Dated: 01-03-06

Kishore Kumar Chhetri PM&HRD-II ROLL NO. 13 PRN # 412014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is said that, In the pursuit of perfection, one may reach excellence. With the humbling thought I set to tackle the challenging task of understanding and consolidating the expert thoughts on the topic of branding HR. It is attempt on my part on how HR department can be aggressive and play strategic to changing competitive environment.

I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. DS Kadam, Dean Academics for providing me this unique opportunity. I also thankful to Prof. Praful Dhar and other HR faculties for familiarizing me with contemporary HR topics. I express my reverence for their forbearance, guidance and patience. This report would not have been completed, had it not been the supported extended by my friends and the library staff.

Kishore Kumar Chhetri PM&HRD-II ROLL NO. 13 PRN # 412014

CONTENTS

S.NO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Particular Executive Summary Introduction Basis for implementing an employer branding strategy Branding in human resources vs. branding product / services : a comparative study How & why to brand HR? HR Brand Development Process Few examples of HR Branding Low cost branding tools in HR Key components of department brand Guiding principle for creating a department brand Conclusion Recommendation Picasso and Leonardo da vinci in HR Oscar and nobel for innovation in HR Excerpts on branding from times of India 23rd 2005 Research Methodology

HR TEAMS IN BRAND-BUILDING MODE How significant is it for the HR department of an organisation to establish itself as a brand? Absolutely necessary in todays times, comes the unanimous answer from most HR managers and industry observers. The attempts are been made in an increasing number of companies focus on creating a unique HR brand for their organisation. Traditionally viewed as a powerful marketing tool to manage customer perception, branding is being increasingly used by HR departments as a tool to recruit new people and establish its position in the organisation. This is a reflection of the changing role of HRfrom a recruiting entity to a business partner, internal consultant, operational as well as an administrative expert. In addition, there is also a continuous effort to establish strong partnerships with both internal and external customers. WHAT IS BRANDING? A brand is a product, service or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services or concepts, so that it can be easily communicated and helps in establishing a unique identity. It is a promise to the customers that a specific level of value, quality and service will be received. The most important point to be noted is that building a brand is a corporate strategic issue and not a short-term tactical activity.

THE NEED FOR HR BRANDING In case of HR, the past few years have seen dramatic changes in its perception or outlook by corporate leaders. From just being looked as a support function, HR today is viewed as a key player in driving corporate success and customer satisfaction. In todays knowledge driven economy, HR plays a strategic role in bringing in the right kind of people into the organisation. In a sense, HR is the first face of an organisation that a new prospective employee sees, says Dhruv Shenoy, vice president of marketing for Monster.com. According to V Kartikeyan, director of HR for Texas Instruments (India), investing in brand-creation for HR is of paramount importance for an organisation. Market research has shown us many times over that strong brands do contribute to strong competitive presence. In that sense, in HRs new avatar, the importance of branding HR follows quite as a corollary, he says. In the present times, the role of the HR manager is more of public relations skills combined with strong problem-solving skills. Shenoy however points out that while the top management is able to recognise the HR teams contribution to the business objectives of the company, by and large; other employees tend to overlook its role in the success of the organisation. I think the biggest hurdle is the fact that HR departments derive their importance by becoming power centres and that have to change. It has to be become a partner as the other functions are, than just remaining a support arm, says Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Infotech, a recruiting and consulting firm. To make the right impact on the target audience, the HR head needs to have a good understanding of the business and its future course. This can help him/her increase the value and

stature of the HR function within and outside the organisation. Hemant Sharma, head of HR department at Sun Microsystems, says, A good balance between task and people-orientation, responsiveness to employee issues and concerns, coaching and training people managers to take responsibility of people-related issues can help in establishing a good brand. Upinder Zutshi, COO of Infinite Computer Solutions, adds, Various Quality models also depict concentration on the people development factor in traditional or in non-traditional segment. In the IT and ITES sector the SEI-PCMM and PCMM-I models have their key performance areas on these aspects. All organisations are progressing towards the P-CMM practices and its certification in order to earn the credibility on these attributes. Customers will also feel comfortable to deal with such organisations as the stability and maturity of the work force will indicate the stability of the organisation for its delivery.

