Susan Scott recently wrote in her Fierce Conversations blog, "Human connectivity, as opposed to strategy and tactics, is the next frontier for exponential growth and the only sustainable competitive edge."

One of the many consequences/downfalls of the current economic situation is an influx of tension in the workplace. More and more people are feeling the pressure that cost-cutting and downsizing is putting on jobs. Employees are feeling more uncertain of job stability, which leads to anxiety and strain on relationships with coworkers.

Rather than isolating employees and fueling gossip, leaders and managers should seek to capitalize on tense situations and build/strengthen relationships through open, honest, and frequent communications. Empower your employees to tackle projects as a team. Doing so will strengthen employee relationships, promote collaboration, and diminish competitive strife. Of course, some competition is healthy to a strong, forward-thinking company so don't do away with competition altogether.

Recognizing the good is just as important as effectively dealing with the bad. Whereas you're company may not be able to offer across-the-board bonuses or other financial rewards, employees still crave positive reinforcement and the knowledge that their efforts do not go unnoticed. Make note of successes when they happen and celebrate often. Hold a "Celebrating Success" lunch hour dedicated to appreciating individual and team efforts that have had a positive impact on the business.

When thinking about the power of positivity, I'm reminded of something a friend of mine once told me. He said, "Always be positive because 90 percent of the people (including coworkers) you meet and interact with don’t care about your problems, and 10 percent are glad you have them."

Top five things I hate about doing business with companies that don't focus on behavior-based branding:

1. Encountering a robot: the employee with a blank face, no emotion. I want to say, "I'm human, I think you are. Let's act like it... smile and say hello!"

2. Suffering from "invisible customer" syndrome. While I'm sure that whomever you're talking to on the phone is important, I just walked into the store and I'm the only customer around so please acknowledge my existence and validate that I'm just dreaming your service couldn't be this bad.

3. Getting the "I could help you, but what's in it for me?" reaction. Which employee do you think is more likely to go above and beyond to help out a customer... the employee who receives instruction on best practices and behaviors for interacting with customers and when his actions are noticed by a manager, receives a pat on the back or some other form of recognition (whether incentive-based or not) or the employee who is left on his own to decide how to respond to customers and only hears from his manager when he screws up? Employees who do not feel the benefit of good customer service are less likely to make an effort when a situation arises. Employees who understand and feel the benefit (through positive reinforcement, rewards systems, etc.) are more likely to go out of their way to help customers, which ultimately leads to a better experience and greater customer loyalty.

4. The millions of missed opportunities. This one ties into number three above. I cannot tell you how many times a frontline worker or even a manager misses an opportunity to earn a customer for life. Every time a manager says, "there's nothing I can do for you," it lessens the chance that the customer will come back again. Rather than conceding to negativity, frontline workers and managers should be equipped with positive responses, such as "I hope there is some way we can help you out today, Ms. Smith. If we don't have product A, perhaps you would like product B?" Anything is better than a "no" or a negative reaction.

5. The "Jekyll and Hyde" Experience. Or the "never know what you're going to get" store. One day employees are helpful, eager to assist and drive a pleasant experience. The next they are distant, sometimes impossible to find, or even outright rude. The inconsistency in experience is aggravating and unsettling. Especially in times like these, the experience makes all the difference when customers decide if they want to shop at your store or the megamart down the street. Most people would rather shop somewhere where they know what to expect (whether it's a positive or negative experience) over an ever-changing experience. Consistency is king!

Companies that set expectations for basic frontline customer service behaviors, communicate about them, and hold their employees accountable for living the desired behaviors every day and in every interaction will have a strong, more productive employee base as well as a more satisfied, loyal set of customers who keep coming back and are eager to refer the company to their friends and family.

I had the chance to participate in a nice debate about employee engagement last week on Businessweek.com - check it out http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2009/05/employee_engage.html - thanks to Paul Hebert for the lively debate.

I think you'll find Paul and I actually agree more than we disagree about employee engagement. What's interesting about the comments on the debate is the assumption made that employee engagement is about special programs, employee benefits, game rooms, recognition programs, team building exercises, etc. Let me set the record straight - when I am talking about employee engagement, I am not actually thinking about any programs, perks, or benefits - these are not what employee engagement is about.

