Consistency makes communication more inspiring

The greatest revolutions in our history hint one thing in common, and that is consistency of the message. Be it the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the war years, among all these centuries, the most consistent were only able to build a great brand, one that inspired change, one that inspired trust. Irrespective of the context, the magnitude of delivery, or the medium employed, the message sand its delivery stayed consistent with the most trusted brands, most memorable stories. Now why are we talking history here, in the times that is largely driven by technology, innovation, and now a more paradigmatic shift in the focus on the involvement of more reasoning?

Communication at most becomes effective, only when the message is consistent across all touchpoints. Irrespective of the organization we are working for,or the cause we stand for, there is a strong need for a check, if our message is consistent among all the stakeholders, customers, investors, society, employees. Remember a child learns a language, when the messages are consistent and the words are repeated again and again. We somewhere forget to take this principle into communication. If a brand thinks communication is corporate communication team’s responsibility, then we have grossly mistaken, every moment that the brand lives, every stakeholder who is impacted, is into communication.

Not everyone can wear the same shoes on this journey, sizes differ. But everyone needs shoes to journey well, that is we need to remember. Imagine, a brand where every stakeholder converts into a brand ambassador and speak the same message, and the messages are based on their experiences with the brand. Here are some aspects of the brand’s journey that we now need to focus more intensively:

Define Stakeholder journeys: Most brands since their inception, till they journey, just send out messages. Nothing wrong in it. But it is incomplete. Every stakeholder is a different context, the loyalty with the brand differs grossly. It helps immensely to define a logical and more realistic stakeholder journey and ensure there are continuous engagement with each one of them. And engagement should always be meaningful and measurable.

Communicate to your employees what your customers experience:

Honestly, most business strategies preach to be customer-centric, but miss out the reverse messaging. If it’s not a dialogue, it surely is an unknown silo that we create. Ensure at all points, the customer feels heard and is served in the most agile way without any bureaucracy. And ensure too, employees who serve customers directly or indirectly, get to know what all the customer goes through while having business with your brand. Taking it further, the prospective customer, prospective job-seeker and stakeholders alike are heard well. At the end it only serves your brand in becoming a truly listening organization.

Repeat the core message in every interaction: Be it the Annual General Meeting with your investor, be it while answering a customer query or even a performance review of your employee, ensure the core message gets repeated. Leadership rarely know that all stakeholders interact beyond the definition of work and build perception, basis which they decide. This builds phenomenal trust. And trust inspires loyalty for your brand. The truth is we still operate in a very traditional way, having functions and businesses who follow protocols that are hardly collaborative. It is essential now more than before to have enough resources assigned, who ensure consistency and message effectiveness.

Ensure consistency in experience of Technology platforms for all stakeholders: We have apps, algorithms and innovation still continuing. We invest a lot on these too. But is the technology the same for all stakeholders? It may not be. However, it is much needed, stakeholders experience what the soul of our existence, that is the customer goes through. Equally important is how consistent is our leadership standpoint to all of them. We can’t speak different messages to different stakeholders. If at all possible, bring all stakeholders to the same platform. Imagine the media, the investor, the employee and most importantly the customer are all together on your social platform. Bringing them is not tough, engaging them into an ongoing dialogue is an opportunity never explored.

These are the times when we need to be more committed to collaboration, not just platforms, but the people we deal with. Collaboration multiplies the message beyond human calculations. To all those in leadership, communication and those involved with brand, these are most promising times in human history to build in consistency as a key parameter of all that we communicate. Build TRUST!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multiply the message, not just amplify the tone

THE MESSAGE IS THE SOUL OF OUR PURSUIT
It’s often interesting when we see communicators no matter wherever they are, whatever the context they fit in, they all have the same concern that the message doesn’t translate into enough action or somewhere it gets lost. We mostly spend all our time, energy, money and more to ensure for our own profit or our ‘success’. Communication succeeds when our message finds it’s champions to multiply. And anything that is worth meaning for the future, multiplies. Relevance of the communications pursuit entirely depends on this dictum. Here are some of the key considerations in making our message truly inspiring:

What is the message?
We have conceived the ‘message’ as a noun. It isn’t. It inspires an action, an essential verb for the brand to live. The message must connect and converse with its recipients and help build a community of trusted and engaged champions. Our message in communications is neither the language, nor the approach for delivery, but the potential meaning for bringing a positive change for the recipient. Only when the recipient sees the visible change, the message becomes more credible. There are very few communicators in our history who could deliver the message positively without a more time-bound visible change. We often craft the message either in our personal branding journey or for the corporate brand we are hooked to with an anticipation that our audience will decipher exactly what we intended at the beginning of the communications process. A lot may be attributed to our ignorance or laziness in ensuring consistency of the intent all through. The message is the soul of communications.

Do our stakeholders communicate our message exactly we did to them, is the chain of thought the same every time? Most cases, the answer is no. They will only when they see enough meaning that appeals, that promises the change in the state of things, mostly positive.

Consistency writes Trust
The smallest startup as well as the biggest conglomerate communicate with their employees, customers, investors, partners, and everyone else. There is no denial to it, but the message largely gets fabricated every time we meet a different stakeholder. That builds distrust and an untraceable discontentment. With of course the evolution of business, professionalism, and the growing urge from every stakeholder for transparency and accountability. The tone, the medium, the context may change with time and space, but what continues to inspire consistency is the willingness to build everything for the brand around trust. As they say “Consistency is key to success”. Remember every leader of whatever fields they represented, what made them credible is the untiring continuity in their pursuit and the passion all through their journey.

Technology isn’t a myth, it is here to stay
When was technology not present in the story of our civilization? The making of fire, the invention of the wheel, the cave arts, the scripts that recorded the message, the digital platforms that exist on the principles of collaboration, all efficiently stay relevant to every time period they existed. These all helped propel growth and endure trust. Of course, the speed of message delivery and expected agility of action has gone up significantly. The legion of leadership in technology has multiplied on the basis of very human principles like transparency, speed, communities based on collaboration and the like. The most social media platforms that we use today are based on these principles. As a communicator, it is important to leverage technologies that not just engage your audience, but those as well that have the ability to record it for our collective future, those that helps us write a well collaborated story by the leaders and their audiences. Technology will evolve as the context changes, so will the leadership in communications, but the essential message transforms like the most meaningful river through the terrains as well as the winds that keep changing. Robotics, artificial intelligence, social media, augmented reality, are all means in our evolution and of course contribute to the life of the message, making it better every time. These are not tools or platforms to amplify your standpoint.

