Brand is one of those subjects that people outside of the marketing teams tend to dismiss or shy away from. Too many senior managers think it has nothing to do with them, and this is even more-so in non-consumer facing companies where the belief is that a brand is just not important or even relevant.

What a mistake these businesses are making – developing your brand is one of the most fundamental areas to get right in any business. You can have a carefully-crafted business plan, but without a strong brand, there is very little separating your business from your competitors. Your brand is where it all starts and it’s the responsibility of the whole company to connect with it. Who you are, your identity, what you stand for and your personality are what defines you as a business.

Brand is a key driver of employee engagement

It’s your ‘X Factor’ and the prevailing thought that guides your team in everything they do, whatever your business. It’s much more than just logo to appeal to customers; a great brand helps you gain advocates inside and out who will tell others about your company and share the love. Importantly, if you get your brand right, it can inspire your people everyday and they can in turn help inspire your consumers. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Imogen Pudduck Carla Cringle

As organisations become complex and integrated, middle managers come under increasing pressure to think across the organisation. In addition to focusing on their own functional areas, they also lead or work in virtual and cross functional teams. If they’re in a matrix organisation structure, they may have more than one boss with different goals and priorities.

Most organisations respond to this by increasing the demand for teamwork and collaboration. The number of meetings, e-mails and other communication events tends to increase, but the quality of them reduces.

This can mean a big step up in workload for middle managers. In a matrix structure, they may have two or more bosses, each of whom only has part of the picture in understanding the individual’s goals, workload and priorities. As a result they may be less understanding of challenges, trade-offs and decisions that individuals make on what to do first, if at all. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Kevan Hall, founder and CEO of Global Integration

How can social media help you showcase your employer brand effectively and reach new pools of untapped candidates? Mike Sandiford, head of UK sales at Joberate, talks to Sarah Clark about the current challenges faced by heads of resourcing and reveals new initiatives to help you attract the best talent for hard-to-fill roles.

Click the ‘play’ button to listen to the podcast:

Follow Joberate’s news and latest innovations on their blog and twitter @Joberate

This post was written by Sarah Clark, online features editor, Changeboard

Earlier today, I spoke with a colleague about facilitation – specifically in the context of supporting group learning – and I was surprised to hear her suggest that it amounts to little more than asking questions designed to get other people talking.

She suggested that facilitation is an easy role to play and even called it a ‘doddle’. But my view is the direct opposite. After all, it might look easy sometimes, but the facilitator often resembles a swan; calm and serene to those watching above the water, but paddling hard beneath the surface. Good facilitation enables a group to delve beneath the surface of what they’re discussing so that what’s said is retained and sustained, when back in the workplace.

How can facilitators help?

Reflecting on our disagreement, though, I wondered what a good learning facilitator actually does. What is the ‘something extra’ that they bring to group discussions? Are there particular skills which, if they were more widely understood, can ensure that group discussions deliver tangible results? Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Karena Gomez, executive advisor, KPMG

Picture yourself in this situation: it’s the Monday after your first holiday of the year and you have 100 emails to sort through, your supervisor has called an urgent meeting, and your subordinates want you to review the work they’ve done when you were gone. Are you stressed? What can you do to minimise the impact on your work and wellbeing?

Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Katie Richard, editorial assistant, Changeboard

What do you, as an organisation, need to do to retain your top performers? Here are my top 5 suggestions:

1. Career management

The behavior that an employee has depends on where they are in their career, and different behaviors are at play at different stages. In 2001 Thite argued that organizations should provide a wide range of tools and solutions for employees to self manage their career. This can include coaching, with the main focus being an ongoing communication between the needs of the employee and the organisation.

2. Flexible employees

Generation Y is looking for a company with the right values, brand, and culture. A recent blog post by Johnson and Mohr at Harvard Business Reviews website, informs us that baby boomers are going to hold 11 jobs on average in their working life, compared to generation Y, who are projected to have worked at 14 jobs by the time they are 40. This creates a flexible workforce that has to adapt quickly to changes and be open to different solutions faster than their predecessors. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Lotta Wallin, consultant in L&D, In focus and well-being Ltd.

Let me start with a confession. I have huge admiration for William Grant & Sons as a company and as an employer.

I have waxed lyrical previously about the quality and loyalty of our workforce. I have spoken in glowing terms about our low absenteeism and attrition and our high engagement, all aided by great brands, comprehensive benefits and a positive working environment. I have highlighted the quality of our leadership (notably Rosemary as our group HRD and the progressive policies which she has pursued).

Without any hint of arrogance, therefore, it has been a surprising experience not to be able to secure an elusive ‘rare character’ for an HR business partner role we have currently available at our Girvan site in Scotland. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Gary Brewer, global head of reward & OD, William Grant & Sons

When we think about technology and learning, we often think of someone sitting passively in front of a computer screen, watching a PowerPoint presentation or laboriously going through an online course.

But technology is changing, and fast. What if you could train your staff from anywhere in the world, at exactly the same time, while allowing them to interact face-to-face with the trainer? It sounds like something from a science fiction movie, except it’s entirely possible, and the technology behind it isn’t as complex as you’d think.

Holographic virtual learning (HVL) has the potential to revolutionise learning and development in businesses across the globe. It’s already revolutionising the entertainment industry. Music artists like The Gorillaz, Madonna and Mariah Carey have already used the technology as part of their shows, and so have various fashion houses like Max Mara and Christian Louboutin. Early adopters in the corporate world have included Randstad, Cisco and Toyota. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Kevin Johnson

Businesses are always trying to come up with ideas to help staff lead more active lifestyles. We discovered a relatively simple way, but we had no idea it was going to be so successful.

An event we organised resulted in over 100 teams joining our health and wellbeing project, from countries as diverse as Australia, Switzerland, Singapore, USA and the UK. The teams did brilliantly.  They ran, walked, swam and cycled over 50,000 miles in one month. Their motivation was incredible and the competition was intense but fun.

Bringing a diverse staff base together

To put it into context, Informa staff – about 8,000 – work globally. We’re an events, publishing and performance improvement company and our staff is flexible; some may work with hundreds of others in one of our offices or from a desk at home. Our employees work in 40 countries under a multitude of different niche brands, so it can be easy for some staff to feel isolated and forget how wide and diverse our business is. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Emma Blaney

Acquiring a business is only half the story; the difficulty is integrating it successfully. To achieve a quick and successful integration, responsibility must reside at the top. This demonstrates the importance of this initiative compared to other business priorities and gives the project gravitas. Energetic team leaders will be keen to get on with building their enlarged departments, but require a ‘light-touch’ to ensure a pace of change consistent with other departments.

People power

An integration project should follow the same phases, across all departments: people; propositions; process and systems. This addresses the most critical and often most difficult element first: the people.

The important early milestone in the integration is the ‘organisation chart’. To make it meaningful it must have all departments listed with names against each position. Experience shows a management team can deliver comprehensive presentations to employees’ and the only slide remembered is the one where the employees name appeared – hand out copies of all presentations. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was written by Stuart Crowther