Clive Simpkins

Building and Breaking Corporate Image

Hi there! A new article, featured in RiskSA magazine Feb 2007.  It has great relevance in today's unregulated and uncontrollable Citizen Media environment. A plain text version is alongside in case you prefer it.

Building and breaking corporate image

You may be a one-person business or a multinational. Regardless, whether by design or default, you and your business will have an ‘image’. And that image is something built largely via perception. Sometimes through ‘the experience’ and often through word of mouth.

Think of it: You approach an organization for product, service or a position. You have a concept of what that organization’s like. You can give a potted-pen description of the kind of people you think are employed there and speculate on how the management behave. And just where did that information or those impressions come from? Typically from communication fragments that have had an impact on your senses. You’ve noticed their advertising in the media. You’ve seen or heard their CEO talking on TV or radio. And then perhaps read an article showcasing their AIDS orphanage corporate social investment initiative. All of this creates an impression or image - but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the organization is genuinely anything like it is portrayed.

The best way to evaluate the sustainable (as opposed to short-term, or superficial) image of an organization is through direct contact or an experience. What legendary former Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) chief executive Jan Carlzon, referred to as ‘a moment of truth’.

In today’s world – where the majority of people are very young – there are greater than ever risks to the reputation of your business. Authoritative trends analysis reveals that a large number of young people see work as a necessary evil at worst, or a nuisance at best. The job ranks second to their social schedule. It’s what they do to earn money so they can buy ‘stuff’. Stuff being DVDs, iPods, cosmetics, booze, drugs and clothes. So if that’s their ingoing attitude to a job, what are the implications and ramifications for the corporate image of your organization? If they don’t care about reputation and see their job more as an irritating stepping-stone to another level in life, can we expect great service, commitment, follow-through, good customer relationships and the like? Not likely. This represents the single biggest area of challenge for business owners and operators today. That is: Getting people around you to care the way you do, about the business.

Why, I don’t know, but there’s also an evident (and concerning) lack of good manners in a vast number of business people today. I came from a financially poor home with seriously dysfunctional parents, yet I somehow developed a sense of consideration for the needs of others, along with good manners. So it’s puzzling that such a broad cross-section of young people in particular, along with a chunk of the business population in general, are plain ill-mannered. Why?

As an example, I approached a car hire desk at Durban airport a few days before writing this article.  There were two people behind the counter – both eating and drinking. The chap I addressed didn’t stop chewing on his hamburger as he replied curtly to my query - food still in his mouth! He’s no doubt studied George W. Bush’s 2006 St. Petersburg G8 Summit luncheon habits.

I’m not expecting an attitude of indentured servitude from anyone, but I'm appalled that business owners or operators consistently let loose on the public and their potential or actual clients, people who have poor manners, no conflict resolution ability and low social skills development. Thought: Have you trained your people in these skills? Or do they just make it up as they go along?

A major image determinant in your business is going to be a) How your phones get answered and b) How your staffers address callers or clients on those phones, by e-mail, or in person. How they handle queries or problems. Because that’s the actual contact, ‘experiential’ stuff.

If I cast my mind back over 2006, I had some awesomely dreadful dis-service experiences. Just go look at my Blog archives (http://clivesimpkins.blogs.com) to get a sense of how a sample of just one (me!), was subjected to mind-numbingly bad client service on so many occasions. If it was happening to me, it was happening to many others. I guess the main difference is that I don’t let it go. I escalate it to the highest level in an organization - with one simple intention - saving others from the same dreadful experience.

An associate of mine thinks organizations aren’t interested in feedback. That you’ll be seen as a Mother Grundy and they’ll ‘yes’ you to death and then do nothing. However, my consistent finding is that CEOs are horrified at what’s happened and they take swift action. Not just because I write about it but because I’m often the first person to draw it to their attention. Most people simply put up with bad service or treatment, or ‘vote with their feet’.

