There was a business news piece on one of last weeks’ Today
programmes (BBC Radio 4) about the car industry and how it’s bucking the
general economic trend (which, if you hadn’t noticed, is through the floor).
What I found more interesting was that the most sustained
success was being enjoyed not by Ford or Vauxhall, whose motors you’ll see most
on a motorway near you, but by the curiously quirky Honda. Honda has invested
£267 million in their Swindon plant, the cornerstone of their European
business, and they’ve created 500 new jobs along the way.
Whaddaboutit? They make good cars. They make great ads.
They’re all over everything, making sure they have the right fit with the
programmes they sponsor and have Garrison Keillor’s dulcet tones continually
asking questions like ‘What if...” and supposing “Isn’t it nice when things just work?”
They don’t apply that ethos just to things either.
Most businesses say they’re good at supporting and
empowering their people, helping them to grow and develop in a dynamic environment
with structured career pathways and a comprehensive package of benefits, blah
blah blah. It’s all stuff they wheel out when they need to recruit so I get to write
things like that a lot. But what about the rest of the time?
You know when it’s bluff and when it’s coming from somewhere
real. And that’s where I find Honda UK. Which makes it much easier to make
their message resonate more with potential candidates, just by keeping it clear
and simple and impactful. It’s lovely to work with a line like ‘The Power of
Dreams’ when you know it’s much more than just a line. It is an ethos.
If we have to talk about it in terms of employer branding, it's a textbook study in finding what really drives an organisation and bringing it to life for an external audience.
And so, back to the point, all of this all made even more
sense when I heard Honda UK’s MD , Dave Hodgetts, use most of his very short
radio time (minutes at most) not to talk about the cars, the engineering, the
innovation, the technology, the numbers, their ambitions... but to talk about
Honda UK people and how they’re looked after, encouraged, supported, developed,
challenged and rewarded.
Speaks volumes. Nuff said.
Isn’t it nice when things – and people - just work?
