HCM_Sales_Marketing_&_Alliance_Excellence_July_2022

JULY 2022 • Vol.21 • No.07 (ISSN 2564-2057)

6 THINGS EVERY CEO MUST KNOW ABOUT BRANDING - Jane Cavalier,

CEO and Founder, BrightMark Consulting

13

17

When Your Company Becomes A Verb

How To Hire For Customer-Centricity

Customer Service Expert

Alchemer

- Shep

Hyken,

- Heather Rollins,

21

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape - Merilee Kern, “The Luxe List”

28

Storytelling: How To Activate Strategies And Inspire Your People - Rich Berens, Root Inc.

INDEX

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence JULY 2022

Vol.21

No.07

( ISSN 2564-2057)

07

6 Things Every CEO Must Know About Branding Understanding the basics of what a brand really means for a business

On the Cover

- Jane Cavalier,

CEO and Founder, BrightMark Consulting

Articles 10 3 Ways To Drive Strong Auto Sales When Inventory Is Low Enriching your sales pipeline

- Joseph Watson,

19 Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting How to get the best of both worlds

- Lisa Apolinsk,

Author and Founder, 3 Dog Write

Vice President, Auto Direct & Marketing Services, Equifax

25 Ethics In Business 15 10 Rules For Brainstorming Success How to effectively generate creative solutions in any setting

- Susan Robertson, Instructor, Harvard

Why ethical businesses are more profitable

- Lauren Stevens,

Content Marketing Expert

31 How Stewardship Creates Both Impact And Belonging In The Workplace Steward businesses, at their core, are all about two essential elements of stewardship

- David R. York,

Managing Partner, York Howell & Guymon

Top Picks

13

INDEX

When Your Company Becomes A Verb The five levels of customer service - Shep Hyken,

Customer Service Expert, and Founder, Hyken.com

17

How To Hire For Customer-Centricity 3 strategies to guide you and your company to a more customer-centric future - Heather Rollins,

Vice President, Human Resources, Alchemer

21

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape A key aspect of a fundraising mindset is knowing your own value - Merilee Kern,

Founder, Executive Editor and Producer, “The Luxe List”

28

Storytelling: How To Activate Strategies And Inspire Your People Are you ready to make storytelling a priority?

- Rich Berens, CEO, President and Chief Client Fanatic, Root Inc.

Attn: HR Solution Providers!

Our solutions will get you more clients, brand exposure, sales – and a marketing community too!

Research Exclusive HR.com research

HR.com makes HR Professionals smarter and we are sure your solutions do as well.

That being said, we understand how hard it is to market in the Human Capital space, get the attention of your target audience and show HR departments that you are a valuable resource. So, how do you overcome this hurdle?

Build your brand, content marketing strategies, and thought leadership with exclusive HR.com research. Choose between custom featured research or state-of-the-industry research sponsorship. With custom featured research, we work with you to develop research on the topic of your choice or align your brand with any of this year’s State of the Industry hot topics to highlight the latest HR trends. No matter which research strategy you choose, come away with your very own branded research report and infographic, establish yourself as an industry thought leader by presenting a webcast, get key insights from the opinions of highly qualified HR professionals, and maximize your ROI, and build a healthy sales funnel with over 1,000 qualified leads.

Easy. Work with HR.com.

With over 19 years experience working with HR solution providers, we give over 1,200,000 HR professionals access to the tools and resources they need to succeed. We work side-by-side with HR solution providers to help them generate sales leads, grow market share, build brand awareness and promote industry expertise.

Checkout our growing list of tools and resources our vendors can take advantage of to get noticed by HR professionals!

Managed Email Campaigns Looking to expand your marketing reach? Build long-term customer loyalty? Generate high response rates? Drive website traffic? The value of HR.com’s opt-in direct email program allows you to do just that. Nurture potential buyers on a consistent basis through our managed campaign program. Deliver your message directly to HR decision makers’ inboxes. HR.com’s direct email lists are 100% optin, GDPR, CASL, and CAN-SPAM compliant and contain only the most exclusive names and companies in the human capital industry.

Online Advertising HR Marketing Institute The HR Marketing Institute (HRMI) is the ONLY community of Marketing Professionals in the Human Capital space dedicated exclusively to the issues and needs of the marketing professionals and their businesses. This is a community of Marketing professionals who dedicate their time to marketing in the Human Capital space and who support each other to make the right decisions so that your marketing initiatives deliver the impact you need to succeed. Membership includes networking with peers, face to face summits, webcasts, research and benchmarking tools.

Webcasts and Virtual Events

Onsite advertising is a great way to reinforce brand and profile new products associated with a product launch.

HR.com offers a variety of online advertising solutions including banner ads and premier homepage positioning making it a cost-efficient option for maximum brand exposure.

Buyer’s Guide Be the Answer to the Questions HR Decision Makers are Asking The HR.com’s Buyer’s Guide is where HR departments from around the world turn first when they need products and services. Put your company at the top of their list and get listed with the resource that HR professionals and decision makers trust.

Thought Leadership, Lead Generation and Educational Content

Excellence Publications

HR.com’s Webcasts and Virtual Events are more than an exercise in brand awareness. They are a comprehensive and groundbreaking way of generating tangible sales leads, while showcasing you as an industry authority to a captive audience of clients, prospects and the entire HR.com global community, giving you a greater market reach.

In addition, HR.com’s one-hour webcasts provide valuable education and certification credits for today’s forward-thinking HR professionals.

Interactive Targeted Learning ePublications Aimed at Reaching Your Core Audience HR.com’s 12 targeted and focused monthly online publications provide an invaluable collection of high-quality HR content and experts’ solutions to our members. Ten of our publications now feature themed editions that focus on specific topics.

Sponsorship of research reports and webcasts aligned with the themes are also available.

For more information phone: 1.877.472.6648 | email: sales@hr.com | www.HR.com

EDITOR’S NOTE

Editorial Purpose Our mission is to promote personal and

Deepa Damodaran

Debbie Mcgrath

professional development based on

Editor, HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence

Publisher, HR.com

constructive values, sound ethics, and timeless principles.

Excellence Publications Debbie McGrath

CEO, HR.com - Publisher

Dawn Jeffers VP, Sales

Sue Kelley

Director (Product, Marketing, and Research)

Babitha Balakrishnan and Deepa Damodaran

Excellence Publications Managers and Editors

Deepak S

Senior - Design and Layout

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence Team Deepa Damodaran Editor

Nataraj Ramesh

Design and Layout (Digital Magazine)

Chandra Shekar

Magazine (Online Version)

Submissions & Correspondence Please send any correspondence, articles, letters to the editor, and requests to reprint, republish, or excerpt articles to ePubEditors@hr.com.

For customer service, or information on products and services, call 1-877-472-6648

For Advertising Opportunities, email: sales@hr.com

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence (ISSN 2564-2057)

Building a Brand

W

e live in a VUCA world, where mass consumerism has been replaced by a new consumption paradigm as people are driven by new essentialism. In this world, things matter less and relationships, experiences and self-being dominate all.

In this new world, workers are restless, customers fickle, investors skittish, and the public has an appetite to cancel.

In order to rally everyone together to stand behind a company and its path during all the ups and downs, leaders need to draw upon emotions as rationality will not carry the day.

They have one tool at their disposal to do this delicate work – the brand.

In just a nanosecond, it evokes common immediate meaning and emotions across all people.

“If you can create a brand that represents the highest common denominator between your people (customers, employees, investors) and your products/services, then you can forge an enduring powerful partnership that will yield surprising dividends for your business,” says BrightMark Consulting CEO and Founder Jane Cavalier.

