Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal | July 6, 2020 | wbjournal.com 10) If the existence of systemic racism was not evident to you before 2020, the killing of George Floyd by the police and the staggering disproportionate number of people of color dying from COVID-19 should leave no question. Acknowledge it. 9) Understand some employees are deeply affected by racism and may be distracted in their work. Treat them like you would treat any other employee dealing with personal trauma. 8) Commit to creating environments of dialogue. But do so with great thought and care. Do not just have an impromptu pizza lunch to open up the floor for conversation. 7) Hire a professional. There are very talented experts who can guide companies through a thoughtful and meaningful diversity and inclusion plan. 6) Under no circumstances should you look to your employees of color to lead the conversations or to write your company's statement. 5) Make diversity a goal in your strategic plan for hiring, retention, and promotion. Hold yourself accountable. 4) Be intentional in your business relationships. Seek to do business with companies owned or led by people of color. Intentionally choose to not do business with companies who are not committed to diversity. 3) Stay vigilant in the long term. Having one conversation or one training session is performative and your employees and customers will see right through it. 2) Speak out publicly, but only if you are serious about denouncing racism and reducing its impact on your organization. Your employees and customers are waiting for it. 1) Put your money where your mouth is. Make corporate donations to social services agencies focused on racial justice. Invest in your local youth of color. K N O W H O W Should you ditch your CMO for a CGO? 10 1: C ompanies may see these as treacherous times to conduct em- ployee surveys, with challenges due to COVID-19 precautions, reduced workforce numbers and supply-chain disruptions. But human resources ex- perts say team members will appreciate being asked for their input and being heard, now more than ever. Here are some thoughts on employee surveys, their value and what they can accom- plish for employees and their companies. Know surveys are multilayered. Even the number of survey participants reveals information about a company: How many employees are looking to be actively engaged. Beyond that, they show what topics resonate. "Differential participation rates tell us what issues matter most to our people," said Scott Judd, Facebook head of people analytics and Erin O'Rourke, people growth & survey analytics lead, in a 2018 Harvard Business Review article. "Ninety-five percent complete the engagement survey, more than two-thirds fill out our annual diversity survey, and more than half do our benefits survey." Ask employees if they see a future for themselves there. According to employee-engagement company TinyPulse.com, if employees can't visualize their career progression there, they won't stay. Asking, "Do you have a clear understanding of your promotion path?" makes the difference in whether employees stay with a company or would recommend it to job seekers. It will show the company where professional- development investments are needed. Focus on transparency. Global ana- lytics firm Gallup.com notes transparen- cy speaks volumes and surveys should include results. Yet only 55% of em- ployees say they received results from a workplace survey in which they partici- pated. "is shows that you take their in- put seriously, and that the survey didn't go into the trash. It can also be a helpful level set. Instead of being disgruntled that their opinions were not heard or acted on, employees can see that perhaps their opinion was a minority view," said Ryan Pendell in a Gallup article. 1 0 T H I NG S I know about . . . How companies respond to George Floyd's killing BY KHAM INTHIRATH Special to the Worcester Business Journal I f you stay up to date on business news, you might have heard of a new job in town: the chief growth officer. Companies like Hershey's and Kellog's are integrating this role into their corporate teams, and Coca-Cola even replaced its chief marketing officer with a CGO. Read on to find out whether you need a CGO for your business. What Is a CGO? A CGO is part of the C-suite: executives in your company including a CEO, chief financial officer, and chief marketing officer. A CGO's goal is to create a seamless, enjoyable customer experience. She/he works with marketing, sales, product, and finance departments to make sure the customer is happy and the system runs smoothly. How is a CGO different from a CMO? CMOs and CGOs have some similarities, but they are different roles. A CMO is in charge of marketing efforts to build brand awareness and drive business. A CGO also wants to drive business growth, but does a lot more than deal with marketing. Both CMOs and CGOs are in charge of: • Marketing strategy • Marketing analytics • Branding • Multi-channel marketing • Staffing • Leadership/team building • Public relations • Content creation • Marketing technologies • Lead generation CGOs are also responsible for: • Profitable growth • Sales strategies & execution • Product development & expansion • Strategic business planning What does this mean for marketing? e days when sales and marketing departments barely spoke to each other are over. Marketers need to form and maintain healthy, bilateral relationships with members of every department, and think outside of the box for strategies involving the whole company. When Envision Digital rebranded as Inink, we changed our title from marketing agency to growth agency. We're not limiting ourselves to marketing anymore. We're helping companies grow by thinking creatively. Should your business hire a CGO? Here are a few things to evaluate: 1. Your industry and business size. Today, most CGOs work for companies with fewer than 200 people in the marketing and IT industries. 2. Budget. About 20% of brands with $5-50 million in marketing budgets have CGOs, while only 11% of companies with an ad buy of less than $5 million have CGOs. 3. Your goals. According to a survey by Singular, (77%) of CGOs said apps are critical to delivering customer value or generating revenue. In the end, it might not be an either/ or situation. In many companies, CMOs and CGOs work closely together. The case for a CGO-led company CGO-led companies are outperforming CMO-led companies on a broad scale. Today, CGO-led companies are more likely to participate in mobile-focused, tech-heavy verticals. While not every company will benefit from hiring a CGO, brands interested in driving rapid growth, implementing new tools, and investing in marketing tech will thrive under a skilled CGO. Kham Inthirath is the founder and president of Worcester marketing firm InThink Agency, focused on helping local businesses find and connect with their target audiences. BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal By By AiVi Nguyen AiVi is a partner at Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey. Reach her at anguyen@bowditch. com. W E M P L O Y E E S U R V E Y S W W

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