Most of us start every January with a long list of improvements and the best of intentions. The coaches will all tell you the key to making changes that stick are to keep it simple, tangible and action focused. We’ve got three easy–to-keep resolutions for you that will help your company develop a top employer brand.
1. I will work with my peers on key talent strategies, like employer branding
A great organization aligns their whole company at every level to meet the overall goals. Collaborating at a management level will reduce the “silo” effect, where each department works on their projects in isolation. A strategic initiative like Employer Branding should not be solely owned by any department.
To have maximum impact, a critical strategy needs to leverage input and expertise from all departments, particularly HR and Marketing. If your company doesn’t already have cross-functional project groups, you can begin with something as informal as a coffee meeting just to understand each area’s perspective. If you aren’t already working with your peers on your strategies – start now.
2. I will know how employees feel about working at our organization and I will understand our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from an employee standpoint.
There are many ways to get feedback from your employees from formal surveys or stay interviews to monitoring public forum sites . If you have not yet defined your employee value proposition – running internal focus groups can provide insight to how employees feel about working with the company.
One of the most cost-effective ways to understand the “buzz” on the floor is simply to get out of the offices and work on the floor. Successful CEO’s like Sam Walton or Kraig Kramers attribute some of their strategic success to management by walking around. Being visible and speaking to employees in all areas of the company opens the door to honest communication in all other forums. Getting employee perspective on different issues can really help to define the challenges a company faces, and the differentiating factors your employees take pride in.
3. I will implement strategies to develop relationships with current and future talent pools.
Define your talent pools and open the door to two-way communication; engaging that community in ongoing conversation. This can start very simply, by providing candidates with an opportunity to ask questions of the recruitment team before they apply.
Find social media tools that resonate with your talent pool to push information out about your company and provide them with useful information to contribute to further building the community.
