Why the Best Leaders Are the Best Leaders

The Best Leaders Give Their Best to Their People By...

1) GROWING
People naturally follow leaders they respect as being more advanced than they are. For this reason, personal growth is directly proportional to influence. If you desire to gain followers, then pay the price of getting better.

To give people your best, you have to elevate your leadership capacity. Consider the metaphor of walking up a narrow staircase - you can only go as fast as the person in front of you. When leaders stop growing, they quit climbing and impede the progress of everyone following them. However, when leaders grow, they ascend the stairs and create space for those behind them to climb higher.

Personal growth involves challenging yourself, and pushing beyond the realm of comfort. When is the last time you did something for the first time? How long has it been since you felt in over your head?

2) SERVING
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."~ Albert Einstein

Serving others is an attitude issue. Unfortunately, many leaders operate under a king-of-the- hill mentality. They attempt to pull down anyone above them in order to secure the top spot for themselves. In doing so, they clutch at power, grapple for control of company resources, and strive to dominate others. Seeing relationships as win-lose propositions, they ultimately burn bridges and isolate themselves.

The best leaders take an entirely different approach. Rather than dragging down anyone who threatens their position, they extend a hand to lift the performance of teammates and coworkers. They function with a mindset of abundance as opposed to an attitude of scarcity, and they wield their influence to prop others up rather than to elevate themselves. Over time, they are honored for the contributions they have made to the lives around them.

All leaders serve. Sadly, some serve only themselves. Serving is a motives issue, and the crux of the matter boils down to a simple question: "Who?" Does a politician serve the public or his pocketbook? Does a CEO serve to benefit her shareholders or to support her lifestyle? The best leaders set a tone by serving and prove they are deserving of being out in front.

3) MODELING
Growing leaders have something to share; serving leaders have something to give; modeling leaders have something to show. As V.J. Featherstone said, "Leaders tell, but never teach, until they practice what they preach." The best leaders embody their values. Their passion exudes from every pore and demands respect.

The Best Leaders Get the Best from Their People By...

1) LISTENING
The smartest leaders realize the limitations of their wisdom, and they listen to their people in order to capture invaluable insights. However, leaders don't just listen to gain knowledge, they also listen to give their people permission: permission to challenge the process, permission to test assumptions; and permission to take risks. Nothing turns off an up-and-coming leader like the deaf ear of a superior. The best leaders don't simply listen to incoming ideas; they proactively draw them out of their people. They listen actively, not passively.

2) RELATING
Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. To touch a heart, a leader has to be open to disclosing his or her identity by sharing personal stories and owning up to professional weaknesses. Mysterious or aloof leaders may be successful decision-makers, but they won't get the heartfelt loyalty that comes from authentic relationships.

As simple as it sounds, making a person feel known correlates powerfully to their job satisfaction. In fact, Patrick Lencioni lists anonymity as one of the top indicators of a miserable job. Leaders dignify their people by studying their interests, learning about their families, and finding out their hobbies. Conscious of the power of connection, the best leaders refuse to be barricaded inside of an office, and they take responsibility for relating with others on a regular basis.

3) TEACHING
Gifted teachers have a way of making students out of disinterested bystanders. The best leaders have an infectious thirst for knowledge, and they take pride in cultivating knowledge of their craft and awareness of their industry. A leader's teaching ability depends upon ongoing personal growth. As Howard Hendricks said, "If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow."

4) DEVELOPING
The best leaders understand the differences between training people for tasks and developing people to be better leaders.
Training
Developing

Focus is on the job: Adds value to specific things. Helpful for a short time. Changes a performance
Focus is on the person: Adds value to everything. Helpful for a lifetime. Change the performer

The best leaders view their people as appreciable assets and prioritize investing in the talent on their teams.

5) MOTIVATING
After one of the presentations, an audience member approached the presenter who was visibly indignant about the entire speech. "Why is motivation last on the list?" he demanded. "Well," the presenter replied, "because if you listen, relate, teach, and develop your people, then they will be motivated!"

Sustained motivation comes by creating the right environment for your people and by doing the right things consistently to nurture them. Consider a flower. It cannot grow in the Arctic; it requires a climate conducive to growth. Yet, even in the right environment, the flower must be planted in hospitable soil, exposed to sunlight, watered, and freed of weeds.

*About the Author
John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author

Top 10 Advantages of Recruiting During Tough Times

It's quite common during periods of economic turmoil for CFOs to assume and declare that robust recruiting functions will not be necessary due to a surplus of talent becoming available as more and more firms engage in layoffs, consolidations, and the ceasing of operations.

