Company Culture
A unified
message
Faye Loader, head of business
development at The Brewery, describes
how she gets her team to understand
and embrace company values
W
“Don’t take for
granted that
everyone knows
what your
company values
are, employees
need time
to learn and
implement your
ideals and vision”
e all like to think that we have values;
whether it’s the food we buy, the
politicians we vote for or events we attend. The
stumbling block for many brands will be following
through and maintaining a persona that its staff
and customers buy into and relate with. It’s easier
said than done, but for businesses to succeed and
achieve their collective goals they need a team
behind them to establish and deliver on the values
they set themselves.
As a leader within a business it is important
to live and work by the brand values yourself. In
whatever role you play at work you want someone
to look up to and be inspired by; instilling
your company’s brand values daily within the
workplace will filter down and help develop a
culture that reflects your products and services.
Having responsibility can feel like having the
weight of the office on your shoulders, so ensuring
that people around you buy into your goals will
help to share the load and propel your message
to those around you. Imparting an integrated
sales and marketing strategy will reaffirm this
message across all internal staff and external
communications to stamp an identity on you and
your brand which stands out. It’s important to
remember that, once your business has set and
communicated its values to the wider market, it is
there to be copied, pulled apart or questioned. Set
values that are truthful to you, are transparent,
universally approved and above all, achievable.
Having employees on board from the beginning
makes it easier to sell and for the team to immerse
themselves into. Engage staff in all aspects of the
product, so from event delivery to trying the food
or experiencing an activity or new launch before
everyone else. A hard sell doesn’t work anymore,
having people on side that believe in your product
will ensure they understand the background and,
importantly, future plans which can become part
of everything they do. A unified message will
become apparent to any customer whether they’re
speaking to the managing director or an assistant.
Equally, don’t take for granted that everyone
knows what your company values are and
understands them explicitly. Employees need time
to learn and implement your vision and ideals;
consider an employee reward and recognition
scheme for demonstrating these. At The Brewery
we’ve laid out four company values, stewardship,
integrity, inclusivity, transparency which is
applied to every employee whether they work in
sales, operations, facilities or senior management
and these are displayed on posters around the
building to reinforce the message and make it
much more visible to all staff.
We also ensure that staff interact and
discuss these values, which in turn helps senior
management to understand what the agreed
principles mean to the workforce and identify
when they are in need of a refresh. Through
regular forums, employees are able to discuss
our company values and wider issues in an open
environment, keeping our brand’s personality at
the heart of everything we do.
Seeing is believing, so wherever your business
lies, the messages and persona you want to
represent needs to be delivered from the top down
and for all to see in action. An aggressive stance
can be intimidating so delivering on a personal
and face-to-face basis can have an evergreen
effect and make a world of difference.
June — 53