Brand Ambassador by Tom Waldron

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Where Are You on The “Balance” Seesaw?

On any given day as you walk down the streets of Manhattan — or any streets for that matter — you will probably see people engaging in conversations or texting on their cell phones, checking and responding to e-mail on their PDAs, etc. Even during what should be a breather for lunch to escape the work day, you see the same behavior. Think about it. Do you have work/life balance or imbalance? 

I saw some research that indicates broad categories that lead to work/life imbalance: 

1. Role overload (demand on time/attention exceeds time/attention necessary to perform your role adequately). We can all relate to this, especially in this current economy. What company isn’t expecting to get more done with fewer people and resources, right?

2. Work-to-family interference (work demands — including long hours, pre-occupation with work, work-related stress evident in the home environment — make it hard to fulfill your family role). Have you ever heard your spouse, child or significant other exclaim, “When are you going to stop working!” or “Can I get you to focus on me for a change, and not work?”

3. Family-to-work interference (family demands make it hard to get your work done). For example: a child's illness leads to attendance problems, conflict or stress at home makes concentration at work difficult, responsibility for care or assistance to a family member who needs it. Sometimes you do have to check out from work, hoping everything will be fine until you can focus on it again. 

So, I started thinking about programs at my company that could directly help with work/life balance. As I went down the list, I was pleased to find that it touched nearly every category, except the one titled role overload. Clearly, that is a manager and company challenge – not one that I will focus on now.

Let’s see. We have the standard Employee Assistance Program, time off policies (paid time off, short-term disability, family and medical leave, bereavement, holiday, military and personal leave). Then there’s what some may consider the golden ticket — flexible time. Flexible time can take several forms such as varied start and end times for the work day, part-time that may include job-sharing, compressed schedule for the week or virtual working. And I can’t forget our Habits for Life program that provides resources for employees on how to better care for themselves and loved ones. We also have a unique policy called Volunteer Time Away that gives employees up to 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer in their communities.  

I think all of this does help; however, I wonder whether we invest enough time promoting and educating employees about these policies/programs — and letting them know it’s “okay to use them,” no stigma attached. 

What are your thoughts? Do policies and programs help employees with work/life balance? Can they make a difference? Or is work/life imbalance the new American Way?

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Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling — It is Possible, Right?

I read an article this week about a recent report revealing that women face gender discrimination from the beginning of their careers — not necessarily when they reach the executive level. So, the thought of even reaching the C suite or breaking through the glass ceiling is still a huge challenge.

As I read the article, I couldn’t help but reflect on my company, a 2008 Catalyst Award recipient, thinking about what we do to help ensure that not only women, but also all employees have the opportunities to develop and advance their careers. And a part of that is understanding the important role diversity and inclusion plays as a strategic business imperative. Sure, we haven’t perfected our approach, but I do feel good about what we’re doing and the direction in which we’re headed when it comes to advancing women in the company. And, we continuously focus on improving in this area. What are we doing?

Here’s a quick overview of the strategies we’ve implemented over the past few years:

1. Talent reviews – regular assessments to identify top talent, including identifying training and development needs and opportunities for job rotation.
2. External Coaches – an opportunity for new leaders and newly promoted leaders to partner with an external executive/professional coach who can assist them with the assimilation into their new role.
3. Mentoring Advantage – a formal mentoring program that encourages employee development through relationships built with experienced professionals across functions, business units and geographies.
4. Creating Your Career Strategy – a workshop open to all employees that combines career training and coaching to assist them in creating an actionable plan.
5. Owning Your Professional Development – a course that provides career development training for emerging leaders. The heads of various business units nominate the employees who participate in the course.
6. Career Frontier – a tool that offers a searchable database of open positions. It allows employees to create a job search agent that immediately notifies them when a new position opens that meets their qualifications or career goals.
7. Employee Resource Groups – we have five, one of which is devoted to women.
8. Valuing Individuals – a mandatory course designed to develop managerial and career development skills for all managers and supervisors.

At the end of the day, I believe you have to own your career – take initiative, network, and look for opportunities in areas where you may not even think they exist. However, without making certain resources and tools available to employees, how can they advance in today’s corporations?

