Quality Service Marketing

Dear Mr President: About Employee Engagement ...

I’ve enjoyed being a guest on many radio shows since my first book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care, was published. One of the most unexpected and intriguing questions I was asked was on Zane Safrit’s show. In what he called the “Imagination Moment,” Zane asked me to imagine responding to an email from President of the United States that read:   

‘Sybil, our economy reflects our failure to take care of the people that matter the most. I want you to come to the Oval Office and present your three ideas to reverse this trend, nationally.’ 

This was my response:

1. Gather information. First, I suggested business/industry associations and academia partner with each other to collect examples of effective employee- and customer care. They all have members from whom they can gather info on what works and what doesn’t.
2. Make people aware of engagement’s impact and importance. In a collaborative effort, business and academia could then create awareness among their members and the business community about the positive relationship between engagement and the bottom-line.
3. Help people learn and apply engagement skills. Lastly, provide the appropriate education and training organizations need on how to engage their employees and customers.

Although Zane interviewed me in early 2011, the question and my response is just as valid today. (While it may seem simplistic, keep in mind this was a spontaneous response on a live broadcast.)

This post is not intended to incite any finger-pointing in the campaign, but I am curious – in what other ways can engagement help with our economy? What advice would you give the Oval Office?

New Book Preview: Share of Mind, Share of Heart - Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits

One of the reasons I love working with nonprofits is that they are so mission-focused. When you’re passionate about your mission, it’s easier to feel good about your work. But having a noble mission doesn’t guarantee organizational success!

Effectively managing a nonprofit on a daily basis is a challenge that involves:

• planning and delivering mission-based programs in response to constituent needs
• securing scarce resources and funding to meet ever-increasing needs
• developing and maintaining good relationships with the board, staff and volunteers
• ensuring governance compliance, etc. 

These are just a few of many critical tasks facing nonprofit professionals. With so many responsibilities, it’s easy for nonprofit leaders and managers to get caught up in operational issues and lose sight of what matters – and what matters is the tremendous impact every employee and volunteer has on the organization’s brand.

This is why I wrote Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits – to help nonprofits better engage their employees and volunteers. The book is scheduled for release this June, but here’s a sneak peak at what’s inside. 

Part 1: Nonprofit Marketing and Engagement

Ch. 1. Understanding Nonprofit Marketing and Your Brand

Ch. 2. Why Nonprofit Marketing Needs to be Different but the Same

Ch. 3. Taking Care of the People Who Most Impact Your Brand

Part 2: Marketing Tools of Engagement

Ch. 4. Introduction to Internal Marketing Tools of Engagement

Ch. 5. Connecting to the Organization

Ch. 6. Connecting to Customers

Ch. 7. Connecting to Other Employees and Volunteers

Part 3: Facilitating Your Nonprofit Engagement

Ch. 8. Keeping People Engaged

Ch. 9. Making It Happen – Your Internal Marketing Plan.

Special Pre-Release Offer: Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits will be published this June, and I'm pleased to offer a special discount of 20% off the retail price before the book's actual release. [Update: this offer expired in July 2012.]

 

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 2

Upon learning about my new book, Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits, my friend was puzzled. “I don’t get it,” he said, “especially when nonprofits are so mission-driven. Aren’t the people who work there more engaged than those who work in the for-profit sector?”

My friend’s presumption about nonprofit engagement is a common one. Regardless of whether an organization is profit-driven or mission-driven, the quality of workplace engagement depends on the organizational culture and how its people are treated. Nonprofits can’t claim any advantage based on employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission. 

As nonprofit employee and consultant Jinna Halperin wrote in Voices from the Field: Nonprofit Workplace Culture – Why it Matters so Much to Us:

“All nonprofits are dysfunctional in some way or another and figuring out where to hang your hat requires one to assess whether the level and type of dysfunction is personally tolerable …

“I am no longer driven only by the mission of the organization. Having so many issues about which I feel passionate and on which I have worked, I have come to believe that employment happiness at nonprofits is more about how one is treated and whether one’s contribution is respected …”

An inspiring mission may attract talent employees and volunteers to an organization, but it takes much more to get them to stay. People need to feel they matter as much as their work. 

