Your Brand: It’s the ‘tude, Man
Mike Wagner’s excellent post, This is Going to Be Tougher than I Thought discusses the problem (with nary a mention of a logo) when companies don’t live their brand. Here’s a summary snippet:
There’s a tendency to deflect the responsibility for achieving the deep change required to be a brand owner:
“Let’s TEACH the brand to everyone!â€
” “Let’s work on everyone’s ATTITUDE!â€
After leaders have had “their people” trained and maybe hung a few motivational posters in the break room, they realize there also has to be a change in behavior…Change behavior and now knowledge and attitude really mean something.
Brings to mind something I learned years ago during a team-building project, “You can mandate behavior, you can’t (easily) change beliefs.” The disconnect between the two is a chasm into which many a company brand has fallen. For example, the CEO can talk all he wants about “our new customer intimacy commitment” but when field sales is still compensated on gross revenues and landing new accounts, it doesn’t tranlate into reality. (And, if you don’t truly believe, those virtual bullets will kill you. Another life lesson from The Matrix. Yes, I’m a hopeless Sci-Fi geek.)
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April 4th, 2007 at 6:25 am
I’ve noted over the years that “customer intimacy” is often the last refuge of companies that have seen a PowerPoint slide with Treacy and Wiersema’s three bullets on it: operational excellence, product innovation, and customer intimacy. Hmmmm. Operational excellence is too hard, and we’ll never be product innovators, that’s for damned sure. So, hey, customer intimacy sounds squishy and friendly. Let’s pick that one.
As you note, you can’t just declare yourself “customer intimate”, put a banner up in the Customer Support Center, and call it a day.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Ah, but in my personal example, the CEO read the whole book!
And, it still didn’t work. Gosh darn.
April 4th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Running a small company that has just begun to need full-time help, I’ve struggled with this issue as I look for workers.
How do I explain my “passion” for my company and my product to an hourly worker whose passion is a paycheck?
Can my company survive if I don’t answer every phone call and take every order? My product (quilted covers for mortuary cots) is VERY SPECIALIZED and our clients are still early adopters. Will an hourly employee be able to explain the product as well as I can?
Am I willing to allow sales to slip away because my employee isn’t as dedicated as I am?
I’m looking forward (with dread and excitement) to the day that I have to worry about a bunch of employees, instead of just the one.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:32 am
[…] Last week Mary Schmidt had a pointer to this post by Mike Wagner and he makes the salient point: After leaders have had “their people†trained and maybe hung a few motivational posters in the break room, they realize there also has to be a change in behavior: […]
May 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
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