ACHIEVING BRAND SUCCESS THROUGH EMPLOYEES A brand is an external manifestation of several internal processes of a company. The stronger the internal processes the better the chance of the brand getting stronger. Time and lack of a continuous brand perspective can create problems in its success. Potential employees in the market place would like to associate themselves with companies that have a brand of success, leadership, peopledevelopment, and which instill a deep sense of pride and commitment. While HR branding has been an established phenomenon in the Western countries, it is still to catch up with Indian organisations. Not many HR departments market themselves correctly, internally as well externally. However, there are few companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, IBM, Cadence, HP, Sun Microsystems, Wipro, Daksh, Satyam, Tata telecom, I-Flex solutions, Texas Instruments, Polaris Software and Birlasoft, who have successfully established their HR brands both in India and abroad. According to Sinha, among the Indian companies Wipro and Infosys would be the leaders in branding. In case of MNCs, it is Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP and Accenture, which are the leaders. Experts state that to reach out to all levels of employees, the HR team has to perform the role of a facilitator instead of enforcer. Effective communication (listening and promoting) and educating the employees about their capabilities and potential contributions can help strengthen the HR brand. According to Kartikeyan, the HR manager needs to take three steps to embed the HR brand. It is the strong internal anchoring of HR. HR members must have a pride in their profession and must not be limited to activities like staffing, training, and compensation. HR members must see themselves as architects, not as functionaries alone, HR has to function as the CEOs closest ally and must extend this to each of the business leaders within the organisation. HR must take the lead in investing in reflecting and visioning processes in the organisation. These analysis help in understanding the difference between what you are providing and think your organisation wants from you, and what they say they need.

Take the case of TCS, which started its HR branding initiative two years ago. While the company had successfully implemented the HR policies, TCS was lacking in effective communication with its employees across the globe. We decided to bring about a significant change in our communication processes, the way things were communicated. In addition, we also decided to align the HR and corporate communication relation to make an impact on our internal customers, says Atul Takle, vice president of corporate communication at TCS. Understanding the importance of communication, the HR adopted different PR related activities to reach out to its employees. Things like changing the tone of communication, encouraging Friday dressing, evolving a separate HR logo or sending them calendars (listing monthly HR activities) has helped TCS score high on the employee satisfaction surveys. After getting a feel of things, the HR team can decide which brand identity works best for their work culture and create it. These can be taken from the basic values, which the company stands for. For example, if the HR has identified trust and timely delivery as their key brand, they have to make sure that their workforce delivers accordingly. For this, they have to identify the typical best practices and train the workforce. The HR policies and programmes have to be framed in such a manner that they reinforce and promote the brand behavior and people think themselves as a brand. This needs to be followed by each employee of the organisation. However, the most important promotional piece is the HR department itself, where they can achieve success through their own example. In addition, the HR also has to use PR as a major skill to make its brand visibility. Besides, communicating it in board meetings, organisations newsletter and intranets, the HR team also has to devise different employee-friendly schemes. According to Zarir Batliwala, head of human resources for HP India, to gauge the real experience of the employees and make an impact of being there, the intranet acts as a great tool. In HP, individuals can log in their complaint or request on the intranet, which is solved in a short span of time. Conclusion Though still at a nascent step, market analysts point out that this trend is expected to catch up very fast in times to come. This will see a lot of activity in the HR arena, with companies coming up with innovative branding exercises. For this, the HR manager needs to have a good understanding of the business and it future course, so that he can work out his policies and branding exercise accordingly. Talking about future success stories Martin Appel, vice president for human resources at IBM India Limited says, Organisations which invest in hiring the best and developing their skills, can provide a high performance culture that will be the frontrunner. HR plays an important role in partnering, supporting and sometimes leading the business in these areas. It wont be easy, but ongoing communication, and actually meeting the organisations real and expressed needs, will help HR earn respect.

BRAND HR: WHY AND HOW TO MARKET YOUR IMAGE If you want HR to be perceived as more strategic, more valuable, more credible, more whatever, you need to start thinking like a business with a product and market your overall brand image.

First thing in the morning, you go for a run wearing Nike athletic shoes. You shower and dress for work in a Ralph Lauren jacket. You drive to the office in a new Lexus, and stop along the way for a tall, double-skinny latt at Starbucks. These arent mere shoes, clothes, cars and coffee we re talking about. These are brands, and chances are you have chosen them not only because they meet your basic requirements for clothing, transportation and sustenance, but also because the brands promise a certain quality and style that you have come to rely upon. In an overcrowded marketplace, companies like Nike, Lexus and Ralph Lauren understand the importance of brand identity. That is why they spend millions of dollars to develop and communicate to customers who and what their brands stand for. Think about it: Marlboro stands for rugged individualism. Rolex stands for quality. And McDonald s stands for cleanliness, consistency and quick service.