How can the message multiply?
When we send out the message we intend and look forward to a certain impact, an uncertain action. We seek soulful confirmation for the message that we craft and deliver. The message is much more than the perception. It becomes inevitable to ensure that our message travels from known recipients to unknown, from seen audience to those that are unseen, from lives impacted to those that can be touched. Message alone has the power to travel across space and time. The greatest legends, epics, folklores, stories of human and supernatural have all transcended over time and space because they multiplied through their recipients every time it reaches them. Our message has the ability to multiply only when it is honest, connects with the principles of existence well and ensures consistency in creating value for everyone who comes in the radius of it’s influence. The famous saints, Jesus himself had followers who multiplied his message, Krishna through the Bhagvad Geeta encapsulated the principles and purpose of life which resonated with everyone who read it through. In recent times, the greatest revolutions like the Renaissance, the French Revolution, and many more like these were all messages multiplied and hence listed an emotional registration for millions of both known and unknown recipients. Address every soul, every audience well that has the potentiality to multiply your message.

The recipient does matter the most in communications as well as the value we create for them.

REPUTATION ISN’T A MIRACLE

What differentiates your reputation and does it answer the need of your customer? Not just weave stories well, but also ensure the experience you offer is the best among your competition. Is there a gap between the brand promise and brand experience? No one to blame, fix it soon in alignment with the collective pursuit. Here are some thoughts from my journey and may help you decide:

Do you have a Reputation framework?

Being in communications for a decade and half I must admit none of the places I worked had a reputation framework, but each one of them had an insatiable dream to be the best brand. And same is the state with other brands too, where my network of communicators work. Am not negative with them, but disclosing what perturbs. The customer needs something, we make something else that won’t work, as their choices are led by innovations arrived at by the competition. Pause and rethink, the perception that drives your stakeholders and your audience. If the need is not addressed you are not the choice, but a baggage for your customer. Dissonance does more damage to any brand than anything else. Series of consultants making millions of presentations and advices, even some of the global ones if brought onboard won’t serve, unless the business and its people are in alignment with the time and effort they spend every passing day. Most leaders honestly today dream for reputation, but hesitate to have a framework for the same in place. Is it inclusive? is it intuitive? Is it inspiring at all? Not just being logical but one with the dexterity of being decisive and create meaning enough for the future helps build the best brand.

Catch an animal from its head, a human from its heart

Almost two decades back on a winter morning with puddles still filled with the left-over rains and a distant sky blurred with fog, I had a learning that continues till now. I was trying to catch fishes with a Sadhu (Indian Hindu monk) standing beside me and smiling. I failed after sometime, trying hard my luck and the Sadhu said, “Catch an animal from its head, a human from its heart”. I got the message and tried again and clicked. Since then have followed it and seen it work every time.

No matter what we are in our journey, the very idea of conversing and listening especially helps get our message across. Our personal brand succeeds when we create value for the ecosystem we operate in, the more the value, the longer the brand stays. Whether it’s a toddler fumbling words or a manager at work or even an old acquaintance signaling a message, do listen to it. Have seen true leaders pausing and listening to it, sometimes they help if they can, else comfort the soul with enough hope.

We are dealing with humans, and they go by their heart. Respect their existence, their journey, their stories as much as you want yours to be delivered. It works almost instantaneously.

Successful corporate brands are a collection of personal brands

From Google to Apple and Tata to Tesla it’s always been a tale of inspiring personal brands that these entities have been revolving around. They ignite hope and nurture their audience’s dream, make their idea in short, a relevance for millions of humans they don’t even know. It’s the people, the leadership in them that organizations must endure and inspire to be the message in everything they think, say, and do. However, the story has been a bit different; a huge gap between the corporate and personal brand. Have seen great leaders when not in alignment with the corporate brand leave, seeking for a better time, somewhere else. The running doesn’t stop till they realize it’s a community of collective leadership that builds brands that stand for centuries. Imagine the greatest leaders you know come together and work on a common project assimilating their personal hopes, and making the corporate brand a cause to believe in. Magical it would be!

Time is the greatest currency

Yes, it’s always about the timing. Whatever you are in awe with is largely because you experienced it with a time factor embellished. An Apple iPhone is a serious hit today. Had it been a hundred years back customers would have bought something else largely. Timing defines the context for your brand, hence make the most of it. ‘Candles in the Wind’ still is a great song because it came as a tribute to a great brand exactly when it’s audience were seeking for it. It wasn’t created as a need but as an appealing message. Craft your pursuit in alignment with the meaning that your audience seeks. And ensure it stands responsible for the generations to follow.

Of course, there will be tempests, but stay determined like the mast of your ship. When confronted with a crisis always remember the saying: “a stitch in time, saves nine”. The experience so far has been interesting, brands that were alert while they voyaged could stitch it on time for the common good. Size doesn’t matter in bringing in transparency and accountability for the brand. A customer is a customer and has the power to amplify your experience to the best.

Reputation is a great responsibility!

One Brand: One App

An APP FOR ALLOWING ALL STAKEHOLDERS CONVERSE

Let’s try this! Bring representatives from our stakeholder groups and ask them to converse…! It’s tough. They won’t talk to each other, because they don’t know each other. That is the opportunity to build an ecosystem, a paradigmatic shift to our communication approach. Here, am talking about a possibility that will help us assimilate our stakeholders’ thought and make a fabric that inspires trust.

Current Business Goals & Needs

Of course we have defined our business vision and a cultural environment or behavioral framework for the organization to reach its goal smoothly.  The context of business has changed significantly in last two decades with more convergence happening in our operations as well as the ways we communicate about them to our stakeholders. With emergence and availability of technology at a more affordable price, not only cumbersome operational processes, but also the how of our doing it has changed significantly. Like every sector, every geography, irrespective of demographics, socio-cultural dynamics of our existing and prospective markets keep evolving and will continue to do so. To survive, sustain and succeed it’s essential for us to see the continuity of our brand’s message to all stakeholders, without omitting anyone. By now we surely would have identified, incorporated digital practices at work that makes the business journey align faster with our business goals. We surely have our closed room business meetings, traditional AGMs, self-glorifying promotional on various media and Trojan ways of reacting to business needs. However, there lies a huge opportunity for making the brand a more living one that converses with every participant in its journey. All it helps, is in making our endeavor more credible and trusted.

