–by Kevin Keohane, global practice leader for Brand and Talent, and Leslie Rogers, head of insight and knowledge

Are you making the most of your “most valuable asset”?

After concerns about economic recovery and the availability of credit, can you guess what top CEOs said was their biggest growth barrier, according to the 2010 Economist Intelligence Unit’s Companies at a Crossroads report?

You might be surprised that the answer is: Talent. People. These “resources” are what companies consider their most valuable asset.

We couldn’t agree more. MSLGROUP’s Brand and Talent practice helps complex, global organisations use the combined power of their brand and their people improve their business results.  Recently, our 23 practice leaders from North America, the UK, Scandinavia, Europe, India, China and points in between met to identify what clients should be doing to succeed in the conversation economy.

Our conclusion?

One :  Ensure that you clearly articulate your employment value proposition (EVP) so that it is aligned to your corporate brand, relevant to the talent marketplace, differentiated from competitors vying for the same talent, and authentic to who you are and what you stand for as an organisation.  CMOs and and HR directors must work together to get this right.  The benefit ? You get access to a bigger talent pool, pay less premium to attract the best talent, retain good people to be productive for longer, and improve your external brand equity in the process.  It’s no good attracting thousands of applicants if 90% aren’t right for your culture and ways of working.

Two :  Engage your existing employees in your brand.  Again, CMOs must work with corporate and internal communications to ensure that every employee understands what the brand stands for, the experience customers or clients have been promised, and what they should do (or do differently) to get the most value from their day job—for customers, colleagues and for themeselves.  It’s no good claiming to deliver “simplicity” if your customer service operation is a complex bureaucracy that doesn’t understand—and act according to—your brand promise.

Three : Clarify the story you are telling and shape your people processes to match.  Most organisations craft and communicate mission, vision, values, strategies, competencies, behaviours, corporate responsibility, and a plethora of both strategic change and “business as usual” initiatives.  Successful organisations tend to be the ones who can overcome the internal functional silos to agree on a single purpose or idea that permeates and indeed aligns all of these things into a clear and compelling, cohesive framework.  Then, HR / talent management processes must be lined up with this framework.  It’s no good claiming “collaboration and teamwork” as a core value or principle if you reward and recognise people individually, for example.

The bottom line ?

Getting the most from your Talent – before, during and after their association with you – can drive results of up to 340% above your competitors, according to the Gallup Management Journal.  CEOs think it’s critical to overcome the challenges of change and growth that lie ahead.  The biggest obstacle, according to the SAS global employer brand benchmark ?  Failure to work effectively across organisational silos.

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If you would like answers to your Brand and Talent questions, please write Kevin at kkeohane (at) saslondoncom. Kevin is also the author of The Talent Journey and an eponymous blog. For more information on MSLGROUP’s Brand and Talent practice, please click here. For additional blog posts about our Brand and Talent practice, please click here and here.