Now, take a moment and think about human resources in your company as if it were a brand. What does your HR organization stand for? What have your customers come to expect from HR? When HR is mentioned, do managers picture savvy strategists, backward bureaucrats or pleasant people-pleasers? In many companies the HR brand is suffering from a poor image and reputation. "Rarely has human resources made a stand as to what their brand image is," explains David Roberts, vice president of Kuczmarksi and Associates, a branding and marketing strategies company based in Chicago. "Instead of taking the time to define who they are, what they stand for and how they accomplish their mission, the HR department often does things a certain way simply because it s their job." Because of this attitude, the internal reputation of many HR departments is tarnished, particularly in comparison to other departments. For instance, Marketing is often regarded as a high-value Mercedes, or Finance might be viewed as a reliable Honda. Too often, HR is seen as a statemanufactured Yugo; it does what the customer wantsmost of the timebut it isn t always reliable or fun to drive. If you want your organization to be perceived as more strategic, more valuable, more reliable, more whatever, you need to start thinking about what customers want from you, how well you deliver it, and how to improve your overall brand image. This isn t just about fancy packaging, catchy slogans and name changes, either. Managers and employees will see right through surface-level improvements. This is about thinking like a business with a product to be developed, marketed and reliably delivered to customers who want your services. Why should an internal function with built-in customers care about their brand identity, you ask? After all, selling HR services to employees isn t the same thing as selling khakis to teenagers, is it? Actually, in a way it is. As companies continue to streamline and outsource non-value-added activities, HR is facing competition on many fronts from outside vendors. If corporate HR people dont work to shore up the profession s overall image and reputation, they will increasingly lose business to companies that understand what customer service and accountability are all about.

For corporate HR professionals to retain their competitive edge, they must start thinking of themselves as brands to be marketed. To help you get started, Workforce management, talked to some heavy hitters in the field of brand development, including companies that have worked on such notable brands as Microsoft, Coors, Rubbermaid, IBM and Whirlpool. Because brands involve image and public perception, we also talked to public-relations specialists, and media and speech consultants. People are asked how human resources could go about changing its brand identity from reactive to proactive, from tactical to strategic, from conservative to innovative, from "people people" to "business people," and from a cost center to a corporate contributor to the bottom line. On the basis of their input, we have been able to develop the following "HR Brand Development Process." This process roughly follows the same steps that all brand name companies go through in building and enhancing their own image and reputation.

HR BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:

1. Identify your customer s needs and perceptions. The first step in creating or enhancing a brand identity is to determine who your customers are, what they need and how they currently perceive you. Are your primary customers upper managers, line managers or the entire workforce? What products and services do they use from HR? What would they like from HR? Do they use any HR services from outside vendors, and if so, why? How do they perceive the internal HR department? Asking questions to your customers isn t only a way of identifying new business opportunities, but also a way to find out how to improve your current lineup of products and services. To get truthful and useful information, it may be worthwhile to hire an outside specialist to conduct these interviews in private. Employees are more likely to state their true feelings about HR if they are guaranteed anonymity, and don t have to share their opinions in front of peers and co-workers. It s important to start with this kind of gap analysis because, in today s companies, there are so many ideas about what HR is, explains David Redhill, executive director of global communications for Landor Associates, a global branding and design consultancy based in San Francisco. "When one thinks of human resources, they think of training, recruitment, personal welfare, salary and bonus, the corporate environment, and a whole range of concerns which can make brand development trickier," he says. "But this isn t an unusual branding problem. Companies often start selling one product or service and then expand into other areas. They acquire and divest other companies, get into new technology, converge into new product areas and pretty soon they have outgrown their brand."

Similarly, HR now encompasses so many different activities that it is hard for internal customers to know exactly what HR is all about. To begin to fix this, HR professionals must research their current brand to figure out where they stand.

2. Craft an identity based on customer needs. Once you determine the needs and current perceptions of your existing customers, you can begin to decide how you would like the HR department to be perceived. "All HR departments wish they could be strategic," Roberts says. "They all want to be the Hewitt Associates HR function." But this may not be the most appropriate goal for every HR department in every company. In some companies, internal customers may want the HR department to provide great service in all the traditional HR areas. In other companies, customers may expect HR to take responsibility for productivity growth. "You have to decide what brand identity works best for your particular culture and then work to create a mission statement and an organization that supports that identity," Roberts says. To get an idea of how this works in the real world, take a look at the difference between two retail clothing stores: The Gap and Nordstrom. The Gap brand is associated with cutting-edge fashion trends. Its stores look very contemporary, and are staffed by young people wearing Gap clothing. Nordstrom, by comparison, doesnt t try to be on the bleeding edge of fashion. Instead, the company focuses on providing premium clothing in a nice atmosphere by helpful sales clerks. Service is Nordstrom s brand identity; cool clothing is the Gap s. "Neither one of these strategies is better than the other," Roberts says. They are both executed well for their particular customers. By the same token, HR professionals should take time to decide what works best for their particular customers. "Developing a brand is all about making tough decisions as to what you will and will not stand for," Roberts explains. In your company, for example, it may make sense to outsource routine tasks such as payroll processing so that existing HR people can concentrate on more strategic issues. "To develop a solid brand identity you shouldnt t be all things to all people," he adds.