Subscribe now for $99 / year

is published monthly by HR.com Limited, 56 Malone Road, Jacksons Point, Ontario L0E 1L0

And get this magazine delivered to your inbox every month

Read Jane’s article, 6 Things Every CEO Should Know About Branding, featured on the cover this month, to learn how to build a brand of your own.

Also, read Customer Service Expert Shep Hyken’s article, When Your Company Becomes A Verb, where he discusses the five levels of customer service.

Moving on, in How To Hire For Customer-Centricity, Alchemer’s Vice President of Human Resources Heather Rollins lists down the 3 strategies to guide you and your company to a more customer-centric future.

Also, read 3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape

by The Luxe List’s Editor Merilee Kern, among others featured in this edition.

We hope this edition of HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence, will help you achieve excellence in your sales and marketing efforts.

Happy Reading!

Write to the Editor at ePubEditors@hr.com

Become a Member Today to get it FREE! OR

SIGN UP

Internet Address: www.hr.com Copyright © 2022 HR.com. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher. Quotations must be credited.

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed in the Excellence ePublications are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HR.com and its employees. Under no circumstances shall HR.com or its partners or affiliates be responsible or liable for any indirect or incidental damages arising out of these opinions and content.

WHY EXCELLENCE PUBLICATIONS?

In a world of unparalleled challenges (global pandemic, racial injustice, political rivalry, digital 4.0, emotional malaise), uncertainty reigns. Finding opportunity in this context requires harnessing uncertainty and harnessing starts with reliable, valid, timely, and useful information. The Excellence publications are a superb source of such information. The authors provide insights with impact that will guide thought and action.

Dave Ulrich Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Partner, The RBL Group

Excellence publications are my ‘go-to’ resource for contemporary and actionable information to improve leadership, engagement, results, and retention. Each edition offers rich and diverse perspectives for improving the employee experience and the workplace in general.

Julie Winkle Giulioni Author, Virtual /Live Keynote Presenter, Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers

I regularly read and contribute to Leadership Excellence and Talent Management Excellence. I use many of the articles I read to augment my own presentations and I often share the articles with my clients. They are always quick, right on target for the latest issues in my field, and appreciated by my clients. If you want to stay up to date on the latest HR trends, choose a few of the different issues from the Excellence series of publications.

Dr. Beverly Kaye CEO, BevKaye&Co.

We’re eager to hear your feedback on our magazines. Let us know your thoughts at ePubEditors@hr.com

COVER ARTICLE

6 Things Every CEO Should Know About Branding Understanding the basics of what a brand really means for a business

By Jane Cavalier, BrightMark Consulting

W

e live in an upside world where the old rules no longer apply. Many call it a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

Mass consumerism has been replaced by a new consumption paradigm as people are driven by new essentialism where things matter less and relationships, experiences and self-being dominate all. In this new world, workers are restless, customers fickle, investors skittish, and the public has an appetite to cancel.

In order to rally everyone together to stand behind a company and its path during all the ups and downs, leaders need to draw upon emotions as rationality will not carry the day. They have one tool at their disposal to do this delicate work – the brand.

Although often associated with marketing, brands are actually cultural icons that symbolically carry meaning. In

just a nanosecond, they evoke common immediate meaning and emotions across all people.

Think BMW, John Deere, Chanel, Apple and American Express.

In a world where everything is uncertain, brands can be trusted to stand true. Now, if you don’t have a brand, you can build one.

Anyone can. It takes commitment to people, to tell their story and represent their interests with your brand, not your own.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

7

If you create a brand that represents the highest common denominator between your people (customers, employees, investors) and your products/ services, then you can forge an enduring powerful partnership that will yield surprising dividends for your business. It all begins with understanding the basics of what a brand really means for a business.

Submit Your Articles

6 Things Every CEO Should Know About Branding

A Brand Resides in the Mind Not in a Logo

Although expressed in a logo and a tagline, a brand is actually a mental construct that gets into the mind and lives in the memory of people. Branding is the process of creating the brand in the minds of people.

It is typically done by creating things and experiences that “express” the brand such as marketing materials and product design. Brands also live in the culture. Powerful brands like Nike become social concepts and exist in the culture where they continually give people cues and establish the brand as a part of society.

Brands Set Meaning

Brands give meaning to products. Is an anti-lock braking system (ABS) a breakthrough in performance (BMW) or safety

(Volvo)? That depends on the brand. The brand is a mental lens that provides immediate meaning. A Snickers bar is a snack. Tiffany means luxury taste and quality. Apple is about unleashing creativity while IBM is about improving productivity.

The brand provides context which tells people why a product is important to them.

Brands Carry Emotional Power

Like great art, brands are designed to elicit a response, both emotional and rational. Like art they can enchant and often captivate people which creates desire. Marlboro was the first filter-tipped cigarette and was initially launched as a woman’s cigarette which failed. The same product was re-branded as the ultimate masculine smoke and with the swagger of the Marlboro man still remains one of the most

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

8

powerful brands in the world.

Powerful brands are mythologies that evoke emotions that swell to desire.

Brands Are Fiction Not Fact

Branding is poetry, not journalism. Messaging matrixes and value propositions belong to marketers and are fact-based.

Branding is another world that is concept-based. Branding brings out the big gun – an idea. A powerful, transcendent, mind-tweaking idea designed to engage the mind and heart at another level. The idea is what catalyzes new behavior and thinking. When Tide gets clothes clean, it means that Mom and Dad are good parents and conveys that message. The Home Depot is a large hardware store, but the brand makes it a Home Center for any current and aspiring do-it-yourselfer.

Submit Your Articles

6 Things Every CEO Should Know About Branding

shocks and disruptions seem to prevent ‘normal’ from ever being a reality, brands are a reassuring presence that people can depend on. Powerful brands nurture, the people that come to work, buy products, and invest in companies. Business always comes down to connecting with people on a human level.

Powerful brands are creative concepts that stimulate imagination and emotions in ways that most CEOs cannot.

Brands Defy Logic

When you have a powerful brand, you’ll be surprised by what it can do. You will see strong conviction and commitment across employees, customers, and investors despite challenges.

People tend to defend the brands they love and stay loyal against all odds – better alternatives, cheaper alternatives, easier alternatives. To achieve that kind of priceless cohesion, you have to build and continually maintain the brand campfire - and make it into a bonfire for the whole world to see. At John Deere, they say people bleed green because the brand is so deep.

Brands Deliver Business Value Multiple Ways

Because powerful brands are sticky, they have the ability to build a moat around the business.

Customers remain loyal even in the face of superior performing or lower-priced competitors. People forgive and forget product and

corporate errors which mitigates losses. People are more willing to try new products, services, and experiences from brands they love which accelerates sales. If you have the vision to build an empire, but a brand to amplify the upside and mitigate the downside.

Many corporate executives view the brand as simply a marketing asset. Others like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk view it as a corporate asset, part of the business strategy.

Once built, a powerful brand can be used to wield influence in many circumstances from Main Street to Wall Street to Capitol Hill. While products and executives may come and go within a company, the brand can endure forever – as long as it is well maintained.

In a world of fake news, where people are becoming increasingly unmoored and where constant

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

9

With a powerful brand, the CEO has a tool to open minds, raise hearts, command attention, bring everyone together and protect the business again in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.

Jane Cavalier is the CEO and Founder of BrightMark Consulting.

He is a nationally recognized brand strategist, board member, blogger, and author of the bestselling business book, The Enchanted Brand (Amazon).

She helps organizations conquer a changing world with powerful brands and reputations. Recognized for creating breakout brands like Snapple and Qwest, Jane has worked with over 100 organizations including American Express, Johnson & Johnson, ExxonMobil and the U.S. Navy.

Would you like to comment?

