Your Team Culture Is (Probably) Setup for Failure

Master this one branding principle to attract customers and establish better team culture and internal team rhythms.

Growing up, my grandmother imparted countless nuggets of wisdom to me. Many guide my life today.

One such principle guides your life too. As well as your business and overall success.

She told me early on that I should avoid talking about these three topics:

• Religion
• Politics
• Sports

(I’d also add a fourth one – avoid talking about somebody’s parents)

Why? Because people tend to have extreme beliefs, attachments, and passion for some of those, and often other things too.

It’s a rare quality for someone to hold strong views and be open-minded about them.

How our beliefs shape our choices

When your views are aligned with someone, you’ll likely develop stronger bonds.

When your views are opposed, it’s much less likely for a relationship to blossom.

This principle holds true when building a brand. And it determines the success of your business.

Sadly, most businesses approach this all wrong.

When you embody certain values through your brand, customers who align are more likely to choose you over competitors.

But mess this up, and you’ll alienate both - your current and any potential customers.

Authentic beats wannabe, every time

Here’s an example: when I was 8 or 9 I was the ‘goody two shoes’ student.

We’re talking straight A’s. Teacher’s favourite.

I enjoyed the admiration of 2 or 3 other ‘goody two shoes’ students just like me.

But I couldn’t help but notice how much more popular the ‘bad kids’ were among a larger group of peers.

So I ‘changed my shoes’ as it were, becoming aloof, and disinterested in my study and school work.

Only to discover that this was disingenuous to who I was.

Ultimately losing the attention of everyone.

How businesses typically approach team culture

Some business owners approach branding in much the same way.

They may have read somewhere that adopting brand values is pivotal to the long-term success of their business.

1. They’d read that values can drive the actions of a brand.
2. Let the employees know what’s expected of them.
3. And tell the customers what they can expect from a brand.

Each of those three statements is true.

Which is why these are the best 10 values your business should adopt today: Quality, Passion, Empathy, Trustworthiness, Innovation, Professionalism, Excellence, Inclusion, Fairness, Honesty…

False! Any more than 3–4 core brand values and you really don’t know what you stand for.

And neither do your customers.

Not to mention that those are cliche things that customers expect from every brand, regardless.

They’re not going to be the deciding factor why they stay or leave.

How brand values influence team culture (and business success)

Consolidating what you stand for helps prospects and potential customers be clear about what you stand for and why.

Whatever your opinion of Donald Trump is, his winning political campaign in 2016 was clear.

Brand values need to be genuine to you, your business, and your team.

When you authentically embody those, customers will come flocking.

Key takeaways for using brand values in business

In summary, here are the top 3 mistakes businesses make when defining their brand values.

1. Too vague  –  hard to put them into action for you and your team
2. Too many cliches –  a missed opportunity to show customers why they should choose you over another business
3. Inauthentic to you  –  not sustainable long-term, stunting your growth, alienating customers

When I work with my clients to define brand values I use three ingredients to package them up to be most effective.

1. What is it  – think headline-style title
2. What does it mean (description providing more context)
3. What does that look like from a day-to-day application for the brand and/or team members

Here are some examples.

Example one: telecomm business

Value
Obsessed with learning

Description
We see learning as a vital part of understanding the unique requirements of each of our clients. It’s a collaborative process. Learning about our clients’ businesses enables us to design custom solutions, and teach them how to use those solutions most effectively.

Application
Schedule weekly group hackathons and/or time blocks for learning and exploring new technologies and solutions.

Example two: non-for-profit org

Value
Seek & offer help

Description
We define ourselves by the work we do, not our title or seniority. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a superpower.

Application
If you spot that someone needs help, offer it. If you need help yourself - ask for it when it’s uncomfortably early to do so. This applies to asking for help from the community or external partners.

Example three: health food business

Value
Empowering choice

Description
Our platform may have started as a way to empower you to choose healthier meals but our future ambitions are to enable you to become autonomous and self-sufficient, whatever your food preferences are.

Application
Every customer service rep helps maintain a database of personal customer preferences, adding and reviewing it weekly, categorising, for machine learning to provide further possibilities for personalisation.

Brand values bring tangible results

Some examples of tangible results my clients got by embodying relevant, authentic, and actionable brand values include:

• Increased their Net Promoter Score
• Increased revenue as a result of improved team output
• Improved employees’ job satisfaction

What 3 words/phrases would you use to describe your brand values?

Enjoyed this article?

I demystify the world of branding by sharing actionable brand-building insights for business owners. Follow me for even more branding wisdom than your grandma could ever muster, bless her.

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. I email insights like this every month to my Studeo Insiders  –  if you liked this, consider signing up.