A strong brand? Start with inspiring your employees

An employee cannot change from one day to the next. A transition of communication is necessary to move employees internally. In order to captivate, bind and retain employees for the organization, you will need to use internal branding. You will need to continually communicate what will be changing and, more importantly, behave congruently. Make it into an experience. Employees must experience the brand in the same way throughout the organization- from production worker to sales person and from management to cleaners. Only then will they identify with the brand. Stay strictly true to the identity of the organization. Your communication, behavior and the symbolism must be completely consistent, otherwise you will deviate from the key points of the story and the change will no longer be convincing.

The basis of change is that you begin sharing information and you receive information back. Listen to what is needed within the organization. Engage in conversation with employees, management, shareholders and other stakeholders, above all talk personally with regular customers.

It sounds easy. But internal implementation takes time. At the beginning of the change, employees are often rigid and cooperation will be strained. They often enter the process with a passive attitude. According to the model below, you are then in the “Communication 2.0” phase. If the change goes as planned, employees will gradually see the benefits of the changes. As you lead by example, their attitude will change, and finally their behavior. First they become more active, and will then want to participate, they will give targeted reactions. In large global multinationals, this total change process can take up to 9 years, because one has to try and change an organization from scratch. 

Most effective of all, and at the same time the ideal situation, is to form a community. In a mutual relationship, employees look to each other to collaborate creatively, to cooperate. If this is successful, people will be prepared to genuinely cooperate much sooner. This leads to the ultimate form of ‘co-creation’. This is the case when everyone is fully connected and the intended network effect can reach full maturity. Employees inspire each other and share information, knowledge, experience and personal wisdom. On the basis of authenticity, they add unique value to the brand identity and the total (network) organization around it in an open, trusted environment. The company is now in the “Communication 4.0” phase.

Having access to information and technologies anytime and anywhere makes it possible for employees, locations, teams and projects to work together. During this process you should make data and information available for everyone. You are trying to realize a network model. A network organization emerges, grows and thrives
when employees and related third parties become and remain connected professionals together. Some examples of tools and technologies to standardize communication processes in network model: Brand Identity & Template Management Software, Digital Asset Management and Marketing Resource Management.

The same style is applied worldwide. This ensures a professional, uniform appearance. Processes remain tightly organized, but employees retain the option to adapt the materials to the local market. Employees keep their freedom and creativity and you keep the overview and the corporate final check.

Eager to know how you can start? With iWRITER 365 you have access to Office templates (PowerPoint, Outlook, Word and Excel) anywhere and at any time. Everyone uses the corporate identity, logos and linked data in the same way. Read here how you build a strong brand or request a free demo.