Think about what the report reveals — that there are still speed bumps and limitations early on for women in their careers. What is your company doing to change this? If you have a story about your experience elevating to the C suite, please share it with me.

04:45 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Do We Have a Responsibility to Education?

There are many people across the U.S. — the world even — who are committed to improving education. I’m talking about teachers, parents, legislators, community activists and in many instances, students themselves.

I was reading an article earlier this week about an “educational innovator’s” plight to save schools in the Washington, DC area. Something about her story resonated with me. It was her posture that it’s a necessity for the business community to become more active in education. Sure, I get that. Our schools are advancing the work force of the future that companies like mine will reap the benefit. Yet, on any given day, you can read in the newspaper, view an article on the Internet or hear from your colleagues, friends or experience first-hand as a parent of school-aged children, the challenges our educational system faces. Yes, I believe we have a responsibility to education, as it’s important to sustainability. So, what can business do to help improve and close the gap in student achievement?

My company is focused on helping to improve education, globally. We partner with UNICEF on a program to ensure that children in countries across the globe are receiving the quality education they deserve. Yes, I am reminded there are some children around the world who aren’t receiving an education at all — they can’t even go to school nor have a school to attend. Through our national employee volunteer teams in the U.S., we are mobilizing employees to enter schools to help teach financial literacy programs, tutor and mentor students. We’re not only concentrating on secondary education, as our employees also interact with high school students. We even launched an innovative signature program earlier this year called the ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge that is designed to not only teach young women about smart money management, but also offers them scholarships for higher education. Of course, we provide financial support to schools and other nonprofit organizations that are specifically charged with improving student achievement. We also sponsor the National Teacher of the Year program.

Closer to home, my older daughter, Erin, recently informed my wife and me that she is voluntarily leaving her job at one of Wall Street’s biggest investment firms to join Teach for America in New York City. Little did I know that giving back to the community also rubbed off at home — go figure.

While I believe my company is doing its part to support education and prepare our children for a better future, I’m interested in learning what other companies are doing. Does your company subscribe to the notion that you have a responsibility to education? If so, how are you going about making a difference? And, if you’re interested in learning more specifics about what my company is doing, I’d love to share our story — how we’ve strategically approached our corporate responsibility.

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What Would You Do With 40 Hours of “Giving Time”?

Extra time? Who has free time anymore, right? Between working, spending time with family and garnering a little “me” time, where does the time go from day to day, week to week, and year to year?

Well, my company gives employees up to 40 hours of paid time off a year. What do we expect them to do with that time? We expect them to volunteer in their communities with their favorite charities.

Volunteer Time Away is the name of the program. How does it work? Employees get permission from their manager to take the time off to volunteer, and they log their hours in a database, allowing us to track their time. That’s it. It couldn’t be any easier, right? The charitable giving arm of our company, the ING Foundation, manages the program, including other volunteer initiatives such as the national employee volunteer teams and Volunteer Matching Gifts program that provides a grant to an employee’s charity of choice when they volunteer at least 50 hours of their personal time (not using the Volunteer Time Away program).  

From an HR perspective, there are many benefits to having robust employee volunteer programs. We’ve realized that our employees who participate in volunteerism are more engaged and satisfied employees. Depending on their volunteer activity, they are also able to fine-tune skills or develop skills such as project management or public speaking. Employee volunteerism enhances our brand visibility, is a great retention tool, and plays an important role in recruitment. What I think is most significant about our Volunteer Time Away program — we’re empowering our employees to give back to their communities. They are volunteering in their kids’ schools, delivering food to the homebound, mentoring at-risk children, tutoring students, beautifying parks, and the list goes on and on.  

Just this week, President Barack Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. We’re seeing a renewed focus on volunteerism. How will your company respond to the new law? Is your company already engaged in volunteerism, are you planning to “step up” your programs to help meet critical needs in the community, or is this not on the radar at all? I’d love to hear what you’re doing in the area of corporate responsibility.

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Promoting Your Brand in a Crisis — Yes You Can!

Most would agree that throughout this economic crisis no industry sector has taken a bigger reputational hit than financial services-related names — the whole group from banks to brokerages and insurance companies. On the inside, it feels like the epicenter of the current global economic predicament.  

Before all this, financial services were one of the most vigorous industries in terms of brand investment, rivaled only by consumer goods and durables like cars. Despite the headlines, financial services companies continue to promote their brands; in many cases with only moderate adjustments to the messaging. My company is still investing in our carefully promoted brand, too. Is it possible to swim up stream in terms of branding financial services? I think it is. 

In fact, today we launched our next phase of paid advertising supporting our ongoing brand campaign. Some may feel that the current image of financial services is too damaged to allow companies to expect to sustain their brand. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought.  

Now is not the time to dial-back on building a brand. Despite the turbulence in the economy and the air of concern many Americans may have for any company tied to investments and lending, they still need banks, brokerages and insurance. Sure, the task may be harder for a company that’s called on the carpet by the government, but many financial services companies are still doing what needs to be done for their customers, and they’re proud of it. In fact, many companies — like mine — believe this is a true opportunity to demonstrate our brand promise. 

We’ve been listening to what matters most to our customers and our business partners, so our latest advertising is a natural evolution of a campaign we launched in 2008 that focused on the importance of identifying and calculating the amount of money individuals need to have saved up by the time they retire. The new phase of the campaign now emphasizes the importance of “protecting” that number for the long-term, including a revamped Web tool (www.INGyournumber.com) to make it easier for visitors to calculate and protect their retirement savings. We learned from a March 2009 survey that nine out of 10 consumers thought “protecting” their retirement savings was as important as building it. So, our new television and digital advertising address these concerns and prompt consumers to take action. 

How do you react to financial services brands these days? Are some efforts better than others?  Why?  Would you continue to promote your brand message if you were in the financial services industry? 

If you happen to see our latest "protection" messages, let me know your thoughts.

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Lace up Your Running Shoes and Train for Your Career

Did you know that running is one of the fastest growing participatory sports in the United States? My company sponsors distance running events across the country, bringing runners, spectators, employees and the community together in a positive and memorable way. Training for a distance running event and preparing for a secure financial future share a common theme — both require discipline and a long-term commitment to succeed, right? 

As I think about my team in Atlanta preparing for the ING Georgia Marathon this Sunday, I started reflecting on marathons as it relates to career planning. Consider your career planning like training for a marathon. Think about the key objectives for a person who is training for a marathon. You need:

1. Discipline
2. Goals
3. Determination

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How S-M-A-R-T Are You?

It’s that time of year when we ask employees to create their performance objectives. I wish I could say that our employees eagerly anticipate this exercise, like they might their favorite author’s next book hitting the bookstores. But the reality is it’s an important process that we must all endure. However, I feel that we have a system in place that at least makes it easier for our employees. How is it easier? It’s called ePerformance. 

ePerformance is an online tool that provides an effective way for employees to not only set objectives, but to also formulate a development plan and track their progress throughout their careers. I guess you can say we’re moving performance management into the 21^st century.  

We started with a pilot program in 2007 with 1,300 employees who previewed the tool for a year. Even though we felt the tool was intuitive, we hosted demonstration sessions with the pilot group to help get them better acquainted with the application.  

What did we learn from the pilot? Employees, including managers, felt that the performance management process was much more streamlined. For example, managers can cascade their objectives to their direct reports. Alignment is always a good thing! Employees can then review them to gain a better understanding of their manager’s focus. In turn, employees can create objectives that are aligned with the goals of their department. Additionally, employees can keep better track of how they are meeting their objectives. Finally, because our industry can shift quickly, this tool helps us update objectives during the year if priorities should change and allows for instant feedback.  

What about development plans? Yes, employees can create and track them, too — all in one tool. Oh. I have to mention that employees also liked the idea of eliminating paper, as it’s more environmentally friendly. 

It’s been a year since we launched the tool to all employees, and we’ve already made enhancements to it. This is something we will continuously do. So, gone are the days of gathering performance feedback via e-mails. Instead, we’ve added a new functionality to ePerformance that allows managers and employees to gather feedback on performance from peers, direct reports, internal customers and project team members. The functionality allows employees to select specific objectives as well as competencies that they’d like rated. Managers and employees can view a consolidated report of all the feedback, and incorporate it into an annual review.  

