Employee Re-branding May No Longer Be Optional, But Rather A Matter of When

By Mwangi  Wanjumbi – Newtimes B.S. CEO & Chief Consultant/Trainer

Allow me to share an experience of last week while it is still fresh. I had been asked to meet a certain executive, working in a major post school knowledge disseminating organization. When I arrived in my host’s office, I was welcomed by his personal assistant to whom I promptly handed my visiting card. She glanced at it and was seemingly stunned by an observation, which she read out loudly.

“Organizational culture change/employee re-branding solutions, WOW how does that happen? I would love the experience! But first, can you tell me exactly how it happens? The personal assistant exclaimed in surprise and enquired in quick succession.

Soon after, I was ushered in by the boss. However, the personal assistant was gone, before satisfying her curiosity, by the time the meeting ended. I am now inspired to share what we could probably have discussed, if it had been opportune.

Actually, this people re-branding concept has attracted many questions from fellow consultants and even friendly university dons. It has never been clear to me why they all wonder how human beings can be re-branded. Nevertheless, I have continued writing widely about the process as well as conducting the same for willing organizations, many of which have benefited invaluably.

Some good news is that the Brand Kenya Board CEO recently challenged some 40 organizational human resource managers to consider re-branding their staff. “This will help in fast-tracking the achievements of vision 2030,”said the CEO.  That is wonderful, is it not?  In our case, we seem to have been ahead of all in this re-branding process as may be witnessed by the beneficiaries of this unique process of inspiring change.

Nonetheless, the concept of personal branding was first discussed by management gurus back in the 1980s, but in terms of personal development. In the 1990s, Tom Peters, a renowned management guru raised the profile of personal branding. It has now become a serious area of interest for those wishing to define the concept of success, for not only individuals, but also organizational brands – yes organizations are driven by people.

Ideally, personal branding is about how an individual packages him/herself in terms of every attribute of life. How you think, eat, dress, talk, walk and more forms part of the brand called you. Why then is the idea of employee brand important?

Thought of human capital development solutions borrows widely from insights in philosophy. This is the field of study involving search and dissemination of knowledge. Here we learn more about the inspirations of great thinkers like Socrates, Plato and others.  In fact, what was the motive behind the works of these great minds?

Without doubt, they were attempting to alleviate problems facing humanity at that time. Sadly, the world we are living in continues encountering one challenge after the other, therefore the continued need for high order thinking, which may not be domiciled in all of us in equal measures. Why then do employees need to undergo the inevitable re-branding process?

Over the years, we have all been influenced by numerous sets of values borrowed from many sources. Remember that the social cultural environment is highly dynamic. It is constantly responding to changes in the global village as well as behaviors of our various role models.

Particularly, our leaders greatly influence behaviors and perceptions about life. Ironically, people will embrace and adopt even negative habits as long as they are identified with leaders. Many such habits will invariably impact on personal and ultimately organizational brands. Unless people are subjected to holistic re-branding processes, organizations are unlikely to ever achieve their performance potential. The same will no doubt be escalated to vision 2030. It will not matter how much organizations up-skill their employees, as long as their thinking is in line with the attitudes some of which have been revealed.

Firstly, peoples’ motivation to work is basically driven by the famous carrot and stick theory. In other words, people will only perform when extrinsic rewards are attached to performance. It is no wonder then that majority employees perform only enough to ensure that they are retained at work. Zig Ziggler equates that to only 10% of their potential. Other more generous authors attach a measure of 20% of the same potential. This yields 4-8 hours worth of effective performance out of the possible 40 in a week. Further, Ziggler brands this scenario as foundation performance.  Certainly, this is unhealthy for any growth oriented organization in this knowledge era.

Secondly, we all have the potential to work smart and not hard as is commonly the case. What goes wrong with vocations or career choices?  Do we really understand our personal orientations that could lead us towards working smart and turning work into fun? Ideally, most people endure work sometimes for a lifetime.  They detest it and equate it to punishment only good for supporting livelihood. In such situations, it is difficult to achieve any worthwhile performance potential.

Thirdly, personal values that borrow widely from our upbringing are key elements in determination of our character. However, the environment around us largely influences behavior. The same may not be static and keeps responding to prevailing social cultural factors.

Fourthly, we have substantially evolved into money driven people. Money is seemingly the Alfa and omega in all our considerations. Though, there is nothing wrong with money, our focus on the same is our undoing both as organizations and individuals. In the workplace, the employee is after the highest monetary benefits possible.

Conversely, the employer is after maximizing profits. That yields unhealthy attitudes and could lead to internally generated competition, which could hurt either of the parties or both. The consequences may not be exhausted in this article. Nonetheless, why should any employer allow all these impediments to continue affecting organizational growth?

Essentially, all these and other factors, call for a new way of thinking in a highly competitive work environment that is largely being controlled by global trends. The ideal situation is adoption of new paradigm shifts, guided by ongoing global cultures in the new fast paced knowledge era of the 21st century. Our organizational culture change/employee re-branding solutions continue achieving this inevitable organization-wide transformation.

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