According to the NY Times today, Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, told investment analysts that communication was to blame for the crisis surrounding the company, not defects on its cars. Mr. Toyoda said the company had been the subject of “negative reporting”.

He has also pledged to have more communication with his dealers and has claimed to already taken 'a number of important steps' to improve communications with regulators and customers, who’s loyalty he believes, will help them through the situation.

Isn’t there a group he’s missing?

Given the recent safety problems, negative publicity and downward stock performance, it might also be an optimal time for Toyota to consider an internal employee communications campaign to reinvigorate the brand from the inside out.

Exactly 9 years ago, in April 2001, the Toyota Motor Corporation adopted the “Toyota Way” an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace.

Under the two headings, or "pillars," of Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, Toyota sums up the values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles:
• Challenge
• Kaizen (improvement)
• Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)
• Respect
• Teamwork

A branding expert like myself, might consider these to be their brand pillars, and had they stayed true to them, they may have avoided the problems they face today.

For Toyota, finding internal support may not be initially easy. Consider 2 of the 14 Principles that are part of the Toyota Way:

Principle 1
• Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.

Principle 5
• Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.

With more than 50,000 employees in the US alone, Toyota needs to launch internal research to uncover the teams applying these principles, and then highlight the positive efforts on its business.

Through a solid communication campaign that shows the relevance of the Toyota Way in today’s troubled climate, and the recognitionof those embracing the Toyota Way, they can continue to build on the success of their strong culture.

It’s another case of a brand gone bad, but I believe that the Toyota Way can be their way back to the top.

Now can someone just tell Mr. Toyoda about BRANDEMiX?

Labels: culture, internal communications

Sami is the coo & co-founder of trulia, a real estate search engine that people (like me) find homes for sale. This from his blog:

Employee happiness dashboard - Really?

We typically have a small group lunch with all new employees and one of the questions I often ask is “What is different at Trulia? What can we do better?” Erika, offered an eye-opening response yesterday: “During my career, I’ve never worked for a company that surveys and listens to all the employees on a regular basis, not to mention shares all the results with the entire company in an all-hands meeting.”

I thought that – tuning into employee happiness - was what every respectable organization does in a professional environment, where the most valuable assets of the company walk out the door every evening (sometimes in the morning). We even have fresh new Harvard University backed research proving that happiness is actually contagious between people.

So they started asking, ranking (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best) and tracking 2 simple questions from August 2005 until November 2008:

• I like to go to work every morning
• Work at Trulia is fun

Here's what he has to say about the results:
Overall we have had very high “happiness” scores throughout our company life, about 4.25 on a 1 to 5 scale, which is especially impressive considering we have grown rapidly from just 4 people to about 85 today as well as moved offices three times during this period

- We’ve noticed some annual cyclicality tied into summer time, all company off-site event and holiday season
- Our team reacted into the overall economic downturn and dozens of other (online) media companies’ aggressive lay-offs; after we announced that we would not do lay-offs, but continue hiring selectively, the index bounced back again (last month)

While we may not be able to reduce the secret of happiness to a single number (and hopefully never will!), we have found that these anonymous surveys are an invaluable tool in adjusting and improving our culture, as well as other company practices to stay on the right growth track!

My favorite part of Sami's blog was found at the end --

How’s your daily happiness and excitement level when you walk into your office? If you’re looking for something, possibly greener grass, check out our jobs page.

This "always be selling" approach to blogging and jobbing was really great, especially for a bean counter. But may I just say that with such a great culture and story, I think the Jobs page could be better?

I guess I'm always blogging and selling too.

BRANDEMiX adds Trulia to my list of companies to watch.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, culture

If you haven’t been following BRANDEblog, you may not be up-to-date on my Zappos experience, starting with the HBR article, Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too.

Here’s the backstory-

I read the article- After 1 month of training, Zappos offers employees $1,000 to quit- but guess what! Now it’s $2,000. The idea is that if employees take the money, they’re not Zappos material and would have a negative impact on the culture. Less than 3% take the option.

I was intrigued and found a prez from CEO Tony on slideshare. At the end, he invites viewers to send him an email and he’ll send you a culture book. I did, along with a plug about who BRANDEMiX is, and an offer of help in his Employee Communications any time in the future.

He wrote me back, and told me I’d be getting the book and hearing from Christa, the head of recruiting.

I got the book and heard from Christa. Also got a follow-up email from distribution, confirming that they sent the book and inviting me for a tour any time I was in Henderson.

Fast forward to last Thursday-
I’m in Vegas and call Christa about a meeting. She says “sure”- sends a limo to pick me up.
The limo driver calls me to confirm, knows 7 out of 10 company values without peeking at her badge.
Christa tells reception she’ll be down to meet me in 4 minutes- she is.
She gives me a tour.

She misses seeing herself on TV on the Oprah show

Treats me like a queen.