3. Develop a mission statement to guide you through the change. Once you have determined what your brand identity will be, take the time to craft a mission statement that will guide you through the improvements that need to be made. This statement should define the mission of the HR function, the values and core principles the department will uphold, and the benefits to the rest of the company.

The mission statement is important because it will help you define the future you wish to gravitate toward. "We call this aspirational branding, Redhill explains. "The mission statement isn t empty rhetoric. Rather, it s a charter that outlines the HR pledge to the rest of the company."

4. Clean house. Let suppose that based on customer input, your HR department needs to do a better job providing customer service. Whether it s hiring employees or conducting team-building sessions, customers want you to be more responsive and, shall we say, pleasant to deal with. Because branding is about delivering a promise, you must ensure the people, practices and systems in your department all work to support the goal of customer service. "There has to be an alignment between the brand promise and what you actually deliver," Roberts explains. Just as The Gap doesnt t hire retired men in leisure suits to sell its hip, young clothing; you shouldnt t staff people who are unwilling to go the extra mile for line managers. For a brand identity to work, the systems must back it up. 5. Update your packaging. In the world of consumer goods, fewif anyproducts are packaged without a distinctive logo, slogan and type of packaging. For example, a can of Coors beer looks very different from a can of Coca-Cola. These companies understand that the look and feel of their products communicate strong, albeit subtle, messages to consumers. Does it make sense for the HR department to create its own logo and slogan? Is the look of the HR department itself important in communicating brand identity? Let s put it this way: Packaging is an extremely valuable way to communicate and reinforce what a brand is about, but it won t work unless there s substance behind it. If your HR department has made substantial improvements, then packaging can be a way of communicating those improvements to others. According to John Recker, director of strategic brand development at Libby Perszyk Kathman, a brand identity firm based in Cincinnati, more than 80 percent of stored memory comes from the visual sense. "What you see you remember more so than any of the other senses," says Recker, who has managed brands as diverse as Oil of Olay, Pampers and Pringles. Consumer companies understand this, and that s why they spend enormous sums developing logos with memorable type, images and color, he explains. If you think developing a separate logo for your HR department will make it stand out and get noticed, there s no harm in it. A verbal tag line can also be an effective tool in getting your message across. But probably the most important packaging item is the HR department itself. Emmanuel A. Smart, an image consultant and owner of Smart Expressions, a corporate-image consulting firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, suggests that HR people visit their own departments as if they were customers. "What does the body language of the person behind the desk say? How does his or her voice sound on the phone? How long would you have to wait to get service?" he asks. "Research shows that the first seven seconds is critical in making a good impression." If you want

the HR brand in your company to convey top-notch service, make sure that visitors to the department get what they needin a hurry. "Branding isn t just about a label, logo, name, environment or color," Redhill adds. "It s all those things, but more to the point, a service brandwhich HR isis about people. It s about how those people act and talk and treat others." You could spend millions of dollars redesigning your department, developing a logo and tag line and communicating the new brand identity, but if the people in HR are impossible to deal with, forget it. You have accomplished nothing. 6. Spread the word. once it is determined, that what your brand identity is, you have worked to create a system in which you can consistently deliver the brand s promise, and you have packaged the department in such a way as to subtly communicate that improvements have been made. Now is the time to begin tooting your horn. However, unlike Pizza Hut or Nike, HR doesnt t have the opportunity to use paid advertising to get its message across. A better way to communicate the new brand identity is by taking advantage of tried-and-true public-relations techniques. Nicholas Kalm, senior vice president and head of the employee engagement Practice at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide in Chicago, suggests that human resources determine how it wants to be perceived, and then craft three to five key messages to support that perception. For example, if you want human resources to be perceived as strategic, take time to quantify the strategic impact of a recent HR decision, or find an anecdote that shows how HR contributed to the strategic direction of the company. Then communicate those messages any way you can: in board meetings, through the company newsletter or by developing special "HR performance reports." The key thing is to back up the overall message with tangible data and specific success stories. "Spin is no good unless there s substance behind it," Kalm says. Be sure to use language that employees will understand. "Don t get so caught up in HR jargon or terminology that you end up losing the audience," he warns. "Craft messages that speak to the recipient, not to you." 7. Enhance your visibility. Another PR technique that will help you spread the good word about HR is to be as visible as you cannot only within your own company, but also in the larger world of human resources. "Reach out to magazines and speak at HR conferences," suggests Kalm. This gives external validation for the brand changes you have made internallyand sometimes that s what it takes to get managers to pay attention. 8. Keep on keeping on. "Product branding used to be regarded as a once-every-10-years kind of thing," says Redhill. But today, brand management is an ongoing discipline. The business world and customer marketplace is changing so rapidly that companies have to keep reviewing and revisiting and updating their brands in order to meet changing customer needs. And so it goes with HR. As HR struggles to gain a foothold in the rapidly changing world of business, the profession must regularly subject itself to

