This is the second in a series of blogs about creating and empowering a value-driven brand. To see the first blog in the series, go here.
One of the key decision points for Groove in designing our Values process was to invite participation from all employees and even key partners. Our research revealed that more often than not upper management would typically identify the organizational values and then introduce and sell them across the organization via an internal campaign or change management effort.
So why did we buck the trend?
First, we are all small business. From a practical standpoint our entire organization (about 40 people) could participate in the entire process without any real roadblocks.
Second, we leaned on one of our pillar mantras: “right answer” plus “buy in” equals results. In other words if the majority of our organization was not participating in the process it was likely we a) may have not identified those values that the majority believed to be true (right answer) and b) had they not participated in the process their likely would have been less “buy in” simply because they did not participate.
Third, and most important is this: values are not aspirational in nature. They are not goals. They are already engrained in our day-to-day behavior. Since our organization is comprised of 40 individuals it makes sense that each and every part be listened to and observed to get a full understanding of the whole. The idea is not that we would be doing a makeover of the organization by defining new aspirational values; but rather, that we would be revealing and identifying those values which we already shared.
To do this we framed the program in the following way:
“This off-site is the beginning of a process to explore and articulate our values; the values we want to hold up as we ignite Groove 11 for the future. Put another way, these values will articulate our beliefs and commitments around what is worthy, important and desirable to show up in our work lives. This includes the actual work we do, our attitudes as we do it, and the guiding principles (individually and agency-wide) that inform it all. By defining these, we can ensure our brand is alive. We call this inside-out branding, and as something we preach to clients every day it’s critical we put it into practice ourselves.
Once values are set and understood, we’ll have a framework for driving outcomes at Groove so that we can:
• Be a great brand-driven organization, able to scale and live our Vision
• Create a guide for actions and a filter for decision-making
• Make “agreements” within the agency that will align and connect us
• Attract great A-list talent
• Enhance our ability to “walk the talk” and obtain a competitive advantage”
Next we sent out a survey requesting that people organize a pre-defined set of values into the following five categories: “Always Value,” “Often Value,” “Sometimes Value,” “Seldom Value,” and “Least Value.” Each person did this exercise through two lenses. First, through the personal lens. Second through the agency lens, specifically framed this way: What values must the agency live in order to truly express its brand promise. Finally, every person was asked to identify a top 3 set of personal values and a top 3 set of agency values.
So before stepping into the off-site the pre-work had introduced the connection between personal values and agency values, defined the goal of the initiative and given us the data that would be the launching point for the exercises at the off-site. With the stage set and this information in hand we were able to put finishing touches on the off-site design, which I will share in the next blog.