4 Key Steps to Establish the Foundations for Sustained Growth
You are very likely to be reading this if your organisation is pretty well established with a solid customer or service-user base, good employees, a regular income, and healthy turnover, YET you just know that there is more….
You have the potential to be bigger, better, stronger and wealthier, only you have settled in a very comfortable position where everything is OK, so you are unsure about rocking the boat, unsettling staff and risking everything that you have achieved to date.
Sustainable growth is far more achievable if you are building on a solid layer of foundations and the following 4 steps will help you to ensure that those foundations are in place before stepping onto the growth highway.
Step 1
Discover, capture and embrace the real essence of the brand you have created.
Most companies are initially created as a necessity; you have your product or service that is going to change the world and have to create a company, brand and identity in order to promote to your market. It takes months if not years for your brand to establish itself, and by the time you are in that established position you are far too busy to step back from working in the business to look from the outside. You need to understand the true essence of your company, what I describe as your Brand Essence.
- Why do you and your staff get out of bed in the morning to come to work?
- What is the real purpose that drives you and the company?
- What are the characteristics and values that define how that purpose is achieved?
The combined answers to the above questions begin to put tangible words and phrases to what is usually an intangible perception that customers and employees have when engaging with you.
The Process
Take at least half a day out of, and way from the distractions of day to day work with your senior team. It is vital that the company owner/founder/CEO is present as it is likely that they will be most aligned with the essence.
Crazy though it might sound, start the day with some relaxation or mindfulness exercise to clear your minds then explore the business from a perspective of how it feels, why the company exists, what is important to you about the company, how you believe you are perceived by customers and employees, what you believe the future looks and feels like. Somebody needs to capture all this information, focussing on key words that arise.
From all the key words and phrases that come up in that initial download work as a team to distill and filter the really key ones that everyone agrees with. Be bold and discard words that do not resonate with the whole team.
Create 4 headings: Why, Who, How and What and place the above filtered words/phrases into these categories.
Now the scary bit – discard the How and What categories completely!
Your How is about systems & process, Your What is about the products/services you create. Neither are about Why you exist or Who you are. Your Why and Who define the other elements of your business.
Re-visit your Who and Why categories and refine again. Ideally the Who characteristics will be a cloud of 8 – 10 words, and your Why will be easily crafted into a single sentence that captures your purpose.
Step 2
Create an outward-facing mission statement and set of values that demonstrate the truth of your essence to customers and employees
Capturing the true essence of your brand that sits at the heart of everything your company does has no real value if you keep it to yourself, or within your leadership team. For your essence to be truly at the heart of your business it needs to be articulated in a way that both staff and customers can understand and associate with.
The Process
Allow a little time for your Brand Essence to settle then have another session with your senior team to distill your defining purpose and characteristics into a simple, yet powerful mission statement and set of values. This part of the process will take longer then you think – please allow at least a couple of hours. The mission and values you agree on now will sit at the heart of your company culture and underpin decisions on all aspects of your operation from recruitment to promotion to R & D.
Step 3
Carry out some research to discover the perception of your brand by employees and customers
The result of your Brand discovery process is yours – it is internal and informs the beliefs and values of you and your leadership team. In order to understand how you need to move forwards onto the growth journey you also need to understand the perception of customers and employees.
- Do they agree with you?
- Do they share your values?
- Do they align with your purpose?
The Process
Create a questionnaire or involve an external agency to carry out a selection of short interviews capturing the perception of staff and customers as to who you are and why you do what you do. Ask staff questions like:
- Can you tell me the purpose of the company
- How would you describe the company mission
- Do you feel that the MD/CEO/leadership team encourage you to feel part of their mission?
- what do you think they could do better to make you feel part of the company?
Ask customers:
- Why did you decide to use/buy from xxx in the first place
- Why do you continue to use them
- Can you explain what it is about the company that you like
- Would you recommend them to others and why
Questions like these will demonstrate how you are perceived as a company and guide you as to what needs to be done in order for staff and customers to be in alignment with your brand essence.
Step 4
Listen, engage and communicate
In order to grow in a sustainable way you need everyone ‘on-side’. Staff should not only understand your purpose, they should feel a sense of ownership and be aligned with it. This way they will be ambassadors for your brand and be prepared to go the extra mile to achieve the shared purpose.
For customers the ideal scenario is that they understand, share and align with your purpose and values. They are then far more likely to be loyal to you and often happy to pay a premium to work with you.
The Process
Internally, create communications to embed your mission and values into the ongoing culture of the organisation AND make sure that there is a genuine 2-way dialogue including staff in decision-making and inviting suggestions for improvement so that staff feel some sense of ownership. Make your communications human and personable, wherever possible presented by or including the CEO/MD – every member of staff should know who the ‘holder’ of the mission is and how they can be contacted.
Externally ensure that all sales and marketing content is underpinned by the essence of your brand. Every customer who reads an advert or blog, or comes to your office or store should ‘feel’ that you have a strong purpose and that your business is about a lot more than making money. Collect regular feedback from customers on an ongoing basis so that any problems can be addressed quickly and personally.
Follow steps 1 – 4 and, when added to the systems and processes that ensure your How and What keep on track, you will have an incredibly solid foundation that will support and sustain the growth you vision for your company.
Richard Flewitt
An insightful approach
to Brand Essence &
leadership
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