You know that feeling you get in your belly when a situation just doesn’t feel right?
Could be when you meet a prospective employee or client for the first time, and you just know you aren’t clicking… or maybe:
- When a leader makes a decision that doesn’t seem to mesh with the organization’s stated goals or mission.
- When, as a customer, you thought you were getting a certain level of service, but received something drastically different (less than).
What’s going on? These are examples of individuals and organizations not living their values. When there is a gap between what a person or organization states and does, it comes across as inauthentic or disingenuous, and the result is that it just doesn’t feel right.
What’s the result? Often times, these types of interactions lead to disengagement (person to person, person to company), which also leads to:
- Reduction in service quality.
- Confusion—for employees, prospective customers, and/or active customers.
- Lost revenue and profitability—from the immediate interaction and also possible future interactions and/or referrals.
- Regrettable attrition—of customers and/or employees.
What to do?
Consistently high performing organizations get many things right. One such thing is having a clear story (mission, vision, values, guiding principles). Having the story, though, does not really move the needle. In addition to having a clear story, these high performing organizations live their values—every day, all the time, in every touch point. This leads to winning customer and employee experiences, growth, profitability and meaningful impact.
How to do it?
- Align the entire organization to that one version of the truth (who are we, why do we exist, who do we serve, what does winning look like).
- Create and execute a company strategy that aligns to the story.
- Create the right structure and systems to support the consistent execution of the strategy.
- Hire the right people (cultural fit, mindset, skills and attributes).
Once the above elements are in place, leaders need to ensure that the organization’s branding and marketing efforts bring the story to life—in every message, every touch point, every advertisement, every blog, every social media post, every prospective customer and customer interaction, every prospective employee and employee interaction. Get the picture? This is kind of important….
These are simple concepts in theory, but many organizations find it tough to execute consistently and successfully. Get it right, though, and your organization will have massive, positive impact on its employees, customers, and communities.
Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
