Best And The Rest


	Building a brand requires a company to consistently deliver on its promise

“A Trend in the Making”

Branding is no more the sole responsibility of the marketing department, nor is it limited to a few stakeholders. Off late, enterprises are looking at an integrated branding strategy that would address all stakeholders – customers, employees and investors – current and prospective. Of particular relevance is people branding, an area that has resulted in the coming together of marketing and human resources departments to evolve an integrated branding strategy. In this context, building a brand is not about creating interesting punch lines, imaginative logos and using attractive colors. It is more about making a promise and creating a culture within the organization that allows a fulfillment of this promise fostered. Branding can therefore be viewed as an experience of the customer and other key stakeholders. People branding or internal branding initiatives are especially relevant to knowledge based industries such as IT and BPO as people are the brand ambassadors with the maximum influence on how the brand is perceived.

A company that has successfully built a brand from “within” is featured in this issue of Confluence. MindTree Consulting, in recent years, has created a niche for itself in the Indian IT industry. Known for its people friendly processes, MindTree has been ranked among the top employers for (two consecutive years, 2003, 2004) the year 2003 by Hewitt and has been assessed at P-CMM Level 5. For a company as young as MindTree (which is now 5 years old), its achievements over the years are nothing short of dramatic. So what makes MindTree tick? Prayag spoke to MindTree to understand their idea of People Branding and what makes them different.

For a branding strategy to be successful, it is imperative that it is well-aligned with the company’s overall business objective. The Mission, Vision and Values show the direction in which a company should move forward. A glimpse into the “Making of the MindTree” by Subroto Bagchi takes one to the roots of MindTree, to the place where it was born, nameless then. The “Dream Team”, as the author puts it, which later on became the founding team, framed the mission and vision for an entity that was yet to be born. It read “We will deliver business enabling software solutions, by creating partnership with our customers, in a joyous environment for our people”, a mission that places people (employees) at a strategic position in the organization. This set the foundation and the tone for an organization that was to become astoundingly successful in the future. “Mindtree’s ‘people focus’ is top driven and has the complete commitment of its management. This, in our view, is an important ingredient of success” adds Manoj Chandran, Senior Manager, Content and Marketing.

· Redefine and align branding strategy with business objectives

· Start at the top management

· Communicate core values

· Employees buy-in

· Brand strategy re-visit and re-alignment

At the core of the People Practices at MindTree are its Values & DNA. The values of Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing and Social Responsibility (CLASS) were crafted by the employees of MindTree. “The core values form the umbilical chord that binds the people of this organization into one united family cutting across the barriers of language, distance and culture, ” says Puneet Jetli, General Manager, People Function.

Building a brand requires a company to consistently deliver on its promise. This requires the creation of a well managed customer experience, time and time again. Since employees are a critical part of this “customer experience”, it is imperative that they help reinforce the brand at every point of interaction. To make this possible the company has to make the employees buy-in to the promise to deliver. So, the focus now turns to the operational part of the branding strategy. Since the human element is involved, it requires a well thought through approach, as any wrong moves would create a negative image for the company.

So, how did MindTree achieve employee buy-in? Was there a separate set of processes they followed?

Surprisingly, it is the same set of HR processes that help employees buy-in. The difference, however, lies in the implementation. Here we articulate the key HR processes and how MindTree takes care of the nuances which have yielded superb results.

Recruitment: In order to be a well regarded brand, a company should have the right set of people. MindTree believes that while skills and competencies are important, it is also important to ascertain how well the candidate would fit into the culture of the organization. Therefore, apart from evaluating competencies, MindTree also takes into account the candidate’s personal values and ensures that there is a certain degree of harmony between the company’s core values and personal values. Once inducted, the people function helps every employee assimilate the values of the company through different means. This is exemplified by the fact that Chairman Ashok Soota himself steers the session on Values.

Performance Management Systems: When employees fail to deliver on the company’s promise, it is not because of bad intentions or lack of interest. More often, it is because of the absence of the means to deliver, such as empowerment, training, etc. At MindTree, no such barriers are allowed to limit an employee’s performance. The appraisal systems are designed to capture all the needs of the employees- training, better compensation, etc. Also, employees have been made an integral part of the decision making system. For instance, MindTree conducts an annual People Perception Survey, which later sets the tone to change people’s policies and practices based on employees’ feedback. This is followed by a dipstick survey to ensure that the changes are on the right track. Professional Development Managers act as mentors to employees and guide them through their career growth. Best performers are put on a fast track career growth ensuring job challenge and satisfaction. Clearly, a holistic and healthy approach to Performance Management differentiates MindTree.

Culture: A positive culture is one that breeds success. MindTree has defined their DNA as Imagination, Action and Joy. When MindTree employees were asked to define ‘joy’ as used in their DNA, they said ‘it was the feeling of a job well done’. The depiction of MindTree’s DNA begins from the company’s logo (where blue stands for limitless imagination, red stands for action and yellow dots denote bubbles of joy) and is followed in its true spirit. MindTree also believes that the differentiator that it has created are captured in the 4As – Access, Agility, Attention and Attitude. MindTree’s customers today recognize these differentiators. Of course, the employees, too, are reaping the benefits. More than 60% of the lateral recruitment takes place through employee referrals. Also, MindTree’s employee surveys have shown remarkably high percentage of around 95% of the employees to be “satisfied”. Not surprisingly, the attrition rate at MindTree is half that of the industry’s average.

Rewards and Recognition: High morale and loyalty among employees is crucial for organizational excellence. Rewards and Recognition built into systems will not only boost productivity but also convey to employees that they are being valued. High performance levels at MindTree can be directly attributed to its rewards and recognition programs. It was one of the first companies to cover 100% of its employees under the ESOP umbrella. Its compensation levels continue to be among the best in the industry.

Ergonomics: An individual’s productivity is directly related to the environment he/she works in. Today, organizations are trying to create an environment which would be viewed by the employees as a home away from home. MindTree’s commitment to create a “joyous environment” is reflected in the aesthetics of the MindTree campus. An outstanding example of innovation of the workplace, the ambience at MindTree’s offices fosters the nurturing of talent and productivity.

Above all, there is one thing that strikes a common chord with all the employees. And that is MindTree’s commitment to social responsibility. Chetan, a student with cerebral palsy gave the visual identity for MindTree and its facility is replete with digitally expanded drawings of the students of the Spastic Society of Karnataka’s School with which MindTree has a longstanding relationship. No wonder, MindTree minds promote the tradition of being socially sensitive and nurture values.

Though these are conventional HR practices, a company in order to successfully internalize the brand has to meticulously marry branding objectives into HR practices. The HR practices, in all possible ways, should communicate what the company stands for, its promise and how valuable the employees are for the company.

The take away from MindTree’s experience is that success comes from taking care of the fundamentals, taking care of the details and adopting a holistic approach to a situation.

And, importantly, keeping at it.