Elevating Employee Experiences: The Heart of Brand Success
In my early days navigating acquisitions, I vividly remember the transformations—logos, fonts, colors, and store signage—marking the integration of distinct corporate cultures under a unified brand.
Why talk about acquisitions in relation to customer and brand experiences? Because they shed light on the critical intersection between customer and employee experiences, pivotal to organizational success.
Referencing the book "Physics of Brand," which defines a brand as a "container of trust" for customers, and branding as an action occurring whenever people and brands intersect, it highlights the dynamic state of a brand experience. In today’s world, that dynamic state transcends external touchpoints, permeating every aspect of the internal organization.
It's an Interconnected Ecosystem
Customers undoubtedly occupy a central role in your brand experience, but they're just one part of the ecosystem. Employees, organizational dynamics, and the broader community all contribute to this intricate network. Disruptions in any area ripple across the ecosystem, highlighting the importance of alignment and collaboration. Siloed functions, conflicting objectives, and inefficiencies can erode trust, impacting value, customer, and employee satisfaction. Let’s look at three ways you can elevate your employee experiences to deliver greater brand value for your customers.
Map Your Business Model and Your Brand Experience
Brand experiences go well beyond your brand, marketing, or product teams. Whether you leverage it or not, your business model is the backbone and strategic infrastructure for your end-to-end employee experience. Aligning each department's model, cadence, and vision with enterprise goals ensures a cohesive approach to achieving objectives.
Baby Step into Zero Waste
Analyzing how your employees use their talents and energy will reveal insights to enhance your employee experience, reducing inefficiencies such as rework, throw-away work, and spinning. These factors impact how your teams build containers of trust to solve problems, communicate, prioritize, and deliver value in the experiences, products, or services that your customers value the most.
Focus on Actionable Metrics
Effective employee experiences equip your employees with clear roles and metrics, fostering alignment and accountability across departments. Legal, HR, IT — all impact your customer, and employee satisfaction and your bottom line. Whether it’s a disillusioned employee working your IT help desk, an overworked leader with fly-ins, or an undertrained recruiter that overlooked a rockstar candidate you desperately needed. Your employee brand experience matters.
Key Takeaways
Break down silos. Build trust. Revisit your business model in the context of an optimized customer and employee brand experience. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room — onsite and remote working shouldn’t devalue your internal or external brand value. Remember, every touchpoint is an opportunity for your customers and your employees to opt in or out.
The LECA Collaborative is a force multiplier for executives, seamlessly bridging the gap between vision and execution. Whether you need marketing leadership to enhance revenue, a new business model to facilitate your transformation, or a compelling presentation for your upcoming funding round, we have the product, marketing, and change management expertise to help you take on the world. If you need help evolving faster, more authentically, and sustainably, let's connect.