I vote with my phone, computer keyboard and my tongue! In many cases, what starts out as a dreadful service experience turns into a positive relationship. Because I give the feedback and owners or managers respond appropriately and staffers (quite often) get sent for training or re-training. But if I think, ‘sod off’ and go elsewhere, little if anything might change. So, upon reflection and analysis - is your business truly ready on the client or customer image front?

http://www.imbizo.com

Brainwaves and how you can use them

Hiya! Had this article run in the Health News supplement of Business Day today. If you have an interest in how you might use brainwaves and get 'em to work to your advantage, then read on. Or print the article out. Just added a plain text version of the article at the bottom in case it's easier for you to handle!

Had a brainwave?

If you understand a little about brainwaves, you’ll better manage your creativity, problem-solving ability, stress and anger and you’ll also use your brainpower a whole lot better. You may also go from agitation to tranquillity.

Alpha may be the most commonly-known brainwave, but the correct order from fast to slow is Gamma, Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta. Here’s an analogy: Think of two little girls rotating a long skipping rope for their friends. If the rope’s spinning very fast, the circle (or wave ‘frequency’) will be too narrow for play. As the rotation slows down and the circle it describes gets bigger, so they can skip and play inside of it.

At the ‘busiest’ level is Gamma. Typically from 30 Hertz (Hz or cycles per second) upward. It’s an exciting bandwidth which is the subject of ongoing research. The Brazilian healer, Joao de Deo (John of God), who featured on South African TV a few years back, is found to operate at the 40 Hz frequency of Gamma when in his healing ‘trance state’. There’s anecdotal evidence that this state is associate with higher levels of consciousness.

In Beta (13-30 Hz) there’s no skipping possible! It’s typically the brainwave pattern of actively functioning, busy, sometimes agitated, multi-tasking people. It’s a pattern from which it’s impossible to rest or fall asleep.

In Alpha (8-12 Hz) the skipping rope is rotating slower and in a bigger circle. Alpha is acknowledged as a restful, restorative and creative state. Intuitive (non-rote) public speakers, writers and artists may spend significant time in Alpha. It’s going to allow you to come up with great ideas, solutions and creative leaps in your private life or business. It’s typically the wave pattern produced in a state of contemplation, prayer or Transcendental Meditation - TM - (as taught by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles). Note: Meditation is not necessarily a religious activity.

If you’re able to sit or lie down and get your brain into Alpha or below, you can take a 10-20 minute relaxation ‘dive’ that will leave you refreshed and invigorated. Watching beautiful scenery, listening to gentle music or the sound of waves across shells, an aromatherapy treatment – these and many other activities will produce Alpha. All states of light restfulness and even ‘daydreaming’ can pop you into Alpha. You’ll typically go into Alpha before you go to sleep at night and (if you’re not woken by a shrieking alarm clock) you may well ‘surface’ through it on awakening. Both Alpha and the next level – Theta – are great states for intuitive insights and creative processing.

Theta (4-8 Hz) is a deeper state still. The skipping rope is circling wide and slow. At the upper end of Theta you can still be driving or mulling ideas etc. But the lower end of Theta is typically what you’d be producing as you doze or drift off to sleep.

Early Delta (below 4 Hz) is when we’re asleep but in that very light state known as REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. In this phase of sleep you may see your partner, child, baby or animal’s eyes moving behind the eyelids as they ‘follow the action’ in their dream. The deeper part of Delta (below 3 on down to 0.1 Hz) is when we’re in the deep sleep cycle. Beyond that depth would be cessation of measurable brainwaves and you’d be clinically ‘brain dead’. I’m convinced that I run across people on a daily basis who’re in this state! Kidding, but you get my drift.

