Could you be a super hero?

Hero We’ve talked quite a bit about branding and the importance of your employees intellectually and emotionally understanding and embracing your organization’s brand

Part of your brand is without a doubt, how you expect your employees to make decisions, treat clients and conduct themselves with each other.  It helps define how you hire, promote, reward and even fire those employees who do or do not live up to that expectation.

We’ve all seen the employee manual version…"We hold these values to be of the highest esteem — integrity, loyalty and a great work ethic."

Blech.

Nothing wrong with the sentiments, but the presentation makes it feel like it could apply to any company. So how do you make it meaningful, tangible and not sound like HR jargon? 

Well, at McLellan Marketing Group part of our brand is that we work hard to be our client’s heroes.  To that end, we have created the MMG Hero. ( Download MMGhero.pdf )

He is our very tangible way of setting the bar internally.  We use it to hold each other accountable, to high five each other for really being a hero and to brainwash the new employees, so they clearly understand the standard we’ve set in the marketplace.

Maybe being a super hero doesn’t fit your brand.  But the idea of personalizing your expectations sure should.  Maybe it’s a country song. Or an epic poem.  Or a letter from a customer who sums up their experience. How could you create a memorable, meaningful way to set the bar for your team?

If you don’t think you are quite up to MMG Hero status but would like to see what kind of super hero you might be, take this quiz.

 

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

6 comments on “Could you be a super hero?

  1. This was a very well-articulated and thoughtful post, Drew. I took the quiz at the end and came out as IronMan. Since I’m a woman, that doesn’t really fit, but I will take away the inventor, business person and genius that goes along with that result. What a fun post!

  2. CK says:

    I LOVE this Superhero. How creative and articulate of you…he just rocks!

    You just keep hitting it out of the park. Bravo.

  3. Though I lack the cape, broad shoulders and blue-black hair with the come-hither forehead curl, I’m a “Superman(person)” to my clients, kids, and assorted household critters.

    Getting folks to move beyond self-serving platitudes to unique, specific action-centric attitudes is the key to a strong branding statement.

    So why don’t more do it? ):: scratching head ::

  4. Robyn,

    Sorry about the IronMan result. I think there were very few female super heroes, so that probably explains it.

    I ended up as SpiderMan. I was really hoping for Green Hornet. I think he’s the coolest SH, but he wasn’t an option on the test.

    Drew

  5. CK,

    Truth be told — when I had the original idea and sketched it up to show my team — he looked a lot more like a Gingerbread Man. 🙂

    But, thanks to talented art directors, we are looking a little more buff today!

    Glad you like the idea.

    Drew

  6. Roberta,

    I think most people stay in the “successories” mode because it is safe. It is so broad and general that anyone can commit to it.

    To be specific, in branding or employee vision requires guts because you are saying “judge me by this. I promise you this.”

    Courage is not always in mass quantities in the business world, in my opinion.

    Drew

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *