Expert Available: Leveraging Identity in Uncertain Times
How Leaders Can Increase Employee Allegience During the Slow Recovery: Streamline Their Leadership Platforms; Build Identity Strength
WESTPORT, CT--(Marketwire - February 2, 2010) - As CEOs struggle to lead their companies
through a difficult economic recovery, they may benefit from streamlining
their leadership platforms in ways that get employees to sit up and take
notice. While leaders generally focus on purpose, vision, mission, brand
and values, they tend to neglect what actually drives and aligns all of
these elements: identity, the unique characteristics that define
value-creating potential.
In the recent study "The Identity Effect: Cracking the Code on Value
Creation - How Identity-Based Management Drives Employee Engagement and
Business Performance," Larry Ackerman, founder of The Identity
Circle and author of "Identity is Destiny," demonstrates the
compelling power of simplifying and strengthening the leadership
platform.Identity as a Leadership Lens
"There are significant missteps that leaders unwittingly take during times
of change and crisis, including creating redundant messages; overloading
audiences with too much information; focusing on the wrong elements; and
being unable to create sound a measurement process," said Mr. Ackerman.
"They fail to address and leverage the company's most important
value-creating asset -- its identity."
By recognizing and assessing the economic benefits of identity,
organizations and their leaders can begin to effectively leverage their
companies' 'identity strength' throughout all operations.
How to Streamline -- and Strengthen
With this backdrop, Mr. Ackerman suggests leaders ask themselves:
1. Are we promoting redundant messages? How can I simplify my platform
without losing its power and influence?
2. What measurements am I using to determine whether I'm effectively
leveraging my company's core identity?
3. If change is necessary, where do I focus my efforts?
Mr. Ackerman is available to discuss the steps leaders can take to
streamline their platform and maximize the essence of their organization's
identity. During a discussion, he can elaborate on how leaders can:
Engage employees to connect themselves to the company's identity in
meaningful ways;
Bring greater logic to the story they tell about the future of the
enterprise;
Measure, quantitatively, the impact of their leadership platform on
engagement and performance;
Align leadership closely with identity to maximize executive
effectiveness.
"While an intangible asset, a company's identity can be discerned,
articulated and operationalized as the main driver of value creation. This
is the discipline identity-based management provides," Mr. Ackerman said.
"Strong identities are derived from engaging ideas that are accessible and
inclusive."
Key Elements of Identity-Based Management
Mr. Ackerman can also outline the key elements of identity-based management
-- what companies that have made the effort to understand their identities
do to put identity to work to create more value. They are likely to...
Integrate identity and business economics: Identity provides the
human model of how companies work; economics provides the capital model.
Blending these disciplines results in a more reliable framework for shaping
strategy, managing operations and measuring results.
Lead through identity: Leaders can capitalize on the power of
identity to achieve key components of success such as: authenticity,
integrity and endurance.
Close the value gap: Most companies operate below their capacity
to create value. Closing the value gap -- via identity-based management --
would not only improve performance, but also improve the vitality of the
economy overall.
Let identity drive culture: Identity can be a natural "forcing
function" for shaping a culture around the dynamics of value
creation.
Make identity the cornerstone of employee engagement: High
levels of employee engagement start with organizational identity strength,
followed closely by individual identity strength. All the workplace
practices managers use to spur engagement can't substitute for this
reality.
To speak with Larry Ackerman of The Identity Circle, please contact
Frank Lentini at Sommerfield Communications, Inc. at 212-255-8386 or
lentini@sommerfield.com.About the Survey Methodology
The Identity Impact Survey is based on approximately 2,000 responses across
five companies, lending statistical validity to the results in aggregate
and for each company. Using advanced psychometric methods, the researchers
assessed the quality of the survey and its predictive ability. The research
results strongly support the effectiveness of this survey as a measure of
intrinsic identity strength and its role in predicting business
performance.
About The Identity Circle
The Identity Circle is a research, consulting and education company, that
helps organizations and individuals clarify and capitalize on their unique,
value-creating capacities in ways that improve performance, impact and
reputation. The company offers Identity Impact Surveys, specialized
consulting programs for senior executives and their teams and Identity
Mapping® courses for employees and individuals.
Copies of "The Identity Effect: Cracking the Code on Value Creation -
How Identity-Based Management Drives Employee Engagement and Business
Performance" are available upon request or for direct download athttp://www.theidentitycircle.com/library/type/identity_impact_survey/.
Contact Information: Contact:
Frank Lentini
Sommerfield Communications
212-255-8386
lentini@sommerfield.com