Submit Your Articles

3 Ways To Drive Strong Auto Sales When Inventory Is Low Enriching your sales pipeline

By Joseph Watson, Equifax

I

t is no secret automotive businesses are currently facing low inventory. Supply chain delays are going on all over the world. This current dilemma continues to impact sales. Due to these impacts on the industry, some automotive companies have turned away buyers because they do not have enough cars, trucks, and SUVs on their lots.

This is why it is important right now to pivot your marketing strategy and grow your profitability, especially if you are a car dealership. That being said, we are here to provide three ways you can have strong auto sales when inventory is as low as it is now.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

10

JULY 2022

Submit Your Articles

3 Ways To Drive Strong Auto Sales When Inventory Is Low

When customers are in a service bay, start a sales dialogue for them to stay engaged until inventory returns to normal. Below are a few ideas to consider when working on a sales dialogue and keeping your customers engaged: ● Ask candid questions and make notes about their preferences. ● Inquire about their purchase timeline. ● Expose them to new vehicles on your lot. ● Confirm contact information during each service appointment. ● Reframe the mindset of service department employees. Motivate them to build relationships with customers.

By considering some of the above ideas, you can enrich your sales pipeline. During this time when there is low inventory, customers will most likely appreciate your efforts and continue their loyalty when you continue to build a relationship with them.

1. Open to a New Type of Audience

When your regular audience may not be financially capable to purchase a car at the time of your sale, it may be time to try a different audience of right buyers. Open the back door through your service department to new, future sales opportunities.

To reiterate, people are using their cars more, which is increasing the wear and tear on their vehicles, which drives increased demand for more service appointments and new vehicles. Target the right people by messaging people who need a service appointment for their car or after the service appointment realizes they want a new car. This will help you as a business find another way to become profitable, leading to future sales opportunities.

3. Pinpoint Potential Buyers

Target audiences who have the interest and financial ability to purchase a vehicle.

Prospects who are more likely to mature into high-quality sales prospects can grow your service sales and vehicle sales at the same time.

Joseph Watson is Vice President, Auto Direct & Marketing Services, at Equifax.

Joseph is a sales leader who has years of experience in building strategic partnerships, and supporting partners and customers strategic initiatives in the automotive industry.

2. Fill Up Sales Pipeline and Start a Sales Dialogue

Ever thought about capitalizing on the opportunity to market your service department? Everyone who owns a car eventually needs some kind of service or part for their car during its lifetime. Creating opportunities to market in your service department can boost sales in an already known profit center, while inventory is low.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

Would you like to comment?

11

Submit Your Articles

CALLING ALL HR MARKETING GURUS - SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE WITH OTHERS! Are you an expert in Marketing in the Human Capital space?

If yes, you’re invited to submit articles for inclusion in our publication, HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence!

This publication helps Sales and Marketing professionals in the Human Capital space learn emerging trends to help them in their business and now you can share your marketing expertise with them!

Check out our magazine here Our readers are interested in a number of topics including: ● Marketing hacks for HR Solution Providers ● Building relationships with current and potential clients ● Tradeshow expo halls - best practices for ROI

● How to nurture stronger partnerships between marketing and sales ● Tips for working with influencers and analysts ● Market planning process

● Branding and your online presence

● How to build a brand

● Aligning Marketing roles with your business growth strategy

● How to use Social to drive brand recognition and sales

● Marketing Tactics to increase ROI ● Martech Enablement ● Marketing Analytics ● How to define a “real lead” and how to count its sale value

1

● How to win with PR

● Your approach to producing and disseminating meaningful thought leadership ● How marketing needs to evolve for success

Article submission deadline: 1st of each month

Kindly let us know if you’d be interested to feature your article in our magazine by emailing the editor at ddamodaran@hr.com. You can also review our submission guidelines by clicking here.

Also, if you are in marketing in the human capital space, we invite you to host a webcast for our HR Marketing Institute. For more details, please email Shelley Marsland-Beard at smarsland@hr.com

TOP PICK

When Your Company Becomes A Verb The five levels of customer service

By Shep Hyken, Customer Service Expert

I

n our customer service training workshops, we have an exercise that introduces a concept called ‘The Five Levels of Service’. The levels advance from ‘Unacceptable’ to ‘Basic’ to ‘Good’ to ‘World Class’ to ‘Trademark’. Any company should be happy with World Class, which is when the company is consistently, and predictably, delivering a level of service that gets customers to come back.

Along those same lines, I was talking with a client who said, “We want to Chick-fil-A our customers.”

Now, Chick-fil-A is a fast-casual restaurant known for its chicken and great customer service, but I have never heard of the company name used as a verb. It was not a week later when I heard someone else say almost exactly the same thing. This is an example of Chick-fil-A hitting the Trademark level of service.

It is flattering for a company to be mentioned in this fashion. If you have experienced Chick-fil-A, you know that it is not just the food that brings you back. It has created a service experience praised and studied by many other companies and brands. It has a customer-focused culture, hires good people, and is consistent and predictable. That is part of a winning business strategy that has created a reputation on par with the most iconic brands in the customer service and experience world.

Very few companies can get to Trademark levels of service. This happens when a company or brand is referred to in a way that positions them as one of the best at what they do. Most often, it is a comparison.

For example, people might say, “They are the Cadillac of their industry.” Obviously, that is a powerful complement for both the company and Cadillac.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

13

Submit Your Articles

When Your Company Becomes A Verb

And when you hit that level, others want to learn how to have the same success.

To make my point, my friend and fellow customer service expert John DiJulius was contacted by the Charlotte Police Department (CMPD) to help them deliver a customer experience like Chick-fil-A. Yes, the chief of police specifically said that they want to provide a Chick-fil-A level of service. It turns out that 97% of police interactions with the public do not result in an arrest. Of the less than 3% that do, only about half a percent are for violent crimes.

at a Trademark level of service. It is a lofty goal and one worth pursuing. You may or may not attain it, but along the way, you could still be recognized as a world-class organization.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, researcher, and New York Times bestselling business author.

In other words, about 97% of the police interactions could potentially be positive customer experiences – even a Chick-fil-A experience.

Would you like to comment?

So, wonder, how many other brand names like Chick-fil-A are used as verbs or nouns to describe how a company wants to deliver great service? If your brand is used in a sentence to position it as the brand that others should emulate, then you are operating

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

14

Submit Your Articles

10 Rules For Brainstorming Success How to effectively generate creative solutions in any setting

By Susan Robertson, Harvard Instructor guidelines. If done casually, without guidelines, it won’t be effective regardless of online or in-person.

10 Rules for Brainstorming Success – In Any Environment

O

nline interaction or in-person interaction -which is more creative? Both. Or neither. It is solely dependent on how the meeting is structured and managed.

A recent study found that online interactions result in less creativity than face-to-face. The reason: when online, people mostly stare at the screen, rather than letting their eyes wander around, which sparks more divergent thoughts. But the flaw with this study was that the conditions that actually result in creative thinking were not set; not in the online nor the in-person experiments. So, even though the in-person interactions were slightly more creative, neither were very creative at all, in the absolute.

Effective creative thinking requires adherence to specific

1. Free them from fear. It’s very difficult for people to share ideas if they’re concerned about negative consequences. A climate that helps people get past the fear is critical. One key principle is to prohibit any evaluation (even positive evaluation) during the idea generation phase. All evaluation occurs only after idea generation is complete.

2. Use the power of the group. Build, combine, and create new ideas at the moment. Don’t just collect ideas that people have already had. The building and combining is where the magic happens. Break up into pairs or small groups to encourage even more building and combining.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

15

3. Get outside stimulus.

Asking the same people to sit in the same place and review the same information won’t result in exciting, new ideas. Talk to your customers, talk to other experts, explore what other industries are doing. Have the in-person meeting in a park or museum. If online, mail everyone some dollar-store toys in advance, or play music or show unusual pictures.

