Market internally to grow

A study by the Human Capital Institute found that most organizations operate at a 30 percent rate of efficiency due to poor engagement among their staff. If you consider how much more revenue a business could generate by increasing its employee engagement, the value of internal marketing becomes clear. Here are some empirical results:

n A Towers Watson study of 50 companies found that organizations with high employee engagement levels experienced a 19 percent increase in operating income and 28 percent growth in earnings per share.

n Research by Kenexa found that companies whose workers were engaged generated five times higher shareholder returns over a five-year period.

In order to motivate your employees and increase engagement, you must show them why they should be as passionate about your organization as you are. This will spur them to truly embrace and prioritize the customer experience and adopt an owner’s mindset rather than simply performing their daily responsibilities.

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What exactly does internal marketing entail? It is your strongest motivational tool, and it goes beyond providing perks to employees or your employees being satisfied. Instead, you and your managers need to inspire your employees to make emotional commitments to the organization.

There is a wide variety of internal marketing tactics that you can deploy:

n Send out a monthly internal company email newsletter or develop an intranet for posting company news and happenings.

n Coordinate company events, such as happy hours, internal team-building workshops and off-site retreats.

n Develop a mentorship program.

In addition to internal marketing, consider refining your motivational strategies to include nonfinancial incentives. A global study by McKinsey & Co. found that nonfinancial incentives, such as praise and awards from an immediate manager, attention from leaders and opportunities to lead projects or task forces, were all more effective motivators than financial incentives, such as stock options or performance-based cash bonuses.

Nonfinancial incentives may require more time and commitment from senior managers than do financial incentives. However, they are more effective, because they inspire passion tied to the company rather than to money in the bank. This passion results in engaged employees who are committed to your company’s goals and values.

As soon as the right team is in place, fully engaged and working toward a common goal, your company’s probability of achieving long-term success will dramatically increase.

Sign up your full team for an employee-engagement workshop. These workshops can be tailored to your business and presented on-site. By teaching your leadership team how to increase employee engagement, you will be well on your way to building an engaged workforce.

You can also undertake biannual surveys to gauge your company’s employee-engagement level. An employee satisfaction index can be calculated by asking your employees to answer, on a scale of 1-10, a set of sample questions, such as: “How satisfied are you with your current workplace?” “How well does your current workplace meet your expectations?” This continuous feedback loop will keep your finger on the pulse of your corporate culture and help you to identify potential problems. •

Chris Ciunci is founder and managing partner of TribalVision, which has offices in Warwick, Boston and New York.

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