Different: Setting Your Employment Value Proposition Apart

I've been buried in a pile of excellent business books the last several weeks. One I particularly enjoyed was Different by Youngme Moon. Ostensibly a book about marketing, there is much to be learned in other areas of business as well.

The subtitle of the book alone - "Succeeding in a world where conformity reigns but exceptions rule" - could be the subtitle of a book on any number of business topics. But let's look at it from just one perspective - employment value proposition (EVP).

Companies I've worked with to develop strategic employee recognition programs cite creating a strong EVP as one reason for wanting to implement recognition. When I press for details on other aspects of the EVP, I get a fairly typical laundry list:

• Fair compensation structure as compared to the industry
• Standard benefits package of medical, dental, life and disability insurance
• Work/life balance elements (vacation package, education credits, etc.)
• Career planning, training and development, etc.
• Some form of promotion of the company's culture

If you have an EVP, does this sound familiar? If so, you're not setting your company apart, you're simply blending in. As Dr. Moon says in Different:

"I'm not suggesting that we should be ignoring our competition. But I do believe that it is important for us to begin looking at ourselves the way that consumers do. When consumers look at the brands within a particular category, more often than not, all they see is a competitive blur."

Replace "consumers" with "prospective employees" or, better yet, "current critical employees who are just waiting for the economy to improve so they can jump ship." Replace "brands" with "EVP." Your company now just became part of the competitive blur. You need to start thinking "different." Again, from Dr. Moon:

"The objective is not to blend into the blur; the objective is to stand out from it. This is what it means to be different."

One of the best ways to make your EVP stand out - to be different - is through your company culture. You can no more proclaim a culture into being than you can mandate changes to it, but you can encourage and recognize the behaviors of employees that contribute to the culture you want. 

Do you want a culture focused on quality of products? Then recognize employees, individually and as teams, every time they raise a product issue or institute a new process that contributes to product quality. Do you want a culture of customer service? Recognize employees when they meet or exceed customer expectations, even if it may cost you a bit more money.

Believe me, your culture is known and discussed. From sites like Glassdoor to personal blogs to Facebook and Twitter, your employees are talking about their experience of working in your organization. Stand out from the common "I hate my job/work/company/colleagues" comments today. Become the company recognized for ... recognition and appreciation instead. Be Different!

As Globoforce's CMO & Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin, Montreal, and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @globoforce.

Comments

[Laura Schroeder]

I'm going to tweet this!

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Thanks, Laura!