4. Encourage the crazy.

Something often heard at the beginning of a brainstorming: “Every idea is a good idea.” Followed by a collective eye roll because no one believes it.While it’s not true that every idea is a practical idea, it is true that every idea can offer a useful stimulus for additional ideas. Sometimes ideas thrown in as jokes can be the spark that leads to new direction and a winning idea. So allow, encourage, and use every idea, even if only for creative fodder.

Submit Your Articles

10 Rules For Brainstorming Success

5. It’s a numbers game. The more “at bats” you have, the more likely you are to hit a home-run. Drive for quantity.

Ensure the session is long enough to generate lots. If you only spend 10 minutes, don’t expect great results.

6. Laugh a lot. Humor stimulates creativity, so let it happen. One easy way - have everyone introduce themselves by answering a fun or silly question. Here’s one used in a session in December – “What’s something you DON’T need more of for the holidays?” The resulting answers were hilarious, and some even started sparking real ideas!

7. Homework is required. Both individual and group efforts are critical for success. Insist on individual preparation. Ensure everyone knows the goal, and ask them to do some homework in advance.

8. It’s not casual. Effective brainstorming requires skillful facilitation, which is a different set of skills from managing other meeting types. There must be a designated facilitator, who is NOT the primary problem owner. The role of the facilitator is to objectively manage the process. Ideally, the facilitator should be someone who has no stake in the outcome and can remain neutral to all content.

Designate a facilitator far enough in advance that the

person has time to fully plan the session, and potentially study up on how to do it well.

9. If it looks like a duck, but doesn’t act like a duck, it’s not a duck. If you can’t, or don’t intend to, follow the guidelines for successful brainstorming, then don’t call it brainstorming. For example, a meeting that just becomes a stage for one person to spout their opinions isn’t useful. And if a brainstorming is not organized and structured appropriately, everyone will feel how ineffective it is, and they’ll be sure to skip your next session. So, either set up for success, or don’t bother.

1 0. You’re not done until you decide. Everyone has been in this situation; it’s the end of a brainstorming session, a long list of ideas has been created, and someone volunteers to type up the list. And…. that’s it. There’s no action, or at least none that we’re aware of. It’s demotivating to spend time and energy generating ideas only to feel they went nowhere.

Plan time for selecting and prioritizing the ideas during the session. Spend at least an equal amount of time on converging as you do on diverging. Yes, you read that right. If you generate ideas for an hour, also spend at least an hour on selecting, clarifying, and planning. If

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

16

you leave with a huge list of nebulous, potential ideas, that’s not success. The outcome should be a short list of clear ideas, and a plan for action.

Whether in-person or online, creativity happens when the correct conditions are set. If you’re doing it casually, without guidelines, and without skillful facilitation, it may not be tremendously effective. However, with appropriate focus on the process and environment, and by following these rules, you can effectively generate creative solutions in any setting.

Susan Robertson empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to more nimbly adapt to change, by transforming thinking from “why we can’t” to “how might we?” She is a creative thinking expert with over 20 years of experience speaking and coaching in Fortune 500 companies.

As an instructor on applied creativity at Harvard, Susan brings a scientific foundation to enhancing human creativity.

Would you like to comment?

Submit Your Articles

Top Pick

How To Hire For Customer-Centricity 3 strategies to guide you and your company to a more customer-centric future

By Heather Rollins, Alchemer

C

ustomer-centricity is not only what Alchemer’s technology solution is centered around, but it is also at the core of our company culture. We know that hiring customer-centric employees starts with an outside-in mindset rather than an inside-out perspective.

Truly customer-centric hires will live and breathe this mindset. They will constantly be thinking about the needs and buyer values of customers, and they will engage them in a way that reinforces that understanding. As a result, customers end up feeling heard and served. This pays off for everyone involved.

Benefits of Hiring Customer-centric Employees

Studies abound that show why customer-centricity is so important. A recent Deloitte research found that customer-centric companies were 60% more profitable compared to companies that were not focused on the customer. Customer-centric companies bring in more revenue and tend to out-perform competitors. That makes sense because customer-centricity results in faster responses to customers, more personalized support and customer-centric products and services.

It is more profitable to be customer-centric, but how do companies achieve true customer-centricity?

Here are three strategies to guide you and your company to a more customer-centric future.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

Strategy #1 – Know Your Customer You cannot promote a customer-centric culture to job candidates if you do not thoroughly know the voice of the customer. Successful customer-centric companies are always collecting and analyzing feedback from customers to better understand their challenges.

When hiring, take this same approach to applicants.

Gather their feedback from multiple sources, including social channels and questionnaires.

Consider what job candidates can teach you about the hiring process. Check in with them at several stages of the hiring process to learn how to improve it moving forward, clear up misunderstandings immediately, and adjust as needed to avoid potentially losing a solid candidate.

Just like your customers, candidates want to feel understood. Treat the voice of the candidate with the same care you treat the voice of the customer and use it to inform the hiring process.

Strategy #2 – Showcase Your Customer-centricityWhen job candidates visit your company website or check you out on LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media channels, is it instantly clear how much your company values customer-centricity? Demonstrate customer-centricity by telling stories about your customers, including customer case studies, customer statistics, customer quotes, customer names, and customer evidence.

17

Submit Your Articles

How To Hire For Customer-Centricity

For instance, show customer-centricity in each job description. Use your job descriptions to convey company values. Regardless of role, our job descriptions at Alchemer include a Who You Are section. Topping this section is this: “You have a heart for service. We provide extraordinary service to our customers, coworkers, and our community by going out of our way to appreciate and support them.”

Strategy #3 – Screen for More Than Qualifications and Experience Job descriptions that capture your customer-centricity are a great start. Interviews offer a chance to hear candidate stories that show personality and attitude.

Asking “Are you customer-centric?” could result in people merely telling you what they think you want to hear. Who would say no to that?

it. Share stories that focus on your values. Show candidates videos featuring customer stories or photos taken with customers before the pandemic.

Conclusion: Hire for Customer-centricity

Hiring for customer-centricity is good for your bottom line and your company culture. Adopting strategies to assess if prospective employees share your outside-in rather than inside-out philosophy is well worth the effort.

Do this by understanding your customers so you can properly describe them to candidates and ask the right questions during interviews. Hiring customer-centric people takes effort, but is an objective well worth working toward.

For more sincere responses, I ask more subtle questions that gauge their sincerity and care. If you are interviewing a customer support candidate, for instance, you could ask: “How do you figure out when to get off the phone quickly and when to stay on longer?”

Heather Rollins is Vice President of Human Resources at Alchemer.

Would you like to comment?

Interviews are a two-way street. Do not merely tell a candidate your company is customer-centric — show

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

18

Submit Your Articles

Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting How to get the best of both worlds

By Lisa Apolinski, 3 Dog Write

W

hen the pandemic hit, the shift to virtual meetings was a blessing. Employees could still continue to work. Colleagues were able to collaborate. Conferences and training could still happen. And virtual connection was better than no connection at all.

But the surge of virtual meetings was not without issues. According to a recent survey, since the start of the pandemic, 50 percent of employees have had one to three hours of virtual meetings per week. And while complaints were frequent about the amount of time lost starting a meeting due to technical difficulties, still a little over half of the employees prefer virtual meetings, while just under half prefer in-person ones.

Perhaps due to the availability of online meetings, this survey also found that from 2020 to 2021, the number of meetings attended by workers has gone up by nearly 13 percent.

With an even split between wanting in-person and virtual meetings, and with workers spread further across the country (and world), creating a hybrid meeting would seem like the perfect combination.

