Stay Human podcast 1. Connecting culture, brand and experience

For almost 30 years, I’ve been trusted by some of the biggest and best companies to improve their culture, build their brands and help them transform their employee and customer experience. I’ve poured all of this experience into my first book – Stay Human: Unlock Profit by Connecting Your Culture, Brand and Experience. In this episode you’ll get an overview of my approach and what to expect from the book.

In this podcast we’ll cover:

Creating your culture

I’ve been inside organisations learning what works – and what doesn’t – since 1995. My greatest frustration is seeing a disconnect between the promise and delivery, between brand and culture. But if you make that connection it’ll help you keep your promises to your customers. And that’s what makes them happy.

• creating your culture

• starting from strengths

• creating an emotionally engaging vision

• aligning your exec team

• meaningful and actionable values

• empowering behaviour frameworks

• building teams of champions

• consulting and engaging your whole organisation.

Building a better brand

Many brand strategies are based on insight, but not on the culture’s ability to deliver. So start by understanding the strengths of your culture – the qualities that have made you successful so far. Building on those strengths, you can develop a brand strategy that isn’t just a fanciful concept. Your brand will be deeply rooted in your culture’s ability to deliver. Which means you can be confident you’re giving the service you promised.

• identifying your audience

• understanding their needs

• developing purpose

• expressing it so it inspires your employees

• positioning – standing out from competitors

• personality – how you look and feel

• tone of voice

• how it connects you with your people, stakeholders and customers

• how language is a surprisingly powerful tool for change.

Transforming employee and customer experience

Having aligned your culture and brand strategy you can make these real in every interaction with your people and customers. When you map their journey, discover how they’re feeling and when, you can transform each moment of contact. And with this new, clear direction, you can train your teams to build their empathy and coach them to sustain it.

• mapping peoples’ journeys

• understanding what you put people through

• improving how they feel at each touchpoint

• training your teams to apply your brand

• coaching to sustain the change

• embedding values and behaviours.