Current Technology standards

What is the technology and innovation goal that we have set for our operation? We surely have our IT team at work with qualified engineers with years of experience who provide solutions to our everyday digital and technological needs. Every technology solution directly or indirectly impacts everyone involved in your business journey. That single-handedly doesn’t help much, until we stretch our target a little more to bring in stakeholders to converse on a continuous basis. It definitely doesn’t make sense to pursue a global solution for everything, because it is practically impossible. Instead have fewer or may be just one innovative approach contextual to our operations and uniquely built to serve our stakeholders more collectively. There’s a huge scope to redefine the attitude and approach for the leadership that drives the agenda, the businesses that directly converse with the customers, shareholders, employees, campuses and the society we are in. It can’t be just an algorithm to follow for needs, but more open for a dialogue to inspire. Leadership is a great responsibility. We can’t have a bureaucratic approach and keep balancing between our participants in the journey. The truth is, even today we don’t have a single platform with any brand that helps all stakeholders converse. That’s the opportunity to build on.

Build the ONE APP and nurture the philosophy

It’s time for our brands to take a stock of our reputation, of our user sentiments, of market trends and find opportunities in the ecosystem that we can approach. Encourage and engage stakeholders to converse more through a unifying, collective and digitally driven environment. ATLs and BTLs are soon going to be history in advertisement communication, so also emailers, AGMs, webcasts, videoconferences, etc. Like they say; “Be where the user is”. Great brands of the future will be those that have connected nodes in their communication environment.

It’s not tough or great Greek science to design, develop and implement ONE APP environment for the brand. It surely takes willingness to live transparency and accountability through evolving phases of time. Imagine, your customer doesn’t have to talk to a traditional customer care, but to a knowledgeable employee, imagine a job seeker talks to an employee for the truer experience, the investor talks to the leadership. Imagine! That will bring TRUST!

It’s time to have an application for your brand that doesn’t need much content from you as will be user-generated, but surely an attitudinal change in the way we perceive and treat our stakeholders.

Art of Messaging

You can’t have the traditional messaging practices. Different message for customers, for investors, for employees and for society. They are all the same. They invest their perception in the brand we are so passionate about. Bring in consistency in the messages that will welcome dialogues from various stakeholders. This builds phenomenal reputation in the long run.

Passionately monitor and measure

Like every successful operations, there is a need here as well to monitor the user activity and measure continuously and ensure the ONE APP continues to align with the business goal. There is no template on the internet. It has to be an honest attempt to create your own measurement standards. Measure to master the art!

Keep innovating!

The brand is like a human being

A brand is born, lives and dies. Naturally. The way it exists, the way it operates decides its longevity and impact. We are involved in building the brand in whatever we do every moment. Here am not attempting to correlate, but see the similarity between a brand and a human body, anatomically. Here are some aspects of the brand that you will see are present exactly the way the human biological system. It’s not a strong alibi but an approach to help enhance our understanding of all that goes into making the brand.

Reputation: We see historically reputation as one of the sole purpose of branding. There is nothing wrong in it, but may be the way we look at it can be modified. Reputation managers for any brand, or yourself for your personal brand is not entirely responsible for the success or failure of it. Reputation statement is like a cognitive shape that you will endow upon your endeavor, and quite likely it will be an ambitious one. After spending more than a decade in communication I have witnessed where great brands struggle. The state of ‘repute’ is an ongoing practice and not a goal, a conduct by the brand that engages all its stakeholders incessantly. The recall of the reputation contributes to the making of a truly inspiring brand. It is contextual, it changes person to person, situation to situation. No single prescription as you and your brand is unique. Reputation is the kind of flesh that gives shape to your brand, for everyone to remember for a longer time and choose or not choose to be with your pursuit. No matter how great your vision is, one single error done consciously or being ignorant, affects the entire brand journey. Famous brands are not all well planned, but there is a sincerity in the pattern that they lived. Every thread, contributed to make the best fabric that sets the tone, the mood, the experience, and that drives the audience to believe in it.

In an organizational context and more so if it is a complex composition, it makes more sense to drive reputation building not through traditional ways, but fast forming up a ‘reputation council’ that has equal representations from all stakeholders involved. A shoe designer will surely manufacture basis global anthropological considerations about human feet and its sizes. But the success for the brand comes only when it matches the trend, the current of audience expectations. May be the colour, or the positioning of the products, identifying the right user base and so on, will be aspects that will contribute positively. You will rarely see a sportsperson promoting a nice leather office shoe brand. Yes, you guessed right, it’s important to stay relevant, every moment in the process of reputation building.

Being Aware: Even before you attempt at building the brand either for an organization, a product or even for yourself, it helps if you are aware of the operational realities for the brand entity, both that exists and those that may come in the journey. Awareness is like the spine that connects the base with the vault, the lowest level principles of operation to the vision that you would have set. Everyone in an organization can talk about the business performance, but no one can have the entirety to present. Its seer collaboration and an eagerness to gather and work upon insights that you may come across in the branding process. Being aware also determines your standpoint, its strengths and weaknesses. Even when you sell a soap, it’s equally important to understand the demographics, the cultural context and things alike. Being aware is being empowered!

Connect to exist:

A brand is like a human. It will attempt to connect with its audience more to survive and succeed. The very nature of branding is connecting with all its stakeholders, something like a nervous system in human body. Needless to say what nerves do to help us live and stand strong no matter how big is the crowd. Quite evidently if you audit the famous brands of the world, the only thing that you notice is all of them are connected to their selected audiences. You will not see a jewelry add in a men’s magazine, or a tie on a women’s website, nor even any luxury car promotional in a children communication. Pick and choose the right audience and engage them till the point they not only believe and buy your product but become loyal advocates for others. When you connect with the audience, it also means a ‘dialogue’; you listen as much as you speak and keep the talk on as long as it benefits both. Make people feel that they are heard, and the rest happens faster. People who are in service will be getting enough announcements and mails from the senior leadership of their organization. But how many time’s in an average employee’s tenure he/ she would have realized that the suggestion/ feedback sent by him/ her is worked upon. Or even the employee is heard in the scheme of things. A great brand is a great conversation too. An annual engagement survey or a portal that takes employee feedback will make us reach only at the problem, not derive the ways to remove them by design of the organization. Can there be platforms that help the leadership and employees both feel involved meaningfully? Can there be any alternative not to do so?

