Image Matters

One of the many things you likely do not know about me is that I am a voracious reader.  This is something that has come to be a real advantage in both my job and social life.  I read at least two newspapers everyday cover to cover, 3 other newspapers skimmed on line, three news sites online and in the evening I read through a news aggregate called Flipboard (if you have an Ipad I highly recommend this app, sometime I might devote a blog to my favourite apps).   However I did not start writing this with the intention of discussing my reading habits, rather I wanted to talk about a book I recently finished.

My wife is a (frequent) consumer of Starbucks coffee and the other week while paying for her Iced Non-Fat Latte I noticed the book that the founder Howard Shultz had written titled "Onward - how Starbucks fought for its Life without Losing Its Soul".   I have always been impressed with the business model that Starbucks has, essentially selling the experience rather then simply a cup of caffeine, so this book intrigued me.  I immediately went to my Kobo app on my phone and purchased the book (thank-you to the the wonderful world of e-readers and mobile technology).  This was a fascinating read on the turnaround of the company thorough returning to the value proposition that Starbucks stands for.

Schultz states:

At the very heart of being a merchant is a desire to tell a story by making sensory, emotional connections.   Once, twice or 16,000 times.  Ideally, every Starbucks store should tell a story about coffee and what we as an organization believe in.  That story should unfold via the taste and presentation of our products as well as the sights, sounds, and smells that surround our customers.

Schultz is so obsessed with the atmosphere of his stores that he actually cancelled one of the best product launches that Starbucks ever had -- the breakfast sandwich -- for the simple reason that he occasionally smelled burnt cheese when he entered a store.   This was an experience he felt was not consistent with the image or value proposition he wants Starbucks to project.

Image is everything in retailing, the way that you display both the physical layout of the store and the way that the people appear, provides a deep message with respect to the value proposition you are presenting.   In the case of Starbucks they definitely are not presenting the image of a quick cup of coffee to inject one with sufficient caffeine to get you through the morning and every sight, sound and smell in their stores is connected to the image that is connected to their brand.

I have dragged Starbucks advertisement on long enough, I know you are asking yourself what does this have to do with financial services?   Bank branches are becoming more like retail stores everyday with consumers having a larger number of choices in both brands and distribution channel.   While banks do not provide a physical product to sell, the experience that clients are looking for is that of a high end retailer.    When you look around the branch you work in, do the sights, sounds and smells help sell the value proposition that we are conveying through our advertising and through and advice to the clients?   Does your office and even the way you dress help provide the client with the confidence that you can deliver on the value proposition that brought them into your store?   The most successful retailers have proven that the connection between appearance and value proposition is strong.

One of the ways that I am in most control of my company's and my personal image is through the way I dress.  This is not the beginning of a strict dress code as I am not necessarily a fan of dictating what people wear, however we each need to remember what the value proposition is for our company and how our personal image impacts it.   As an organization we do need to allow expressions of individuality and how one dresses reflects the individual.   Dress codes can be taken too far and UBS's (United Bank of Switzerland) dress code has gone viral due to the severe restrictions they apparently place on appearance.   If you have time, have look at their policy  UBS Dress Code and let me know what you think.  To contrast with UBS's strict dress code you could compare it with the Huffington Post article describing the Government of Japan's newSuper Cool Biz dress code.   Japan is attempting to reduce energy consumption by 15% by moving thermostats to 28 degrees Celsius, making their traditional office garb a little too warm and they are now encouraging Aloha shirts at work - this will not likely catch on in that culture.

I took the opportunity to discuss how important professionalism is with one of our career sales force Sales Mangers, Ann Gow.   Please have a look at this quick video to hear her comments:


First Impression Matters from Michael Adamcryck on Vimeo.
The next morning you are trying to decide whether to wear a shirt and tie today or simply a golf shirt, think about how this controllable activity connects to the value proposition you are delivering.

Recognition

Our company recently celebrated our Employee Appreciation Day and I had the pleasure of spending my day meeting with most of our employees in the region thanking them for what they do every day.   My experiences last week forced me to reflect that Employee Day is a lot like Mother's Day, we all make a big mistake by only celebrating it for 1/365 of the year.   We need to do something about this, more on that in a moment. 

The satisfaction I get from recognising people for doing great things reminds me of a conversation I had with Peter Hart, CEO Rideau Recognition.   Peter's company is dedicated to helping corporations reward and recognize their employees more effectively as well as conducting ground breaking research into recognition programs.   At the meeting Peter was facilitating he informed us that good recognition programs create a healthier workplace, I thought to myself of course it does that simply means more fun at work.   Afterwards I spoke with him and he repeated this.   I said of course everybody feels better when they are told they are doing a good job.  Peter told me that their research shows that it goes even deeper then feeling good, a number of studies have indicated that a stressful work place increases cortisol levels in the body that leads to decreased functioning of the immune system and increased risk of heart attack.  A company that properly recognizes their employees for their contribution can reduce the stress in the workplace.   Recognition in the work place can actually make both the giver and receiver healthier, reducing the risk of illness along with increasing job satisfaction - incredible.

One of the most effective ways of reducing stress in the workplace is through recognizing employees.  This does not mean simply presenting somebody with a 25 year pin for service in the company.   Real recognition must be:

Authentic

Specific

Timely

Personal

If we miss any one of these in our recognition we have missed an excellent opportunity to recognize somebody for the great work they do.   It is not only management's responsibility to recognize great people, everybody plays a role in creating a great place to work and using Real recognition every day. 

We have several ways of recognizing great work in several different medias such as paper, electronic and of course in person each having different impacts.   Recongnition takes a conscious effort and most importantly recognition begins with the individuals name and it must be Real.  As Roy Sanderson from Rideau Recognition's Management Institute states "it's not just about how you feel it is about how the recipient feels".   For more interesting information on recognition read Peter Hart's Blog

I started out this post by mentioning Employee Appreciation Day, the energy I saw in each of the stores was incredible with the enthusiasm transfering to our clients.    This day and the response has had me asking our leadership team why we do not have that atmosphere every day, or at least once per week?  We cannot find a single answer,  however recognition plays a role in this and needs to play a role sustaining this atmosphere.   I would ask you to help us understand how we can recreate this more often through posting comments on this site or sending me an e-mail.

I saw so many great people proud to be RBC employees I started asking their history with the company and why they work here, I quickly became overwhelmed with the feedback and finally pulled out my phone and started recording.   Here is a two minute summary of what I heard:


http://vimeo.com/25060695 from Michael Adamcryck on Vimeo.