After years of watching black and white movies depicting corporate moguls banging on their desks demanding that their employees “tow the line”, I have a preconceived notion of the corporate message. As I walk the streets of Manhattan, I often look up and imagine a secret group of spin masters hiding in a corprorate bunker on the top floor conspiring how to integrate their message across the internal sound systems embedded in the showrooms below - sell, sell, sell…
At this point it is rather clear that Nordstrom is obsessed with customer service but the question is how Nordstrom’s translates this corporate agenda to its employees without demeaning their role in the cause. In reading Chapter five in our textbook, Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications by Paul Argenti, today’s corporations must open the lines of communication between one’s employees and employers – the top-down approach is a dinosaur of the past, no longer in black and white.
According to Matt Gonring, a consultant with Gagen MacDonald, “corporate communications is a dynamic two-way process that is recognized by senior management.” Nordstrom ran into snag in 1990 when it was discovered that employees were not treated at the same level as their precious customers and were often underpaid and overworked – quickly the new generation of Nordstrom management rewrote the culture to a more two-way personal line of communication and a power-sharing agreement was established. Management handed out their email addresses and cell numbers hoping to incubate the one-company philosophy – all for one and one for all.
Nordstrom’s has two official blogs, http://blogs.nordstrom.com/ titled The Thread and NYFW. Both are written to the customer for the customer. In fact, I was side tracked in getting on task with my homework by today’s blog – “Gifts for him under $100 dollars”. Forty five minutes later, back on track, after finding the perfect gift for my nephew I found www.glassdoor.com, a free career website which allows employees to anonymously write about their employers. Nordstrom features 695 postings and an overall rating of “satisfactory.” Unlike the “7 Tips for Employee bloggers” listed in our textbook, these posting seem to be a free for all and really anyone can say they are an employee. These websites stage a platform for a small a flock of Macy mice, Sak’s snakes and Neiman Marcus gnats all chirping against my beloved Nordies, appalling!!!
Blogs written by actual Nordstrom employees for their customers would be fun to read. Maybe saying why they enjoy providing such high-end customer service. Maybe some fun stories about their different customers and their craziest requests. Nordstrom’s spotlights its employees on their corporate web site pages but 99% of what corporate is putting out there regarding its employees is related to community service, environmental citizenship and human rights. An internal blog, which may exist on an intranet, spotlighting employee’s customer service challenges and achievements would be inspiring. According to Mike Wing, vice president of worldwide intranet strategy and programs for IBM “corporate interaction is neither top-down, nor bottom-up; it’s horizontal”. The blog should be written by all levels of the corporation from their perspectives – the trick is to make sure that it doesn’t become a complaint box.
Nordstrom does not have one stand out spokesperson. The Nordstrom men, those Nordic hunks, seem to be the face of the company although they live in the background as any good parent would. As descendants of the founder, they still emulate the American dream, Swedish immigrants coming over to find gold and ultimately discovering it – in shoes, gold Louboutin shoes.
So corporate communications are no longer innies or outies, they are inbetweenie.
First of all, your blog always makes me giggle. Really a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the "new generation of management" changed to treat employees better must have worked because Nordstrom's is on the 100 best places to work, or at least it was when I did a project on it sophomore year.
www.glassdoor.com seems like it could be a beneficial website for any future employees. As I’ve said before, it is one thing to hear about the great things a company offers from its management, it’s another when you hear it from “the little people.” Unfortunately, with such an open forum, you do run into the question of who is actually writing these posts since no one is checking their credentials. It would be interesting to sit in on a staff meeting to see what is said since Nordstom is so focused on its customer.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard believe but not at the same time that a company like Nordstroms would mistreat their employees. As such a large and profitable company, you'd think their employees would reap a lot of the benefits. I'm sure after the big change things are better there. But it can see how the big guys at the top would get a little over the top with all the success. I've talked with a few who have worked there and so far no complaints about the discount :)
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