Messaging: ‘I am here, because I have to…’ every brand has a message. It serves like the blood that flows through the veins and nerves and makes every organ equally functional and aligned to something beautiful called as ‘life’. In branding we often carve the best messages, at least those that sound like music to our ears. Rarely do we envisage the way the message connects with the remaining organs of the brand. A brand message is healthy and worthy to support the branding journey only when it has adequate measures of its constituents. Some of them that make the message are honesty, connectivity, source of power for the reputation we intend, sincerity of attempt and so on.

Channels and Communication Platforms: These serve like the organs that function for the well-being of the brand entity. They need to be healthy, understand what other parts and aspects in the communication scheme require to function well. We cannot choose or reject a channel basis a cultural bias, but innovate it to align with the objective of making impactful communication possible.

In branding do it the right way, and the right way is only one that you can establish positively. In a decade long stint my only learning is a brand stands for ‘TRUST’. Either it’s there or its not, there isn’t a middle way. Understanding each of the aspects and keenly observing the natural pattern your brand offers helps keep it healthy and long-lived. Every brand that way is a story, an experience that the audience remembers, only if it inspires.

You are the brand

Campaign effectiveness and communication strategy for the brand you

Yes, you inspire! Sometimes the simplest yet honest attempt to brand your campaign can work a magic that your communication intends. What are you trying to sell? Who is the audience? And how will you make them buy your product or service? Muddled with these ideas? Here is how many of our successful iconoclastic personal brands do it. These are simple steps you can start with. You are here to win it all. Remember you are the brand.

Define the goal for your personal brand

When did you last write about yourself, your own journey, your personal dream? Start scribbling about your desired goal. What will you be doing a decade from now? How will you be doing it? What will people and your audience know you for? Your current job may not be the answer, your passion may be. Define a more tangible goal for your personal branding. Add all glamour while defining it. Time will serve as a litmus test to remove all redundancy and make your effort an inspiring story. Personal branding is both the goal and the journey you will cover to reach it. Like all good schools of thought there need to be the highest levels of sincerity and discipline in all your endeavors to reach the goal. Ensure your goal should be the one that no one would have experienced ever before. Remember Mark Antony who never got shadowed by Caesar’s persona, his own individuality continues to be historic and appealing as ever. Yes there you are. While defining your personal brand identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and these should guide you well. It’s equally important as well to know the time you have to reach your destination. Be more realistic and appreciate your existence, live your purpose. This is the key to a great personal brand.

Who is your audience?

Like all product managers identify whom to sell and analyze their audience base, it’s essential to identify your own audience in personal branding too. Find the audience demographics, their cultural implications, trends that they are surrounded with and other details that you can accumulate. For some of the leaders whom I have helped in their personal branding, this is one of the most difficult tasks. There is a crowd and indeed a huge one in this world scattered for several reasons. The more diverse the audience is, the more complex it becomes to address them and keep them hooked to you. Remember in your personal branding effort, the audience size has to be ever increasing as well as not losing those you started with, because the initial ones will serve as loyal brand ambassadors and contribute more to your cause. You and your audience have to come together for a cause that does common good, and become one that helps you achieve make it an inspiring movement. Build trust over a period of time through action and not words, make your case as much credible as possible. No matter how honest and loyal the audience appears to be, all it takes for them to disperse is either a mistake at your end or a new persona they would start following. Define the audience and remember they are your buyer. Any audience is quite reasonable and will believe in your story only if it’s honest.

Draw a strategy to reach your audience?

Like any product manager, you will need to prepare your own personal brand strategy. A personal brand strategy is like the blueprint that will guide your actions. However, this blueprint has to be prepared basis various parameters like your strengths, weaknesses, your past, your choices, and composition as a personality. This is your own personal brand strategy, you will not be asked to share in public, so be extremely honest and logical. List down the five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) and one H (How) that will help you reach your brand goal. The ‘how’ is the strategy. Once done, list it in a chronology basis the logic you think that fits the best. Also, often what we miss out is also a list of ‘don’ts’, it’s ideal we have it in place to cut down the vulnerability that you think may affect. Over a period of time the strategy need to be relooked, reshaped and retouched to stay relevant.

Carve the message; it’s going to be the soul of your brand

The crux of any personal branding effort has always been the message that makes it memorable. A message need not be the sentence or the topic you talk about to your audience but the experience they get from your presence. Authors like George Bernard Shaw, DH Lawrence, James Joyce, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and all in the genres of those that made society the very canvas where they painted the fabric they believed in has enriched literature. Similarly, in your personal branding endeavor ensure you identify early the very message that your being, your existence desires to communicate. The message is the communication of your intention. Mahatma Gandhi lived for truth and non-violence, Salvador Dali depicts creative passion, Steve Jobs stood for innovation, Dalai Lama for peace, Barack Obama conveys the voice of the crowd and so on. Your message is the very thread that when woven in a pattern makes the fabric worth wearing for the audience. Find and live the most memorable message and your consistency and passion will draw the audience to believe more.

Keep the interest alive – stay focussed

Consistency and appeal are two most significant principles to follow when you decide to hook your audience to your brand. Some personal brands go to the level of having a signature pose, greeting or even a sign-off. Steve Jobs for example you will always see in his later year appearances was in signature black turtle neck with jeans and sneakers. But the appearance alone doesn’t keep the interest alive unless you appeal through the message, way you deliver, and how you make the audience feel with your presence. Ensure your audience gets to know something relevant, fresh and stuff that will help them, not you. Play to them judiciously. As you keep growing your personal brand, you will experience the audience keeps an eye on your every move. Honesty thus helps at each step. As you progress, it’s more likely there will be others who may divert your audience group to their own brands. The only key is not to focus on competition, but stay focussed on yourself, your own brand goal and grow it more, bigger and bigger.