self-scrutiny and be willing to make tough choices about what it will and will not stand for. The HR brand is in transition, but with careful attention the brand can harness an identity, learn to compete with external vendors and provide what customers expect. The trick is to remember that branding is not a paint job. You can t dress up the HR department in new colors and expect people to believe everything has changed. Branding is only convincing, credible and effective if it reflects changes in substance. EXAMPLES OF HR BRANDING Appealing to college graduates looking for internships and full-time positions always has been a large part of the recruiting effort of Federated Department Stores. The companys recruiters visit dozens of campuses to speak about the challenges and rewards of working in the retail merchandise world at Bloomingdales, Burdines, Macys, and The Bon Marche. As the Internet became a national preoccupation of students in the late 1990s, Federated figured it was time to create a recruiting site just for them. The real goal wasnt just to create a Web site. It was to create a brand and image of the company as a fun, cool place to work with plenty of room for career advancement. To accomplish this, Federated came up with "Retailology.com," a place where funky graphics and funny animation, strong colors, and cool fonts come together with a raft of audio and printed information to create a brand that looks more like a recruitment site for an advertising agency than for one of the nations largest retailers. It looked nothing like the typically dull corporate Web site. In the first six months of the 2000-2001 school years, an estimated 233,000 college students visited Retailology.com, each spending an impressive average of more than 10 minutes on the site. More than 13 percent of all of Federated's 2000 college hires were sourced through Retailology.com. Based on this success, Retailology.com was expanded in 2001 to become a full-scale corporate recruiting site, encompassing 14 unique branded sub-sites (one for college recruiting, one for Federated corporate, and one each for the company's 12 operating divisions). In its first eight months, the expanded Retailology.com site hosted more than 1.5 million visitors and has received more than 130,000 submissions from applicants. Even in a time of growing unemployment, companies still find it important to sell themselves to potential applicants with a definable HR brand. Just as a strong brand in the marketplace can help lead to a companys success, so can a brand directed to potential employees assist in landing more qualified hires? For some companies, part of the challenge comes in making employment that, on the surface, looks fairly pedestrian into something sexy and sought after by applicants. For others, the brand exercise simply builds a finer image of the work they do and draws the right kind of candidates. Kevin Wheeler, president of Global Learning Resources, Inc., and a brand consultant, says that "most firms are faceless to their own employees" and that a recruitment branding campaign serves two functions: it identifies a companys own strengths to current employees, which helps with retention, and assists in advertising its culture to potential candidates. The key to an HR branding

campaign, he believes, is the same as for any other branding project: a defined promise, a consistent message, and a unified design that can be used in print and interactive environments.

LOW-COST BRANDING TOOLS If you have a little money to spend on human resources branding, here are some low-cost things to do. Re-energize your existing employee referral program and set "targets" for referrals from each department. Include participation as part of the normal performance appraisal process. Provide employees with cards listing the top ten reasons why it's great to work for your company. Encourage employees to put decals, license plate holders, etc., on their vehicles to broadcast their loyalty. Sell or distribute employment-branded items (hats, T-shirts, pens, etc.) that depict work at your organization. Participate in community clean-up programs; get your organization named on "clean-up" highway signs. Develop an alumni club for ex-employees and retirees. Involve these former employees in the process of spreading the word. Distribute logo book bags, T-shirts, and other similar items to children; sponsor school events. Work with the advertising department to place ads that occasion-ally highlights your great people and management practices as well as your products. Train and reward managers for excellent people-management performance. Conduct surveys of college students, business writers, academics, executive recruiters, and influential business leaders as well as your employees to assess your perceived strengths, weaknesses, corporate culture and image. Revise recruiting practices to include "wow" elements to make a lasting impression. Continually review your recruitment strategy and team capabilities. Have the CEO or human resource vice president write a book about the organization's people-management practices.