Well-known and respected firms have already partially downsized recruiting using this failed logic. Despite this negative perspective, there are some positive things that routinely happen during bad economic times:

1. Less competition from other firms. If your firm isn't well known or doesn't have a strong employment brand, you will face less head-to-head competition for talent during this time. As other firms reduce recruiting budgets, the recruiting effectiveness of your competitors will decrease dramatically also, giving your firm a competitive advantage. Candidates will be easier to sell because they will have fewer options and counter offers to choose from.

2. More high quality candidates will be available. Not only are more candidates available during times of high unemployment, but higher-quality candidates are also available. Not only will laid off individuals be on the market but you should also target individuals that "survived" the layoffs and mergers because they will have reduced company loyalty as a result of all of the trauma. Taken together this means that innovators and top-performing individuals that could never be "drawn away" from their current jobs are now available and interested in lesser known firms. This surplus along with little competition makes "counter cycle" recruiting a great strategy for "loading up" with great talent, especially in the college market.

3. Weakened employment brands. As competitor firms make the mistake of conducting large-scale "public" layoffs, their employment brand and external image will be dramatically weakened. Thus providing increased opportunities for firms that have maintained or intelligently strengthened their employment brand during this period.

4. Turnover and retirement rates will decrease. As the downturn increases your employees desire for job security, fewer will even consider leaving their current jobs for firms where their lack of tenure will mean little security. This means that it'll be easier to retain your top talent (and recruiting won't have to work so hard to find replacements). Conversely, it will be more difficult to draw away top talent working at other firms. The downturn in the stock market and the dramatic reduction in the value of their 401(k)'s will also mean that fewer of your employees will opt to retire as soon as they are eligible, easing any baby boom retirement concerns.

5. Higher quality recruiters will be available. Tough times means that some excellent recruiters will be available for those firms planning for the long-term.

6. The dollar is stronger. The newly strengthened U.S. dollar makes recruiting international candidates much easier.

7. New recruiting technology is available. The availability of social networking and other web-based technologies now makes effective recruiting possible with little or no budget.

8. Capability to explode out of the box. If you successfully defend your recruiting budget, your firm will have the capability of "exploding out of the box" immediately after the downturn is over. This capability will put you far ahead of other firms that have decimated their recruiting capabilities during this time. In order to have that advantage, you will need to calculate and then report the negative impacts of "disassembling the recruiting function" to your executives. That includes costs related to the delays in being able to resume hiring, the increased risk of losing top applicants, the lower quality of hires and the increased startup costs related to reassembling the recruiting function.

9. Tight times make you stronger. A tight budget forces you to focus more on metrics and a strong business case. Both of these should allow you to better identify the most effective recruiting tools and approaches. By eliminating the deadwood, streamlining processes and focusing on the best approaches, you will eventually strengthen the function over-all.

10. Workforce planning will be encouraged. While it's often a "fight" to convince executives to invest in workforce planning, economic volatility and the pain of laying off talent they fought so hard to acquire almost always convinces senior managers of the need for a strong workforce planning function. Use this "lull" to develop an effective forecasting capability and a "flexible" recruiting strategy that "shifts" during the different economic cycles. Both can help you prepare your firm for the next imminent up or down cycle. Even if you successfully defend your recruiting budget during these volatile times, it's critical that you focus your resources on talent-management approaches that are both low-cost and effective.

*Ref: Dr. John Sullivan

Managing Recruiting During an Economic Downturn

A key question in every recruiting manager's mind these days is "how will recruiting and talent management be impacted by the economic downturn?"

Periodic economic downturns quite often negatively impact the recruiting function through hiring freezes and dramatic budget cuts in recruiting as organizations seek to "contain costs." However, this economic downturn is different. Traditionally, when the economic cycle peaks and starts its cycle downwards, everything related to business and recruiting declines; events are consistent and relatively predictable.

Instead of recruiting heading straight down, it will be volatile. The demand for talent management services will go radically down, then back up again in short spurts, and then down again. This volatility will require more planning than ever before from the recruiting function. Instead of planning for one consistent, long, downward spiral with associated layoffs and hiring freezes, organizations will need to prepare for spurts of growth and continuous hiring in some areas while layoffs occur in others. Some might call these actions "right-sizing" the workforce, but that would imply that organizations are much better at forecasting and workforce planning than most actually are.

