What is the value of values? Communicating corporate brand values
Posted by Brian Healy on July 23, 2009 in Internal Communications, Strategic thinking with 3 CommentsThe values of a corporate brand give guidance for making decisions and taking actions from a micro day-to-day level to a macro strategic planning function. Knowing the overarching goals of the company gives direction to all employees.
For example, amazon.com wishes to be "customercentric" and "frugal". Thus from the CEO down to a warehouse packer, all colleagues know that any change which moves towards these goals is positive for the company.
Consumers rely on their interactions with those at the public face of the organisation - its employees - to discern its values. Therefore, employees must know, believe and live the brand values. After all, while the values of “Communication, Respect, Integrity and Excellence” sound commendable, ‘these are the values of Enron, as stated in the company’s 2000 annual report', P.M. Lencioni notes. According to Ginsburg and Miller, values cannot ‘guide behaviour, support visions and create a web of commonality between disparate divisions and departments’ if they are not effectively communicated.
The critical element is to engage with employees and provide them with the tools they need to understand the culture of the organisation and the values that empower that culture. Providing training on products and services is seen as absurdly obvious, but training employees on culture and values, the core of the corporate brand, is sometimes seen as ‘a bit left of field'.
As De Chernatony points out, ‘communicating brand values effectively to employees is critical when seeking consistent, value-congruent employee behaviour'. This may appear to be stating the obvious but it is, unfortunately, the point where many companies fall down. Former Levi Strauss CEO Robert Haas states that ‘a company’s values - what it stands for, what its people believe in – are crucial to its competitive success'. How can values be communicated to achieve the acceptance and internalisation of values necessary to positively effect change in employee behaviour, to create this ‘belief’?
For companies with established values, says De Chernatony, ‘the recruitment process facilitates the initial communication of values to potential employees, via recruitment advertisements and associated literature’. This will lend an element of self-selection; those who find their own values incongruous with the corporate brand values will, frequently, not proceed further. Induction is a valuable tool which can be leveraged to imprint values on the corporate consciousness.
For those seeking to establish newly minted values, the challenge is greater. According to Klein and Weaver, ‘attending an induction programme (a form of initiation rite) positively influenced employees’ awareness and acceptance of brand values'. Other famous measures include the Body Shop’s BSTV, ‘seen by staff in 1,400 shops in 46 different countries, and translated into 21 languages’. The program is used for ‘sharing ideas, a sense of identity and understanding of company goals'. ‘When KPMG implemented their brand values program in 1998, it introduced a monopoly-type board game based on KPMG values which elicited considerable enthusiasm from staff', says De Chernatony. This sort of interactive approach is particularly effective when the company in question has a flat organisational structure and the idea of 'imposing' brand values is antithetical to the organisational culture.
Coherent and consistent communications are vital in the implementation of brand values. As De Chernatony notes, ‘the behaviour of senior management should not contradict the values of the brand’. As Enron have only too clearly demonstrated, the ‘do as I say not as I do’ approach results in the true values of upper management (in this case greed, aggression and dishonesty) filtering through the company. According to Edmondson and Cha, ‘when employees sense that a leader’s decisions are at odds with company values – even when they are not – they are quick to conclude that the leader lacks a personal commitment to the values. He is seen as a hypocrite'. This hypocritical behaviour permeates downwards and eventually erodes the very values which the company claims to cherish.
Brian Healy provides consultancy across a broad range of communications arenas, but specialises in employee engagement and issues relating to internal communications. Find out more at Brian's Profile. Don't forget to subscribe if you'd like to hear more!
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Comments
This is very true. Good Corporate Branding should become part of the fabric and culture of an organisation, of any size, from the top down. Consistency is the key.
Hi Brian,
I would like to congratulate you on this article. It is in my opinion, extremely well written, concise and very effective.
I have a blog about the link between Social Media and Democratic Management. I have recently written an article about how it is important to convey values to staff if they are to use Social Media effectively (http://bit.ly/7YRY73).
Your article is unfortunately, far better written than mine! lol! I find the the point about the KPMG board game particularly interesting. Imposing values is not democratic and I think you are right in saying that interacting the participative techniques is extremely effective!
Anyway, thank you for this great article!
A very good read!
All the best
Jon! (@jonathanlbarnes)
Hi Brian, this is a great post, thanks very much. Completely agree with the majority of what you are saying. Recently Lisa Scully-O’Grady blogged about an interesting analogy from the U2 concert she attended. It was about how a brand can change into something different after practising different approaches. What do you think about this?
Thanks again,
Elaine @ O2 IdeasRoom
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