Leadership

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

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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.

Grow your company with employer branding

International Employer Brand strategist and author, Brett Minchington MBA defines your employer brand as, “The image of your organisation as a great place to work as perceived by your internal (current employees) and external audience (active and passive candidates). To achieve sustainable growth in today’s climate companies must focus their collective efforts on developing their employer brand to attract and retain talent before their competitors do.

To build a best practice employer brand program Minchington recommends companies need to understand how their current employer brand is perceived by employees and candidates the company would like to convert into new hires. This should involve vigorous research to discover the key drivers of the employer brand, the employer value propositions, why employees choose to join the company and why they choose to leave.