THE KEY COMPONENTS OF A DEPARTMENT BRAND To understand branding better in the context of an HR department, you should consider four discrete components:

Your departments primary target customer, Your departments distinctive set of core competencies, The benefits your department delivers to your primary target customer, and The key characteristics, adjectives or personality traits that distinguish your department and its manner of doing business.

Primary Target Customer Who Do You Serve? The employee is the primary target customer for the HR department. The gender, age, education, income and role may define your target customer. However, of equal or greater importance are the common needs and shared buying behaviors that define the employees you serve. Great brands are great because they are designed to communicate effectively to a specific target customer and fulfill a distinct need. However, your task is complicated by a secondary customer, senior management, who pays the bills. FedEx must consider the needs and expectations of both the sender of overnight packages and the receiver. You must consider the needs of the users as well as the executives who determine the resources your department can leverage to offer services. I segment (my customers), says Russ Campanello of the consulting firm Nerve Wire. I have paying customers and retail customers. My paying customers are the management of the company. They are allocating investment dollars across the board. My retail customers are the rank and file employee base. Core Competencies Can You Make and Keep Your Promises? This concept applies to more than just the enterprise or company as a whole. Your departments core competencies imply what you are good at delivering. They also imply where your customers are most likely to receive benefits. And, of equal importance, your core competencies ensure your ability to keep the promises you make. Core competencies are premium skills that you deliver to fulfill specific customer needs. Benefits Why Do People Value Your Existence? The third component is the benefits that an employee receives when he uses the products or services offered by the brand. For example, HR departments provide employees with the information necessary to make informed financial and healthcare decisions. This support may provide peace of

mind as well as opportunities for cost avoidance or financial gain. Benefits may be qualitative or quantitative, but must be readily identifiable and valued by primary target customers. Personality Traits What Is Distinctive About How You Do Things? The fourth component is a set of personality traits. Brands are like people. Just as every successful person expresses their brand through their personality, every successful brand has a personality. Personality traits are adjectives that describe what is distinctive about how you or your department performs. They describe the unique experience that your customers gain from their interaction with you. Moreover, personality traits encourage the primary target customer to invest in, and build a relationship with, the brand. What is your department known as? Efficient? Detail oriented? Invasive? Cumbersome? Responsive? Knowledgeable? I would like us to be branded as having the basics in place and being able to flexibly deploy and respond to the needs of the business. So when there is a need, we are there. If I am looking for a brand, it is about relevance, connectivity and response, says Robert MacLean, senior vice president of human resources, Boston Scientific.

Benefits of Owning and Building a Department Brand

It may seem unconventional to transform your department into a scaled version of FedEx or in the retail word, Nordstrom, but it can have tremendous benefits in your ability to compete for attention, budget and relevance within the organization. Some interrelated benefits to building, owning and fulfilling a strong and favorable department brand include:

Professional recognition your customers recognize the value you provide. Organizational relevance the ability to better competes for internal resources. Organizational impact the ability to contribute to the companys success.

Professional Recognition Employee Mind Share and Department Yield When your customers know you are providing value, a lot of good things begin to happen. First, your team gets credit for its hard work. Second, your team has tangible feedback about how they are performing and can zero in on what to accentuate and what to eliminate, making it far more efficient. Third, your team develops solidarity and pride. This situation leads to greater productivity, higher morale, more impact and lower turnover. And, most important, it solidifies your relationship with your primary target customer. You become indispensable. Strong brands are trusted authorities. They provide an assurance of quality. They simplify buying decisions. This is especially true when the decision is complex and information is imperfect. For example, trying to determine what would be the right mix of financial products in an employees 401(k) plan or how best to save for a childs college tuition with a 529 Plan. Customers that bring positive associations of your departments competence in situations such as these are more likely to trust your judgment, be active participants, give honest feedback and applaud your contribution. Organizational Relevance Management Mind Share and Resource Allocation