Measure like a tailor, engineer like a weaver

Early in my career I got to work on websites and applications, where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) taught me the very basic of knowing the success of these IT platforms and get insights and trends that would help decide the way forward. The same logic applies to personal branding too. Keep measuring yourself. If you are on a social platform, then by your klout score and audience/ connection demographics, if you are measuring among people in the real world then through followers and loyal ambassadors who will spread your message. It helps as measurement tell you when, where and how to do the correction. When it comes to making changes in implementing your personal branding strategy, ensure you adhere to ‘Quality by Design’ (QbD). Ensure you have quality as an incorporated principle. All successful product and service brands do it today. It helps save time, and bring down the rate of fault generation during the process. You can’t waste time either yours or your audience’s. Attend to every single change that you see can impact your personal brand. Ensure no noise or clutter is ever experiences in the message that you intend to communicate.

Technology is not an end; it’s just another great medium

Technology evolves every second, and so do we, our habits and ways of consuming information and life overall. Of course you will need a grasp on the technical know-how of communicating these evolving platforms. You have a basic rule now in place that you need to be where the audience is, before turning the table and make them loyalists. Digital and social media in recent times have an incredible penetration and success rate when it comes to communicating any personal brand. From politicians to businessmen, actors to activists all in recent years have leveraged these channels to make the message reach. The greatest attribute for technology today is, its speed and reach which multiples your intent of communicating the message. Ensure you are on all meaningful digital and social platforms. Not one shoe fits all, so every time you have to implement a value generating strategy as well as a customized set of such channels that can be employed.

Technology and innovation are for doing common good. However, your own physical presence, reach among the crowd, personal touch with the audience has far more enriching returns. All global leaders are seen among people, on the ground, shaking hands, conversing more, and standing for all people related occasions. Be there personally.

Engage more with the audience

“With great power comes great responsibility” like it was told in Spiderman – the movie. When your personal branding gains momentum, ensure you take accountability of all communications and all your positioning activities. Being responsible in personal branding or branding in general refers to being respectful to all diversities of thought that exist as well as demonstrate continuously that you care for the cause and the audience community no matter how small or big they are. When the news spread about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F Kennedy (New York’s Senator who was in Indianapolis then) had his memorable presence and speech among the black people (who had just lost their voice, their very own leader), while the local police warned him of a possible outrage. See the speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKzCff8Zbs A leader, a powerful personal brand does not need to dare but habitually and quite naturally finds it comfortable to get into the crowd, join hands with the audience and come forward to touch every single member present in the audience. You can be one too.

Chisel your brand if necessary; discover

When you started you were like the huge and untouched rock in unknown land, when you finish, it will be the most memorable and well sculptured brand experience. All that happens in between those two states is the journey you will have to take, and it’s always worth it. While carving your personal brand ensure you are becoming more mature, and your point of view becomes more macro and you are no more perturbed by information that reach you, but give it a shape for delivering right feeling. Chisel yourself whenever needed to remain relevant, else time by default shapes you as a toy. The greatest joy for you as a personal brand will be the very moment you see you are discovering your own personal brand. Like success is a journey, personal branding too is a continuous process. You can’t unwind it at any stage. Find and establish your brand.

Do not benchmark; you are unique

I remember beginning of my career I had my gods to follow, leaders to hear from more, even wanted to dress like some of them at times. However, with time I realized, it’s important to stay yourself. It is human to follow all that attracts us, but not surrender blindly to someone’s brand. No matter how strongly you are inspired by a personal brand, but never lose your own self. You are as unique as anyone else you would want to be. It’s tough often and you will in the initial stages of branding yourself find it hard to remain who you are. Benchmarking is an old school thought devoid of the idea that certain personalities are the culmination of circumstances, conviction and the center of an organized action over a period of time. Of course you are unique and that’s USP in selling well. The most successful personal brands like Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr. Barack Obama, Dalai Lama, and John F Kennedy never competed with anyone, at least to build their brands. It’s a beautiful journey between your present and the goal you have set. It’s time you fall in love with your own being and there’s nothing wrong in it. You need to be an ever inspiring persona.

Remember there is a reason why you are here! Discover it.

What words can do?

Remember the best speeches of mankind; from the famous Mark Antony’s post Casear’s death address to the countrymen or even Martin King Luther Jr’s “I have a dream”, they were not mechanical pieces scripted with wit and words but a soulful discourse that was intended well and had a targeted audience. The more famous and infamous, both sects of duels have provided enough earth for germinating the ideas to inspire. If any war could have only ended forever that has begun from words and ideas that contradicted, it would have meant more sense to mankind. I personally could read very few of them and attempted to correlate each one, how well they have magnified the reason for the speech. Each word that was spoken and unspoken contributed to the world we live in immensely.

Our language is not grammatical but more human in its approach. And its usage has been tailored across centuries by leaders, statesmen, philosophers, poets and saints and even more for not only conveying a certain meaning but attempting to get a desired impact. Yes, words trigger action – a noun that would generate more verbs around it to make the dialogue a revolution.

It’s an orchestra: Remember, while addressing your audience whether in a close room, in your family, or even in society all that you communicate quite visibly is a state of mind and a possibility people will believe in. Situations will vary from person to person and time to time; the same piece of interaction may seem absolutely meaningless when spoken in a wrong group. So what do we do to get the impact we intend. Yes, we need to orchestrate a lot more than just responding to the stimuli. Understand, the demographics well. Understand whom are you talking to, what language will be the best suited, and what words will make a positive impact. Propaganda from Nazi times till date through politicians of all known nations has not done enough good than the words spoken by our saints and poets and philosophers in true meaning. Believe in your spirit that you will present in the orchestra, in the dialogue. It’s not ‘blood for blood’, ‘apple for apple’ but words for more action. As a leader you will like or not but have to address your audience and some point of time; arouse their emotions, inform their minds and gratify their souls with your ‘words’. You ‘words’ will not just reflect a ‘utopia’ and possibilities but an action plan, show the path to reach the collective goal. In communication it becomes quite critical to know the ‘end’ and the ‘means’ to reach it. You have a signature way of doing it; it can’t be a replica of anyone whether you know or not, like or love. It’s you orchestra when you communicate. Talk words that make the audience believe in you spirit not just appreciate. Your speech has the power to hypnotize, use it well. Like music that you love most, in a communication orchestra there are certain phrases, words that you will need to repeat again and again till it become a powerful message in itself. Agree, to its best you should also support by action that your self aspires for. Like Joseph Conrad puts it “He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.” In the orchestra you are attempting, ensure that the sound is heard.