The trick, however, is to plan on combining these two modes of engagement to have the best outcome rather than a happy (or not so happy) accident. Here are four tips to get the right combo from the start.

Incorporating Virtual Participants In Unique Ways

The idea of combining virtual and in-person does

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

dictate which meeting venue leads and which venue is folded into the mix. Simply putting up a large screen on the side of the conference or meeting would be akin to having people call in on a conference line. Instead, use a moderator both on the platform and at the in-person location to keep virtual attendees engaged. Have several monitors located around the room, as well as, several camera angles, so the virtual audience can be immersed in the physical environment.

Consider running polls with the virtual audience, sharing the poll results with everyone, and then asking in-person participants their reactions to the outcomes for further discussion. This is one time you don’t want to put your ‘virtual baby’ in a corner.

Testing, Testing, 1 – 2 - 3

Going back to the recent survey, the biggest complaint for meeting attendees was the delay of the start due to technical issues that should have been resolved. This is where practice, practice, and practice come in.

When going for a hybrid meeting model, the weakest link in the proverbial chain is technology. Be sure to include AV and IT at the conference’s location and discuss those hybrid plans, so they can provide guidance on the technology equipment that is necessary to have things run smoothly. Asking for a “practice run” with the AV and IT teams at that location should be on the list of to-dos. The onsite team can act as the in-person attendees, and others can join via the virtual venue.

19

Submit Your Articles

Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting

This testing ensures cameras are at the proper locations, lighting and microphones are placed properly, and the location’s bandwidth is able to handle the virtual surge in attendance. Understand and review the location’s backup plan if something fails as a final safety measure.

Grabbing On-Demand Content For Later Live streaming the in-person meeting for the virtual audience provides a great post-conference opportunity. By having several camera angles and both virtual and in-person audience discussions, a post-production video can be developed that captures both engagement venues and combines them in a unique way.

Many conferences will capture in-person testimonials. Since you have participants already on via a live streaming platform, this could also be a great time to ask a virtual participant to have a 30-second conversation about the conference or meeting during a break. These videos can be curated to make a virtual montage for those online participants and for social media engagement.

On demand content can also highlight how this meeting was different and allowed full participation, regardless of location.

Using Data From Virtual To Drive Better In-Person Engagement

The hardest part of conferences and meetings is the lack of data to make optimization decisions.

By having virtual participants, the data capture can be leveraged. This does not just include how many attendees are online, how long they stay, and how engaged they are with polls and the like. This is a captive audience who can also quickly do a short survey after a session or midway through a conference, to gain immediate feedback on how things are running.

Because these audiences are viewing the meeting or conference from a different angle, they can also observe those in person, and see how they are faring during the conference. It may feel like a little ‘big brother’, but conducting and recording observations can be a great way of seeing if the audience is engaged, tired, bored, etc.

Even as the population goes back to in-person conferences and meetings, virtual meetings will be around for quite some time. By combining both in a calculated and strategic way, there is a great opportunity to get the best of both worlds.

Lisa Apolinski is an international speaker, digital strategist, author and founder of 3 Dog Write. She works with companies to develop and share their message using digital assets.

Her latest book, Persuade With A Digital Content Story, was named one of the top content marketing books in the world by Book Authority.

Would you like to comment?

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

20

Submit Your Articles

Top Pick

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape A key aspect of a fundraising mindset is knowing your own value

By Merilee Kern, MBA, The Luxe List

R

elative to global entrepreneurship, the proverbial glass ceiling has seemingly been shattered. This amid reports revealing statistics that nearly half of entrepreneurs worldwide—252 million—are

women. As impressive as that metric is, it is curious that Census Bureau Annual Business Survey reporting cites that a mere 20.9% (1.2 million) of U.S. businesses are women-owned.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

21

On a worldwide scale, just 4.7% of American business owners are women. Whether considering statistics at the global or U.S. national level, the disparity begs the most fundamental question: “Why?”

Submit Your Articles

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape

Perhaps one glaring reason is lack of capital, since women reportedly receive less than 3% of available VC funding. Other findings show that, in 2019, only 2.8% of venture capital in the United States went to women-led startups; it dropped to 2.3% in 2020.

These numbers reveal that, despite the hustle, heart and high revenues, women are suffering adequate and equitable access to capital. What is more, the ripple effects of the unprecedented global pandemic on companies with a female founder may actually exacerbate the funding gap. This has led to many women in the workplace wincing from the pinch of being asked to get more accomplished with less.

However, all is not lost. There are ways the startup funding process can be democratized to help better position women to navigate the shifting capital landscape. Here are three.

1. Fix Your Expectations of Fairness If you’ve ever heard the phrase “read the room,” then you’ve also heard the phrase “know your audience.” In fundraising–at any round–there are a few universal truths to recognize. Many investors use pattern recognition.

In other words, they believe that by investing in the products or people that are most similar to their past successes then they will have a greater probability of future success.

This pattern is based on an unconscious bias and reinforced by influences that cannot be controlled, such as one’s experiences, childhood upbringing and environment.

Thea Myhrvold, CEO and Founder of GetBee—a female entrepreneur who recently raised $1.8 million from top venture capitalists— recounts her own experience with bias. “From my own fundraising experience, without fail, there were questions hurled at me that I don’t believe would have been asked of a male founder, such as ‘how will you make sure not to lose key clients?’ or ‘how will you prevent bankruptcy?’ It’s not that I was asked these important and fundamental questions, but rather that they dominated the conversation.”

Based on Myhrvold’s track record and professional pedigree— having received LinkedIn Power Profile and Cartier Women’s Initiative awards; amassed a world-class client list and logged more than a decade of front-line tech experience—she had expected a different line of questioning. “I anticipated having to respond to questions about the market, my balance sheet, my projections and strategy,” Myhrvold said. “The skepticism about my expertise and experience in this space shook me. I expected questions that were clever and thought provoking. They were neither.

They were, however, quite effective at distracting me and derailing the conversation. I walked away disillusioned.”

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

22

This was until Myhrvold discovered Dr. Dana Kanze’s TEDxPeachtree presentation, “The Real Reason Female Entrepreneurs Get Less Funding” from which she says she learned three simple truths: unconscious bias exists, deal with it and get on with it.

Take a listen to it. You will gain clarity on how unconscious bias plays out in daily life.

This includes the idea that unconscious bias is simply a function of our brains searching for patterns. Because we are bombarded with millions of messages that our brain is working to organize and translate, your brain will take shortcuts.

Sometimes those shortcuts short-circuit opportunities for meaningful interactions. So, before you step foot into a pitch meeting again, or for the first time, spend some time reflecting on the details of your presentation so you can discover your own fundraising-success correlations. That way you can effectively circumnavigate the punch of a potential investor’s unconscious bias.

2. Tweak Your Fundraising Mindset Simply having a great business idea is not enough to get a venture capitalist to invest millions in your company. Back in the day, VCs were in a race to discover the next Facebook, eBay or even Spanx, but now they have cooled their heels and are becoming increasingly selective about the companies they invest in. Studies show that the average

Submit Your Articles

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape

deal size has shrunk as well as the number of seed-stage deals.

If you have ever watched the TV series Shark Tank, you have watched the Sharks circle the water and go in for the kill with anyone who dared to step into the proverbial tank without a strong sense of sales, marketing and other key financials and data. It makes for good reality TV and it is a lesson for us in real life. Where do you start, or level up?

Fans of the British-American author and speaker Simon Sinek know any great endeavor starts with knowing your why. How does this translate within your own pitch? For every point you make in your pitch deck, you must be able to respond to any form of the “why” question that a prospective investor might throw at you.