There are several reasons why hiring will continue:
The volatility in credit markets
Globalization
The need by organizations to continually innovate


The first and perhaps most important cause of volatility will be the chaotic availability of credit and capital. The continued uncertainty related to financial markets will cause oscillations or "spurts" during which capital will be easier and then harder to get. This volatility will cause firms to grow and to hire in spurts.

A second cause of volatility is globalization. In a truly global business world, there will almost always be some degree of economic growth in emerging economies scattered around the world. Because many major US companies now book a majority of their revenues abroad, pressure to keep corporate functions fully staffed will continue despite possible layoffs in production and client service groups.

A third reason volatility will plague the recruiting function is relentless consumer demand for new innovative products. Despite the downturn, consumer demand remains high. When negative news erupts, those in Western societies go shopping!

Because the rate of innovation among competitive firms is unlikely to slowdown, firms will still need to rapidly innovate in their products and business processes. The demand for relentless innovation will continuously alter the skills needed by a firm at any particular point in time. Firms will need to learn how to continuously hire workers with new skills, while simultaneously releasing workers with obsolete skills with surgical precision. Truly strategic firms see economic downturns as an opportunity, in part because it's now faster and cheaper to "buy" talent rather than to "develop" existing talent.

*Ref: Dr. John Sullivan

Missed Opportunities: Talent Intelligence During the On boarding Process

It is widely accepted that, in small pockets around the world, the second iteration of the war for talent is well underway. Emerging companies in China, for example, are invading small rural villages in an effort to convert agrarian citizens into knowledge workers, and professional service firms are eagerly grasping at once undesired college new grads.

It would be logical to assume that growth-oriented firms would be devising new methods to uncover hidden sources of talent and fend off poachers from other organizations, but in reality few are. At a time when most organizations should be abandoning the conservative approach of continuous improvement and embracing innovation, too many are still focused on miniscule efficiency gains.

At no time since the final years of the Roman Empire has the world population mimicked its current state. With a huge population of aged workers and a significantly smaller influx of youthful workers, it is well known that something will have to change. Innovation will take place.
The world is full of people who look back and say, "If only I had thought of that," or, "If only I had leveraged that missed opportunity, where would I be today?" It is also full of people who routinely try to reinvent the wheel.

Unfortunately, the recruiting profession seems to be a magnet for these types of people. For years now, thought leaders have been advising organizations to embed formal competitive-intelligence-gathering activities into their onboarding processes, yet few actually have. When a recruiter learns of actions in a competitor, rarely do the managers who could leverage such information hear of it. What is even more disappointing is the lack of talent intelligence gathering that takes place during the onboarding process, and the shear volume of missed opportunities that go unnoticed.

The Problem With Most Onboarding Approaches

Like many programs in human resources, onboarding programs suffer from narrow perspective design. Quite frankly, they are designed by people who truly have no idea what value talent provides or how to maximize the value of that talent.

The most common evidence of this design flaw is the scope and direction of information flow during the onboarding process. In most organizations, information flows only one way, with the exception of benefits enrollment data. Few organizations look at the onboarding process as an opportunity for both parties to exchange in a dialogue where both parties learn something of value.
In short, we add another element to the list of missed opportunities in HR.

The New Perspective

The first week on the job can play a crucial role in motivating and retaining new employees, helping them contribute not only to their own success, but their new employer's as well. Organizations often spend lots of time and money recruiting and wooing new employees, but as soon as they start they turn around and treat them like barely welcome strangers.
In the new perspective, recruiting is viewed as only half of the task of hiring. Orientation is the other, often ignored element.

The new hire's first week on the job is too important to delegate to human resources or to devote to "reading the manual." Managers need to take control of the process of bringing a new employee on board and engage in what we call "talent intelligence gathering." Just like a parent adopting a new child, the role a manager plays during the first week is of critical importance if the value of the new hire is to be maximized.

