Employer branding theory of behavior and management
We have recently become acquainted with two types of business leaders. One of them manufactures and exports outdoor furniture worldwide. A potential customer tempted with a large order, but the conditions were a furniture design that homeless people could not lie on. This leader attracted some attention with a clear and unequivocal no thank you. The other business leader produces hoses with accessories for the offshore industry. He has also attracted attention, but for a completely different reason. This was about gross discrimination against the company's employees, laid out on the front pages of the newspaper.
Two characters from the same Norwegian business community, but as different as past and future. It is part of the story that the latter leader bowed when the pressure became too great. Where the former was hailed for his straight back and clear speech, the latter felt the public's anger at mindsets that could not be defended. There is a saying in brand theory that you can not non-communicate. You send signals, no matter what you do. Both leaders, therefore, communicated their values, positive as well as negative, through their actions.
This leads us to the behaviour as the third main factor of brand identity, next to design and language, which are perhaps the most important. Symbol and message are essential for perception, but it is the action that determines whether we believe in you. Everything you do, write, say and produce, reflects the brand you represent. The behaviour turns the corporate culture from the inside out and reveals the slightest discrepancy between words and deeds. If the culture eats the strategy for breakfast, then the behaviour swallows the promises for lunch. Unless the theory is confirmed with practice, it has no value.
We could end the article here. Just hammer in some simple truths about being an honourable human being, that words must follow action, and that common decency is good business practice. However, the challenges are not about malice, but about inspiring a common collective spirit. Customers like to see the people and culture behind a brand and feel that it stands for something and feels real. This, in turn, requires an alignment of employees and brand values to ensure ownership. If you trust the people you meet, you also gain confidence in what they represent. This is the world's simplest value chain where trust creates credibility that gives more customers. With a gentle hand, the company can be taught to be the best version of itself and help employees get where they want to go - personally and professionally.
In other words, behaviour is the most important indicator of whether the culture works with or against the brand's intention. This concept of action can, in turn, be broken down into behaviour within the company, towards customers, towards partners and shareholders and towards the public sector. Additional keywords include pay and working conditions, sales and service conditions, management's strategic consensus and the understanding of society itself.
It was not about kindness when the previously mentioned business leader put his foot down for the demanding and potential customer. On the other hand, it was about understanding the value of one's own brand. To say yes to such conditions would be to say no to the company's future. The other leader did not understand the destructive harmfulness in his own corporate culture, nor the role in a societal perspective. The customers obviously did not want to be associated with this, and the company suffered from it.
If nothing else, the behaviour is the brand in a nutshell.