Note: To get a look inside my new book on nonprofit engagement, stay tuned for next week’s post.

 

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 1

My love of nonprofits started in my teens when I volunteered to work at a summer camp for intellectually disabled children. Since then, I’ve served a variety of nonprofit organizations in a range of roles that include frontline volunteer, committee member, advisory member, board member, board chair, and in a professional capacity as a marketing & organizational advisor.

Here’s what I’ve learned based on my personal and professional experience:

1. Mission matters – it provides organizational focus and intention. It also brings together the people who share a passion for the mission and want to do something about it.

2. The people behind the mission also matter – the employees and volunteers who carry out the mission through their dedication and commitment.

3. People’s passion for the mission should not be taken for granted – employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission does not guarantee their continued commitment to an organization.

These valuable insights are the basis for my new book that I’m excited to introduce here. I wrote Share of Mind, Share of Heart – Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits to help nonprofit leaders, executives and managers better engage the employees and volunteers who carry out their organization’s mission.

My book will be published shortly. In the meantime, I’ll share more about nonprofit engagement and my new book in the next two posts. 

People, Purpose and a Positive Brand

Much has been written the past few weeks about Greg Smith and his public reasons for disengaging from Goldman Sachs – with a lot of the discussion centered on the importance of corporate culture.

Employees don’t work in a vacuum. For better or worse, they’re greatly impacted by “the way things are done around here” and what actions get rewarded and reinforced; i.e., behaviors that reflect a company’s culture and values.

Sure, a company needs profits to survive … but profit is only one of several components critical to sustainable success. A company also needs its employees, stakeholders, and partners associated with the enterprise to be aligned around a purpose that goes beyond pure profit. As these successful executives have learned:

“Maximum growth and high ideals are not incompatible; they’re inseparable. … A brand ideal of improving people’s lives is the only sustainable way to recruit, unite and inspire all the people a business touches, from employees to customers. Without that connection, no business can truly excel.” Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble and author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies

“The companies that put profit before people are a vanishing breed. Companies big and small, with a multiple stakeholder approach to business, the ones that value their employees and customers as much as shareholders, are realizing that the financials only get better. If you want to make more money, focus on your people first. It’s not only the right thing to do. It’s good for business.” Paul Spiegelman, founder and CEO of the The Beryl Companies, in his article “Attention Goldman Sachs: Time to Buckle Down and Focus on Culture”

“Over time, as we focused more and more on our culture, we ultimately came to the realization that a company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin. The brand is just a lagging indicator of a company’s culture.” Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

The bottom line: Focusing on people and purpose creates a strong culture and positive brand that helps drive profits.

Employee Engagement is Looking Up

Above the bottom line by David Zinger 

“Dwelling above the bottom line
our contributions 
our meaning 
our routines 
our relationships 
our passions 
our connections 
our fears 
our irritations 
our time 
our lives. 
Business is looking up. 
It doesn’t all come down to the bottom line.”

From what perspective does your organization view the bottom line?

[Source: Assorted Zingers  by David Zinger, with great cartoons by John Junson.]

An Almost Perfect Workplace

One of my favorite business books is Zappos.com’s  Culture Book that is published annually. It’s written by Zappos employees who share, in their own words, what the company culture means to them.   

I ask participants in my internal marketing workshops to consider if their organizations would be willing to solicit employee comments about their workplace culture, publish the results, AND THEN make them available to the public? The responses reflect how confident and proud managers are of their organizational culture.

Occasionally I encounter people who joke about companies, like Zappos, that are known for having a strong employer brand. Typical comments include:

• “Yeah, they’re the ones who put the ‘cult’ in culture!”
• “I wonder how much Kool-Aid the company trucks in?”
• “Where DO they find all those happy employees?!”

