Can Employees be Brand Advocates when wearing a Personal Brand Mask?
Every year, at Halloween, I am reminded of how often we wear masks.
Not spooky ghost masks.
Not keep-your-germs-to-yourself masks.
But the masks we put over our personal brands to go to work.
I worked in the marketing industry for a long time. It's an industry in which you spend the majority of your time representing the company. Being the company, instead of being yourself. The status quo is to show up and put on your "company mask", so you can be a "good" representative of the company.
It's fine if you just want your employees to show up and do tasks,
But if you're looking to turn employees into true advocates for your brand, it doesn't work.
I'm sure this happens in other departments as well, but today, with this article, I'm going to focus on how current marketing and sales departments LOSE by enforcing this old way of doing things.
You ARE the Company
I was watching Ghostbusters: Answer the Call with Kristen Wiig. At the beginning of the movie, her character is going for tenure at Columbia University, and she's promptly fired when the Dean finds out she believes in ghosts.
The reasoning is that the university has a specific brand, and she doesn't match it.
And it doesn't matter how good she is as a professor.
This is a very common narrative in work.
If you come and work here, you must uphold the brand identity OVER and above your own identity.
It's no wonder we expect to put a mask on at work.
And when narratives like this become common expectation, there's no way to change it UNLESS you have an active intention of doing so. I'll talk more about that at the end of the article, but first, let's look at what we LOSE when we unconsciously play this game.
We lose diversity
Not only do we lose diversity, but we actively ERASE diversity.
Even if you're doing the work to hire for diverse skills, knowledge, experience and culture, without a conscious intention of NOT covering up people's personal brands at work, that diversity will continue to be hidden behind masks.
And in this arena, it's also important to remember that people joining your organization don't just have experience with your organization. They likely have experience in other companies who have required them to check their personal brand at the door when representing the company. So there's a level of corporate trauma for which we need to create space.
And why does losing diversity matter?
Because it's a huge contributor to the next loss...
We lose innovation
I use Blockbuster as an example of innovation quite often. Or rather, the lack of innovation.
Blockbuster was awesome at "resting on their laurels". And the company perished because of it.
When we hire people with unique perspectives, and we shove them in a sales and marketing box (you might refer to it as a "process" today), we are resting on our laurels.
We may try new tactics and strategies. But they won't work, because the input is the same.
Show up how we've always showed up.
With a (generally) super generic experience, because we need to make it generic enough for everyone in the sales and marketing team to execute the exact same way.
Ugh.
I don't even like writing it. And that's what the majority of sales and marketing teams do on a daily basis. And it filters out a very powerful component of human beings...
We lose passion
Passion is definitely one of those things that doesn't get talked about at work. And when we actively replace passion with process, because that's what's easier to control, people stop showing up as their awesome, unique selves.
And start showing up like robots.
Now, sure. There's a place for robots in the workplace. Computers allow us to do a lot of amazing things.
But there are things a human can do that a computer can't do.
FEEL things
Build relationships
CONNECT other people
THESE 👆 are the types of things that open a window to passion in the workplace.
And all these things...are also critical to successful sales and marketing programs.
So, if we're going to filter those out, then you better be prepared for the consequences of using robots for sales and marketing instead of people.
Changing the Narrative
Here's the bad news.
Without knowing it, we've been setting sales and marketing teams up for failure.
Creating a space where they need to adjust who they are so they can BE the brand is actively filtering out diversity, innovation and passion in the workplace.
But I also have good news.
With intention, we can change this narrative. And, since it's Halloween today, here's a fun activity for your team (if you're confident enough to get some potentially difficult feedback):
Ask your team these questions:
How would you describe your personal brand?
How would you describe the company brand, if it were a person?
How often do you feel like you mask your personal brand to benefit the company brand?
A Warning
If you have never had the intention of creating psychological safety with your team prior to reading this article, please do NOT attempt this exercise. Also, if you don't believe the things you lose (that were previously mentioned in the article) matter, then also don't attempt.
One of the things I hate the MOST (and I use the word hate sparingly because there are few things I actually hate), is when companies PRETEND they care about something when they actually don't.
I do NOT want you to do that.
If you've read this article, and you think, "This is silly. Employees ARE supposed to trade who they are to be a good representation of the company", then DON'T take my recommendations. Actually, if you're in that camp, I'm surprised if you've read to this point.
Please don't pretend.
Own the fact you think that.
And if you are confident enough in that, then communicate it to your Sales and Marketing teams in the hiring process. It's something they should know before making a decision to come and work for you.
And if you read that, and it seems like something you know would stop people from coming to work for you, then maybe's there's something more you need to explore there 😉
And if there's more to explore, either in the narrative change or the execution, let's chat!
Because all of this contributes to your digital influence💖
