How many superstars does your company have?

1. Only 10% of your company is in touch with the outside world, and because of your policies it is forbidden for your staff to talk actively to others about their work via social media; or

 

2. Only 10% of your company is in touch with customers and commercial contacts, but 40% of your staff actively talks about their job in different channels, which also include social media.

Which of the two companies will be the most successful, do you think? As you can imagine, the answer is quite obvious. The more people actively participate in conversations concerning your brand / company, the more interesting profiles might get in touch with you. Because superstars’ communication is so enthusiastic, getting to know your company becomes appealing. This effect works both towards potential customers and potential employees.

What does a superstar do? A superstar is a person who likes to show the outside world exactly what his / her job is all about, and this concerns both positive and negative job elements. Social media are the superstar’s best friend. This way, each member of your team gets the chance to create his / her own network and to look for relevant business partners. A superstar does not need encouraging to do so, but has the spontaneous reflex to share things with the world in a positive and enthusiastic way.

Furthermore, the current superstars entice the future ones to come along for the ride. That’s how a positive spiral is created that will eventually turn you into the ‘superstar company”. Unfortunately most companies do the opposite. Most of you work for a company where the opposite is reality. Reading of and talking via social media is blocked by the management of an increasing number of companies.

The most frequent reason is: ‘People should be working, not wasting time on Facebook’. 50 years ago, the same was said about the telephone, and about 15 years ago, the same stories emerged about e-mail. If a member of staff does not feel like working and spends time on Facebook, the advantage to the management is that this is incredibly transparent. In other words: if employees do not want to work, you’d better make them redundant. Blocking access to Facebook does not entice them to work, because there will always be something else to waste time on.

Another reason for blocking access to the sites is the fear that an employee might be negative about the company. Well, in such a case the same theory is valid. This is very transparent for an employer and you can then talk with that employee. Don’t forget: most dissatisfied employees will not express this via Facebook but in a personal conversation with their peers. This implies that it is another advantage for the employer. In other words: there will always be people who do not feel like working, or people who are not sensible enough to communicate wisely via social media. Blocking such media will not solve that problem but will simply shift it.

The greatest HR opportunity, but they don’t see it.

Let’s go back to the ‘Superstar company’, since I think this is the greatest opportunity that HR management has ever had. Think along with me: superstars determine your company’s image. Therefore, the image of the brand, products and company as an employer will be influenced as well. The origin of conversation management is therefore located within the organisation. The company culture determines the way superstars will talk. In the medium term this will determine the company’s image.

So what is the role of strategic marketing? No idea!

What is the use of the word ‘employer’ in the term ‘employer branding’? Useless!

Who is responsible for determining, managing and cultivating the company culture? HR is.

In other words: who can manage and guide the superstars and thus be the main factor determining a company’s positioning? HR.

It’s only a pity that most HR people do not see that, and therefore make the opposite decisions. In the short term, they will not launch themselves up in the hierarchy but down.