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“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter F. Drucker

BRAND AND CULTURE:

THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP

Background

I

Organisation Brand and Culture

n our previous article (accessible from our website ) we reported Dresearch results based on our own leadership development centre (Engage 3 Leadership) that

clearly showed a link between leadership competence and levels of employee engagement.

In this article we will begin to address the business implication from a different perspective.

Specifically, we hope to create the insight that there is a direct link between leadership and leader

behaviour on the one hand and both organisation culture and brand on the other hand.

Recent history has shown that a number of industry leaders and enterprises have failed their

shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, on many occasions spectacularly so. We are of the

view that many of these “failures of leadership” is directly related to a failure to appropriately focus on

the transcendental (vision and

purpose) aspects of leadership. It is this dimension of leadership that talks specifically to

organisational (and personal!) purpose and intent, the essence of organisational brand and culture.

hile we occasionally ask clients “how many PR or marketing people they have ,the

reality is that every single employee, customer and supplier is part of the story that is Wtold daily of who and what your company is really all about.

A successful brand must meet its customers' expectations consistently at every brand touch point so that each

and every encounter with the brand is experienced positively.

The quality of this experience is largely reliant on employee behaviour, and the extent to which this meets the

expectations of your customers during critical interactions. The manner in which employees behave has a direct

influence on the reputation of a brand and ultimately an effect on the overall success of the organisation.

Any lack of alignment between employee behaviour and the brand promise will cause customers to leave, as

their expectations remain unfulfilled. Ultimately, brand satisfaction is what creates and retains brand loyal

customers and employees.

Organisational success depends on brand activation strategies that appropriately guide and encourage brand-

led behaviour. This cannot be achieved unless employees are emotionally connected and engaged through

internal brand strategies that embed the brand internally within individual roles, responsibilities and

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rewards in order to inculcate a brand-driven culture at all levels.

Brand-driven cultures must continuously reinforce appropriate brand-led behaviour through suitable

talent management processes and practices if long-term survival and delivery of the brand promise is

to be achieved.

The organisation brand, in simple terms, is the perception that external stakeholders such as the

media, market analysts, investors, customers have of (1) the quality of services/products delivered,

and (2) the nature of relationships with stakeholders. Underpinning these two is an inherent

expectation of consistency, reliability and predictability. It is the sustained delivery of your brand

promise that creates business value or impact.

Brand perceptions are the result of both branding and organisational culture, but are driven by the

quality of leadership. Branded leadership translates employee behaviours into customer experiences

that meets and exceeds brand expectations at every brand touch point. As shown in the figure below,

it is this ability that drives the achievement of business results.

Thinking about branding has shifted from how external customers perceive either the product or firm

to how firms create internal brand identity. When a firm's internal brand, the culture and experience

of employees, reflects the external brand that attracts consumers, the brand becomes even more

valuable.

Organisation Brand

The manner in which organisations manage their interactions with stakeholders will determine the

strength of their brand and reputation. Organisations must be able to live up to their promises and

deliver a consistent service to all stakeholder groups. A strong corporate reputation can attract and

retain the best stakeholders - whether they are consumers, investors or employees. It can attract

customers, ensure a license to trade and, in times of crisis, win "the benefit of the doubt." A sound

corporate reputation allows an organisation to achieve its business objectives better.

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Organisation Culture

Organisational culture is the personality of the organisation. Culture is comprised of the

assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artefacts) of organisation members and their

behaviors. Corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs include feedback from, society,

stories, heroes, and values on competition or service. The process is based on our assumptions,

values and norms, such as our values on money, time, facilities, space and people. Outputs or effects

of our culture are, amongst others organisational behaviours, strategies, image, products, services,

and appearance.

anagers often seek to "change" the culture of the organisation. What they therefore

try to do is shape the way that people behave, feel, contribute, interact, and perform Mas employees of the organisation. This is usually called leadership. Leadership brand

extends thinking about leadership in two ways. Firstly, the focus is less on the individual leader and

more on the leadership capability within the organisation. Secondly, effective leadership is defined

less by what happens inside an organisation and more by how leaders turn external customer and

investor expectations into employee abilities and organisation capabilities.

A leadership brand sets a company apart from the competition when it develops a cadre of

exceptional managers with distinct talents geared toward fulfilling customer and investor

expectations. When leaders' knowledge, skills, and values bring focus to employee behaviors in

areas that target the issues customers care about, it ultimately inspires faith in the consumer that

employees and managers will consistently deliver on company promises.

A Leadership brand must be consistent with a firm's brand, or identity in the marketplace. Leaders at

all levels reflect the brand when they think and act in ways that are consistent with the desired

product or firm brand, and maintain an ongoing reputation for both quality and results. Leadership

brand is a true extension of an organisation brand or identity because it reflects in both behaviors

and results.

esearch results indicate - and experience confirms - that organisations with strong and

effective leadership at all levels achieve superior business results, while organisations Rwith inconsistent leadership achieve inconsistent business results, and organisations with

inferior leadership achieve inferior business results. Effective leaders can turn fledging companies

into viable competitors, ineffective leaders turn once-competitive companies into takeover targets.

Leadership, Brand and Culture

Conclusion

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A Leadership brand represents the identity and reputation of

all leaders at all company levels. Leadership live the brand

and demonstrate brand-led behaviour when they think and

act in ways that are congruent with the desired product or

firm brand. A desired leadership brand exists when leaders at

all levels of an organisation demonstrate a consistent

reputation for meeting brand expectations in respect of both

associated attributes and results.

Thinking about leadership as a brand instead of simply something leaders do, offer a number of insights

into leadership effectiveness and into creating sustained and consistent leadership that enhances brand

value:

• Brand has both core and differential elements.

• Brand focuses on the outside/in.

• Brand evolves over time to meet the changing needs of the marketplace.

• Brand puts leadership into business terms.

• Brand is unique and not generic.

• Brand turns leadership into specific decisions.

• Effective leadership brand must be reflected by leaders at all levels of an organisation.

• Brand is sustainable, not tied to any individual person.

• Brand must have efficacy or it will not last.

n the next article we will explore the relationship between customer satisfaction, customer

retention and employee engagement. The article will show that engaged employees drive Iimproved customer satisfaction and more importantly customer retention.

t TalentLine we believe that South African organisations need to equip their current and

future leaders to harness the challenge of making their organisations truly competitive, both Alocally and abroad.

We provide best practice, people centred business solutions and specialise in designing and

implementing customised Human Capital and business strategies that can be translated and executed

Future articles

About TalentLine Consulting Group

●●●

●●●

Set your company apart by focusing on the organisation, not

individuals, and on external matters such as customer and

investor expectations

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organisation wide to achieve superior performance and customer satisfaction. We help leaders to

confidently apply their talents according to the complexity levels of their respective roles and

believe that collaborative partnerships with our clients produce the best results.

0861 TALENT / 825368

DDetail on the Engage Leadership 3 model and development centre can be accessed at the

following site:

Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood, Jack Zenger.

Alison Rankin Frost, Chris Cooke - Brand vs. reputation: managing an intangible asset.

Carter McNamara. Published by Authenticity Consulting.

Business Open Learning Archive.

Developing Your Leadership Brand. Marshall Goldsmith

Leadership as Brand. Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Leadership as Brand. Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Copyright ©2009 TalentLine Consulting Group. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced

in any form without the prior written permission of TalentLine Consulting Group.

Contact details

www.talentline.co.za

averwey@talentline.co.za

fduplessis@talentline.co.za

www.engageleadership.biz