You might be asked: Why do you perceive this or that to be a problem in the market? Why do you believe you–or your team– are bringing a viable, sustainable solution to the market? Why now? Why this amount? Why is this problem you identified and are building this business to solve relevant today, or critically important? You should spend time crafting responses that not only reinforce what drives and scales your business, but also why your investors should go beyond the usual level of care and concern about your success.

“Fundraising process is hard!” laments Nancy Korayim of Metrospeedy, a businesswoman who recently raised five million

dollars. “Raising our seed round initially involved much research, networking, strategy planning, pitch preparation and endless back-to-back Zoom calls.

We received our fair share of noncommittal investors until we pitched to our existing investor group who shares our vision, growth plans and believes in our ability to execute. Focus on approaching investors who are interested in, and know, your industry. Find common ground with them, be authentic and highlight your company’s innovative game changers.”

Indeed, a key aspect of your fundraising mindset is also about knowing your own value. In your quest for likeability, do not trade or discount the value of your business for it. Your business’s value proposition is like an uncut diamond. Your singular task is to slice and dice the numbers so that all the facets of your idea shine brilliantly. Just as you would conduct A/B tests of your product marketing, platforms can prove priceless for helping you assess and refine your own story’s key messaging.

Alicia Hanf, Founder and Managing Partner of Dear Mama Ventures, adds, “My fundraising mindset evolved from who is giving me money into who do I want to make money for … and why are we mutually a good fit for each other? This paradigm unlocked how I now examine and discuss each investment opportunity. Your startup offers everyone who invests in it a chance to multiply their

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

23

investment significantly, and you are giving them as much of an opportunity as they are giving you.

This awakening challenged me personally as well, to know my “why.” To not only understand the significant value my business brings to the market, but also the impact my business has on the communities I serve. Make your mindset shift to a personal masterclass in rare grit, embracing each obstacle as an opportunity to be better and, above all else, knowing why and how you are adding value to the market. This will fuel you to keep going and, in the end, may be your biggest competitive advantage.”

3. Find Your Voice and Turn the Volume Up Simply put, speak to everyone ... speak up for yourself and those women coming behind you.

“Some of my best finds have come through warm introductions and others have come through by striking up what felt like random conversations while waiting in line to order a cup of coffee,” Myhrvold adds. “One time, I was attending a conference and slipped away on a break to find a cup of coffee. As I was waiting in line, I noticed the guy next to me and I were wearing matching red trousers. I thought about breaking the ice by making a simple joke about great minds thinking alike. We laughed, which sparked a good chat. I learned he was a senior executive at a tech company with a household name.

Submit Your Articles

3 Ways Female Founders Can Realign Capital Landscape

We did the networking dance, exchanging business cards and promised to stay in touch. I did.

I brokered a few introductions to people that he mentioned he was interested in meeting. He followed me on LinkedIn and kept up with my postings. One day, he suggested we collaborate.

Jackpot!”

On any given day, you never know who you might meet. You never know who is listening to you and organizing the information their brain is receiving to form a judgment about whether or not to help you. Be genuinely curious about the people around you and invest in your relationships. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to actively look for ways to be both a giver and a gracious receiver. Be sure to be clear in your ask from your network and offer to support them in return.

We all operate at some level based on unconscious biases.

Your mission is to examine them.

And, while the odds might seem like they are stacked against female and minority founders, I encourage you to speak up, share your stories and pay it forward.

It is up to all of us to change this narrative.

According to Neetu Puranikmath, a venture capitalist investing in seed and Series A companies, “we must know how to work within a flawed system even as we lobby to improve it. You can start by checking your own expectations of fairness in the fundraising process and adjusting your mindset accordingly, making sure

you know your stuff and raising your voice in support of other female founders.”

large.

Sources: https://whattobecome.com/blog/wom-

Of course, funding challenges are not unique to the VC community.

Terica Kindred of Kindred Mortgage Group recalls that, “despite a track record of having successfully and profitably flipped 400 homes, it took many years to find consistent capitalization sources l that would put trust in me.”

en-entrepreneurs-statistics/ https://www.census.gov/newsroom/ press-releases/2021/characteristics-of-employer-businesses.html https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/ business-investment-to-women/ https://hbr.org/2021/02/women-led-startups-received-just-2-3-of-vc-funding-in-2020 https://news.crunchbase.com/news/globalvc-funding-to-female-founders/ https://news.crunchbase.com/news/ global-2020-funding-and-exit/

Be genuinely curious about the people around you and invest in your relationships.

My hope is that the modern investor community will advocate for inclusive growth and capitalize more equitably.

Deploying dollars for the benefit of female founders is a clear-cut way to boost the global economy, certainly as we recover from adverse pandemic impacts.

And for the women. It still will not be easy. Business fundraising even in the best of circumstances is challenging. When you find yourself “swimming upstream,” these mindsets and maneuvers can help position you to win, while also better aligning the venture capital landscape at

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

24

Forbes Business Council, Newsweek Expert Forum and Rolling Stone Culture Council member Merilee Kern, MBA is an internationally-regarded brand strategist and analyst who reports on cultural shifts and trends as well as noteworthy industry change makers, movers, shakers and innovators across all categories, both B2C and B2B. This includes field experts and thought leaders, brands, products, services, destinations and events. Merilee is Founder, Executive Editor and Producer of “The Luxe List” as well as host of the “Savvy Living” lifestyle TV show.

Would you like to comment?

Submit Your Articles

Ethics In Business Why ethical businesses are more profitable

By Lauren Stevens, Content Marketing Expert

F

rom hiring ‘Environment Directors’ to running charity fundraisers, small businesses and major brands alike are doing more to give back to the planet and society. However, can a business be ethical and profitable? ‘Business ethics’ may sound like an oxymoron, but the data shows that ethical businesses actually grow faster than those focused purely on profit.

B Corp certified businesses are a shining example of this. To achieve B Corp status, a company

must meet various criteria proving high standards of transparency, accountability, and social and environmental responsibility throughout their policies and practices — an overall high and consistent focus on business ethics from the supply chain through to employees and stakeholders.

On average, B Corps grow 28 times faster than the average business. The top-performing B Corps see consumer demand multiplying as much as 14 times over a 5-year period:

B Corp Company

Average Consumer Demand Average Consumer Demand 5-Year % Growth in 2017 (Google Trends in 2022 (Google Trends Score) Score)

Patients Know Best

3.9

58.1

1390%

House of Baukjen

0.8

8.1

913%

Matchable

3.2

25.4

694%

HelloFresh

15.4

75.5

390%

Wholegrain Digital

5.2

18.8

262%

Source: https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=GB

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

25

Submit Your Articles

Ethics In Business

Ethical businesses are more profitable — but why?

From consumer behaviour to employee retention, we used online research and an in-house survey to discover the different forces at play in the ethical business movement.

Consumer Behavior Shapes Brand Behaviour: Four in Five People Won’t Buy from Unethical Brands

Raised awareness of social and environmental issues has shifted the consumer mindset towards more responsible shopping habits. With greater access to information via the web, shoppers are doing their research to check that the brands they buy from operate in an ethical way — and those that don’t get the chop.

Our survey results show 70% of people now actively seek sustainable brands to buy from, and 82% would stop buying from an unethical brand completely.

We’re currently seeing this in real-time with the fall of fast fashion brands like Missguided.

The most important factor for respondents was how brands treat their staff: 40% said this is the most important thing they expect from brands they buy from, making it more important than vegan/cruelty free products (24%), recyclable materials (20%) and green energy usage (14%).

Achieving B Corp status is important too. A survey conducted in July 2021 found almost 70% of UK respondents would be more likely to buy from a B Corp brand. Since then, interest in B Corps has increased significantly. Our survey shows three in four people have heard of a B Corp, and of these, 84% are more likely to buy from a B Corp brand.