Talent Intelligence Onboarding Areas
The following is a short list of areas for which managers interested in performance should take responsibility and for which they should make use of intelligence that is gained:
· Accelerating time to productivity. Coming into a new environment can be stressful for even the most adept change seekers. Any delay in providing new hires with the guidance, equipment, and training they need to get started on what they will be held accountable for can slow the time it takes for a new employee to reach a minimum expected level of productivity. Each day of delay can frustrate the employee and may also mean the loss of thousands of dollars in revenue if product development or sales are impacted. During the intelligence-gathering process, managers should engage with the new hire to uncover his or her desired management style, perceptions of company processes (good and bad), and insight about how other organizations may have approached the new hire's role differently.
· Continuous recruiting. Having recently changed teams, the new hire has an innate interest in helping their new team succeed — and that gives both managers and recruiters a perfect opportunity to discover leads for other potential hires. By asking new hires on their first day who else is good at their former firm, managers can easily increase their supply of talent. New hires can also be asked (when appropriate) to directly help in recruiting their former colleagues.
· Competitive intelligence. By asking new hires about the best practices of their last firm, their new managers can gather some new benchmark ideas.
· Setting a manager's expectations. On the first day, it is important for the manager to make sure that the new employee knows the manager's expectations, the departmental goals, and what important contributions the employee can make to the product and the firm.
· Understanding the employee's expectations. It is equally important for the manager to find out what expectations the new employee has in the areas of training, promotion, and preferred management and communication styles.

Conclusion
Innovation is an activity without boundaries, so there truly are no limits as to what opportunities can be created and leveraged during the onboarding process. But organizations must abandon the useless activities that most onboarding programs consist of, and instead embrace programs that immediate create value for both parties.

Gone are the days when an organization could afford to wait six months or longer for a new hire to become productive, or when they could pay recruiters to spend months researching potential hires when the information could have been mined in a matter of hours from existing employees. Take advantage of the opportunities before you to map the competitive landscape, using the expatriates you have just recruited. A war is underway, and you need to adopt warrior-like approaches.

Retention Problems Begin During the Hiring Process

Almost every action and process in recruiting is designed for short-term gain. Despite talk about being strategic, most recruiters and recruiting managers alike respond only to requisitions, placing ads, visiting job boards, attending job fairs, and mining social networking sites in an effort to fill today's job openings. There is lots of talk but little effort placed on building out truly long-term recruiting tools and strategies designed to impact the business. If all the talk were true, nearly every recruiting function on the planet would have dedicated resources to employment branding, the only long-term recruiting strategy that is designed to bring in a steady flow of high-quality applicants over a period of many years.

Employment branding stands alone as the only approach corporate recruiting managers can leverage to guarantee an end to their talent shortage problem. Unfortunately, most corporate recruiting managers spend less than 5% of their budgets on this powerful long-term solution. In direct contrast, firms that have taken the time to invest in building a great employment brand like Google and Southwest Airlines have not only dominated their industries, but they have also turned the common talent shortage problem into a more desirable talent "sorting" problem. If you're tired of constantly fighting fires and of being continually bashed year in and year out by your managers for failing to produce a high volume of high-quality candidates, it's time to shift your focus to the only solution that can reduce your job stress and make you a hero.

The primary reason why corporate recruiting managers under appreciate and under utilize a corporate branding strategy is because they have done a poor job in making the business case for investing in their firm's employment brand. You can't make a compelling business case unless you first know the possible benefits of the branding strategy. Over the years, Dr. Sullivan advised dozens of firms on building a compelling employment brand (including a Fortune #1 Best Place to Work winner) and, as a result, have identified the many benefits that a successful employment-branding program can provide. When demonstrated, these benefits can help sway even the most cynical nonbelievers:

· A Long-Term Impact. Once you have successfully built your employment brand, you can expect the positive impacts on recruiting to continue for at least five years baring any major PR issues surrounding your company.

· An Increased Volume of Unsolicited Candidates. You will significantly increase the number of applicants that your firm receives each year. In some cases, applications will increase by 500%.

· Higher Quality Candidates. Not only will you get more applicants, but the quality of your candidates will improve dramatically to the point where you will start getting applications from individuals who never would have considered your firm in the past. A great employment brand that highlights your firm's focus on innovation is necessary in order to attract game-changers, managers, and innovators who demand it!

· Higher Offer-Acceptance Rates. As your employment image becomes better known and more powerful, your offer acceptance rates will improve dramatically.

· Increased Employee Referrals. The percentage of hires from employee referrals will increase as a result of your employees' increased pride and knowledge about what makes their firm superior to others. Increasing the number of referrals has added benefits in that it increases employee ownership in the recruiting process, while simultaneously reducing recruiters' workloads.

· Improved Employee-Retention Rates. A compelling employment brand increases retention rates among your current employees because they will better know why working at your firm is a superior opportunity. In addition, their pride in your firm will grow as colleagues and friends routinely ask them, "Do those things really happen at your firm?" Unfortunately, the positive impact will be somewhat tempered by the fact that more firms will target your employees because of your strong employment image.

· Increased Employee Motivation. Employee motivation will be easier to maintain because of your employees' increased pride in the firm and the better management practices that are required to maintain an employer-of-choice status.

