Waikato Business News November/December 2018

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36 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS November/December 2018 Your staff are your brand As an employer, how can you make sure that the personalities you employ match the personality of your organisation? Human characteristics are strange and complex things. Good and bad. Some fit together. Some don’t. Yes, skills, capabilities, experience, they’re all crucial qualities when filling a role, but it also helps if that person is going to ‘fit’ your organisation and will exhibit the behaviours that you want for your brand. But you certainly can’t have high expectations around this if you don’t give them some kind of picture of how those expectations look. Employer branding is still a crucial part of business success. After all, how can your staff be the face of your brand, or the engine powering it, if they don’t have a strong sense of what your brand is all about? If your marketing is quirky, fun or upbeat, but your staff are dull, which is the wasted dollar - their pay cheque or your ad spend? Last month, the butcher at New World Te Rapa was beaming with joy at his team winning an award for their Angus Beef Sausages. His excitement permeated the store and his love for his job, for that day at least, was infectious. And, yes, the sausages were delicious. It might have been typical of his personality, but his commitment and apparent knowledge seemed very New World, like the Master Butcher in their ‘Fresh Experts’ campaign. It felt like external and internal brand characteristics were marrying nicely. Have your company’s internal brand clear from the start, and you’ll attract the right people that fit. I sat down with Senga Allen from Everest, specialists in people and culture, and she stressed the importance of setting values and expectations for staff. “Internal brand impacts on the external lens that people see us through,” she explained, emphasising the importance of delivering on promise. “Customer service is about reflecting your brand, not just doing a good job.” She reiterated how a clearly defined and articulated brand is vital at all stages of the relationship, from initial recruitment to retaining staff, and building a cohort of advocates. Having a brand story, with clarity around purpose, characteristics and personality, is the cornerstone of employee relationships just as it is for customer engagement. It doesn’t have to be carved in stone, plastered across every available wall space, unless that’s what floats your boat. But without a guide, the business oceans will be hard to navigate. In many organisations, values and behaviours become inherent purely from a brand-focused induction or orientation process that is naturally supported by everyday conversations within the team. As business leaders, you can develop internal cultures that reinforce your brand, rather than enforce it. Senga Allen observed also that internal brand culture is even more important in recruitment environments like we’re seeing in Waikato at the moment, where candidates have choice. If the roles they are interviewing for are barely differentiated, the employer that offers the best place to work and fits with their values and personality will stand out. Have your company’s internal brand clear from the start, and you’ll attract the right people that fit. This can sometimes be easier for new businesses who are focused on setting out their stall and are paying a lot of attention to how they are perceived. But as marketplaces change, brands often find themselves having to re-evaluate and evolve their positioning. Senga Allen pointed out that a shift in brand direction can be more challenging for these businesses who may have long established staff for whom change is difficult to embrace. This shows how important it is to look at regular brand ‘health checks’ and to make sure you maintain ongoing brand-focused communication with your staff to take them with you along the journey, whether it’s a straight route or whether you need to tack every now then. We saw a huge shift a few years back when new players came in to the telecommunications sector in New Zealand. Telecom, as the state provider, was expected to be neutral, serious and ‘safe’ in how it presented itself. Then along came the likes of 2 Degrees, able to take a riskier position, choosing to do so with humour and fun. This difference didn’t only manifest itself in their advertising or graphic design, but in the language they used, in the way they structured products, their sponsorship alignments, and so on. So, if I go into a 2 TELLING YOUR STORY > BY VICKI JONES Degrees store and find a staff member who struggles to crack a smile, it feels even more disappointing. My expectations were established by the external brand and he’s failed to deliver on them. If an internal culture is strong it is much more likely to be reflected through customer engagement ensuring your business has enduring positive relationships. Win-win. • See also in this issue: The importance of understanding the why Vicki Jones is director of Dugmore Jones, Hamilton-based brand management consultancy. Email vicki@dugmorejones.co.nz NOW OPEN IN TWO LOCATIONS 82 Killarney Road, Hamilton 90 Tristram Street Hamilton Central Book Online: www.hamiltonautocentral.co.nz AUTO SUPER SHOPPE HAMILTON CENTRAL “We would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and a safe and relaxing break. Just to let you know we are only closing over the Stat Days so our friendly staff will be available to assist you with all your motoring needs over the Holiday period.” Auto Super Shoppe Hamilton Central 90 Tristram Street Hamilton Central (07) 838 1440 Hamilton Automotive Repairs 82 Killarney Road Frankton (07) 847 1865 www.hamiltonautocentral.co.nz J7499P