Nine in Ten Employees Would Leave a Job if Their Values Didn’t Align with the Company’s

Employees are doing their research, too. With access to company information through the internet, LinkedIn and review websites like Glassdoor, employees can make informed choices about the companies they choose to work for. As a result, businesses with the most extensive employee benefits and social responsibility policies magnetise the best candidates and have the highest staff retention: 91% said they’d leave a company if their values didn’t align.

Our survey results show what employees research about a company before they apply for a role:

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

26

Submit Your Articles

Ethics In Business

partners, investors and other potentially lucrative deals. Most recently, style-setting reality show Love Island dropped their partnership with fast fashion brand I Saw It First in favour of eBay to promote sustainability and recycling in the fashion industry.

It’s clear that modern companies want to collaborate with those working hard to have a positive impact on both people and the planet, and distance themselves from unethical practices and brands.

Why Should a Business Be Ethical? Not Just for Profit — Ethics in Business Is Essential for Society, Communities and the Planet

There are so many reasons why ethical business operations are a must. Creating an inclusive workplace where employees are treated fairly supports staff retention and helps you attract the best talent. Green business operations and a strong environmental policy will attract consumers and investors alike. Ethical business operations go hand in hand with business profit, success and growth. But more importantly, ethics in business helps create a greener, happier world.

1. Glassdoor reviews — 80% 2. Diversity policy — 60% 3. Environmental policy — 40% 4. Charity initiatives — 30%

This article first appeared here.

When asked what the most important company policy is, only 5% said the environment, making it the lowest priority after: 1. Culture and diversity: 39% 2. Transparency: 29% 3. Employee rights: 27%

Lauren Stevens is a Content Marketing Expert, who works with clients across B2B and B2C industries to help them improve their organic performance.

An Ethical Business Model Is Key to Securing Investments and Brand Partnerships

Would you like to comment?

Investors also take ethical decision-making and policies into account before backing a business.

82% of investors state they’re looking to increase their socially responsible investments, and 72% say they always screen investments for ethical or sustainability risks. As a result, the companies with the most socially responsible practices see the best chances of investment and growth.

Meanwhile, those not prioritizing having a positive social impact are quickly dropped by business

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

27

Submit Your Articles

Top Pick

Storytelling: How To Activate Strategies And Inspire Your People Are you ready to make storytelling a priority?

By Rich Berens, Root Inc.

M

any leaders underestimate the importance of the skill of storytelling. In fact, storytelling is often viewed as a “soft skill” despite the critical role it plays in bringing strategies to life. But why? Leaders simply haven’t given storytelling the attention it deserves. It’s not unusual for people to get stuck in their beliefs and to keep doing what they’ve always done.

Consider this: 100 years ago, dentists recommended that parents buy cocaine drops – yes, cocaine drops – to ease their kids’ toothaches. Fifty years ago, medical professionals were known to tout the health benefits of cigarettes, and just 40 years ago, carbonated soft drinks were promoted as good for you! Looking back, it seems ridiculous that people bought into these beliefs and kept them alive for so many years. However, we find similar belief patterns in leadership today.

Leaders Think They’re Compelling Storytellers. They’re Wrong.

Over the past 20 years, we’ve found five blind spots that preclude us from leading people in the most enlightened way, one of which is storytelling.

Leaders believe they’re telling compelling stories that resonate with their people. They believe the way they’re sharing their strategy and integrating

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

their folks into its activation is working. In reality, it isn’t working at all. There’s a reason we don’t take a PowerPoint presentation to our kids at bedtime, and it’s because this method of sharing information almost always lacks emotion and meaning. Yet it’s precisely what we’ve been using to communicate with our employees for decades!

Collectively, all of us, myself included, may not be as good at storytelling as we think we are. It’s time to address it, and we can begin by following these three steps. ● Clarify your story with an effective headline. ● Create shared meaning. ● Tell your story in an authentic and meaningful way.

Creating a Powerful Headline

To improve your storytelling skills, it’s important to start with the headline of the story. This is your vision. I can’t tell you how many organizations I’ve worked with where this vision is the result of too many leaders in one room coming up with a statement that ends up almost entirely devoid of meaning. You don’t want a headline that consists of buzzwords. You don’t want a headline that is so vague that it could be talking about any business or industry.

28

Submit Your Articles

Storytelling: How To Activate Strategies And Inspire Your People

As you think about the headline of your story or your vision statement, here are three questions to ask. ●● To what degree does this statement effectively describe what winning “looks like” or the exciting future state you’re working to achieve? ●● To what degree does this statement effectively describe what’s unique about what you do and the difference you make? ●● Does this statement create an emotional connection that makes people want to be part of what you want to do?

Aligning People Through a Shared Meaning

The second component of good storytelling to focus on is shared meaning. Creating shared meaning is important, as one word can evoke different meanings and imagery depending on whom you ask. For example, if you ask a group of people what comes to mind when they hear the word “bear,” some might think of a polar bear. Some might think of a black bear; others, a panda. Some might think of the bear market. If a leadership team says the organization’s mission is about innovation or transformation, people will have different interpretations of what this means.

When you ask people to execute, you’ll have a lot of options and ideas for how to do this. Without shared meaning, alignment is impossible. Without alignment, a successful action is impossible too.

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

Encouraging Others to Connect to Your Story

It’s not enough just to recite a story. Let’s talk about one of the most effective storytellers in history: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the 1963 March on Washington came to a close, King was set to speak in front of a massive crowd. He had been working on his multi-page speech, which was filled with compelling facts and data about civil rights and racism, with his team for days.

But when King began to deliver his speech, he just wasn’t capturing the crowd. At this point in the event, people didn’t want to hear about policy. One of King’s advisors told him to forget his speech and to tell people about his dream. So that’s just what he did. King spoke from the heart and connected with hundreds of thousands of people that day.

While many of us will never have the speaking capabilities King had, we can all learn from how he leveraged emotions to connect with his audience and relied on authenticity to create a truly powerful moment. So, when you’re talking to your people about a new strategy, think about who you’re trying to reach. Are you conscious about sharing the “why” with your people? What are you doing and saying to engage them in it? Your employees are the customers of your story, the customers of your activation.

29

Submit Your Articles

Storytelling: How To Activate Strategies And Inspire Your People

Therefore, the words you use to share the “why,” “how,” “when,” and “what” with them are critical.

Make your story powerful by telling it with authentic emotion so you can connect with your audience.

time is now to address this blind spot and ensure that the messages, strategies, and mission you’re sharing with your people are as compelling to them as they are to you.

It’s Time to Remove This Blind Spot

Author, salesman, and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “People buy on emotion and justify on logic.” This is why leaders can’t rely on data and stats alone. We need to work hard to accomplish a goal together. It’s not enough to share a presentation or send an email.

For over 10 years, Rich Berens, has had the opportunity to lead Root and its artists, designers, researchers, programmers, and MBAs in creating breakthrough approaches to change that have reached millions of people around the world. Rich has personally worked with dozens of Global 2000 organizations, including Hilton, Verizon, Masco, Petco, Procter & Gamble, Daimler, and many others to help align leaders and drive strategic and cultural change at scale. Rich is a frequent author, thought leader, and speaker on the subject of leadership, transformation, and how to create lasting change. Rich’s latest project is a book called What Are Your Blind Spots?, which he co-authored with Root’s founder, Jim Haudan.

Storytelling is a leadership blind spot that has been facing the business world for the past 20 years. It’s time to address this. Collectively, all of us, myself included, may not be as good at storytelling as we think we are. But we can improve by: ● Clarifying our stories with an effective headline ● Creating a shared meaning ● Telling our story in an authentic manner that connects and resonates with our intended audience Are you ready to make storytelling a priority? Are you willing to adjust how you’ve been doing things? The

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

Would you like to comment?