What’s the easiest way of getting the brain rhythm to slow down into a more restful state? Simple. Just monitor your breathing. As you become aware of (or listen to) your breathing, so the brainwaves slow down, because you start to contemplate or concentrate and eventually even, perhaps meditate. (Although few people genuinely do get into a deep meditation state). This cycle of observing or listening to breath and slowing down the brainwaves is something you can practise and learn, on your own, very easily. Breath and brain activity are inextricably interlinked. Just watch where your breathing’s at when you’re in a hectic Beta rhythm! It’ll typically be shallow little upper-chest gasps. The opposite occurs as we relax, rest and contemplate.

What’s the purpose and benefit of having an understanding of these brain wave states? Quite simply, it means you’re going to manage them rather than have them drive you. You’ll also save energy (the brain uses 40% of the oxygen in your body) and your focus and clarity of thought and function will be dramatically enhanced. Try it – you’ll like it!

http://www.imbizo.com

Who's in charge of PR at FNB?

The anti-crime initiative hatched by First National Bank (FNB), if you read their editorial briefing document, was based on genuinely praiseworthy intentions. But it highlights for all of us the perils of engaging in media visibility without carefully enough thinking through the potential fallout implications. FNB’s ‘let’s attract President Mbeki’s attention’ exercise may indeed have been yanked at the eleventh hour, but the publicity surrounding that yanking has probably done more damage than if the campaign itself had gone ahead. And now we’ll never know how the citizenry would have responded to it. Darn.

What FNB tried to do was both ballsy and honourable. But when you’re a high profile organization as they are, with tentacles into and out of it to other illustrious businesses, the possibility of something going pear-shaped needs to be carefully examined from all angles before righteous anger is allowed to kick in. FirstRand CEO Paul Harris is quoted as having said, ‘Our staff is being traumatised every day’ due to regular bank hold-ups. His comments to the media were peppered with a couple of mild expletives. So he’d allowed emotion to enter the response. It appeared that the murder of Zulu historian David Rattray was the tipping point in FNB’s thinking – and it appears, the moment of indiscretion.

FNB evidently holds large government accounts including those of the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, North West Province, the Department of Finance, the Unemployment Insurance Fund,Telkom, Transnet, Parliament, SA Post Office and SARS. In this position you criticise the government or its policies at your peril. What the ANC has not yet managed to do in organization evolutionary terms is separate legitimate criticism of its many weaknesses from its deeply entrenched concept of ‘disloyalty’. And disloyalty, judging by the repercussions over the years for those deemed guilty of it, means being cast into biblical outer darkness with all the attendant weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. So unless Paul Harris had an early-retirement wish, why did he do this?

The sad, sad reality is that when you or your business are ‘beholden’ to government entities as FNB is, you have to tread a Kofi Annan/Ban Ki-moon diplomatic tightrope of note. Because what you say doesn’t just affect your organization, it affects those with whom your organization has connections or does business. And in the climate of criticism-paranoia evidenced by the ANC, particularly in the extended ‘run-up’ to presidential elections, this is a grave oversight.

Government has been quick to deny that they exerted pressure of any sort on FNB to can the campaign. They even trotted out presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga and the deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to support this assertion. But ‘government spokesperson’ Themba Maseko’s comments as reported in the Sunday media are telling: He described the proposed action as ‘incitement’ against Mbeki and allegedly said, ‘….trying to incite people to behave in a certain way towards the head of state cannot be condoned’. (My italics). If this is the man I think he is – lawyer, MBA, private enterprise-baptised man, former MP and now head of Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS), that’s quite a scary pronouncement. See – the ‘pressure’ works even better when you’re in government.  

                                              

Themba Maseko

 

Sociologically, this ‘fear of speaking out’ or being ‘punished’ as a result of the type of scenario in which FNB finds itself, is an insidious disease and speaks of something more sinister. By implication, you become beholden to and the toady of the ANC-led government if you wish to handle any facet of their business. They will brook no criticism. Breach that unwritten rule and you’ll find yourself out in the cold. The process is subtle but inexorable. And it’s a very clever way of stifling dissent. I think we should be concerned. That’s how one-party states begin asserting themselves. I fear our democracy is going to become a troubled teenager.

http://www.imbizo.com