By Dan Bobinski
CEO, The Center for Workplace Excellence

Do you have anyone in your organization with a high public profile? If so, why not let that person be an ambassador for your company? Such is the idea presented in an Advertising Age article, How to Turn High-Profile Employees into Brand Ambassadors, by Kaplan Morbray.

Morbray, a career coach, author, and motivational speaker, says to let high-profile people serve as envoys because it paves the way for them to impart motivation to other employees. “Rather than being viewed as renegade moonlighters, [they] become their company’s most coveted brand ambassadors,” he says.

It’s not bad for sales, either. Morbray says that consumers “increasingly base their feelings about a company on what they know about its people, rather than on what an ad agency’s creative team can portray.”

Sounds like a siren call for getting employees blogging and tweeting, doesn’t it?

Okay, so you say not too many companies have former TV stars or Olympians among their ranks. Still, I think Morbray’s idea has a lot of merit. In other words, even if Michael Phelps is not on your payroll, you probably have a few employees with strong social-leadership skills. Why not give them a platform such as a blog or even some public speaking roles?

In my latest book, Creating Passion-Driven Teams, I point out that passion cannot be forced—it must emerge. This happens when it’s released by each person on a team. So, when co-workers are given opportunities to promote what their teams and fellow team members are doing, it only makes sense that the others on the team will get excited about the publicity.

It’s bound to create more motivation and foster greater teamwork. A little blogging, tweeting, and public speaking can go a long way!

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Filed in Motivation, Management, Team Building, Workplace, Corporate Culture