I find the folks who make these jokes to be cynical, even downright dismissive, as they struggle to comprehend an engaging place where employees actually enjoy going to work.

Yes, Virginia, there are such workplaces … and most of their employees appreciate how fortunate they are to be working in such organizations.

Just as important, these employees also know that an engaging workplace doesn’t ensure an idyllic one. Engaged employees accept that not every day will be perfect. As a Zappos employee acknowledged in the latest Culture Book:

“A lot of people might say that Zappos employees work in an unrealistic culture, where everyday frustrations don’t occur and cupcakes grow from rainbows in our break room. While I’ve yet to see the cup-cake-producing rainbow, I can say that we do have all of the same pet peeves as everyone else, but because of our Zappos Culture, we rise above it and overcome.”

Well said!

[2010 Culture Book excerpt used with permission. © 2012 Zappos.com, Inc. or its affiliates.]

Employee Engagement Resources and More

As a frequent speaker on engaging employees and customers through internal marketing, I’m often asked for my recommendations on engagement resources. I’m happy to share several of my favorites here - including books, e-books, networks, and newsletters.    

Employee Engagement                                   

One of the best sources of information and ideas comes from the members of the Employee Engagement Network (EEN), founded and hosted by David Zinger. Under "Free EE Resources" on EEN's website you'll find a number of helpful e-books on “Engaging Questions“ … “Primers for Engaging Conversations” … “Employee Engagement Advice for Managers” … and the first in a series of 50-word case studies on engagement. 

In addition, I highly recommend the following three books:

Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times by Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld. This book draws on extensive data from the “Best Places to Work” research to identify and apply the drivers of employee engagement in today’s challenging times. You can sign up for Leigh Branham’s free quarterly newsletter, Keeping the People for more information and articles on employee engagement and retention.

The Art of Engagement: Briding the Gap Between People and Possibilities by Jim Haudan. This book provides a framework for connecting organizational strategy and execution based on the root causes of engagement and disengagement.

The annual Zappos Culture Book describes what employee engagement at Zappos is all about as written by its employees.  

Enterprise Engagement

Enterprise engagement encompasses the need to engage everyone involved in a business: employees, customers, and channel partners. The Enterprise Engagement Alliance website features articles on this topic and a schedule of educational programs, including webinars and on-site programs.

I need to mention the Zappos Culture Book again here as it includes content reflective of Zappos’ engagement with its partners, vendors and customers.

Volunteer Engagement

While researching my new book on internal marketing for nonprofits, I found Energize, Inc., Susan Ellis’s website for leaders of volunteers, to be a tremendous resource. I also recommend her book, From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement.

In  addition, you can download a free copy of my e-book on volunteer engagement.

Your Turn

What engagement resources have you found helpful? I’d love your input on expanding this list.

What Do You Plan to Draw in 2012?

To start off the new year, here's a gem I found in David Zinger’s book of poems on workplace engagement, Assorted Zingers. (Note: David's book - with great cartoons by John Junson - is now available in both print and e-book editions.)

Napkin futures
by David Zinger 

Tabling strategy.
Gel pens drawn
during fast food lunch
sparking napkin artistry.
Ink bleeds
arrows, word, and stick figures
into thin paper.
Absorbing both
strategic thinking
and mustard drips
oozing from the overflowing cheeseburger.
It is going to be a good year. 

 

Lament of the Disengaged

Here’s another one of my favorite engagement poems from David Zinger’s book, Assorted Zingers. Many of us have experienced these feelings at one time or another in our work lives.

Payday
by David Zinger

When did it become
the way of work
to hate
our work
our organization
and our peers?

The daily distaste for work
crumbled our contributions
into gritty crumbs
lacking nourishment
for body, soul and self.

Is this what we get paid for?