Congruent Brand & Culture
With globalisation, Brands are so much more than just products and logos. They’re channels of self expression which transcend the label of ‘commodity’. Avenues through which most people express their personalities, attitudes, likes, dislikes and association to certain groups and communities. Brand is strategic, a long term imperative requiring Leadership to carefully consider and manage it across the entire organisation. This usually takes a collaborative effort involving both the HR, and Marketing Departments, which is best achieved through forming a Brand Steering Committee which can strategically understand the whole of business requirements.
In the past, organisational branding tended towards having a tactical focus, driven in part, by marketing departments. Over time, it has become glaringly apparent that equally as important was ensuring the external brand remains congruent with the internal one. It’s perilous for a Brand to promise externally what it cannot deliver internally, both from employee perspective and from the customer expectation.
Take, for example, the merging of two organisations or the amalgamation of business units within the same organisation into one. Each business has its own defined, unique culture that when brought together, results in a culture clash. More often than not, failure of these ventures is brought about by issues such as communication, lack of clear identity, HR problems and inter-group conflicts, which will fall under the category of ‘cultural differences’.
For optimal results, companies should be living and internalising the external brand and filtering this through at every brand touch point. The non-negotiable factors of brand management include an unwavering CEO, Board Commitment to the Brand, viewing the Brand as a Business asset and being integral to business planning. It takes a whole of organisation approach and the right internal structures to drive brand and culture. Undoubtedly this often puts a focus upon internal communications, many companies are cognisant that their internal communications are sub-optimal, presenting a significant obstacle in itself to activating and fostering a strong internal brand. Communication greatly affects employee engagement, motivation, team discretionary effort, and potentially it can undermine the entire brand experience for your employees, and clients alike.
Living and internalising the external brand in an organisation is important and may involve both process and procedural change. Serious damage will be done to brand trust, with employees and customers should your business not deliver on its stated promises. This mantle for collectively ensuring the organisation’s external brand dovetails into internal culture and brand strategy (including Employer Branding) will combat difficulties, enabling the meeting and exceeding of broader organisational challenges. As a strategic initiative, we recommend Leadership appoint a ‘Brand Champion’, along with several other cultural leaders, who will heavily influence throughout your organisation to help facilitate change which meshes distinctly different cultures into one.