Employee engagement is a state I believe companies are constantly striving to get to. Simply put, it is the result of employees understanding the company's strategy , how to bring it to life behaviorally in their day-to-day job, being held accountable for helping achieve the company goals/objectives and therefore willing to give that extra bit of discretionary effort everyday.

Why care? Because engaged employees will consistently deliver world-class employee and customer experiences that will dramatically increase the value of your business and your ability to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. Just ask Ritz-Carlton, Southwest Airlines, Wegmans Food Markets, and Disney whether employee engagement matters!

I often get falsely accused of being "anti-marketing" when in reality I value marketing as much as the top marketers and leaders in the world, I just see marketing as a piece to a larger puzzle rather than the "'end all" solution. In my travels I come across too many leaders focused so much on positioning and messaging and not focused enough on what it truly takes to deliver a differentiated experience to employees and customers. In my opinion, at least 90% of the time your employees and customers are going to judge your company and its products and services by the experience they have with it and 10% or less by what you tell and market to them. A brand is not built through marketing messages, it is built though people and process held together by employee day-to-day behaviors.

Let me share with you a quick story about the power of brand-behavior.

Recently I was in Florida visiting a well-known restaurant chain that serves bagels. My family had ordered dinner, but I also wanted to take six bagels home. I went to the takeout line to place the order. While the sales clerk was packing the bagels, I noticed she was putting them into a large, expensive box suited for 12 to 24 bagels.

I said to her: “Please don’t waste that costly box on my bagels—a smaller bag will do.” Her response was appalling: “It’s OK, I’m not paying for it.”

Ouch! My immediate thought: “Well, I’m paying for it!”

Now, I’m fairly certain this attitude and behavior wasn’t taught during the company’s training and orientation session. But it clarifies the root cause of this imbalance between what the brand stands for and reality. Quite simply: Employees don’t see themselves as a vital part of the company brand.

Simply put, if you are not managing behaviors employees do and experiences employees and customers have, then you are not managing your company brand.  It doesn't matter what the restaurant's marketing said, the employee's behavior undercut all of it!

A brand is the sum of all experiences a company’s people have with an audience. Brand Integrity is the ultimate business and management strategy. It is the one strategy that works in companies of all sizes and within all industries to strengthen culture and business results. Brand Integrity aligns who a company is (core values, mission/vision, and strategic benefits) with where it is going (goals and strategic plans) and how employees will deliver the behaviors and experiences to achieve results.

In addition to being a management strategy, Brand Integrity is a destination. The destination is the point at which a company achieves its desired brand image while reaching its business goals. Said another way, it’s when employees, customers, partners, and the market understand, believe, and experience that the company is who it says it is.
To achieve Brand Integrity, leaders need a strategy and employees need to know the strategy and how they can best deliver it through their day-to-day work activities.

It only takes minutes with Gregg to realize this unforgettable expert has solved the mystery to creating high-performance work cultures and driving sustainable results.

Participants who attend Gregg’s interactive presentations and workshops, delivered to associations as well as at corporate and university conferences, consistently rate him among the very best of speakers. More than 80 percent of Gregg's bookings are repeat hires by delighted clients. For example, AMA President, Peter Piusz had this to say: "We just had the most dynamic speaker! Gregg Lederman challenged our audience to think about their business in new ways and captured their hearts with buckets of takeaway value relevant to their business. He is one of the highest audience-rated speakers we've ever had.”

Gregg's two-time award-winning book, Achieve Brand Integrity: Ten Truths You Must Know to Enhance Employee Performance and Increase Company Profits, and his trademark ABI Strategy Development Model have been used by corporations across the US to integrate their company brand into employee performance systems from hiring and customer service training to employee recognition and performance evaluations.

Driven by a relentless desire to help as many people as possible "Live the Brand," Gregg has made it his personal mission to dramatically improve people’s lives by positively enhancing their work cultures, leading to greater individual success while increasing the profitability of the company they work for. His work, along with the work of his team at Brand Integrity Inc., where he is currently the Managing Partner, has helped many of today's "best places to work” companies such as Wegmans Food Markets, Erickson Retirement Communities, Cowan, Gunteski & Co., P.A., and Retirement Living TV close the gap between their business strategies and the employee behaviors needed to bring those strategies to life.

Gregg received his MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, where he has been a professor teaching the ABI methodology since 2003. He is also a member of the National Speakers Association. Gregg resides in Rochester, NY, with his wife and three daughters.

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