My company is about making it easier — not just for our customers, but for employees too. It’s about truly living our brand. While this is just a snapshot of ePerformance’s capabilities, there’s much more. I’m interested in hearing your ideas about the performance management process. What’s working, what’s not working, and have you found the magic to helping your organization really embrace being Specific-Measurable-Aligned-Results oriented-Time bound?

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Can Random Thoughts Help To Make Sense of Our Current Environment?

Why would anyone want to hear someone’s random thoughts you ask? Well, perhaps it can offer some method to the madness that some feel we are living in today. Let me explain.  

A few months ago, I blogged about preparing for a townhall meeting at which time I would speak to a few hundred employees who report to me. It was during the time we heard that the country was officially in a recession. (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/tom-waldron/brand-ambassador/what-women-want)  

I’ve also blogged about how my company has recently communicated workforce reductions. The HR, brand, communications and corporate responsibility folks that report to me have been in the thick of it all, preparing, communicating and responding to our internal and external stakeholders about our company’s position in the marketplace. So, it was time to reconnect with my team in another townhall meeting. This time, I shared with them some random thoughts — words and phrases — that I hoped would offer perspective and re-energize them to stay focused and deliver on our company objectives.  

Here's the list of random thoughts. Some of these are a collection of my own observations, while others have stuck with me based on conversations with other people or from books or articles I've recently read.

1.  Fittingly: It’s about doing things exactly right at the moment. We’re operating with fewer resources, so we have to be even more conscious about our actions.

2. Speak as they hear: Speak to the listener in their words. We have to communicate and connect with our audience in a way that they like to hear.

3. Tectonic Shift: This best describes what we’re feeling in the financial services industry — we’re living history right now.

4. D-Process: We’re not in a “Depression,” and we’re not in “Deflation.” We’re in a “whole new process” unlike anything most of us have seen before.

5. Three-dimensional chess: We have to think now and several moves ahead. (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/tom-waldron/brand-ambassador/three-dimensional-chess)

6. Delivered calm: When we’re in crisis mode, we have to think through what’s happening, make decisions, communicate, but always try to keep your cool. Think about what happened in January when the US Airways plane landed in the Hudson River.

7. Viewed at an angle, this could be a gift: Yes, we keep hearing it — the country is in a crisis. And ING is experiencing unprecedented change. However, we’re still committed to making it easier for our customers. Fresh perspectives and creativity are important now as there are still opportunities out there — even now.

8. Bad news chases good news away: Dark clouds prevent us from recognizing the sliver lining. We all understand that continued bad news affects people, but our company’s culture is a strategic weapon. In my company’s case, we can’t forget the “orange” in ING.

9. A bad culture kills a good strategy: Be aware. Again, let’s be creative and continue to improve our culture. Employee engagement is critical.

10. A weak spirit lets worry take hold: Check yourself daily! Follow your spirit. Think of your spirit like your muscles when you work out. If you exercise them daily, they are sure to strengthen.

11. Chillax: OK. So I have to attribute this to my kids. They taught me this phrase. We all have to chill/relax. Relax instead of resisting. It’s OK to step back and breathe.

So, what do you think? Do any of these random thoughts resonate with you? Maybe you have your own list that you’d like to share with me. I’m interested in reading them.

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How Did You Find Out Your Job Was Being Eliminated?

The reality is this question is being asked a lot these days. Some companies are superb or really “show their stuff” when it comes to communicating internally to employees during these challenging times. Others may not be doing such a great job. Trust me, I’ve heard some horror stories. I actually heard a story this past week that one company told everyone who was invited to a conference call that if they were on the line — they were fired. That’s wild! I’ve blogged before about my combined role as an HR, Communications and Brand professional — the benefits of my company’s integrated operating model that combines HR, Brand, Communications and Corporate Responsibility under one function. I’d like to share with you our communications approach to delivering the tough message about workforce reductions.

More than ever, my team has heard me talk about “lifetime employment relationships.” Our employees are often times our customers and may become future customers, so their overall employee experience is important. Of course, fairness, dignity and respect are especially important when communicating job eliminations.