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS November/December 2018 37 Countdown launches its first electric vehicle charging stations Countdown, in partnership with WEL Networks, has installed three charging sites at five of its Waikato supermarkets – a first for the retailer. Electric vehicle (EV) users can charge their cars for free at either Countdown Hamilton, Countdown Bridge Street, Countdown Claudelands, Countdown St James or Countdown Huntly. We are delighted to be able to work with WEL Networks to provide this service at no cost to our customers. Countdown’s general manager corporate affairs and sustainability, Kiri Hannifin, said the November launch was another step in the right direction towards the business meeting its commitment to help create a cleaner and greener Aotearoa, New Zealand. “Last year we set ourselves 20 ambitious corporate social responsibility targets out to 2020. Our targets align with the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and focus on three main areas - people, planet and prosperity. With regard our commitments to the planet, we’ve identified we want to reduce our carbon emissions and know electric vehicles are the way of the future. We are delighted to take our first steps in this part of our journey. “As well as our new charging stations in Hamilton, we are in discussions to extend these into other communities across our network. We already have electric charging stations at our support office and have recently won a $300,000 grant from EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority) to convert our chilled online delivery vehicles to electric. Electric delivery vehicles will help cut down noise around the online delivery depots and eliminate approximately 135,000kg of CO2 emissions annually. “We are delighted to be able to work with WEL Networks to provide this service at no cost to our customers,” said Hannifin. WEL Networks asset management general manager Paul WEL Networks chief executive Garth Dibley, left, Countdown general manager corporate affairs and sustainability Kiri Hannifin and Labour MP Jamie Strange officially opening the EV charging stations at Countdown Bridge Street, Hamilton. Blue said the Countdown fast chargers will increase WEL’s network of chargers across the region to more than 20. “Not only is Waikato one of New Zealand’s fastest growing regions, but increasingly we’re seeing the uptake of electric vehicles in our communities, because users find them cheaper to run, quieter, more efficient and environmentally friendly.” Countdown’s charging stations are compatible with any electric vehicle and quick to use, customers will be able to charge their EVs from low to 80 percent battery capacity in around 20 minutes. Conversation flows about making Waikato the best it can be An audience of regional leaders has been told success for the Waikato requires people to work together, be brave and agile. More than 100 community, business, central and local government leaders gathered at Karapiro on 30 November for Waikato Regional Council's inaugural stakeholder event, Waikato Unwrapped: A Conversation. The event celebrated the great work of the council’s stakeholders, said council chair Alan Livingston. It also aimed to inspire thought-provoking discussion around making Waikato a better place in which to live, work and play. “It’s been a big year. We’ve seen the establishment of Te Waka – the regional economic development agency – attracting investment from local business, local and central government. And we’ve seen some exciting decisions made about new regional facilities, regional transport, and even our own new buildings in Paeroa and Hamilton,” Cr Livingston said. “There’s also been progress on a number of projects to improve the health of our waterways. This year, the equivalent of 160 Waikato stadiums were planted in native trees. On top of this we funded over 450 community groups. The massive environmental restoration effort going on all over the place is redefining us as communities, as a region. “We also have some pretty aspirational goals for the Waikato, and at the heart of these sit our vision for the region to care locally, complete globally. It’s all about having a sustainable future where we are resilient to changes and can take advantage of global opportunities.” For Waikato to flourish, said keynote speaker Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta, “we can’t act in our silos” and must remember “what got us here, won’t get us there”. She added: “Small communities thrive on relationships and having values, so if we want transformative change we have to continue to recognise that we are a region made of different types of communities. “We cannot continue to be prosperous if we have deep levels of deprivation, and that is the sad reality we’ve got. For me addressing this is also the measure of success. So too is the health of the environment, because we can’t mutually exclude the environment.” A panel comprising business leader Traci Houpapa, business journalist Rod Oram, and social and environmental entrepreneur Sam Judd also shared their vision for a sustainable Waikato with the audience. Local government minister Nanaia Mahuta addresses the Waikato Unwrapped event. Oram said being sustainable required “tremendous foresight about your opportunities and challenges; integrity about who you are and what you hold very dear because doing so will help inform the decisions you make; and cohesion of all the stakeholders involved”. Houpapa acknowledged that “sustainability is a challenge, in my opinion, for us in the Waikato. “We need to reconsider the way we operate, reconsider our strategic vision and consider whether our behaviours as leaders are still relevant and aligned with our true north. For me, our true north here in the Waikato is all about how we can leave Aotearoa a better place.” She added: “Radical reinvention is not going to happen overnight and not going to happen if we take baby steps.” Judd agreed, saying “it's about being brave…taking a bit of a punt and being agile. To change stuff we actually have to put ourselves outside our comfort zone”. Oram urged leaders in every community in the Waikato to “find something, however small, to do together, to start building your sense of purpose and capability”. Guest speaker John Allen, chief executive of the New Zealand Racing Board, concluded the event with a similar message. “The single biggest thing you can do is stand up and say this region is on fire, this country needs us, we are going to take the next step together. “If you stand strong in your history, strong in your whānau, strong in your community, strong in your passion and determination, then this region will go forward and go forward fast. And the contribution you make to Aotearoa will be hugely significant.” For Dallas Fisher, philanthropist and one of Waikato’s leading businessmen, the event was “hugely invigorating” and he “felt the strength of kotahitanga (unity)”. Coming from the event, he felt there were two future roles for the Waikato – one was leading New Zealand and the world in sustainable food production and the other authentically telling New Zealand’s story.
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Waikato Business News November/December 2018

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