THAT FAMOUS SEVEN-LETTER WORD ...

There’s something about “culture” that everyone wants to own today.

Gigantic corporations are tasking their leaders and managers to figure out how to create genuine, authentic, and entrepreneurial innards, environments that will attract millennials who prefer to work in fast and nimble start-ups.

Ad publications claim, though a handful of case histories, that marketers should own the culture fit bit and make sure that brands reflect company values.  And vice versa. 

Even recruiter Egon Zehnder adds its two cents by revealing its 100-person survey results:  Ninety-five percent believe perceived culture affects the brand.  Sixty percent say culture supports the brand – and   20 percent say it’s an underminer.  Ergo, CMOs need to embrace that word.

Yet culture needs to be owned by the right individual(s).

The creation of culture – and its values – clearly belongs in the province of the leader.  It’s s/he who reflects the organization, shapes (or re-creates) its values, and acts to show the way.  It’s not marketing speak.  Nor solely developed by the CHRO.  And, for sure, not locked up in a wordy company manual.

Culture needs to live, to breathe, and to, if needs be, adjust to current realities.  Companies do, during crises or turnovers, rethink values … and re-cast them, with smart planning, to inspire, motivate, and transition to the new way.  After all, if culture is the way we work around here, why shouldn’t (eventually) everyone own it?

PITCHING (and we ain't talking baseball)

What does it take to win new business these days?

As outsiders (sorta) to the process now – though we participated in the thick of agency and consulting presentations for years – we wonder:  Has it gotten any better?  Any smarter?  Any more rewarding?

Talk to a new biz person about what it takes today and they’ll say:  Relationships.  Knowing the industry – and the client.  Smart differentiation.

Hmmm:  That’s the same old, same old.  With social media and big data and ROI top of mind, are the pitches any different?

We asked a few clients, since we’re impartial observers.  It’s “no difference” in no uncertain terms. 

“It’s all about them, not us.”

“The descriptions are interminable.”

“It’s words, words, words and no dreams.”

There’s more, but we’ll stop.  What’s missing, IOHO, is an emphasis on talent – and fit.  How will the agency or consultancy pick the right talent to fuel the business?  [Note we didn’t say ‘staff’ or make any promises.  We’ve all been in the room when profiles are submitted – and those individuals have one foot outta the agency.]  What’s the management philosophy for working together:  building teams, ensuring straight talk and appropriate accountabilities, driving results as a concerted whole?  Is there a process for ironing out issues and conflicts and challenges?

One rather savvy pro suggested, a few weeks ago, that HR could add a lot to the chase.  We’d second that and say:  So can communications and design.

A WORLD WITHOUT ...

A tucked-away article at the bottom of a Wall Street Journal mid-section raised our hair (or is it hackles?).

Quite simply, reporters investigated companies who’d either done away with or never had a human resources function.  Obviously, the article came in with mixed reviews, either citing CEOs who wanted to force personnel (argh!) issues to the middle or those who were mandated, legally and otherwise, to establish a bona fide HR department, with a credentialed executive.

Why the freak-out?  Because if it happens to this type of staff position, it could occur to any non-line function.  At any time.  For any reason. 

Specifically, our objections to the “out with HR” policy:

• Leadership is asking middle managers to do way too much.  Imagine juggling 401(K) education with a fire drill for retaining a client.
• Between listening to customers and listening to employees, there’s a whole universe of technical information to master.  Software can’t always handle it.  Nor can the general manager.
• Mediating among conflicting viewpoints takes some real training – and practice.  Name us the managers in your cadre who can do it well.  [Not just do it.]
• Ever get 100 percent compliance in the performance management cycle?  We thought not …

We heard you (and point taken):  It’s difficult to merchandise a ‘soft’ skill, a ‘soft’ capability like people management and communications and graphic design.  Everybody fancies him/herself a people manager, an editor or advertiser or communicator. 

On the other hand, it’s imperative that we as the sitting professionals master the art of showing tangible results and how we add value to the enterprise – no matter where we sit and what we do.  Without that, we’re toast.

LEARNING THE ROPES

Sitting through videos with facilitators. 

Filling out endless reams of paper … or doing so online, with interminable screens.

Lunching with peers and bosses.

Reviewing job descriptions, competencies, org charts, and the like.

Go home.  Repeat.

It’s all part of Day One on a new job.  An eight-hour-plus architecture where everything you ever wanted to know about your employer was sliced, diced, and presented with enough care to wow (and sometimes dull) the senses.

The real question:  Does orientation – and its longer-term cousin, onboarding – work? 

For executives, at least 40 percent fail within 18 months [though we can’t necessarily fault the getting-to-know-you process].  For workers, probably not – especially since 50 percent of HR professionals confess to having limited time to orient and onboard [courtesy of a 2011 SHRM survey]. 

What does work, say an increasing slew of studies, is attention to the individual, a personalized introduction to the company.  Programs range from scavenger hunts to small group conversations, from a limbo bar (no kidding) to company sweatshirts emblazoned with the newbie’s name.  Instead of orientation, it’s now called “organizational socialization,” intended to begin new hire engagement on Day One.  So paperwork (or links to Web sites) is sent in advance.  Ride-alongs and peer coaches give a good taste of reality, what it’s like working for Company ABC.  And initial results show that such personalization promotes higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment – and reduction in stress and intention to quit.

Now that talent wars are back in force, with employers actively seeking the best and the brightest, it might make sense for us all – marketers and communicators, brand gurus and designers – to raise our hands and work together with HR to develop welcoming events and conversations that stick.  After all, learning the ropes doesn’t mean mastering hangman.