We began our necessary cost reductions communications strategy with periodic communications to employees about the state of our company and the overall economic environment. We believe in transparency and have been straight-forward with our employees regarding expectations about managing expenses since the beginning of the economic downturn. We aim for adult-like transparency in sharing both bad and good news. The Internal Communications and HR partnership was critical. Here’s a snapshot of what we did: 

• Created a manager toolkit packed with helpful tips on how to communicate to employees in a manner to keep them motivated and focused on the business, as we expected employees would naturally be distracted and feel confused by the economic upheaval.
• Distributed an all-manager communication from the CEO that offered a preview of an all-employee communication from him about necessary expense and staff reductions. The communication stressed the importance for managers to meet with their teams, giving them a short, four-day window to not only notify impacted employees, but talk with their teams about changes. Our CEO also encouraged managers to give employees, those impacted and those staying with the company, time to process the news. We wanted the notification to be short to reduce tension, but long enough so that each person impacted could have an individual discussion.
• Kept the media at bay because we wanted our people to hear first from us, not their morning newspaper.
• Distributed an all-employee communication from the CEO about expense and staff reductions.
• Created talking points for managers to help them address questions from employees.
• Created talking points for our Customer Service area so they could address questions from our customers about the workforce reductions.
• Encouraged managers to schedule face-to-face meetings with impacted employees, even those with virtual reporting relationships.
• Hosted manager and employee Webinars (we have many locations across the U. S.) to explain the severance program and communicate the availability of outplacement services.
• Informed impacted employees that representatives from our outplacement service were available on-site to answer questions about the program and engage them to think about approaching the job market in such challenging times.

Keeping in mind my philosophy about lifetime employment, I believe we carefully managed through this difficult time. We hope many of the people impacted will work for us again some time in the future, and we hope they remain loyal customers and brand ambassadors for our company.

I wish I could say that we executed this plan to perfection, but unfortunately there are always flaws, and we can certainly find room for improvement. I’m interested in hearing about your story, sharing best practices and lessons learned.

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Three-Dimensional Chess

Job cuts deepen across the USA. Retail outlook expected to worsen. We can’t seem to escape these headlines. And this week we’ve read about and heard our share of news about the economy that, for the most part, is pretty grim. Sigh. Huge corporations, including mine, are taking measures to reduce their risk and costs. I’m not a chess player, but picturing a three-dimensional chess game is the best way I can describe our current environment.

Just when you thought you’ve seen it all — something else happens. How do you react? For HR and Brand professionals like me, to business leaders to employees, we have to contemplate our next move, thinking about the various scenarios that could happen and how to respond. It can be a mind-bending experience. Strategy is key.

Here’s a glimpse into my personal experience. My teams of HR professionals, communicators, brand experts and corporate responsibility leaders have been extremely busy playing our position. We’re focused on providing value as trusted advisors, so that we can ensure the overall business strategy can be delivered. Examples of topics we’ve discussed that require a new strategy:

• Do we tweak our brand message to ensure consumers know that ING gets it — that we’re protecting their investments wisely?
• How do we introduce real-time internal communications vehicles for our employees?
• How do we communicate the company’s strength externally in a transparent manner, yet remain modest during these unpredictable times?
• How do we leverage the ING family of companies (e.g., ING DIRECT, ING Wholesale, ING Real Estate, etc.) in re-deploying talent and recruiting top talent who may approach ING during these challenging times?
• How do we work extra hard to “retain our gems” in terms of talent whose positions may be eliminated due to resource restraints and has nothing to do with mediocre performance?
• What are our employees’ needs for education about their own retirement and benefits?
• How will our communities call on us for help in this environment?
• Should we consider new corporate sponsorships that may become available if they position us better in the marketplace?

Yes, we had lots of questions, but in the end, we had answers for all of them. Perhaps this list is similar to yours or maybe there’s something on your list that we haven’t thought about. Let’s all continue to think about this three-dimensional chess game that’s become a way of life — how do I perform my job under different scenarios if situations create new opportunities in the next minute, and how do I keep my eye on the goal but simultaneously on the peripheral to ensure we don’t miss new dynamics which could change the plan?