· Improved College Recruiting. Because college students are highly brand conscious, employment branding is especially effective for intern recruiting and college hiring.

· A Stronger Corporate Culture. Because one of the goals of employment branding is to develop a consistent message about what it's like to work at your firm, employment branding can help strengthen your corporate culture. This consistent message can reinforce corporate values and guide behaviors while a consensus develops across the enterprise among managers and employees with regards to what it means to be a part of the organization.

· Decreased Corporate Negatives. Effective branding programs identify and counter negative comments about your firm. This effort can decrease both the number and the severity of the negative comments that appear in the media and online.

· Ammunition for Employees and Managers. Most employment-branding efforts include elements that gather and centralize information on your firm's best practices and its compelling stories. As a result of this effort, it is much easier to provide every employee with an arsenal of information and stories they can share with colleagues in the media about what makes working for the organization the best possible opportunity.

· Increased Manager Satisfaction. The resulting higher quality of candidates and higher offer-acceptance rate means that hiring managers will have to devote less time to interviews, and they will be more satisfied with the recruiting function.

· Increased Media Exposure. As a result of winning awards, being placed on "best places to work" lists, and having managers give presentations at industry events, the amount of media exposure that your firm will receive will increase dramatically. Having the media brag about your firm's excellent people-management practices adds a level of external credibility that no recruitment ad can provide. As a result of this initial exposure, the number of times that reporters and benchmarking individuals will call your firm for future stories will also increase.

· A Competitive Advantage. Because employment branding efforts include extensive metrics and side-by-side comparisons with talent competitors, you ensure that your talent-management approaches are differentiated and continually superior. This superiority over competitors not only impresses senior managers, but it also improves your chances of winning over candidates who also apply for positions at your competitors.

· Increased Shareholder Value. The Russell Investment Group has demonstrated that being listed on Fortune's Best Places to Work list and the resulting improved employer image can positively impact a firm's stock price. Google, for example, has noted in its SEC filing the important role that recruiting and retention play in its continued business growth.

· Support for the Product Brand. An employment brand can support the corporate brand and your related product brands because many consumers mentally make the link between attracting quality employees and producing a quality product.

Additional Branding Benefits

Some additional benefits of an employment-branding program might include:
· Increased knowledge and competitive intelligence, as more employees from top competitors join your organization.
· The increased focus on excellence in people-management programs brought about by the branding effort will result in the continuous improvement of those practices.
· Getting talked about in the press reinforces the stories you have already spread to your employees.
· The increased notoriety might also have a positive side effect on the business by making it easier to attract strategic partners who are willing to link with your firm.
· Employment branding works not just for large corporations but also for smaller firms and for government agencies as well.
· A great employment brand makes it easier to attract top recruiters and branding experts.
· The high impact and ROI of the employment-branding program will help build HR's image as a bottom-line contributor.


*Ref www.drjohnsullivan.com

The many benefits of an employment-branding program

Almost every action and process in recruiting is designed for short-term gain. Despite talk about being strategic, most recruiters and recruiting managers alike respond only to requisitions, placing ads, visiting job boards, attending job fairs, and mining social networking sites in an effort to fill today's job openings. There is lots of talk but little effort placed on building out truly long-term recruiting tools and strategies designed to impact the business. If all the talk were true, nearly every recruiting function on the planet would have dedicated resources to employment branding, the only long-term recruiting strategy that is designed to bring in a steady flow of high-quality applicants over a period of many years.

Employment branding stands alone as the only approach corporate recruiting managers can leverage to guarantee an end to their talent shortage problem. Unfortunately, most corporate recruiting managers spend less than 5% of their budgets on this powerful long-term solution. In direct contrast, firms that have taken the time to invest in building a great employment brand like Google and Southwest Airlines have not only dominated their industries, but they have also turned the common talent shortage problem into a more desirable talent "sorting" problem. If you're tired of constantly fighting fires and of being continually bashed year in and year out by your managers for failing to produce a high volume of high-quality candidates, it's time to shift your focus to the only solution that can reduce your job stress and make you a hero.

The primary reason why corporate recruiting managers under appreciate and under utilize a corporate branding strategy is because they have done a poor job in making the business case for investing in their firm's employment brand. You can't make a compelling business case unless you first know the possible benefits of the branding strategy. Over the years, Dr. Sullivan advised dozens of firms on building a compelling employment brand (including a Fortune #1 Best Place to Work winner) and, as a result, have identified the many benefits that a successful employment-branding program can provide. When demonstrated, these benefits can help sway even the most cynical nonbelievers:

· A Long-Term Impact. Once you have successfully built your employment brand, you can expect the positive impacts on recruiting to continue for at least five years baring any major PR issues surrounding your company.

