behaviour: the heart of a brand
TRANSCRIPT
RECENT PR DISASTERS
Justin Wellesby protests about the ethics of payday lenders in the strongest terms.
Only to find the Church of England’s pension fund was a major investor in Wonga…
In 2011, Google paid 6m tax on UK revenues of 2.6bn.
Not so easy to square with their famous mission statement: ‘Don’t be evil’
‘better people, better products, big picture, beyond petroleum.’
Environmental tragedy. Economic and PR disaster.
Aftermath of the deep water Horizon oil spill.
The reason these events have been such clear PR disasters, is that the actions of the organisation have run counter to their espoused values.
A form of hypocrisy that a savvy public is immensely sensitive to.
The Alignment Factor
BRAND PROMISE
SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS
STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCE
SUSTAINABLE REPUTATION
Sustainable reputation can only be achieved when all three aspects above get aligned.
Think about it: would it be a scandal if JP Morgan were to invest in Wonga instead of the Church of England?
BEHAVIOUR IS SHAPED BY ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Formal (Overt) Aspects
Informal (Covert) Aspects
GoalsTechnologyStructure
“The way we say we do things”
“The way we actually get things done”
- beliefs & assumptions
- perceptions - attitudes- feelings (anger,
fear, liking, despair, etc.)
- services/products- policies and
procedures- stated values
ValuesInformal interactionsGroup norms
Organisational culture can be hard to pin down
Much of what happens in an organisational culture is ‘under the surface’
5 steps to embedding new behaviours
Changing culture and embedding new behaviours is hard work, requiring effort and commitment.
1. Cross functional ownership
Values and behaviours need to be embedded everywhere. It needs cross functional understanding, support and ownership.
This can be problematic for companies that work in silos
Our typical organisational structure in silos conflicts with cross-functional working
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
Great leaders truly represent the spirit of their business. The leader’s behaviour is consciously and subconsciously replicated.
Do they walk the walk – by demonstrating the values – or just talk the talk?
What values have these leaders instilled in their companies?
3. Clarity of meaning
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
Does teamwork look the same in the Army as it does in the NHS?
Is Commitment the same in an insurance business as it is for a firefighter?
What does professionalism look like here? What are examples of being professional or unprofessional, in our situation? How will we identify it, measure it, call it to account?
VALUES
RESPECT OPEN COLLABORATIVE EXCELLENCE
TRANSPARENT PROFESSIONAL TEAMWORK DIVERSE
TRUST INTEGRITY CREATIVE COMMITMENT
Most companies include some of these words in their values, but they are meaningless unless articulated within the context of the business.
4. A good story
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
Part of creating clarity of meaning is having a good story.
Stories are in vogue as the communication method of choice at the moment.
These are the parts of your mind used to process data, facts, logic
Wernicke’sarea
Broca’s area
All of these areas of your mind can be activated by a storyEmotion Wernicke’s
area
Action
Smell Memories
ImagesBroca’s area
Amygdala
Emotional connection; visualising through description; recalling an associated memory.
This is why stories work: they act as velcro for the brain.
So use stories to get people to think: about why the values are important, what behaving in particular ways actually means in reality• Instead of long text, statistics and charts• Present your ideas using storyboards.• Use a clear narrative theme• Tie together images and content, emotional call to action and
connection with your company history to make it personal.
Think about how you can appeal to lots of different parts of the brain, so your message will be ‘sticky’
5. Participation
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
4. A good story
In any behaviour change people have to make the decision that they want to change. This is ‘step one’ of AA’s 12 step programme – but equally true in culture change.
The only way to achieve this is to provide the information, in the most compelling form (the story), and provide opportunity to think and connect with it. This is what real ‘engagement’ is about: the opportunity to think, and contribute.
In a values discussion, this can (and probably should) go as far as allowing employees to co-create the values.
There are lots of other ways of encouraging participation in your values
The concept is very simple, playing into two main 21st century trends: social, and personalisation.
And it started with the employees. They were the first to see their names on the bottles. And events were organised for them to share these with members of the public.
Demonstrates one of Coke’s values: Collaboration
Share a Coke campaign: a well-known example we love
Share a Coke: it started with the employees
5. Participation
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
4. A good story
model for creating a culture fit for today’s social media age.
