As I engage with different leaders and see businesses trying to deliver, I wanted to revisit my post on How Restaurants Grow (https://scotchgame.com/the-guide-to-strategic-growth/) and drive innovation.
More specifically, I want to focus on the brand and employee experience.
Are we at a point where any revisions to brand strategy need to start with employees instead of the consumer?
Yes, the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.
But I’m thinking about the reality of operating any labor-intensive business at the moment. It takes a lot of work to find employees and keep them. Much less to keep them engaged and delivering a quality experience consistently.
If that’s the bottleneck, should we solve that first?
Therefore, start with the attributes your employees associate most with your company. Which of those do they believe:
- Can the company consistently deliver?
- Is it relevant to their work?
- Is relatively different from other direct competitors?
- Can the company always produce at a good or excellent quality level?
- Is most inspirational to them?
If our teams don’t believe in what we are delivering, what are the odds they will be able to give it to the market?
Now work to your market. Armed with this employee perspective up front, build a relatively differentiated position that addresses your market pain points and drivers.
Responsible brand strategists will always work to integrate the employee’s voice into design. My concern is employee input typically comes after the consumer input.
Because of this sequencing, ideas risk being forced when there is inadequate alignment with the employee experience.
If you find yourself in a situation with a solid opportunity that lacks internal alignment, see if it could be a potential stretch for your brand.
Work back to your employees and ask what would be true internally for them to believe in this idea. Then, decide if the probable investment (capital, opportunity cost, change in processes, etc.) is worth it.
If you can’t commit to that level of change. Don’t do it. Otherwise, all you’re going to do is frustrate your employees.
Are you considering making a change to your brand? A brand book is one of the tools you will want as you bring it to your organization. Click brand book to learn more.