The Conjuring: Words in any of our language have the power to create the desired charisma. Lord Buddha’s teachings were succinct and sacred threads of weaving the soul’s fabric that lasts for so many centuries. Nietzsche’s soul filling words, Shakespearean monologues, Osho’s discourses and so many more examples hint at just one single thing; the rhythm of the thought, the power to mesmerize. You need not be an author or a poet, but indeed you are a human that looks forward to lead its own race with something very meaningful that will satisfy your spirit for doing it. When you conjure through speech or writing ensure the thought your audience is just poured in gains momentum, and builds more upon it. Words are the only existing intangible entities that if used well can create wonders. Your current standpoint has a trail of words that have sequenced your journey in a certain way. There were certain words in your own history that had made you decide on certain things in a certain way. The conjuring also bases on our language and its component that refer continuously about symbols of our own faith. Miracles in personal space do happen when you use verbs in your speech with more power than your everyday routine while addressing the gathering. Great leaders we know spoke so well not every day, but on every occasions with the passion and understanding of what their words can do to their audience.

Nouns are like music, verbs are like dance: of course remember the first stories your parents would have told you, would have both. Nouns create familiarity in speech, they signify a spirit either positive or negative. Example, take up a noun and try to fit into any situation, the result will never be itself but qualifying words that revolve around the subject. When you talk of an actor or a superhero, it’s entangled with afterthoughts of qualifiers like charisma, glamour, publicity and more. Whereas the word glamour for example doesn’t mean the actor. In messages that you coin in your speech or interactions ensure you use nouns people will be familiar with and has the power to make them think more, as well as stronger verbs that will attract their reasoning through continuous inner questioning or seer acceptance depending on your persona. The statesmen or a political leader will use more verb and less noun to reflect that they are a man or woman of action. Whereas a poet will use adjectives more to qualify the idea and a saint will use nouns like an order that has to be followed. You are the touchstone, and you have the treasure too.

Prescribe to yourself like a doctor: Words can’t be just flowing in without a reason. Ask yourself the best interactions you had ever; what were the words spoken by you and who were the person before you? What makes them memorable? Like a doctor identify symptoms of communications both that helped the interaction and that didn’t. Judging these reasons of impact will help define a prescription that will enrich your communication. Have a list of words that suit you well and go with your personality, use them more. You can’t copy unreasonably someone to be a scarecrow. Your words have the powerful magic that they can create. A little polish of your voice and better understanding of the meaning of each single word helps for years to come.

History is the only witness that knows words have welcomed wars, joined hearts unknown, cared for the impoverished, and created consensus for agenda that helps the community. Before we end this piece will leave you with one more word that makes phenomenal impact; ‘Silence’. Great civilizations and personalities knew the power of silence and used it to the best. When you attempt to be quiet as a worldly being, your mind gets triggered with countless thought whose core is just a word you know. Silence in fact is a thought of the unknown. The other kind is of a brief silence between the words in the pause that at times is quite necessary. Learn where to take the pause. “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” – Mark Twain. A pause signifies a world of meaning to the audience.

Take guard of the words that you use, the best can only happen if you attempt.

PERSONAL BRANDING: What’s your story?

Three years back when I met the global head of Communications for a luxury car brand who was on a business trip to India, little did I know that the conversation will help me discover more about my personal brand. Yes it was a job interview. And the conversation started with the gentleman asking me “What’s your Story?” I was cruised for a second, with such a direct question piercing into my layered hope for the meeting. I was not prepared for such a question, because no one ever asked one. Thought I will start with my professional journey, else my alma mater. Thought will talk about the achievements. But in the spur of a moment, decided all of these are archaic and do not define my aspirations necessarily. And then I described:

“Why my story? If I speak it will have more of me and myself filled with the ‘I’ showing off here and there creating an unwanted dissonance. Am here for a dialogue, one that will benefit and take us further. Rather will start with the experiments where I got real learning to define principles that will work, teams and projects that helped me learn, battles that were fought not with colleagues or competitors but with one’s own ignorance. The learning that has sharpened the share of my endeavor to make communications a better function, and evolve as an efficient contributor to achieve goals both personal and professional. How can it make the brand am working with a more admired one, the workplace more productive and connected, and personally of course one that enriches the experience. Let’s talk about my vision or mission statements, but a dream that am moving toward, to build a brand that touches life. And that’s where we need more focus on, not what businesses we are in, but the way we reach the society and build trust that will stand through. And all these of course with the use of communication tools that are customized for every single context, and benchmarking similar experiences available elsewhere…”

And then I spoke of the brand that the gentleman belongs to, not its history nor its financial performance, but its current standpoint and the one it can reach in coming times. And the story clicked well, I got the offer, though didn’t join it for some personal reasons. The gentleman has become a good friend thereafter and we still chat up whenever possible, share wishes, and look forward to work together some day.

The reason am talking of this case is largely to define what a story means in actual terms. Do you have a story already? What is it? How do you present? Why you think it will build your case or convince the audience? We are not building here a propaganda nor a political campaign. As human beings each one of us has a story to tell, and where we can make it meaningful is when the message of the story connects the other person.

The story is the brand ‘YOU’, all that you exist for and not your achievements or campus that you belonged to. All of it is past and no one is interested in these self-glorified meaningless information pieces. The audience for you, for your organization, for business look forward to see, hear and feel the future, and make honest attempts to realize them. Your audience will believe only in stories that seem convincing to them and if they identify well with the message. If it helps them to collaborate, connect that benefits them, and only then they trust you, they believe in. The greatest communicators in mankind are they who have realized the larger cause, stood with a greater conviction and have signaled their presence through examples they have set. Your actions are verbs that induce motion in building trust.

