Five Ways To Make Your Employees Proud to Represent Your Brand

 

1. Continually Communicate How Your Employee's Work Contributes to the Overall Success of the Business.

A recent Gallup poll found that a whopping 70 percent of workers are disengaged in their jobs. That's seven out of every ten people. If your company only offers perks to the higher level executives you've got it wrong. If the only people at your org who are wined and dined, taken on extravagant vacations and treated with respect are at the top--something is amiss. Of course these examples are extremes--but these extremes make a point. The wealth and the showering of praise should come at the lower levels as well. These incentives tell employees "thank you," and generate many positive returns for the company.

2. Illustrate the Relevance of Your Products and Services With Storytelling

When we consume uninteresting information the Wernicke’s area of the brain is activated to translate the words into meaning. But when we hear a story, our brains change dramatically. Studies show we actually imagine ourselves to be the hero of the story. Storytelling can be a powerful way to illustrate the relevance of your brand's products and services to the customer. You can illustrate the relevance of the work your employees do to the customer's lives in many ways. You can bring customers into internal town halls or make videos of your customers using your products. You can capture feedback on social media or in the call center. When your employees feel an emotional connection to their work, the work will get better. They will understand the WHY of their jobs--and how their jobs make a tangible impact on the planet.

3. "A Culture of Niceness" 

In business "nice" doesn't mean weak or ineffective. It doesn't mean slow or incompetent. Nice just means your culture is one based on values--where employees have consideration for one another. While there is some truth the handful of articles recently published around the idea that your employees are not your family, there is something to working for a company where you feel people care about your well-being. People are considerate of one another and there is a culture of niceness that's prevalent. A lot of companies don't have a nice culture and that is unfortunate. The idea that your employees are your family is an unrealistic one considering there is a transaction happening (they are paying you to do a job, in return you do a job). However there is a way to have a strong culture of niceness where people have boundaries but they're not throwing each other under the bus. There is a culture of consideration--one where sarcasm is nil. Where people bring cookies to work and wish people happy birthday and send around Buzzfeed articles about dogs vs cats. These are the little things that make work a nice place to be. This doesn't mean you know every detail about your coworkers, it means there is a culture of niceness. In this scenario people feel valued and respected. They're part of a team.

4. Gain the Loyalty of Your Employees By Providing Development and Mentoring Opportunities.

Lack of advancement opportunities can be a quick way to make employees feel "un-proud" to work for your brand. A recent study (infographic) reports the number one reason employees quit is a lack of advancement opportunities. The challenge companies have is they can't move quickly enough to engage their employees especially millennials who get antsy after a few years. Providing short term projects develops your employees, improves employee engagement and loyalty. You can send your employees to other offices, involve them in high level projects and even get them involved in training their peers. All of these things improve the employee experience.

5. Executive Leadership Show Consistent Concern For Providing Stellar Customer Service

Culture waterfalls down through your organization from the c-level officers to your customer facing employees. If executive leadership shows they care about the customer experience, the employees handling the customers will care too. Employees reflect what they see. If the executive leadership only care about revenue and cost savings, employees will reflect this too. If your senior leaders show integrity in how they do business, employees will act with integrity as well.

SOURCE:forbes.com