Hands me parting gifts like a book bag and 4 business books with her recommended reading
Shows me the Zappos application and tells me why one of their evaluation questions asks how lucky people consider themselves to be
(To find out why, read here)

And shows me the Executive Offices

As Horton says, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An Elephant’s faithful, 100%.”

The Zappos culture is made up of individuals who are 100% committed to delivering customer WOW. They recognize that everyone, even vendors, are customers. They have lived up to my scrutiny and exceeded my expectations of how to internalize a culture and bring a vision to life.

I will buy from Zappos, I will recommend Zappos and I look forward to using them as a case study of how internal culture drives business success. I would be lucky to have them as a BRANDEMiX client.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, culture

Restaurant Survey Reveals Potential managers, hourly workers value brand culture.

With rising minimum wages equalizing pay rates among restaurants, pay is becoming less of a factor in attracting hourly workers, said operators, who noted they are looking for other ways to recruit and retain their workforces.

A recent study by the Hay Group for the Chain Restaurant Compensation Association found that a company’s reputation was a leading factor in recruiting both hourly and managerial employees. Other important factors included benefits, work climate, culture and flexible hours.

With the federal minimum wage reaching $6.55 per hour in July and given that 32 states have even higher minimum-wage rates, restaurants do not have as much flexibility for additional pay incentives, said Maryam Morse, a consultant for the Hay Group.

“Premium pay over the minimum wage is not as compelling an employment proposition,” Morse said. “From this study, one of the top reasons people go to a company is the company culture.”

Even in a down economy, where escalating labor and food costs have forced some chains to close units and lay off employees, recruiting and retaining remains a challenge, said compensation and HR managers and executives.

“Employees may be more cautious in considering job changes based on the ever-increasing number of layoffs and store closings,” said Wendy Harkness, vice president of CRCA, a group of more than 100 restaurant companies that strive to improve compensation practices by pooling data. “However, companies are particularly vulnerable to losing top employees in a challenged economy.”

Top performers typically know their worth and can leverage that with employers looking to upgrade positions, said Harkness, who is also vice president of human resources for Checkers.

“You have to develop a compelling employment brand,” she said, “not just to fetch the brightest and newest, but also to keep the ones you have today.”

Besides a company’s reputation, medical and health benefits and then base pay were important recruiting factors for regional and district managers. Company reputation, benefits, and an attractive work climate and culture ranked above base salary for restaurant managers, while top concerns for hourly employees were company reputation, attractive work climate and culture, and flexible work hours. Base pay did not occur in the top five recruiting factors.

Bottom-ranked factors for recruiting and retention were employee stock ownership plans, child care or elder care programs, cash retention bonuses, and sign-on bonuses.

Pay is rarely the No. 1 motivator in staying at a job, said CRCA board member Chip Stalter, compensation manager at 414-unit White Castle.


“It’s all about how is the company to work for, do they communicate with me, do they provide benefits, is there some place for me to go in the organization—those factors are ahead of pay,” Stalter said.

The slowing economy may be slowing turnover for some operators, but training, development, benefits and quality of life remain key drivers in retention and employee productivity, operators said.

“Our folks, we feel, are just tucking their heads under the blanket to protect themselves from the economy,” said Mike Conner, vice president of Frisch’s Restaurants Inc.

But while Frisch’s has seen a decline in turnover for managers and hourly workers, the company remains committed to training and retention because fully staffed restaurants with well-trained employees are more profitable, he said.

The CRCA study points out that if employees leave a company, it is often because of their boss, Conner said.

“If you look at the reasons for leaving—scheduling [conflicts], compensation, work-life balance—the manager has control over every one of those items,” he said. “Our managers are our best leaders, and our best managers have the lowest turnover and their restaurants outperform their peer group.”

Morse from the Hay Group encouraged operators to survey their employees to find out what attracted them to the company and what is keeping them.

“The implication for restaurant companies is reconsider what is of value to your people and what will get you the most bang for the buck,” Morse said. “Survey them on their way in, while they are there and when they leave.”

Labels: BRANDEMiX, culture, Employer Branding

Obviously P&G didn't read my blog post from 12/3/07 from or they would know that the tagline is dead. In another example of how brands are trying to engage with consumers, use social media and save money from ad agency fees:

With the introduction of its fourth flavor, Wintergreen Ice, Crest is asking YouTube fans to come up with the brand's new slogan.

From Sept. 15 through Oct. 17, consumers can submit videos featuring their take on the brand in 10 words or less. The winning phrase will be incorporated in upcoming TV spots advertising the new flavor.

TV spots running next month show Chef Emeril Lagasse and a panel of judges evaluating contestants as they perform their catch phrase American Idol-style. "We're looking for the best catch phrase for Crest Whitening Expressions ".