Similarly, a strong brand can enhance your departments relevance to the organization. Greater relevance leads to greater ability to compete for internal resources such as budget allocations and management attention. Both are critical success factors for any HR department seeking to meet its objectives on a daily or annual basis. Just as brands position products and services in the marketplace, a department brand can help position your role and influence within the company. Organizational Impact Shaping Your Companys Future Finally, a strong department brand can support corporate-wide strategic objectives ensuring that the company is competitive in the external marketplace. When your customers know you are providing value; when you have management involvement in key initiatives; when you have adequate budgetary resources to execute programs that make employees more productive and the company more competitive, you can have maximum impact beyond simply providing services. This is the difference between strategic and bureaucratic roles. Ed Hurley-Wales, human resources VP at HR software developer Works cape, put it this way, It is about becoming a more strategic organization and changing the way HR is viewed. How do you balance day-to-day processes and also be leveraged at the board level to have a place at the table. It is about becoming a strategically focused organization whose core objectives run parallel to corporate objectives. When you do it right, the management team views HR as a highly valued contributor to the companys success. If you miss your mark, youre stuck with the archaic HR role of an expensive and inefficient processor of administration. By striking the correct balance between customer-focused, day-to-day administration, and best practice strategic planning, the critical value of HR will become embedded in the minds of your workforce, from the junior new hire, all the way up to the CEO and board. The difference between the old role of HR and the new vision is as distinct as the difference between fireflies and flashlights.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING A DEPARTMENT BRAND: As with traditional branding, there are some guiding principles that will help you think through how your brand can become more like FedEx and less like a generic, undifferentiated service. We suggest you keep these seven rules in mind when building your department brand. Principle 1: Youre Brand Lives in the Mind of Your Primary Target Customer Every department has a brand. Like it or not, you can nurture, dilute or destroy it. Think of it as your reputation. Your reputation or brand is the space you own in the mind of your primary target customer. A brand gets into your customers mind by associating itself with ideas that already exist. It is best for your brand if those associations are positive. Nike seeks to associate itself with the word performance. Disney seeks to associate itself with the word family. Terminex seeks to associate itself with the phrase, No bugs. No Hassles. These are all positive associations that align the company brand with the positive associations and value in the

mind of the target customer. If you want to build a brand that is strong, favorable and unique, identify a set of positive associations and tie your brand to them.

What do you want to be known for by your customers? Why would your primary target customers value that reputation? What do you need to do in order for your customers to embrace that reputation?

Principle 2: Make and Keep Promises Brands make and keep promises. Your brand should make a promise that is meaningful and relevant to your customers. If you promise to provide online transactions for all ESPP issues and provide telephone support for the most complicated life events such as a disability, then do that and a little bit more. Any shortfall in fulfilling a promise will undermine your reputation and irritate your customers. You can decide to make a luxury service promise similar to Nordstrom or you can make a no hassles pledge similar to Terminex. Whatever services you provide, it must be clear to your primary target customer what you will do. This ensures that you set expectations properly. But that is not enough. You must also do what you promise to do so that expectations are met or exceeded. Remember what Mark Twain said about making and fulfilling commitments, You will surprise some people and amaze the rest.

What promises do you make to your primary target customers? How well do you fulfill those promises? What promises should you make?

Principle 3: The Power of Sacrifice If you do fewer things, you can do them much better. Whereas, in principle #2 you determine what you will do, in principle #3 you will focus on what you will do by being explicit about what you will not do. Since you cannot be all things to all people, you have to decide what you are going to do best and outsource or deemphasize the least important services. It is best to be known for excellence in one thing as opposed to being known for mediocrity in a number of things. Have you ever felt like you were doing so many things that you didnt have appropriate time or resources to do any of them well? This is a common and an expected evolution. Why? Everyone has good ideas about new things to do or offer. No one ever wants to give anything up. So you accumulate responsibilities, but never shed any. How does this apply to branding? What does FedEx do? It ships packages. Thats it. Since it does only one thing, FedEx can focus all of its attention on doing it better than anyone else and it does. Dell does not sell cars through its call centers and Web site. It sells computers and accessories better than anyone in its industry. You can capture the same benefits by focusing on one or two things you do best. Whether it is reducing hassles so employees can focus on productivity or providing top-notch benefits service, you can be known for excellence and not bureaucracy. Granted, you will not likely shed all of your other responsibilities. However, you can reallocate your efforts to meet basic obligations on some services and differentiate or wow your customers based on excellence in the few services most valued by them.

In practice, this may result in outsourcing payroll and benefits so that you can focus on training that will improve company-wide productivity. The difference between these functions could result in transforming your brand from paper pushing to the companys productivity engine.

What services do you provide? How is your level of effort and resource allocation spread across those services? What should you not do or deemphasize?

