March, 2015
EVOLVING YOUR BRAND: CHANGE IS UPLIFTING!
#2 in a series on brand “safety”
Your brand is your business’ visible mountain made up of your rock solid core values. Are you lifting your brand up by bringing along your team for a shared view from the “top”? Or…are you climbing a mountain of change solo, not leading or creating an “expedition”, sitting in an overcrowded base-camp, not knowing how to use and belay the ropes of shift?
It’s true: Changing “brand” can be like climbing or even moving mountains!
What every great climbing expedition needs is great communications. Great communications make for great safety and trust within the team; from organizing gear to waiting for verbal confirmation to “climb on”. This is exactly what is needed in making safe shifts in brand. The “must haves” of vision, mission, clearly planned and stated…also to be communicating and partnering with folks who lift all up together with trust and enthusiasm.
For great success in brand evolution, leaders become the ones to anchor, hook up, lift-up, inspire, and constantly make sure their people are mutually supporting brand evolution and one another.
Expedition “Gum”: A story of lifting up business by uplifting others.
Bart Sayle, well respected thought leader in business transformation, tells his story of guiding The Wrigley Company’s business cultural and change in brand by using the support of deep core values to lift the company into the “new” in his book *“Riding the Blue Train”. The company was “stuck” in their boom days…not growing its family of brands or its brand culture (internal or external). Nothing was happening for the company except for stalled out growth, stagnant product lines, unhappy worker bees. The culture was literally doing the same thing the same way, not able to move out of its familiar and comfortable base camp. Meanwhile, competitors were busy climbing to their own new success, taking more and more market share from the original wealthy kingdom of gum. Then, Wrigley shifted their culture by giving go-ahead to a new “expedition” that boldly honored new thoughts, creative collaborations, and gave permission to mix the old with the new, being guided by a trusted (but new!)“Wrigley” at the lead. They safely elevated their huge company into a prosperous new brand that brought the values of the old into new territories and new brand speak. They saved the company by leadership and keen coaching that “lifted up” teams, supported new paths of product using a new creative and supportive philosophy. Wrigley reclaimed the top spot in its industry, establishing new and refreshing product and brand both internally and externally.
It is a great story of leadership bringing ALL to higher ground, creating safety and support using qualities that were already within the company but considered too uncomfortable to use.
How will you lead your brand by uplifting others to a safe new height?
There are many “change” hazards a climbing expedition can encounter…lots of “falling things”, rocks, ice, snow, and things that make you fall like deep crevasses, and even other climbers. ANY sort of change in our business or brand makes us mountain climbers. We rely on our “gear”: our skills, tools of knowledge, our partners, team members, and our leaders, to get us safely to our goals. What safety gear can you as a leader, use to navigate change and uplift your partners while achieving new goals?
Take your lead from Wrigley…and here’s a couple of quick ideas:
• Give a list of benefits (people like lists!): As a leader, ask yourself the question: “How can I communicate these new ideas, get folks lined up in support…and how can I belay their fears of change?” Fear of change is expressed by internal folks with their statement: “We’ve always done it this way.” Pivot that around by showing and communicating some of the great benefits coming their way with a new shift.
• Show your people process, plans, challenges: This one is KEY. Ever hear of a climbing expedition without a map or trusted guide? Visual communications are key to helping all feel safe during change. Show them where you are all going, the good, the not so great, so you can pivot when you need to without having any one fall off the path. Quick sketch visual maps mark where you begin, where you are going, how you arrive, in a manner all can understand, share, and communicate to others!
Connect up with me to talk about quick sketch mapping to create some “safety ropes” for you to use to up-lift into change.
Happy climbing for your brand team!
Thanks for giving me your valuable time, love to share with you and receive your “Shares”!
I’m Paula Brown; Visual Scribe / Feng Shui practitioner / Author / Animal Communicator. I am a visual storyteller showing you how to IGNITE YOUR STORY, YOUR ENERGY, YOUR WELL-BEING for both business and home. My site is: www.chilightful.com Connect on: LinkedInLinkedIn, Twitter. and you can “like” my facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ChiLightful
* Bart Sayle and Surinder Kumar “Riding the Blue Train. A leadership Plan for Explosive Growth”
