The Employee Engagement Secret (it’s in a song!)

I couldn’t wait any longer.

It was school summer holidays and I had to do it.

I sat my son on the sofa, quickly closed the curtains, carefully took the DVD out of the case, placed it into the player, pressed play and together we watched, Bugsy Malone.

Yeah – the perfect moment (for who I’m not too sure)

The pedal cars and ice cream guns prompted many questions (as well dad knowing the words to every song – that surprised me too!)

Still, we made it to the end of the film and that’s when I found it.

I found the secret to employee engagement….

As I joyfully joined in with the finale chorus I heard the magic words;

“You give a little love and it all comes back to you. You’re gonna be remembered for the things that you say and do”

That was it!

The secret to engaging people at work was in the song;

“If you treat people well at work, they’ll be motivated to do the right thing by you and customers will remember the great brand experience you deliver.”

I’d heard these words so many times before but I was never truly listening.

I am now.

Since I found the Engagement Secret I’ve heard it again in a song by the New Radicals, “You get what you give”

The secret’s out there and if you hear it, please share it.

Filed under: Brand Experience, Employee Experience, Uncategorized, brand experience, Customer experience, employee engagement, Employee Experience

The Employee Experience Revolution

Almost everyday I read a report or story about how important it is to have an engaged workforce for an organisation to succeed.

It’s a well know fact that engaged employees are more productive and motivated to deliver a great customer experience and organisations with more engaged employees tend to be more profitable.

And let’s not forget that employees are also consumers who want to build a genuine and authentic relationship with brands they love – and leading brands work hard to create a great experience for customers so they’re engaged, loyal and hopefully advocate to friends and family.

So it seems natural for organisations to spend just as much time thinking about the experience they create for their employees as they do for their customers but I wonder how much of ‘ life at work’ is considered an opportunity to create ‘a brand experience’ and how much is pure transactional communication?

Does being ‘at work’ give us a license to do things in a very rational way without the need to pay too much attention to the experience?

Is work such a serious business that has very little room for emotional connections and memorable, sensory moments?

People are at their best when they’re motivated, inspired and engaged and I believe it’s crucial to spend time considering the experience employees have at work – the path to employee engagement starts with the employee experience.

So if the groundswell is calling for an increase in employee engagement I expect we’ll see a renewed focus on the experience people have at work.

That’s a great thing.

Filed under: Brand Experience, Employee Experience, brand experience, Customer experience, employee engagement, Employee Experience

A great brand experience : Pets at home

We have a new fish in the house.

Her name is Izzie.

She’s a birthday gift to my 5yr old son – and he tells her in ‘fish’ every time he passes her tank how much he loves her (fish = silent fish mouth actions while you think of what you want to say)

It’s been a week since we had Izzie and I can’t stop sharing the experience my family and I had at our local Pets at Home store when we went to get her.

We visited the store to buy Izzie after we’d prepared our tank (fish have rights you know)

We were greeted by a very unassuming young man who asked if we needed any help.

I explained why we were in the store and before I knew it I’d been whisked away to ‘fish land’ by his passion, enthusiasm and genuine care about the relationship our family was about to have with Izzie (he knew her name because we’d spent a week working on it)

The whole experience happened so fast I felt dazed and confused yet filled with a sense of wellbeing as I keyed in my PIN to pay for £40 worth of accessories I hadn’t planned to buy (Izzie was £4.50)

It’s been a long time since I’ve bought something that has tangibly reminded me of the immense impact a great brand experience can have on someone’s life – it’s human, it’s real and it does make a difference.

I loved it.

And believe me,  it’s made me love Izzie more…

I mean, every time I pass her I also speak to her in ‘fish’ and often think about the great brand experience we had on the day we brought her home…and then I find someone to tell.

Filed under: Brand Experience, Brand advocacy, brand experience, Customer experience, Pets at home, retail experience, sales experience