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Best Practices

Sticklebacks of Sustainability

WARNING: sticklebacks can cause choking, vomiting and severe stomach pains if swallowed. So would read the food safety report on these small fish for their larger predators.

They have a spiny dorsal fin which they can raise if another fish attempts to eat them, hence the name. Its purpose is to lodge the stickleback, somewhat painfully, in the mouth or throat of its predator.

Often as not, this causes the predator in question to spit the stickleback out, thus saving its life.

Smaller listed companies can be compared quite favourably to sticklebacks. Preyed upon by larger fish, they often have to develop self defence mechanisms which can be surprising in their elegant simplicity.

On a whim, I thought I’d have a look at those FTSE Fledgling companies, equity vehicles aside, who were due to publish their reports last week. Perhaps their websites would have signs of sustainable spines, ready to be raised as a predator approaches?
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One Man’s Stakeholder ….

Think of 1984 and somewhere in between the famine in Ethiopia and Michael Jackson’s hair catching fire, you’re likely to think of George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel.

Part of this is Newspeak, which is characterised by the absence of synonyms or antonyms, meaning that there is only one “authorised” word for any given thing or activity.

1984 is also the year in which R. Edward Freeman published his book “Strategic Management”. It was here that the concept of a stakeholder was coined to describing anyone who affects or is affected by a corporate body.

I would not for a moment class the term “stakeholder” as being part of any form of Newspeak, especially as it’s one of the more useful terms to have come out of the linguistic wave which swept through business in the 1980s.

However for a concept whose management principles will be 25 years old next year, it’s interesting to note that companies are still unsure how to use their websites to communicate sustainability to their stakeholders.
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What is Employer Branding?

The concept of branding for products and services is well known. Employer branding may be the least known type of branding yet is becoming more important to organizations. The reason is changes in workforce demographics. The baby-boomers are retiring and the pool of new recruits is not sufficient to fill the gap. According to an Accenture survey, 60% of CEOs are very concerned about attracting and retaining people. Enter the concept of Employer Branding.

Brett Minchington (The Employer Brand Institute), defines employer branding as “the image of the organization as a ‘great place to work’ in the minds of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).”

UK based Business Development Practice Ltd. indicates that ideally, the central idea behind the employer and client brands should be the same. At the very least they need to be consistent (see above graphic). But unlike product or corporate brands, an employer brand is not as visible to its target audience.

This looks like this subject is starting to get complex and involved. It could, and companies could wind up spending lots of money and time to develop their Employer brand. I have a suggestion: you may have seen Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies To Work For”. The organization that does the analysis behind the selection process is The Great Place To Work Institute. If you make it to this list you have an effective Employer Brand.

The companies on this list realize that it is the intellectual capital, what is in the minds and hearts of people – rather than the buildings, the tools, the financial capital – that has the power to truly differentiate and grow a business – and beat the competition. Therefore, they do what is needed to attract, grow and keep their people. Benchmarking how these got to the list makes sense.

Some suggestions: first look at “Our Model” section. This shows the major dimensions that need to be addressed:

“Trust is the essential ingredient for the primary workplace relationship between the employee and the employer. According to our model, trust is composed of three dimensions: Credibility, Respect, and Fairness. The final two dimensions of the Institute’s model relate to workplace relationships between employees and their jobs/company (Pride), and between the employee and other employees (Camaraderie)”.

This is not quantum physics. It is very straight-forward and not difficult to grasp. Yet too many companies waste money looking for something more esoteric. I particularly like that the Institute says as companies become effective in applying these dimensions the distinction between labour and management fades.

There is more. By treating people well, the companies on the list reap business and financial benefits superior to their peers.

Want to develop an effective Employer Brand? Your first step must be a visit to the The Great Place To Work Institute website.

Thinking About Thought Leadership

It all started with consulting companies, then moved to software/technology companies and now is spreading to all types of companies. Thought leadership, simply put, is giving away content. This could be developed from what your leaders know, case studies or the musings of gurus and subject matter experts you hire.

Why do this? It drives traffic to your corporate website and enhances your company’s reputation as one that buyers may want to do business with. Think of thought leadership as stealth advertising and promotion. The content may not, and some say should not, mention your company. But the association is still made and by sharing your knowledge you build credibility.
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A Sweetbox of Integrated Sustainability

Can I can I can I can I can I? The refrain of pester power, through which children have “persuaded” their parents into a course of action for millennia.

Often parents agree simply to get the little angels to belt up. Often the little devils come to learn that if they repeat it often and loud enough, their wish will come true.

Many companies have assumed the parental role, embarking upon programmes of disclosure simply to simply to get external pressures (including regulators) to belt up and not bother them.

In the meantime sustainability professionals keep repeating the mantra that sustainability has to be embedded into all of a company’s activities, not just bolted on as an afterthought.
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