I overheard a staff member grumbling about the new email signature that was implemented for all employees. She sounded like the defiant type who was not interested in following directions, per se. She groused to a couple of her co-workers that her email signature should be personalized and unique to her.
Weeks after the new email signature was implemented, I occasionally received emails from random people in the organization with the most fantastic email signatures. They were personalized with favorite quotes or slogans not related to the organization. Some used unique fonts and colors, presumably to add interest, although they proved to distract from legibility.
If you spelled your name differently each time you wrote it, no one would ever learn your name.
For every 100 employees, your organization probably puts out at least 500 emails per day. That is 500 times you are represented to someone outside the organization. Those are opportunities to reinforce your branding, name recognition, and values…or to do the opposite.
Repetition is Useful
The human brain requires repetition to learn. If you don’t believe me, think back to your school days. Do you remember your times tables? Even for those of us who learned multiplication several decades ago, the figures stick in our heads. There are some other random facts stuck in there, too. Anybody know this one: hic, haec, hoc, huius, huius, huius?
How many times and in how many ways were your multiplication tables repeated to you when you were learning them? If you are as old as I am, your Latin class stood and recited verb declensions every day for years. That information is imprinted on your brain forever, whether you need to know it or not.
Branding your organization is mostly educating people about who you are and what you do. Repeating your name and logo with every communication helps reinforce your branding. When every member of your organization does the same, you are speaking loud and clear, gaining and reinforcing strong name recognition.
Building a Happy Workforce
You can’t make everyone happy, as the saying goes, but some managers try (too hard). If I created exceptions for every employee who complained about the email signature, consistency would be lost. Our entire branding effort related to email signatures would be a waste of time and money and just one more project to take up time in the Communication and IT departments.
Consistency is actually the key to a happy workforce more than bending the rules for those who complain. In a large organization, maintaining consistency can be difficult but is even more important.
Think of the franchise model: no matter where you travel, when you stop at a McDonald’s you will get the same product, same environment, same everything. It is rather comforting to find something familiar when you are out and about.
Consistency within your organization creates the same comfortable familiar feel for your employees. They know what to expect and can trust that the guidelines are applied the same across the organization. There are no favorites, and there are no “independent actors” within your company.
It’s Really That Easy
Yes, sarcasm is my favorite form of humor, and if you cannot infuse your work with a little humor from time to time, life gets pretty dull. Creating and maintaining consistency across your organization, big or small, is not easy. It requires a commitment to best practices and the discipline that some top-level leaders don’t have.
First, you must recognize the importance of being consistent in your internal and external communications. Repetition is necessary to get everyone on board with your messaging. Managers who think they can say it once and get it done are often bewildered with poor outcomes and low employee engagement.
Consistent messaging to your external audiences can mean the difference between building a solid organization and just floundering in the marketplace. Your goal is to educate various constituencies and that takes time and repetition. For every deviation from consistency, your efforts will be set back exponentially.
Finally, discipline is not a common trait among top-level leaders. They tend to be the big-picture thinkers, the dreamers. It is the doers who focus on details and display discipline in the process. If you do not possess the discipline to provide consistency in your organization, find someone on your team who does, and rely on that person to keep your messaging on track.
Hi CHRISTINE,
What a joy to be here today!
I am so glad to read this wonderful and informative piece.
Yes, I fully agree with all the points you brought out in this passage.
In fact, consistency is the key to any activity, especially when it comes to online activities.
Thanks for sharing these valuable tips through this post.
Keep sharing
Best Regards
~ Philip
Good to hear from you, Philip, and thank you for reading!
Christine, your article is fact filled with the added advantage of making pure sense.
Thank you, Joel.
You are welcome, Christine
Great points. Having the right blend of consistency and individuality can be a tough line to draw, but is definitely important both for branding and also to get the most out of your people. And let’s face it – some people are going to find something to complain about no matter what! Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, there’s always the constant complainers to content with. Thanks for reading, Joe.
Christine – Great advice that has been overlooked since the dawn of email. Hopefully, some will read your article and reconsider how important this necessary tool is to getting your brand recognized. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading, Len.
Consistency is the pivot on which our credibility rests, and must be understood in a very broad sense: whatever we say we do we must do it, if we believe in something we must prove it with facts, if we believe a certain type of behavior is right, we must be the best example available.
Consistency arises from living our beliefs, from defending our ideas, from putting our certainties into practice. It must start from within, constitute our real way of living and being.
From this form of coherence, with time and the right patience, strong and sure credibility can only be born. But consistency, of course, must become a lifestyle without end or pauses, because just as it can take years to build our credibility, a few moments are enough to destroy it.
I couldn’t agree more, Aldo. Thanks for reading.