I’ve known Des since school, and these days the main way I get to see him is when he pops up in a TV advert or on a popular BBC show. That usually ends with me pointing at the screen shouting “It’s Des!”, and someone in my family telling wondering how on earth?!
So it was really nice to actually get him into a studio for a proper conversation. I always enjoy getting into a studio and having chats like this - I’m curious about how people do what they do, and I’d been wanting to ask Des about something: How similar is putting together the right cast for a production to bringing together the right people in an organisation?
It’s very similar, as it turns out. For Des, it all starts with the story you’re trying to tell, and then finding the people it genuinely excites, the ones who read it and feel something and want to be part of it.
Working with, not for
I loved how Des talked about organisations seeing their people as working with them rather than for them. When everyone’s bought into the story and where it’s heading, he reckons people tend to rally together pretty naturally, without needing to be pushed. That’s super important when you’re filming and ad or TV show to a deadline.
He described a film set, which I loved. The producer tells the director they’ve only got the set for one more day, so make it work. The director then turns to everyone else and says the same, and before long the whole crew, actors included, are getting stuck in to make it happen. There’s still someone in charge, of course, but everyone feels like they’re pulling in the same direction.
A big part of that comes down to people feeling heard. Not in that suggestion box kind of way, where ideas go in and you’re never quite sure anyone reads them, but properly listened to.
Not every idea is going to get acted on, and that’s fine, but when people feel heard they feel like they’re part of the team. Whereas if someone’s always fighting against what their organisation wants from them, there’s always going to be a bit of a disconnect.
More than the title
Then he made a point that I reckon anyone working in employer branding will recognise straight away. As an actor, he can’t rely on the title of a script to give him that feeling, and in the same way, an employer can’t rely on a clever headline to give candidates it either.
When you watch Des on TV, you’re seeing the finished result, not all the days in between that went into getting there. And candidates, he said, want to see those days in between. What’s the company actually like day to day? Nobody’s happy all the time, but when something goes wrong, how does it get sorted, and does everyone keep moving forward together without anyone being left behind?
That, for me, is exactly what good employer brand content should be doing. Showing people what it’s really like to work somewhere, through the people who actually work there, rather than leaning on a slogan and hoping for the best.
“Employees aren’t people who work for you, they’re people who work with you.” Nicely put, Des.