This isn't really that newsworthy. In addition to Crest's contest, there are several others you can participate in. Don't believe me? Just go to YouTube, click on Community and see for yourself.
The implications in the world of human resources can be fun-- BRANDEMiX suggests your next employee referral can be your employee AND their referral selling themselves on their attributes. Need to understand your Employee Value Proposition? BRANDEMiX suggests you follow new hires from their interview through onboarding and then check back in with them in 60, 90 and 120 days. (With their consent of course.)

Contests and prizes have a way of building teams, bonding people and sharing love.

If you have no plans for next week's Labor Day slowdown- maybe you want to get out the video camera. In fact, I gotta go- Nestle's might give me $10,000

Labels: BRANDEMiX, culture, employee referral, social networking

YOUR CHOICE: SEE THE MOVIE



READ THE POST
Ever heard of a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees? We’ve all heard of severance packages where long-standing employees are essentially paid a bonus to quit now. But a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees to voluntarily leave after a week on the job … that’s novel.

Bill Taylor, of Mavericks at Work fame, writes how Zappos , a fast-growing online shoe retailer, will offer one-week old employees a “Quit-Now” bonus of $1,000. Zappos will ask new employees this question … “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.”

Why does Zappos do this? The reasoning, as Bill Taylor put it, is …

“Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)”

SEE THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION FROM ZAPPOS PRESIDENT, Tony Hseih




Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, provides his 10 tips for building a customer service focused culture.

Whichever is your media of choice, the deal is that for a virtual company to have such a strong connection with its customers, they must be doing something right.

All employees that are hired into their corporate office, regardless of position, are required to undergo a 4-week Customer Loyalty Training course, which includes at least 2 weeks of talking on the phone with customers in the call center.^[7] at full salary. After training the new employees are offered $1000 to leave the job immediately.^[7] This is to ensure people are there for the love of the job and not the money. Over 90% turn down the buyout.

Great job Tony. And move over Southwest. I've just found a new case study for my toolbox.

I have emailed Tony who graciously offered me a free copy of his culture book. More to come.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, culture, retention

On February 26th, Starbucks closed each of its more than 7,000 stores for 3.5 hours to provide Expresso Excellence training for 135,000 employees. As a culture advocate, I was pretty impressed with the effort after I roughly calculated the cost in lost sales to be near 1.9 million dollars. Though at the same time it seemed like a pretty steep price to teach someone how to press a button.

But look at it another way-

Starbucks spends less than 1/10th of 1% on advertising- its nearest competitor based on market share in the fast food restaurant category spends 231 million. The story was picked up by every major outlet thanks to a media alert they sent out-- a media alert and got almost 1,500 people to Digg it.

Thankfully, since caffeine-deprived brains might fail us at any time, Starbucks even included some tips on what we could do during the closing hours:

“12,600 Seconds in Time” – 5 GREAT THINGS TO DO IN JUST 3 ½ HOURS
1. Thinking of a change in hair color? A full color with highlights takes just about 3 hours.
2. Watch almost all of the nominated short films.
3. When was the last time you made a home cooked meal? You can roast an 8lb -12lb turkey in 3 ½ hours.
4. What better time to organize those closets, it’s a jump start on spring cleaning.
5. After patiently waiting 12,601 seconds, head to Starbucks to get that espresso!

Was it a PR stunt? They reemerged with a new take on "the customer is always right" policy posted about their stores; it reads: "Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we'll make it right." Even if the answer was yes, good for them.

And, good for Dunkin Donuts who had their own idea- they dropped the price of their lattes and cappuccinos to a mere 99 cents during their competitor's closure and saw a 10% spike in sales.
Did it work? A few blog comments I swiped from cyberspace:

A visit to a Starbucks in Mt. Kisco, New York indicates that no one was paying attention during the training day. The store was dirty. A cigarette butt at one door. A snow shovel against the new coffee makers on sale. Floors that had not been swept recently. The service area for getting milk and napkins in disarray.

Perhaps Starbucks workers should be paid based on the stock price. That might get their attention.

Douglas A. McIntyre

In response to whether or not the Starbucks training night this spring was a success, I belive that the answer was yes. My tall, decaf, non-fat lattes have never tasted so good! I have sampled them at a variety of locations throughout my city and they were all much improved over the ones I purchased pre-training. More importantly, I have seen a notable increase in personalized service at my neighborhood Starbucks. Again, my take from the frontlines was that it was a success!

Posted by: J. Lockwood

It seems the goal of the training was to boost sales. The means to do this was to make a better cup of coffee and provide superior customer service. But is customer service training the way to boost sales? Yes, you are treating the customers you already have, the regulars, better. But how is this training going to attract the new customers that Starbucks needs to grow their business? Without a marketing plan for the training to support, we may never see how successful this training was for Starbucks.

Posted by: Jennifer Miller | Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 07:35 PM

What do you think?

Labels: culture, multi-generational training