So how do you "give back" to your employees and
customers? Can you make a clear, strong argument in just a few
words to explain why they are better off working with you than not?
This is the true secret of business success, and it is an elusive
one. If a business is not clearly different and more desirable to
work with for at least some customers and employees in some
situations, then it has no business being in business--and
certainly won't find it easy to grow and prosper. So the
giving-back part really needs to be first and foremost in
leaders' minds--not left to an afterthought as it too often
is.
Once you're clear on how you can satisfy others' needs
well, then you are ready to refine your efforts to influence them.
All you need to do is make them see how the alignment of interests
will help them and you at the same time. If you are right, you only
have a communication problem now--although sometimes it can seem
like a big one!
In marketing, this effort to communicate is taken to a high
degree of refinement. Perhaps too high a degree--I'm a bit sick
of all the advertising that comes my way, how about you? But in
truth, the main flaw in advertising is that alignment thing--much
of it is not built on a clear alignment of my interests with
theirs, so even if they get my attention I don't like the
message.
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The part of marketing that is done really well is the
communications part. A lot of effort and imagination goes into
creating messages that attract attention and encapsulate a message
in a creative, interesting way. And since I largely address
management issues in this column, I want to point out that we fail
to apply anywhere near as much imagination in our efforts to
communicate with employees.
Customers get more communications thrown at them than they want,
while employees operate in a relative vacuum. We shout at one of
the key groups we wish to influence, and we whisper to the other.
Here's a radical thought: Why not shift the balance a bit, and
stop flooding customers with communications they say they don't
want--while at the same time, giving employees more of the
communications they so often complain they don't get but do
want?
To shift this balance and begin using communications in a more
effective manner to influence our employees in positive ways means
bringing some of the same creative spirit to internal
communications that we lavish on external ones. In my next column,
I will look at ways of taking a creative approach to internal
communications and give some fun examples from my current research
of managers and businesses that have done so.
Alex Hiam is a trainer, consultant and author of several
popular books on business management, marketing and
entrepreneurship, including Streetwise Motivating & Rewarding
Employees, The Vest-Pocket CEOand other popular
books.
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