Employee Brand Engagement: How to Create Passionate and Inspired Employees

By Rick DeMarco

Much has been written about leadership and about the ability to create a productive and passionate workforce.  The outdated concept of leadership relied on a strong autocratic style in which the leader very clearly articulated his/her demands and others either delivered or suffered the consequences.    The obvious problem with this approach is that you can order someone to do something, but you cannot order them to be passionate about it.  And in order for employees to deliver on a brand promise and brand strategy, they must believe the vision and must understand how they contribute to and participate in the organization’s success.  Only then will employees transfer their passion and excitement to your customers in the manner in which they interact with them, in both business and social settings.

As you read about efforts to engage employees and create brand ambassadors, you often hear leaders talking about “motivating” the workforce   I don’t believe that anyone can actually motivate anyone else.  Motivation comes from within.  The most effective way to get what you need from an employee is to first provide them with what they need.  A leader’s job is to determine what it is that motivates the people he/she leads and then provide it for them.  In order to do this, leaders must truly know the people they lead.  And I’m not just talking about what they do on the job.  I’m talking about knowing about their passions, their families, their shared values, and the things that keep them up at night and wake them up in the morning.   The only way to provide an environment in which an employee is motivated is to fully understand what it is that motivates him/her and insure that his/her needs are met.  I recently talked with a friend who had been disenchanted with the leadership style of his manager for some time.  Finally, with no attempt to address his needs, the employee made a decision to leave the company.  When he told his manager about his plans, the manager put a full court press on efforts to convince him to stay.  But at this point, the employee made it clear that it was too late.  He had already made his decision based on the leader’s insensitivity to his needs and inability to provide what he needed in order to be passionate about his role with the company.  I’ve seen it over and over again.  An employee decides to leave and the immediate response is to offer him/her more money, when in fact, money had nothing to do with the motivation of the employee to leave.

If you truly want your employees to deliver on your brand promise and business strategy, take the time to understand what motivates them and then provide an environment in which their needs are met.  You can then create true brand ambassadors who are passionate and inspired about your vision and objectives and relay that passion to your customers.