As you will have read about, I have been chairing the organisation of a global telesummit taking place on the 8 November 2007 and will be attended by authors, speakers and leaders in the field of personal branding.

In case you have not had the opportunity to study the programme schedule in detail, I am going to post the details of the seminars I will be specifically taking part in. If the event is not of interest to you, then there is no need to continue to read the remainder of this article.

Do you sometimes wonder how to find meaning in your role as a leader?

Do you ever wonder how some of the world’s most remarkable people have managed to build lives that matter, lives that have made a difference, and how they built those lives for the long haul?

If you have read the book Success Built to Last , you will know of the exceptional leaders that the authors interviewed during their research, including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, and Warren Buffet.

The book outlines a framework you can use immediately to duplicate in yourself what these leaders have in common. Comprised of three elements that transcend luck or good genes, this framework offers crucial guideposts if you seek to achieve lasting leadership success, impact, and personal fulfillment.

During the personal branding summit, one of the seminars I will be hosting is a conversation with Stewart Emery co-author of the international bestseller, Success Built to Last who will share insights from his research and how to build your career using the same principles as world class leaders. 

This session will take place at 6pm ET (11pm Dublin and London) on the 8 November 2007.

Stewart is co-founder and president of Belvedere Consultants, a consulting firm located in San Francisco. His passion is to support individuals and organizations turning their talent into world-class performance and enduring success. Stewart leads executive teams and organisations through Vision—Values—Strategy initiatives.

This event is FREE to attend. If you would like to join me to listen my conversation with Stewart, you can register at the personal branding summit website - and if you can not attend then we will be recording the seminar.

I do hope you will be able to join us.

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As you develop you employer brand to attract and retain talent to deliver your business strategy, how confident are you that you are taking the appropriate measures to guarantee you build a compelling and magnetic employer brand?

Here are four fatal errors that I note when evaluating the effectives and strength of employer brands. How well does your employer brand stack up against them?

1. No clear, consistent and differentiating employment experience

How many businesses are there who are looking to attract the same talent as you are in a 10 mile radius of where you are based?

How well do you know who they are and what the employment experience is in their business?

If you don’t know who you are competing against for talent and you don’t know how you are different from them, how will you be able to communicate this clearly and concisely in all your communications?

2. Not leveraging every communication vehicle

Engaging people behind your employer brand is a key to bringing it to life.

How well do you communicate about your employer brand and what you stand for in all your communication from your corporate website to your intranet; from your internal newsletters to your external job adverts; from your appointment announcements to your employee handbook; from the minutes of executive meetings to the verbal messages delivered by your line managers?

Are you sure that your message is consistent?

And if your message is consistent does it also match your behaviours and the decisions you make about key appointments, reward decisions and how you recognise the contribution your people make to the business?

3. Paying lip service to your employer brand values

When the going gets tough, are you prepared to stand your ground in the decisions you make on appointments so that the people you hire are going to live your corporate and employer brand values?

All too many times, especially in internal appointment decisions, many companies will appoint the person who is able to undertake the role based technical ability, not their ability to live the values of the organisation or their ability to demonstrate the leadership behaviours required in the organisation.

Technical capability can be bought or taught. Behaviours and reputation are far more difficult to acquire. Hiring for technical ability above leadership behaviour and demonstrating living the values and culture you aspire may help you in delivering short term profit but does not build equity in your talent for the future.

4. Not considering the employment brand through the total employment lifecycle

Many organisations consider that the employment brand is only important at the time of recruitment and selection.

However those organisations that are able to attract and retain high quality talent in a challenging market place recognise the importance of delivering on the employment brand proposition throughout the total employment life cycle.

Understanding where you need to adapt your systems, processes, policies and ways of working will enable you to create a magnetic employment brand where employees are not only proud to work for you but they are also your biggest employer brand ambassadors and can themselves help you attract talent to the business.
©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007. All rights reserved.

Reprinted from ‘Biz Growth Express’, a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices, featuring inspiration, strategies and tips to build your corporate, employer and personal brand and enjoy greater success with less stress.  Subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com and access free branding and business development teleseminars with experts from across the globe on how to build your brand and expand your professional and personal success.

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When we consider our values, very often we consider these in terms of what drives our personal behaviour.

However how can values actually be attributed to bottom line benefits?

This is the subject of next weeks “Biz Growth Live” call with author and consultant Paul Kearns whose recent book “The Value Motive” presents a framework for understanding why value should be the leader’s top priority.

If you have questions about how to link corporate and personal values to bottom line profit, you can post your questions before the call here.

You can register to join this no cost teleseminar here.

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In our Biz Growth Academy and Biz Growth Gym programmes one of the early stages of work that we take our clients through is defining their values.

Many organisations will define their values as a key element of their strategy and a point of differentiation when defining their corporate brand.

The objective is then defining and translating those values into action. In other words, what will your people, your clients, your business partners experience as those values are expressed?

However we do not often spend time defining our own personal values.

What I have noticed is that when we find ourselves challenged with decisions made by our employer, often we find ourselves stressed and out of kilter with the organisations needs and wants. This happens when our personal values are out of alignment with the corporate values.

Management Issues recently reported that research from a Minnesota leadership development firm, CO2 Partners, who identified that one in three workers reported that their employer’s core values were not always consistent with their own personal values.

This in turn will lead to a less engaged community and impact the performance of the business.

Of the 615 workers polled, 44 percent felt their core values were consistent with those of their employer.

More than 10 percent of the employees surveyed were unsure what the employers core values were but did not feel uncomfortable working for their employer.

When our personal values are not in alighment with the corporate values this can lead to silent sabotage or passive unproductive behaviours. and we certainly will not feel engaged, energised or prepared to go the extra mile.

As a business leader  and owner of your professional services practice, the key is not to consider the defining of your corporate values at a superficial level.

As you define your corporate values, consider not only how these will be expressed in good times but also what the impact will be when the organisation is under stress to perform.

Then clearly communicate and allow your people to engage in what the corporate values mean for them in their own roles.

And as you make key decisions, communicate and share how the decision supports your corporate values.

Yes you may find there are some team members who find that their personal values are not in alignment with your corporate values. But isn’t it better that this is fully understood and you can then help that team member find a role in an organisation that is in alignment with their personal values.

Getting clear about your corporate values, expressing your corporate values in your employee communications materials and in your leadership actions, will create a point of differentiation and supports you building a distinctive employer brand. That in turn will mean that you attract talent who are more likely to aling with your corporate values.

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