Leadership

Role of leadership in employer branding

Original article published in HR Future Magazine South Africa click here to read the published pdf version

Upcoming events on Brett's 2011 Employer Brand Global Tour click here>

This article provides insights from Brett's new book "Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective?" For full details please visit the publisher's website click here>

Employer brand leader vacancies set to increase

“ Any company trying to compete, must figure out a way to engage the mind of nearly every employee.”
Jack Welch, former CEO General Electric

The biggest influence on the success of your employer branding program will be the strength of the leadership (at all levels!) responsible for the development and implementation of your employer brand strategy. This is no different to the impact leadership has on innovation and re-invention, corporate reputation, financial performance, customer relationships or performance management – strong leadership is central to the sustainability of your business.

Different leadership for changing times
Named among the 20 Best Companies for Leadership in a 2010 BusinessWeek.com/Hay Group survey included: GE, Southwest, 3M and Procter & Gamble in the top four positions. It is no wonder these companies are also household brands with a track record of success. Another company at number sixteen on the list is online retailer, Zappos.

Employer branding needs good leadership

Article originally published in South Africa's leading HR publication, HR Future where Brett is an International monthly columnist on employer branding. click here for the published article.

This article provides some insights into "The role of leadership in employer branding as featured in Brett's new book Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective.

Build employer brand leadership capabilities in your company

The role of an employer brand manager is increasing in scope as the discipline evolves. As the line between the role of human resource, marketing and communication professionals in talent attraction and retention continues to blur, employer brand managers are being empowered to deliver responsibilities from all three functions.

In 2006 when I published my book, ‘Your Employer Brand attract-engage-retain,’ the position of an employer brand manager was virtually unheard of. Today companies such as Nike, Ernst & Young, UnitedHealth Group, Vestas Wind Systems, Starbucks, IBM, Ahold, E.ON, Deloitte, Nordea, DONG Energy, HP and Deutsche Bank now all have dedicated employer brand managers focused on developing their company’s  employer brand.
 

Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM
To assist employer brand leaders to better manage their cross functional responsibilities I developed the Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM to ensure a consistent approach to employer brand management. (see figure 1).
 

Figure 1: Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM

^{(click image to enlarge)}

KEY FUNCTIONS
The key functions contained in the Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM include:

To lead is to decide - A new view on BRANDED LEADERSHIP

by Brett Minchington MBA and Dr David Kippen PhD

Brett and David will be presenting at the upcoming:

What do we talk about when we talk about leadership? Too often, we talk about personality, charisma and charm. Too often we talk about the type of traits that defines leadership as a very senior-executive, authoritarian affair.

In this article, we provide a somewhat different definition of leadership: “To lead is to decide.” Under this definition leadership has nothing to do with how many reports one has. It simply means having the opportunity and responsibility to make decisions that matter to others, on behalf of the organization.

To choose such a limited definition throws into relief some of the essential elements we define as branded leadership. It clearly shows that, at some points in our careers (and life), virtually all of us are leaders. As leaders, we all need to possess some fundamental skills such as strategic thinking, coaching, problem solving and managing change that too frequently are never taught at middle-management levels.

A brand leadership culture results in leadership status earned by doing, not by a hierarchical title. This means that your most effective leader may be the one serving your customers right now. It also means the process of training leaders needs to push further down into the organization than it typically does today. But take the challenge, think about leadership differently, and significant organizational benefits will be quick to surface at every level.

Defining branded leadership

So, what does it take to engender branded leadership? It begins with re-defining what it means to lead - and sharing that definition throughout the organization.

Don't undo all the hard work - Managing your employer brand during the economic downturn

Originally published in In-Business Magazine, Australia

International Employer Brand Strategist and Chairman/CEO of Employer Brand International, Brett Minchington offers readers some insight and tips on how to maintain employer brand equity during the financial downturn.

Don't do this!

In the wash up of the shifting of financial markets over the past 12 months there have been massive layoffs by companies once seen as the 'poster child' of their industry where everyone wanted to work but only the top talent could get in. How times have changed in such a short period of time, these same organisations (and whole industries) who once enjoyed 'preferred employer' status are now off the list of talent looking to switch jobs or graduates looking to enter the job market for the first time.

It amazes me just how quickly brand equity can be eroded by actions taken so swiftly without any thought to the impact on the employer brand of the organisation.