· An Increased Volume of Unsolicited Candidates. You will significantly increase the number of applicants that your firm receives each year. In some cases, applications will increase by 500%. · Higher Quality Candidates. Not only will you get more applicants, but the quality of your candidates will improve dramatically to the point where you will start getting applications from individuals who never would have considered your firm in the past. A great employment brand that highlights your firm's focus on innovation is necessary in order to attract game-changers, managers, and innovators who demand it!

· Higher Offer-Acceptance Rates. As your employment image becomes better known and more powerful, your offer acceptance rates will improve dramatically. · Increased Employee Referrals. The percentage of hires from employee referrals will increase as a result of your employees' increased pride and knowledge about what makes their firm superior to others. Increasing the number of referrals has added benefits in that it increases employee ownership in the recruiting process, while simultaneously reducing recruiters' workloads.

·Improved Employee-Retention Rates. A compelling employment brand increases retention rates among your current employees because they will better know why working at your firm is a superior opportunity. In addition, their pride in your firm will grow as colleagues and friends routinely ask them, "Do those things really happen at your firm?" Unfortunately, the positive impact will be somewhat tempered by the fact that more firms will target your employees because of your strong employment image.

·Increased Employee Motivation. Employee motivation will be easier to maintain because of your employees' increased pride in the firm and the better management practices that are required to maintain an employer-of-choice status.

·Improved College Recruiting. Because college students are highly brand conscious, employment branding is especially effective for intern recruiting and college hiring.

·A Stronger Corporate Culture. Because one of the goals of employment branding is to develop a consistent message about what it's like to work at your firm, employment branding can help strengthen your corporate culture. This consistent message can reinforce corporate values and guide behaviors while a consensus develops across the enterprise among managers and employees with regards to what it means to be a part of the organization.

·Decreased Corporate Negatives. Effective branding programs identify and counter negative comments about your firm. This effort can decrease both the number and the severity of the negative comments that appear in the media and online.

·Ammunition for Employees and Managers. Most employment-branding efforts include elements that gather and centralize information on your firm's best practices and its compelling stories. As a result of this effort, it is much easier to provide every employee with an arsenal of information and stories they can share with colleagues in the media about what makes working for the organization the best possible opportunity.

·Increased Manager Satisfaction. The resulting higher quality of candidates and higher offer-acceptance rate means that hiring managers will have to devote less time to interviews, and they will be more satisfied with the recruiting function. ·Increased Media Exposure. As a result of winning awards, being placed on "best places to work" lists, and having managers give presentations at industry events, the amount of media exposure that your firm will receive will increase dramatically. Having the media brag about your firm's excellent people-management practices adds a level of external credibility that no recruitment ad can provide. As a result of this initial exposure, the number of times that reporters and benchmarking individuals will call your firm for future stories will also increase.

·A Competitive Advantage. Because employment branding efforts include extensive metrics and side-by-side comparisons with talent competitors, you ensure that your talent-management approaches are differentiated and continually superior. This superiority over competitors not only impresses senior managers, but it also improves your chances of winning over candidates who also apply for positions at your competitors.

·Increased Shareholder Value. The Russell Investment Group has demonstrated that being listed on Fortune's Best Places to Work list and the resulting improved employer image can positively impact a firm's stock price. Google, for example, has noted in its SEC filing the important role that recruiting and retention play in its continued business growth.

·Support for the Product Brand. An employment brand can support the corporate brand and your related product brands because many consumers mentally make the link between attracting quality employees and producing a quality product.

Additional Branding Benefits Some additional benefits of an employment-branding program might include:

·Increased knowledge and competitive intelligence, as more employees from top competitors join your organization.

·The increased focus on excellence in people-management programs brought about by the branding effort will result in the continuous improvement of those practices.

·Getting talked about in the press reinforces the stories you have already spread to your employees.

·The increased notoriety might also have a positive side effect on the business by making it easier to attract strategic partners who are willing to link with your firm.

·Employment branding works not just for large corporations but also for smaller firms and for government agencies as well.

·A great employment brand makes it easier to attract top recruiters and branding experts.

·The high impact and ROI of the employment-branding program will help build HR's image as a bottom-line contributor.

* Ref: www.drjohnsullivan.com