And here is what you can do while working on a great story for yourself. It takes a life time to build the brand ‘YOU’, so be patient in scripting it right. Define a goal for you, for your life. Define your strengths and weaknesses. When you start the journey ensure you repeat the weaker areas more often, without missing the coherence of thought and focus on the goal that you have defined. Talking about your strengths do not strengthen the job you have taken up, it conveys arrogance, not a human effort. Ensure each of your action, words, and attempts toward building the goal into a more tangible masthead that will pull you through even during tough times. When telling your story ensure it reflects human values, it doesn’t have negative words or thoughts, and helps people imagine fast the meaning you convey. The strength of your brand is not what you did alone, what you achieved, but how have you bettered the situation or a case and making the world a place worth living. And of course while conveying your message that triggers conversation. The greatest stories and epics are always a dialogue.

While building a personal brand we also need to understand that measuring it will impact in terms of tangible outcomes, and is one of the nearly impossible tasks. And the more we think about measuring it, the more we move away from the message. The beautiful the story is that you stand for, the greater is the possibility that you will win hearts and confidence to sail through.

What’s your message? Live it honestly. Live it with the conviction that you have for your dream…the story in any case will get build up. Take care of your dream while it shapes up and that’s what life is all about!

The mannequins for communicators

People connect with inspiring stories and those that symbolize their inherent self. 

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I was wondering why mannequins are made even in this age of digital technology. Do we need them to sell garments or ornaments at stores and accessories that tempt us to buy? Learnt after some research that they are created as human beings easily connect and see a possible replica of what would they look like with a certain cloth or jewelry or accessory. It is though widely said this form of communicating through an artificial replica gained momentum during the industrial revolution, somewhere at the start of the nineteenth century, some researchers even suggest it’s a much older practice that dates back to the late 14th century BC¹. The purpose may be varied, the materials used may be vivid, but one thing remains common across these centuries that the human beings connect faster and deeper with symbolic representations of themselves. In an organization context it surely serves more meaning and a platform for possibilities to be explored in bringing more effectiveness.

An employee at workplace, a context that holds true to all cultures and geographies, is the very first exploration. Whether an amateur or a professional everyone connects with the ideal possibility that promises success in their endeavor. People would love to see more success stories, inspiring colleagues and not grotesque gumboots around, those that reflect similar contexts and circumstances that is easy to ideate for them. Organizations in last few decades have increasingly realized this and have worked toward it. And that didn’t have failed miserably. The top 10 Fortune 500 organizations, the reason they are fortunate is largely because of the amount of time and effort they have invested in their people in converting them as brand ambassadors. Walmart for example pays its workforce fairly as well as presents enough avenues within the organization to grow and reach the top levels. The brand remains quite vigilant and encourages measures that motivate its greatest power; it’s people. The communication strategy at Walmart doesn’t restrict people to speak to the outer world, rather believes in each employee’s potential to bring in more business, and good will. “The people behind a brand are its main ambassadors”.

Quite contrary to this is the case of Enron in recent times. In less than 15 years Enron became the seventh largest company in the US with presence in 40 countries. Its 21000 employees worked in a closed world devoid of global trends and in the worst make belief culture which didn’t do any good to anyone. The failure of a huge brand like Enron is purely based on people behavior; lies, unethical conduct and bootlegging all at one go.  There were no mannequins (inspiring stories) in this organization. The most beautiful culture is the one that has enough open minds around, and Enron was always far away. The management didn’t bother to celebrate small achievements of its workforce, 21000 people were not connected to each other and in principle no spirit was available that would bind them together.  “Most brand damage does not arise from product flaws or distribution problems. A lot of it comes from employees or managers who fail to live up to their role as ambassadors of the brand.” ²

Even the mannequin speaks to the consumers, and to the world on the possible change (positive) in one’s being when someone follows it or grabs it for the self. Each success story within the organization may be of an individual or a group does speak a lot, it speaks about the presence of the platform where each individual can perform and get applauded, where each idea that contributes is celebrated in chorus. Communicators do believe achievements big or small need to be positioned within the organization as such symbolic representations that inspire. The frequency of such symbols of achievement does serve as an inspiration, however, it also refers that the very context of business has a connected way of operations, a fabric that has threads of trust and collaboration. Inspiration is electrifying only when there is a better connectivity both inside and for the outer world.

 Companies have in the last decade invested in making the workforce more social. This has immensely helped cascade organizational changes faster as well manage and tune employee expectations. Each employee gets converted into a brand ambassador only when is able to answer – “What’s your STORY?” At brands like Walmart, Toyota, P&G, Google, etc. people are the greatest assets and each one of them are continuously motivated to inspire. Leaders at an organizational level need to position employees’ trust by presenting such stories that inspire, and the availability of platforms where many more can still be knitted.

With big organizations, challenges are even bigger. The canvas is just huge to put the strokes in the right direction with the right impact. Internal communicators have a bigger challenge not in the historical way of cascading organizational messages but identifying mannequins (success stories) at all levels and serve it to the context where more attention is needed. An organization is a living being, with people as its life force, governed by certain rhythm and pattern. The more inspiring the connected lines of action are in this pattern, the easier it becomes to achieve the goals. With uncertainty mounting up in recent years employees tend to be more disconnected. Internal communicators around the world today have just one single challenge to bind the workforce and guide them to the most rightful direction. The challenge is today the growing interdependency among lines of businesses and sub-systems that need people in more number to collaborate. This collaboration is among employees, customers and the various other stakeholders of the organization. Internal communication vehicles within the organization need to be agile enough to identify the gaps and not cementing but bridging it strategies to simplify complexities of behemoth systems.

Some organizations use social media to bridge this gap. Especially IT and services organizations have increasingly employed social platforms where the dialogue takes place. However, the challenge is with manufacturing set-ups that have their own internal challenge of recouping with unanticipated scenarios of uncertainty. Distribution of power, communicating it further down and assuring the workforce that their contribution is quite important to the organization need to be one of the guiding principles for communicators. Jack Welch pursued something similar while communicating the business performance, customer needs and market trends to employees at GE. This has helped setting aspirational goals for employees and enhanced performance. Employees see a direct linkage between their performance and the customer’s need. The GE way is globally appreciated for its way of putting the Customer First approach. Internal communicators need to bridge this not so very easy gap with a continuous effort. The tools are as important as the content that we the communicator arranges for, as has to be relevant.

