How to put culture at the centre of your brand strategy
Let’s be honest.
Culture is a buzzword that all executives may understand intellectually, but many struggle to really comprehend how it impacts their ability to realise their strategy. We have all heard it before. “Our people are our greatest asset”, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, but these words rarely equate to action.
The role of culture has been getting plenty of attention as of late, with several organisations under the media spotlight. In the past few weeks, the headlines have been damaging:
In our recent research with Macquarie Business School, 75% of HR Executives highlighted that their culture needs to change significantly in the next 3-5 years. The AFR have also stated that poor corporate culture is seen as the biggest threat to business by the C-suite. But this increased scrutiny on culture and organisational transparency now means that your culture strategy and culture narrative must be proactively managed to ensure your brand’s reputation is protected.
For organisations looking to truly create the right culture, the right transformation plan and the right impact, culture must be at the centre of your brand strategy. Here are 3 opportunities to begin doing exactly that:
Opportunity 1: Assess alignment of culture and your business strategy
Your culture is how your customers, shareholders, partners and employees experience your brand, so you need to make it count – and I mean really count. Success won’t come from “walking the talk”, “drinking the kool-aid” or “driving synergy”. It requires first aligning your aspired culture to your business strategy, and then clearly articulating the steps that need to be taken to close the gaps.
Not only will measuring the right things shift the conversation, it will give you a framework to communicate what you stand for and want to be known for through your brand channels.
Opportunity 2: Proactively manage your brand reputation with authentic storytelling
“Career.” “Growth.” “Development.” “People-First.” “Inclusion”. These are the hallmarks of every large organisation’s careers website. But what is unique about your organisation, and how can you find and sell that to the right audience? With little room for internal career progression, one organisation we worked with opted for a very transparent approach to recruitment (as a key pillar of their aspired culture), adopting the narrative: “Come here to build your knowledge, skills and experience, but if you need promotion then this is not the place for you”. And sure, their response rate took a hit, but you better believe those that did respond we’re more suitable for the role, and more invested in the honesty of the business. Meanwhile, another of our clients took a blunt approach with: “We are like a major bank, without the d*ckheads”. Blunt to be sure, but again it helped potential candidates self-select. At the end of the day, your communications should be designed to attract the people that will thrive in your organisation and ultimately become ambassadors for your brand.
Opportunity 3: Build a brand culture A-Team
Who owns the brand in your organisation? Do they understand the impact that your culture can play? Consider creating a holistic brand management team with representation from Brand, People & Culture and Marketing. This team should set up a regular meeting cadence to align brand efforts and ensure that any cultural risks are proactively managed in a way that doesn’t impact the brand and vice versa.
The final key to embedding an effective culture-focussed strategy is consistency. To see meaningful change, culture needs to be more than just a buzzword and some ticked boxes. It needs to be a core part of a larger, robust framework that is measurable. As highlighted in our own Unity Dynamics framework, brand, culture and experience need a unified approach to better facilitate the execution of your business strategy. Until then, all you’re doing is creating more content for the Australian Financial Review.
To find out more about how we use our Unity Dynamics framework to align culture and brand, along with all of the core components of your business, please get in contact with nick.tucker@weareunity.com for a chat.
