Why aligning your culture, brand and customer experience matters

If you’re leading a company you want every person in your organisation to know what you do, why do you do it and how do you do it – your vision, purpose, culture and brand.

So, you want to articulate your strategy and cultivate a culture that can deliver it – your values, behaviours and engagement.

And when you’re leading your organisation through change, you’re communicating difficult decisions not everyone will like. That’s tough. It’s important it lands in the right way

The problem is that not everyone in your exec team articulates your strategy in exactly the same way. If you go round the table and ask them all to describe your values, they can just about do it, but everyone says something slightly different. And if your execs aren’t completely united, how joined-up will your teams feel?

You’ve also found that while it was easy to nurture your culture when you were small, now it needs more thought. Beyond 150 people or so you no longer know everyone by their first name. So it’s harder to communicate your standards.

What people want from their employers is also changing. Many got used to working from home and having flexibility during the pandemic. And some younger employees are less interested in climbing a greasy pole, more concerned about working for an organisation that has a purpose beyond profit. According to McKinsey’s research, 40% of employees are somewhat likely to leave their current job in the next 3-6 months. That’s shocking, isn’t it?

So how do you get the whole organisation connected to your brand and culture, speaking the same language, telling the same story – and more importantly, seeing the part they play in it? After all, you’re spending millions on your people. They’re key to making your customers happy, so you want them energised, aligned and motivated.

My experience is that when you tightly align your culture, brand and customer experience, you have more motivated, engaged employees and happier customers.

So what are you doing to make sure your culture, brand and CX are in sync?