Principle 4: The Power of How Most people think that what you do is differentiating. Wrong. What you do is easily copied. Moreover, what you do may not be done well at all. Remember, HR departments are service organizations and services are produced in the customers presence. This means that the quality of the experience delivered by the service process often has much greater impact on the customers perception of value than the quality of the end product. What do visitors to Disney World remember most vividly? The four minute amusement rides or the way they are transported into other worlds at the parks, the character breakfasts and the numerous themed resorts. Or, do they remember most clearly how clean and well manicured the grounds are maintained. How you deliver your services is often more important and has a far greater impact on the customers perceived value than what you actually deliver. Focus on improving how you perform services, align the performance with customer benefits and deliver with consistency. That is the foundation of a great service or HR department brand. Remember, process and experience have a bigger impact than offerings.

What three adjectives describe how your department delivers services? How do those adjectives support or undermine your targeted brand reputation? Name the three adjectives that best describes how your department delivers services. And, what do you need to do to achieve your delivery goals?

Principle 5: Focus on What Makes Your Brand Different When people seek to improve output, they most often identify weaknesses and try to fix them. By all means, if you are bleeding profusely and are about to die, mend the wound. However, most organizations would do well to focus on their strengths first. By solidifying strengths, many bad habits that contribute to weaknesses will diminish in importance. Great brands are about being perceived as the best at something. Expertise in the context of an HR department is the same as category leadership in brand lexicon. Home Depot the leader in do-ityourself home improvement. FedEx the leader in overnight package delivery. Dell the leader in online customized computer sales. The Wall Street Journal the leader in daily business financial news. Figure out what you intend to do and develop the capabilities to do it with excellence. Then fix any glaring weaknesses that are still around and undermining your brand.

What does your HR department do best? What are the three most important skills that your department has today that enable it to make and keep the targeted brand promise?

How can you leverage and improve those skills to further enhance the value you provide to your customers?

Principle 6: Know Your Customers If there is a principle that is first among equals, this is it. Your brand is meaningless if it does not positively resonate with your target customers. Your brand will not positively resonate with your target customers if you are not organized to deliver something that your target customers value and value highly. It makes sense to decide what you want to do first, but you must, must, must then validate and align it with the needs and values of your primary target customer. Whether you have a captive or noncaptive market, your brand equity depends on the perception that you deliver value. Knowing your customers will help ensure that you have the ability to emphasize and deliver something important.

What key needs of your customer can you fulfill? What are the common behaviors of your customers that you can align your service around? How do your customers evaluate and recognize the value you deliver?

Principle 7: Express Your Brand Expressing your brand is not about commercials during the Super Bowl. Yes, you want to convey a consistent and compelling message to your target customers, but the verbally communicated message is only part of the battle. The harder part is actually living up to your brand promise every day, every minute. In services, the old adage is true. Actions speak louder than words. It is important to have the right words so that your differentiation and the value you provide is easily communicated and understood. But it is critical that you actually walk the walk. If you make a promise, make certain that you deliver it consistently. Come up short in any way at any time and your brand equity is diminished. It can make the difference between being known for providing great service versus being known for providing great service sometimes. Excellence and positive brand identity is imbedded in the first statement, but fleeting in the second. You express your brand in several ways. First, you express it in the way you deliver your service. Fast, efficient, thorough or slow and unresponsive are all potential outcomes. Second, you express your brand through visible cues and outward symbols such as attire, organizational structure and office environment. Third, you express your brand by telling your customers who you are, what your mission is and what makes you different.

How does your process execution reinforce or undermine your brand? What visible cues or symbols do you offer customers about your brand? What can you do to properly and consistently communicate your differentiation and set expectations with your customers?

Promises, Promises ... Perception and Reality

This is a good time to reflect on a key point and a common misunderstanding. Branding is not a scheme employed to pull a fast one on your customers. It is not a perception is reality concept. Branding is a reality shapes perception proposition. As a result, great advertising will not create a great brand. Great brands emerge as a result of promises made and promises kept. When considering how you can build and sustain a powerful brand, you must ensure that you can consistently deliver tangible value and fulfill the promises you make to your customers. If reality is positive, you can shape a positive perception. If reality is negative or inconsistent or irrelevant, you cannot shape a positive perception. Period. Leaders build great brands. They assume stewardship. Brand stewards understand the power of owning a place in the mind of the customer and the potency of a promise. They seek and embrace differentiation. Strong brands offer their owners an edge in the marketplace. The same principles that are employed to build and sustain great brands can be leveraged by HR departments to enhance your impact, relevance and reputation. Your brand can also serve as a foundation for your department strategy that aligns your services with the goals and aspirations of your company. Moreover, a strong brand can enable you to be proactive about your role in the company. As Russ Campanello of Nerve wire remarked recently, Unless the value is embedded in the brand (of your department), you constantly defend your existence.