The mannequins of success stories and achievements are inspirations that bring change, the communicator need to capture such occurrences in the organizational pattern and further continue the spirit. The mannequin in its literary derivations also refers igniting passion. Communicating this passion is only possible when you understand the demography of your surrounding and then make the design of the operation around customers and not employees. Professionals in this emerging area of change communication arrange for the conversation to happen among the stakeholders, without compromising on the swiftness to act.  

 

¹Source: http://mannequinmadness.wordpress.com/the-history-of-mannequin/

²Brand Failures: Matt Haig

Communicate Engagement for Success

Few weeks back when I was watching “A walk in my shoes” hardly I expected that the meaning the movie deciphers would be amazing.  Multiple everyday characters that usually love to live in their own worlds and walk in their own shoes, circumstances that hardly give scope to open up and listen to what others have to say, and an opportunity where a character lives the experiences of someone else; these make in brief the very theme of the movie. As an ardent lover for such treatment, I tried soon contextualizing the very theme from a communication angle.  At business how do senior management walk in the shoes of someone on the shop floor? or even do our leaders bother to move beyond their own cocoons ever to get the pulse of the people they run with? The dissonance often leaves a scar that HR consultant firms pounce upon as opportunities to make business. Of course, we are talking all about how engaged our employees are.  But in the process Communication takes a pivotal role in deciding the success of engagement programmes that businesses in general and Human Resources in particular run globally.

Not many like to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, and helplessly witness failure of all messages they coin and incongruity between their aspiration and the approaching reality. But organizations and professionals who do it, often deliver mature understanding and great success at work. In recent years, organizations have realized at least that their employees need to be engaged, but the sensitivity to address often lacks even with colossal conglomerates.
Historically, the top-leadership always expects the employees at all levels to be aware and in sync with the organization’s goals, priorities and objectives. But at the same most organizations have failed in realizing the aspirations of the employees who run the show. There are even organizations where the top-management even doesn’t intend to know such expectations as they feel wastage of time with reverse gear can affect the momentum of the business they run.  Let’s ask, how much do you know about your employees? Most of us will seem to be blank. For years, across sectors employers have focussed on age old practices like perks, annual bonuses, extra vacation time, or even preferential treatment as a substitute for employee needs. Still these practices don’t work. WHY? We still have double digit attrition in every segment of the economy. It seems dangling carrots like these don’t create sustained shift in engagement levels of employees and organizational productivity.

How many organizations even bother to listen to their employees?  As Brenda Ueland puts it: “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force…When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually grow within us and come to life”. This is indeed very true and witnesses of this very principle have seen great employer brands as responsible and engaging partners in the economy.

In one of the HBR issue of 2008, an expert wrote; “For too many senior executives’ at large companies become isolated in the corner office. Their professional lives involve a series of handlers – people who take their calls, screen their emails… etc. They live in gated communities, travel in first class, and stay at five-star hotels. They have worked hard for these privileges… However, executives often find themselves living and working in bubble. They lose touch with their front-line employees, customers, suppliers.”

We will not see HR models of engaging employees here; rather move into Communication practices that help achieve it. But before we even do that, let me remind there is no set of fixed communication practices applicable for any two companies to engage the employees to same level.  Communication strategies at any point of time need to be customized by the team from the company to achieve maximum benefit, consultancies and benchmarking mostly doesn’t help in engaging employees as they do not have an understanding of your culture. However, few practices and philosophies need to be mentioned here for inspiring more action at our end.

AOL, a multi-billion dollar media company located just outside Washington takes a proactive approach to controlling pregnancy-related healthcare costs by offering all employees and their families’ access to a comprehensive well-baby program. AOL’s WellBaby Program provides preconception, healthy pregnancy, and lactation programs that promote optimal health behaviours through awareness, education, counselling, and incentives. This program has helped AOL reduce or control its pregnancy-related health costs in a number of key areas. The involvement of communication tools for spreading the message and awareness regarding the program across locations and bands is commendable. Not traditional mailers and posters but imbibing it into the job offer, joining procedures for employees to periodic campaigns and spreading the word of mouth has helped this initiative click at AOL and achieve success. Soon the program’s return on investment (ROI) is realized from both direct and indirect costs-savings.

Alongside, many would not know the fact before the advent of social media; IBM became the first company ever to promote sharing of information for their employees using the internet, blogging, etc. Empowering employees to be brand advocates for the company takes courage and a great deal of trust.  From the guidelines, “In 1997, IBM recommended that its employees get out onto the Internet – at a time when many companies were seeking to restrict their employees’ Internet access.  In 2005, the company made a strategic decision to embrace the blogosphere and to encourage IBMers to participate.” IBM says that when it wishes to communicate publicly as a company it has a well-established means to do so – through employee blogs and other forms of online discourse. These may seem to be ‘not that very important actions’ to some, but the impact it has created is enormous and the return for the company is promising. Employees today at IBM feel more engaged, involved and trusted by the organization.

At Sony’s Europe operation, taking employee engagement to the next level has meant adopting a more holistic approach to how the company deals with engagement activities at various levels of business. The result is a strategy that cuts to the heart of organisational and individual values and behaviours. Sony in Europe implemented a ‘joined-up approach’ for engaging employees.  Through communication, the company shared tips and tools for re-energizing their leaders, invited creative thoughts and ideas from employees for specific projects.  Some of the attempts made their way to appreciation and got rewarded. The role that communication plays is very critical in the sense it needs to be addressing the core issues of employees without compromising the overall principle of the business.

Some of the standing guidelines in this stream of thought can be listed here. Strengthen the value of employees, do discover (and act on) the prevalence of communication opportunities, focus on outcomes (not outputs!), Make consistency more develop influencing platforms for enablers along with measurement criteria for engagement efforts on a periodic basis.
 
Great brands believe in transforming their employees as brand ambassadors, and that’s how they have become successful. As George Bernard Shaw puts it; “The basic problem with communication is the illusion that it’s completed.” The concept itself refers to a continuous process of sharing information for mutual good. Both teams of Human Resources and Corporate Communications need to re-align to ensure the continuity of trust among employees. In the post-globalized world, Engagement is the most deciding criterion for attrition, so be cautious.