints about Amazon always miss the fact that the nation’s biggest retailer now employs over 542,000 people.

Here are the words directly from their career website:

“Leaders start with the customer and They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say ‘that’s not my job.'”

Even some of the most hallowed names in retailing ought to be learning from the leaders of these growing enterprises. For example, the Nordstrom family recently sold its stock in their namesake. While this was happening, I went to a local Nordstrom’s to buy a suit. It had to be wonderful. I found an item that I loved. They only had one size. But, they offered to bring the said item from another store in order to buy the suit at full price. We spent two hours getting to the store, parking, searching and attempting to make a purchase. This “just in time” inventory outlook upended another once sacred relationship. When we got home, I went online to my beloved Gilt.com, originators of the online flash sale for luxury items. There, I got the same suit at half-price in my size and it was delivered to my door in four days.

Gilt’s CEO is a gentleman named Kevin Ryan. In reviewing his leadership of Gilt, I realized he meets the very definition of “What is An Engagement CEO” from my book, The Workplace Engagement Solution. In a recent interview, Mr. Ryan stated that “the CEO’s most important job is managing talent.”

Perhaps rather than hurling contempt and cynicism towards the CEOs of these new category leaders, we ought to be studying them, appreciating them and learning how to bring obsolete thinking into the new millennium.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

The post Demonize Amazon? Nope! Study Them. appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

This past year, United Airlines was perhaps the biggest demonstration in how a disengaged employee culture can impact consumers. Almost all of us witnessed security guards dragging a semi-conscious passenger off of his flight. While the guards were not employees of the airline, the UA employees took a minor service problem and escalated it by simply not thinking through the implications of their actions – one of the very definitions of disengagement. The incident made world news, destroyed shareholder value, and affirmed the bad experiences so many of us have had with this carrier. One of my most widely read articles was about the UA “culture” when this debacle took place.

A few years ago, United Airlines made a ham-fisted mess of the merger with Continental Airlines, which had been one of the best cultures in the industry. At the time, Jeff Smisek was appointed the new CEO. He drove cost cutting and messaging in ways that repeatedly alienated employees. He cut their travel benefits, one of the very reasons many workers settle for the overall pay. He even issued memos that the company would no longer provide coffee cups to the employees. In other words, they could bring cups from home. The cost cutting extended to passengers when planes had to make emergency landings to pick up toilet paper.

The impact of employee disengagement on passengers is legendary. But, did you know this?

• Unhappy flight attendants routinely ask the pilots to turn up the heat in the cabin. Why? If passengers are knocked out they have less work passing out drinks and selling Tapas boxes. The next time you think you are coming down with the flu, ask them to turn down the heat.
• Pilots have lost virtually every financial incentive to do their best. Now, many purposely slow down flights to get bumped into overtime. If they make a plane a half-hour late that equates to about $70.00. If 200 passengers are on board and their average income is $30/hour the collective loss is $3,000. The most cynical pilots have figured out how to time a flight so that it arrives as late as possible without getting cited. The angriest purposely burn more fuel.

Last year, the stunning images of physician being dragged off of a plane was but one in a series of high-profile PR nightmares. Shortly before that event, Jeff Smisek was removed from office, not because of cost cutting but because he was being pursued by the federal government for a growing corruption scandel. The company appointed the existing CFO, Oscar Munoz into the post. It took days for Mr. Munoz to issue an apology for the dragging incident. The blowback was so fierce that he said he was making visits to employees to hear about their challenges and morale issues.

In an interview, Mr. Munoz talked of traveling around the country to listen to employees and start improving the morale of the workers. He recounted the anger from employees talking about Mr. Smisek’s removal of coffee cups and going downhill from there. After these gestures, what did the company do to turn around morale?

Fasten your seatbelts, it is a rough ride. This past week, United Airline’s President Scott Kirby sent out a memo to all employees indicating the company is removing the quarterly performance bonuses and replacing that income with a “lottery.” In other words, no matter how hard someone works, compensation is now in the hands of chance. For flight attendants who average $38,000 per year, the performance bonus of about $1,200 was a big deal. New pilots are in a similar jam making around $46,000. Many new pilots are assigned to hubs that are far from their home. They often rent apartments filled with a dozen bunks just to get by.

Many senior executives view the airline industry as a commodity. And, commodities, in this country, don’t measure success from customer satisfaction. They embrace a cynical view that the customer will put up with a lot of irritation to get the cheapest ticket, the lowest price at the grocery store, or from the cable company that monopolizes a region. In other words, everyone gets mistreated.

I travel quite a bit. The last time we were on a United Airlines flight was from Los Angeles to London. The plane was virtually empty. We were about an hour away from Heathrow and I felt it reasonable to ask for a cup of coffee. So, I pressed the flight attendant button. After about ten minutes, the attendant stomped over to our seats, reached over my partner’s shoulder cancelled the button and turned away. I walked back to the galley to get my own cup of coffee only to see the same attendant down a handful of pills with a swig of the desired coffee.

United Airlines is a big player in our economy. But, I have not been on one of their flights in four years. Until they treat their employees with some kind of dignity and fairness, getting on one of their planes represents as much dependability as…a lottery ticket.

They deserve better.

We deserve better.

The employer brand is now more important than the consumer brand. Consumer brands give us a promise. Employer brands become the truth.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, Inspired Work, Inc. – 2018 (All rights reserved)

The post Another Shocking Back Story About United Airlines appeared first on Inspired Work Services.