30

Submit Your Articles

How Stewardship Creates Both Impact And Belonging In The Workplace Steward businesses, at their core, are all about two essential elements of stewardship

By David R. York, York Howell & Guymon

T

he Capurso Winery is a fifth-generation family vineyard on the outskirts of Verona, Italy. Founded in 1896, it sits on forty pristine acres nestled amid rolling green hills, not far from where Romeo and Juliet (allegedly) fell in love. When visiting the winery in 2019, I had the opportunity to tour the grounds and talk with the daughter of the owner who operates the winery while raising the sixth generation on the property. Marveling at the scenery as well as the longevity of these family vineyards, I asked her, “What is the secret of a five-generation business?”

She looked at me, thought for a moment, and said, “It is one word.” My mind raced through all the possible catchwords she might toss out: family, vision, commitment, profit, wine (alcohol). She said, “The secret is passion.” She then defined passion to me in a way that revolutionized how I saw both business and life: “It is a beautiful work, but it is also very hard.

You have to both lookup and see the beauty, and then look down and do the work.”

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

As you look at enduring businesses, two essential characteristics begin to emerge: investment and transcendence. Put another way, organizations that thrive in the long run are invariably filled with women and men who are fully invested in something bigger than themselves. They don’t see themselves as disengaged employees driven by profits but as deeply engaged stewards drawn by purpose. For them, the why and the who of these businesses always come before the what or the how of those businesses. At the Capurso Winery, you see these two essential building blocks of stewardship on full display. For them, the transcendent element is beauty and that beauty drives deep engagement and hard work. By keeping the two in balance, the Capursos have successfully operated their vineyard for more than 120 years.

Businesses with a mindset and mentality of stewardship will likely become the most impactful and enduring organizations in the future. Steward businesses, at their core, are all about two essential elements of stewardship: Purpose and people.

31

Submit Your Articles

How Stewardship Creates Both Impact And Belonging In The Workplace

had substantial upside as well as the potential for very solid cash flow. However, it was going to require expending a large amount of time and effort in a location geographically remote from their current operations. I asked them a single question to help them clarify their thinking: “Can you do this new proposed project with excellence?”

Clear Purpose

Most of the non-steward world operates within an “if/then” mindset. In other words, if I do X, then Y will happen, or if I do A, then the world/others will do B. This mindset renders life mechanical, transactional, and outcome-based. In contrast, businesses that operate with a stewardship mentality have a clear knowledge of who they are, what they value, and what they believe and operate with a “because/ therefore” view of the world. This unique perspective makes life infinitely more relational, intentional, and transcendent. “Because” (that value or perspective that is transcendent) leads to “therefore” (deep personal investment).

Transcendence is the driver and the stewards within the business are the agents, investing their energies in something bigger than themselves. The expectations are on the self, not on the outcome: Because we value X as a business, I, therefore, expect myself to do Y. A because/therefore orientation also makes decision-making easier. A few years ago I worked with a very successful family office that had recently sold a major asset that had been the focus of decades of hard work and effort. It was an asset that carried with it tremendous name-brand recognition and value in the marketplace. As they prepared to launch into the next phase of their business, they ended up settling on three values that they felt had marked their brand in the past and that they wanted to continue to mark it moving forward: Loyalty, integrity, and excellence. Later in the day, they started to debate the merits of a particular investment they had been contemplating for months. The project

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

“No,” the CEO of the family office immediately responded. “It’s decided, then. We aren’t going to do the project.” While they could have made significant profits, they realized that they couldn’t execute the project with the excellence they wanted their brand to represent. When viewed through the lens of their three transcendent values, their decision-making became clear, straightforward, and simple. By not investing in this project, they were able to keep their energy and resources available for those projects and opportunities that checked off all three of their essential values.

Cohesive People

Within a business, cohesion is the sense of being a united whole with shared connection and commonality. Cohesive businesses have employees who feel they are an important part of the group, they forge bonds more easily, and they treat others with respect. The difference between simply having a job with co-workers and having intention with a sense of cohesion is the addition of purpose. Once you have that clear sense of purpose, you can use that purpose to build deep and meaningful cohesion, which leads to higher retention, more engaged employees, and greater impact.

One of the most important things to understand about cohesion, and why steward businesses focus on both purpose and people, is that there are actually two types of cohesion: social cohesion and task cohesion. Social cohesion is the emotional connection a group feels on a relational level—their sense of friendship, closeness, and caring. People in groups with high social cohesion enjoy spending time together and feel a strong attachment to one another. Task cohesion, on the other hand, is the connection a group feels when they work together on a shared purpose or common challenge. Task cohesion has to do with a group’s commitment to completing a specific goal or objective.

32

Submit Your Articles

How Stewardship Creates Both Impact And Belonging In The Workplace

From a social standpoint, cohesion can be developed by taking a step back from the myriad differences that divide us and finding shared values, experiences, or associations. Identifying areas where we can agree, or positive experiences we can share, can help develop social cohesion within a group. While social cohesion can be a powerful force, it is not without its potential negative side effects, which can include a desire for conformity (so that you appear to be an integrated member of the group), groupthink, and over-socializing—which can hamper a group that desires to be productive in addition to sociable.

Social cohesion also tends to be easy for extroverts but may be more difficult for introverted individuals, which can further limit its effectiveness. Finally, in a diverse world with people from different backgrounds and experiences, social cohesion can be difficult to achieve.

The second way to build cohesion is through task cohesion, which relates to the commitment to achieve a purpose or goal in a collective manner.

Task cohesion can be found in sports teams, military platoons, purposed businesses, visionary nonprofit organizations, and even within certain highly intentional families and groups of friends. There are two potential benefits to focusing on task cohesion in addition to, or even in place of, social cohesion.

First, task cohesion typically results in higher performance than social cohesion. Researchers who have studied high-performing sports teams found

that teams with a stronger sense of cohesion tended to significantly outperform those with lower levels of cohesion. Beyond achieving better performance, highly cohesive, task-oriented groups interact more with each other, develop more supportive and communicative climates, are friendlier and more cooperative, and have a greater belief that their personal and group goals are being met than low-cohesion groups.

Second, task cohesion can overcome many of the differences that can stymie groups attempting to rely on social cohesion. Instead of straining mightily to find similarities within a diverse group, which can become especially trying in larger numbers, focusing on a meaningful task can naturally bring groups to a high state of cohesion. For example, strong task cohesion is often found in the military, where individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, lifestyles, beliefs, and perspectives find that working together, especially in perilous situations, brings a sense of cohesion that can last a lifetime.

Businesses that employ a stewardship mentality can reap several powerful benefits. By clearly articulating their transcendent purpose, they can both bring simplicity to decision-making and attract like-minded employees. In addition, that purpose can be used to create enhanced commonality and cohesion within their people, allowing those businesses to get the complimentary benefits of both unity and diversity.

David R. York is the author of the forthcoming book, The Gift of Lift: Harnessing the Power of Stewardship to Elevate the World. David is an attorney, CPA, and managing partner of York Howell & Guymon, named an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Company. He works with closely held business owners and ultra-high net worth clients in the areas of tax and estate planning. He has co-authored two nonfiction books (Entrusted: Building a Legacy That Lasts and Riveted: 44 Values that Change the World), given a Ted Talk, and is a frequent national speaker.

Would you like to comment?

HCM Sales, Marketing & Alliance Excellence presented by HR.com

JULY 2022

33

Submit Your Articles

Publications

13 Targeted Publications to Reach Your Audience Informing, Educating, Enlightening and Assisting HR professionals in their personal and professional development, the Excellence series offers high-quality content through the publications!

Like to submit an article? Use our online submission form or for more information go to www.hr.com/ExcellencePublications