In 2020, work and personal lives collided as offices closed and professionals
carved out new home offices (who needs a dining room, anyway?). Likewise, more
and more employees are recognizing that who they work for can have just as big
an impact on the planet and people as their personal actions.
In a consumer research study conducted early this year,
Barkley found that four in five people believe it
is important to align their personal values and beliefs with the those of the
places where they work. We see this as the fusion of purpose and sustainability.
And employees who feel positively about the impact they can make at work are
typically happier, less likely to leave, and more engaged in their work —
producing higher-quality outputs.
You now might be thinking, “Yes! We should do that!” If only it were so simple.
Purpose-led culture is not easy to operationalize. It can’t simply be a
statement on the wall. But it is a critical strategy for brands to help them
reach their own sustainability goals. It’s about winning inside to win
outside.
Brands that empower their employees to act with them in their sustainability
plan reap benefits. Brands that let their brand culture guide the creation of
that sustainability action plan are the ones who earn a competitive advantage.
So, what exactly is brand
culture?
While culture is the values, beliefs and
behaviors
that employees experience while working for an organization; brand culture is
the alignment of those internal values, beliefs and behaviors with how that
brand shows up in the world.
Southwest Airlines is a good example of this idea in practice. The brand’s
purpose is: ‘Connect people to what's important in their lives through
friendly, reliable and low-cost air travel.” The airline’s dedication to
service, both to passengers and to each other, defines its brand culture.
Southwest continues to strengthen that brand culture by celebrating acts of
service both publicly and internally.
To foster a purpose-led brand culture, brands need to fuse these five elements:
1. Know your why. Defining your brand’s
purpose
is an obvious first step in creating a purpose-led culture. What is the
intersection of what your brand does and how it can positively impact the
people and planet? There are many ways to craft a purpose statement; but at
the core, a purpose should be 1) meaningful — communicating your values
and beliefs in a way that ignites the hearts and minds of your core
audience; and, 2) actionable — inspiring initiatives that drive progress.
It’s also helpful to hire employees whose values align to your company values. A
colleague of mine, Philippa, who used to work at Ben &
Jerry’s, has said that
Jerry (yes, he’s a real person) would often say it was far more effective
for the company to hire someone who was passionate about the company’s social
mission than hire for technical skills. The latter could be taught on the job,
but the former is much harder to replicate.
This alignment of values can only come when a brand is clear about what it
stands for.
2. Communicate your purpose internally first. You now have a purpose
statement. Great! Don’t let your employees first learn about it in news coverage
about your sustainability plan. As another colleague of mine, Jimmy Keown,
explains in the upcoming book The Culture Advantage:
“Oftentimes, sustainability programs don't feel very real to employees, because
they can't participate. So, finding ways for more people to participate in
organizations is really a good way to close the Brand Culture Action Gap,
because people find again that sense of belonging beyond just words and what
they see within the marketplace.”
The Brand Culture Action Gap refers to the discrepancy between what employees
have identified as the most important brand culture attributes and what they
believe to be true of their work experience. Making internal communication a
priority is a simple step; and as Jimmy says, finding ways for employees to
participate can help close this gap. Which brings us to the next point:
3. Involve employees in the creation of your sustainability plan. Employees
are a brand’s greatest
asset
in reaching its sustainability goals; so make sure they are at the table when it
comes time to ideate initiatives, programs and partners in support of your
company’s commitments.
Eileen
Fisher
— founder of the leading women’s apparel brand aimed at providing clothes for a
simple, sustainable wardrobe — agrees. Despite efforts to educate her employees
on the importance of sustainability and the impact of the apparel industry, it
wasn’t until her organization went through a series of cross-departmental
workshops in 2013 that employees aligned on 2020 goals — including sourcing 100
percent sustainable materials.
In a recent Forbes
article,
Fisher was quoted as saying:
“People really come with what's the best for the company, what's the best for
the planet, what's the best work we can do here, what's the best product we can
deliver, what's best for the customer; and it's really this kind of selfless,
kind of egoless way of collaborating and being together, and searching always to
solve the problems or find the best solutions.”
Having representation from across the organization will elicit new thinking,
uncover stories that show your purpose in action, and bring your employees along
on the journey toward reaching your sustainability goals — making it more likely
that your company will achieve them. After all, employees are the ones who have
the day-to-day power to make change. Enter point four:
4. Enable and empower people to act. Although your company may have a core
group responsible for developing and reporting on a sustainability plan, they
can’t be the only ones responsible for results.
For example, many Unilever
brands have a clear brand
purpose
backed up by sustainability action. This structure is by design. The
organization has a relatively small central sustainability team; but it has a
strong network of “sustainability champions” across functions, business units
and brands.
For complex transformational change within an organization, it requires everyone
from innovation to HR to distribution to marketing to think differently and
collaborate on the best ways to solve pressing issues. One way to create
accountability is to incorporate sustainability goals into performance reviews.
But before you do that, brands must help employees understand what the company’s
goals mean, how they are relevant to their job and what they can do to enact
change.
There is also a growing trend among leading sustainable companies to help their
employees discover their personal purpose. KPMG’s Higher
Purpose
initiative from 2014 is one such effort.
When employees can align their role to what the company is trying to accomplish,
they find more meaning in their job. Brands with successful sustainability
programs will harness the power of their employees’ passion and create
accountability across teams, through systems and structures that allow them to
act on the strategy within their own role.
5. Celebrate actions that reinforce your brand culture. As humans, we are
hardwired for reward. Whenever our brain’s reward circuit is activated, it tells
us that something is worth remembering and repeating. Companies that succeed at
building a purpose-led brand culture take time to create rituals that reward
those behaviors.
At Barkley, one ritual we have is to recognize individuals with gratitudes. We
share gratitudes at the beginning of every meeting for individuals or teams who
have gone the extra mile, through heartfelt messages that recognize the positive
contribution the individual or team has made.
Recognition of those that live the brand culture is key to developing and
fostering a purpose-led culture.
By taking all of these factors into consideration, brands can move beyond simply
stating their values — and instead, start cultivating a company culture that
acts on those values and celebrates those who join them in making a positive
impact. Brand culture is a central component of any successful sustainability
strategy; and, in a time when personal and professional collision is the
reality, purpose-led brand culture is the best strategy for winning inside and
out.
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Allyssa Kennedy is an Account Director within Barkley's Purpose and Sustainability group. For more than a decade, Allyssa has helped brands define, live and communicate their purpose inside and outside of their organizations.
Published Dec 9, 2020 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET