What is Your Company’s Reason?
Be sure your small business brand and mission has a good reason and it is communicated.
As I explained in a previous article, certainty is a thing of the past. Companies no longer have the luxury of assuming that they can survive glitches in the market with a few last-minute tweaks. These articles explore key and interconnected elements in more detail – the six Rs. They provide a great way to assess the health of your business and its areas of strength and weakness, let’s focus this time on Reason.
With Good Reason
We start with reason because it underpins everything else – all activities, all strategies, how stakeholders view us, employee engagement and customer loyalty. Our values and purpose should permeate the organization. Employee engagement depends on it and your reputation lives or dies because of it.
The reach of your purpose and corporate values is immense, and they have the power to deliver profitable growth or ignominious demise. Customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders will assess what you are offering and judge you accordingly. What you stand for, as a company, has a critical impact on your fortunes. News travels fast and it may not be the news that you were hoping for. Success demands that we anticipate and stay ahead of ideas and trends. We must remain alert to what matters to customers and adapt accordingly.
It is not enough to have an idea of what we value, it is important for these values to coincide with the values that accord with those of the times. I do not mean to suggest that we should be manipulative, since genuine beliefs are the hallmark of successful companies; rather, I am suggesting that we should evaluate the situation, reassess our values and consider what matters to people – employees, customers and the world. As we acquire new ideas our perceptions and beliefs change.
We should take a big picture view: the world is changing and we should be on the same page and orient our businesses to account for new ideas, new thinking and new demands. A company’s mission is the focal point of all business activities. It is what drives motivation and commitment; it is what draws customers to your brand. While values and mission statements must be genuine, they must also be responsive to change.
After all, business is a total, all-consuming enterprise. As such, it is easy to see how important it is to have your company’s values and purpose influence every other part of your business. This focus is critical to keeping your company on track. By focusing on your goals, and assuring the commitment of your people to them, you will be better placed to keep your company on the trajectory that will realize these goals. To maintain the course you have set, communicating these ideas to your people and securing buy-in is crucial. This is not easy: it demands a great deal of energy and acumen, but the rewards are similarly great. Our ambitions for our companies are rooted in our values and beliefs that direct the company’s route to success. In the past, we may have focused exclusively on generating profits at all cost.
Today, we face a very different scenario: profits result from having the right values. Without the right values, companies will miss the mark and suffer accordingly. Organizations must encourage participation amongst employees, and current and potential customers.
This will help secure employee commitment and generate innovative ideas that could take your company further. Given the impact of your motives on reputation, you should make sure that everything your organization does accurately portrays your company in the desired way. After all, reason supports the other six Rs and the other six Rs support it.
This is understandable, as reason is the spark that ignites all other activities.
Profitability with a Purpose
The intention and values of a company must be defined clearly and communicated to employees in order to gain commitment and ensure your people know they are an important part of the company as its success relies on them. Everyone, at every level, must understand the company’s vision and mission.
Here are three to ensure this happens, do the following:
1. Gain commitment for the company’s values.
When the intention of the company is shared by its workers, their commitment will go a long way in achieving your objectives. To do this, it is useful to encourage participation and actively seek the opinions and new ideas of your employees at all levels.
Motivation strategies and compensation, such as economic incentives, recognition or promotion, will also secure commitment.
2. Always consider the company’s values and mission at each stage of pursuing goals.
Implementing the company’s reason, goals and values is divided into three phases:
- First, define both the short-term and long-term objectives.
- Second, communicate the strategic plan to employees so that they understand and share the objectives and so that they will deliver the required results. Third, evaluate and monitor peoples’ alignment to the objectives and take action to realign, if necessary.
- Third, offer the right product or services. The type of product or services your company offers should complement the reason it is in business. Similarly, the segments you operate in and the quality of your offer should also fit with your company’s purpose. This ensures that different aspects of your business work together and do not confuse your strategy, your customers or your employees.
3. The Next Revenues
While reason may be the most significant intangible factor behind the success of our business and brand, Revenues are the most significant tangible issue.
This is the next R and it provides the focus for the next article, as everything is for nothing without the financial means to back up our plans.
Related articles:
3 Ways to Boost Your Business with Brand Storytelling
A Shifting World and New Rules Advantages
Your Brand Is Not What You Think It Is…
