Are your Staff Killing Your Brand?

I have recently returned from a trip to Perth for a family visit and had two amazing experiences on my flights there and back...this is the first:

On the way from Sydney to Perth there was a small group of people who were travelling together.

Initially they were quite friendly and vocal, with a number of loud mentions of the name of the company they worked for. Apparently they had just completed some sort of group training.

One of the women in the group was particularly loud and continued to drink throughout the flight and had no problem yelling from her seat to the people she knew who were sitting a number of rows back.

By the time we landed everyone sitting anywhere within ear shot had heard way too much informtion from this woman; even the people travelling with her appeared to want to distance themselves from her and made refrences to the fact that she would be hungover 'again' tomorrow...

As someone who is in the business of observing Brands at play and at work this both fascinated and distressed me.

From a Personal Brand perspective I wondered if she had any idea of the number of people who were making decisions about what type of person she was and what she was capable of professionally based on that flight. We had all heard her talk about where she worked and rightly or wrongly, based on that behaviour, I wouldn't be hiring her in a second.

As far as the Small business she works for, unfortunately I won't be rushing there, or recommending them any time soon either.

It really prompted the following questions:

• How aware are you of your behaviour and the image you project outside of 'work hours'?
• If you employ staff, how much of their Personal Brand are you aware of?
• Is Personal Brand something on your radar when you are employing new staff?
• What can you do to manage the halo effect of your staff's brand on your clients and prospects?
• Is Personal Brand something measured as part of staff performance reviews?

Maybe I am being too much of a nanna on this, and if you think so, please feel welcome to tell me that...

I have had a number of difference of opinion chats with people who think their behaviour outside of work has nothing to do with their professional life and their boss has no right to an opinion on it.

Even if you believe that, you would have to agree that in this instance the boss has every right to an opinion as the employee behaviour directly reflects on the business brand. 

I am open to the fact that I may be a little too attentive to these kinds of things, however I am calling it like I see it in terms of how I respond to that sort of interaction and so I am curious to hear what you think...