Finding your brand DNA
Supplement – January 16, 2008

At middle to large corporations employing more than 200 people, management and employees are very familiar with the terms “Revolutionizing Corporate Culture” and “Redefining Corporate Culture”.

In a nutshell, creating and maintaining an excellent corporate culture is a huge capital investment requiring many hours in maintaining brand and customers. A company that has been in existence for more than a decade often faces difficulties in devising strategies to lure more customers and compete with newcomers. To keep up with changes, a company needs to revolutionize its culture through inserting its brand DNA in its operations.

If you follow news about Hewlett Packard (HP), you will be aware that HP culture, referred to as the HP way, has experienced turmoil. The company’s engineer-led approach generated a flow of popular, affordable and utilitarian products until it became synonymous with complacency and high cost. In 1999, Carleton S. “Carly” Fiorina came in as chief executive and tried to revolutionize HP culture through her marketing focused strategy that generated strong sales but demoralized employees. In 2005, Mark V. Hurd succeeded her and has been working to restore tradition and on reinvigorating the company’s 30,000 engineers.

The old strategy focused on engineers creating cool technologies and products, and has now shifted to making products that customers want. The most important lesson in all of this is the need to inspire engineers in the HP lab to turn concepts into products that are relevant to customer’s needs. The shift from a tech focus to one that is consumer oriented through a small army of engineers was the right move.

“We were missing the DNA of an organization that had its finger on customer desires,” says Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of the Personal Systems Group and head of the innovation office.

During the restructuring of HP labs to reinvent the personal computer as being friendly, the company launched a campaign called “the computer is personal again” to support its internal restructuring. After revolutionizing HP culture, the company’s stocks soared 80 percent.

Real change in corporate culture allows you to see the distinct leg up on the competition.

Many branding efforts are only related to naming, marketing activities and PR, but the closest direct connection to a company/product brand and organizational culture is the employee. Sustained performance excellence happens when brands are connected to what staff do best.

Branding your DNA (the essence of your corporate culture) will spark passion by channeling ambition, creating a clear vision, and building a sense of identity and purpose for everyone who is a part of it.

The most productive workers tend to be those who are engaged with and connected with the DNA of the organization. It was reported by Gallup Management Journal that “Disengaged employees cost Singapore between $4.9 billion and $6.7 billion annually.”

Here are some unconventional ideas that may inspire you:

Top performers scorecard (based on time management)

Top performers scorecard is graded by all directors, managers and supervisors. The results are posted on the company’s intranet for anyone to see.

Employees also have the right to see their manager’s score.

Through this unconventional method, HCL technologies posted a 42 percent rise in quarterly net income, winning complex, multi-year projects. Annual revenue reached $1.5 billion.

The creativity room

The creativity room is the kind of place where you would expect to find employees hanging out, drinking soft drinks and revving up ideas for new products/services or the next generation of products/services. It’s a different business culture from the one you find in cubicles, where most employees work, in the rest of the building.

New customer care center

The miniature customer care center is where you find skilled staff handling customers’ complaints, and treating them with care. All are monitored and report directly to the chief customer officer for improving quality and performance.

Customer care is handled by all departments (finance, retail, marketing, HR, operational, sales) for reviewing their customers’ needs and input.

As I learned from Apple, Steve Jobs comes and interacts with customers to directly hear their input. HP top executives also mingle with low-level employees to get fresh ideas. Its no longer the top-to-bottom paradigm but bottom-up, which allows creative juices to flow to the decision-makers.

Employee reward center

When employees perform well, they can go to the employee reward center to receive rewards. This place is also for acknowledgement as well as pampering and indulging top performers.

Every employee who gets a top score is rewarded, with rewards extending to his/her family.

Again, many of the innovations that can rejuvenate your company brand DNA, however, must start now. Like Chinese philosopher Lau Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Even HP’s McKinney admits: “Companies have to realize this isn’t a quick fix. It isn’t business process re-engineering. This is a fundamental shift in the culture of an organization.”

“We’re seeing more innovative methods coming from (emerging markets) … on how to structure and lead organizations,” says Linda A. Hill of Harvard Business School, who wrote about the subject with fellow professor Tarun Khanna.

The future of branding will no longer depend on bottom line driven, customer centric or product quality strategies. The most important thing is to create an excellent brand culture focused on employees who nurture and maintain a positive perception, and employee experience.

Future growth of a strong brand will start with the right design of your employee growth journey.

This way your competitors may copy your products’ look and feel, but you are advancing in sustainable innovation and employee performance.

See The Jakarta Post Article

Harsono Susilo, CEO of Bedrock Asia, is a keynote speaker and practitioner with 15 years’ experience in brand management and consultancy, in the U.S. and Indonesia. He can be contacted at inquiryasia@bedrockbrands.com

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