Consultants have delivered a lot of value to many over the years, but in some areas, have screwed the pooch.
One is the confusion that presides over the differences in meaning between ‘Vision’, ‘Mission’, and ‘Values’, and more recently, ‘Purpose’.
The result has been a huge number of well meaning but generic sounding statements adorning many reception areas.
You know the sort of fluffy meaningless stuff I refer to:
‘XYZ company works as a team applying rigorous standards of integrity and authenticity to everything we do. We are focussed on delivering value to our customers, while having fun at work, and respecting the needs of our diverse workforce and supplier partners’
Bollocks.
Each element of that fluffy nonsense is table stakes if you want to stay in business, and in addition, that statement could apply to any business from the multinational supplier of coal to the local massage therapy franchise.
Building a brand, a position, a purpose, however you wish to define it for your business is a hard, long term job. It requires deep consideration of what it is you do, how you add value, and what makes you sufficiently different to be noticed and engaged by customers. Having a set of core beliefs that delivers on those three elements is what gives your brand the power and presence to stand out.
If you run a delivery service, speed of delivery is a given, as would be reliability. Having those two words on a board in your reception will do little to differentiate you from your competition.
It is not easy to come up with the words that reflect the persona of your business, the way you would like others to see you.
It is however, worth the effort.
Good examples are few and far between, perhaps I am just being an old curmudgeon again. Ask Dr Google to give you some examples, and there are millions of responses, all with similar words. Passion, integrity, respect, innovative, accountability, and so on all feature, largely it is just so much undifferentiated mush.
However, there are a few do stand out, beyond the few like Apple and Google that we all know:
Patagonia: ‘Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.’
Warby Parker: ‘To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price. While leading the way for socially conscious businesses’
Both these businesses have been standout performers over the recent past. Obviously it is more than their values statements that delivered that outcome, but it helps.
My local mechanic, to demonstrate you do not need to be a cashed up multinational to have a great statement that defines you, has as his positioning statement on the wall for all to see ‘Our deep experience and attention to the detail ensures that your car stays reliably, safely and comfortably on the road longer.’
This always struck me as a useful expression of why I should be taking my precious old Merc to him.
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