Be the Beacon of Your Brand
Your business has a new logo and visual identity system. All the files are in place. You have a brand guide that has been distributed to everyone. But your brand still feels off. How can that be?
One reason is clarity.
Each employee is a brand ambassador for your business. How they speak and behave, how they contribute to your business's culture, and how they use the physical brand work harmoniously to achieve a certain result. When they don't have clarity on your business's defined mission or purpose then your brand can feel off.
So, how can a business owner infuse their new brand into the existing company culture?
Years ago, I took an IDEO class called Designing for Change which taught us how to effect change whether it's a social or internal business movement.
One part of the course centered around the idea of being a beacon for our intended audience. In other words, be the one who lights the path forward by bringing clarity to the steps required to achieve a particular goal.
When a new brand is being put in place, business owners can act as beacons by defining and clarifying these steps in order to fulfill their own business's mission or goal. We need to be willing to be the person to lead (and light) the way forward.
IDEO calls a group of people with shared intentions a Human System. A human system consists of four elements: a clearly defined purpose or "why" (beyond making a profit); a set of conditions that allow everyone to operate in a certain way; an understanding of how employees interact with each other; and well-defined goals that the business wants to accomplish. All these elements make change possible.
When introducing our new brand, we can start by creating the right environment for our team to effectively (and correctly) use the new brand. So, we ask ourselves these questions:
Have I clearly defined our business's mission and client experience?
What conditions need to be set in order for them to speak about our business in the right way?
What guidelines or information can we provide so they use the brand's visual assets correctly and consistently?
Is the door open for conversation, questions, or new ideas?
If we have a clear purpose along with well-defined milestones to get there, then all our employees will know exactly what the mission is and how to accomplish it. The goal is to get everyone moving together in the same direction in order to contribute towards a common and meaningful outcome for their clients.
Then, we let them lead the way.
Resources:
https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-create-change-in-your-organization