Aligning words and actions in your internal brand

What your brand says and what your brand does - are they aligned? Jane Henry, CEO at Xcution, Inc., shares the disconnects she's seen between values and execution, and what success looks like when they're brought into alignment.

Robin: Hello, and welcome to this edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies. I’m Robin Tooms, V.P. of Strategy at Savage Brands, and my guest again today is Jane Henry, CEO at Xcution, Inc. So Jane, welcome back to Brandonomics.

Jane: It’s great to be here, Robin.

Robin: I love talking internal branding with you, and I want to talk a little bit more about companies that may think they’re doing internal branding because they’ve taken their core values and they’ve posted it up on their wall and they’re done. But what does this really mean to live the brand?

Jane: Well, to really live the brand, it’s not just on the wall. They’re thinking about them on a day-to-day basis. For example, we went into a client that was struggling delivering their projects on a regular basis, on a consistent basis. And what’s so interesting about it was we surveyed their employees, we interviewed their leadership team, and what came screaming out is actually one of the core values that they have on their wall, the employees were in conflict with. They weren’t living efficiently. So when they started to talk about it on a regular basis, and really engage around efficiencies, they exceeded all of their targets.

Robin: So in this case, they’re aware of it but they’re not living it. So how would you get a company started on the path of living that, then?

Jane: First off is the awareness stage. So survey one. Head one. Right? You seem to be aware that okay, we have it on the wall, but maybe we aren’t living up to what we intended. So that’s step one. The second stage is to get a little awkward, which means that you’re going to have some conversations that may mean, we’re not living up to our brand that’s on the wall. And then the third stage is actually acting on it on a regular basis, so back to that day-to-day.

Robin: Back to that reinforcement.

Jane: Yes.

Robin: Thank you so much for that advice, Jane.

Jane: Thank you.

Robin: This has been another edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies.

 

Xcution is a management consulting company that implements strategic change to unleash true velocity behind initiatives. Xcution works directly with mangers supporting strategic initiatives, projects and operations to create high-performing, results-driven and execution-focused teams. https://xcution.com/default.html