Build a Corporate Culture The Social Media Way: Orchestrate It

In a great follow-up to my last article about institutionalizing corporate culture, business owner Frank Hurtte asked,

“When I founded the company, I had a vision of what we would be. I have shared this vision with our staff. Can you toss in a few suggestions to move it from vision to culture?”

To answer this pivotal question about marketing a vision to their “inside customers”–their employees–so it becomes a great culture, let’s take a quick look at how businesses market to their “outside customers” in the social age.

(Keep in mind that the days of manipulating people to give you business are dead and buried. You can no longer “sell” to the quality people you’d want as long-term customers. Build a community around all of your customers, so buying your product or service helps them improve their lifestyle or prospects every time)

The best businesses no longer try to find customers for their products or services–including new services such as monetized blogs. No more “push” or “pull” marketing. They develop products or services that meet the needs of authentically engaged customers. These customers become members of a dynamic yet always demanding “tribe” they will keep supporting, as long as the vendor or service provider offers enough real or perceived value.

It works the same in business. Think of your staff or employees as musicians in a symphony orchestra. They need to be accomplished musicians to get their jobs, and be willing to participate in a new culture that’s unique to that orchestra.

The conductor’s primary role is not to “push” or “pull” them into following his lead. The best conductors genuinely appreciate the sometimes hidden talents and passions of each orchestra member, and creates a culture in which musicians will constantly interact and learn. If the conductor is a Leonard Bernstein, he creates a culture for his orchestra in which their willingness to grow and help each other grow is constantly being recognized. The orchestra’s success is built on preparation and teamwork, so each public performance becomes a celebration rather than an act of closure.

If the orchestra’s culture has been nurtured one member/musician at a time, each of them spends as much time supporting his or her fellow musicians as they do following the conductor. That frees the conductor to focus on the vision of each musical piece. They can lead the “celebration” that happens before a live audience or in a recording studio.

Now let’s get back to Frank’s question, and clearly differentiate modern business cultures from the industrial-age culture building that we saw in Wal-Mart’s cheer circle. Your vision of the company is comparable to what a conductor sees in the symphonic score, Frank. Find an effective way to build a culture in your company and attract the most skilled new employee/customers; just as a great orchestra can get its pick of the best musicians.

Make the process of growing and nurturing your unique culture a requirement and reward of working for you. Then you can stop trying to find employees who accept your processes and operational requirements. As CEO your job-one will become meeting the needs of your authentically engaged employees and staff members. Given the chance to be recognized for the right reasons, helping their fellow employee members will become as natural to them as helping fellow musicians is to members of the New York Philharmonic.

There’s one major difference between modern companies and a fine orchestra: unlike first-tier professional musicians, many employees won’t already be adequately trained professionals. But if you apply the right tools such as the four-step Marketing Mantra process, you can quickly help them acquire the skills they need as they bond in a new community, and become fully and productively engaged in your now shared vision.

The first ever full article on Twitter (not a link)

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Internet success isn’t about what you do, but about who you are.

Not about what you’ve done well, as much as what’s driven you to do it well.

Not about doing somebody else’s operations, but about nurturing your inspirations.

Success comes from great coaching so you can focus on “ka-ching”

Don’t buy a course that doesn’t provide a clear, concise and compelling step-by-step process.

Because remember? Effective coaching focuses on the “ka-ching,” not the coaching.

Don’t let any coach convince you to ditch the process that got you this far.

Just make sure you have the tools that’ll help you advance.

Success is all about people; like them, you’re unique.

You’re a leader and a follower at the same time.

To be a great leader, keep bringing more value than anyone else.

Then help people see that what you’ve brought is valuable.

Complement them, never try to manipulate. “Push” and “pull” are both history.

Now you can bring everyone into your community or “tribe.”

Stand out so you don’t fade out. Really fast.

And remember me when you get there. Along with anyone else who’s helped.

A New Quality Culture

I recently told members of the American Society for Quality how social media-style communications can help reduce a company’s COQ and engage its stakeholders. Many weren’t sure how the Marketing Mantra process actually works. Here’s an overview of this tool’s function, along with a mini case study.

A Mantra is intended to enhance communications, as well as the effectiveness of existing business plans or methodologies. It can help reduce costs, streamline operations, and improve morale and teamwork in a sustainable new culture of quality. It has been proven effective with any individual, team and company that’s ready to move their communications into the social media age.

A Marketing Mantra isn’t a tagline. It never describes professional operations like a resume or organization chart. The fact is, most employees are self-educated experts who gain their expertise by spending lots of time on social media and the internet. No successful blogger or online expert would alienate them by asking them to slog through operation or job descriptions. Neither should their CEO.

A Mantra is not about operations. Its focus is the intuitive side of science, technique and process. That’s how it encourages inclusive leadership and full engagement.

It helps communicate new information: innate value, changing perceptions of ownership, or our need for recognition. Such new content identifies the firm as an industry leader with confidence and poise. It never promotes ego and empty generalities because these always sabotage content. Business messages must be clear, concise and compelling; written or spoken in a conversational, relaxed and informative style.

Bringing the CEO’s vision to life will be the job of every deeply engaged stakeholder. Within the company’s organization, each can bring abundant new value to his or her “silo-less” Mantra team. Then he or she will naturally become a leader. And the company’s recognition of that new leadership role will help intensify the stakeholder’s sense of commitment to the company’s long-term goals.

For the case study, let’s follow a workshop organized for a local IT startup. Its CEO and executive team wanted more authentic engagement with each other, as well as with their prospects or customers.

Step 1: Intangibles Participants began by writing down a number of their unique values or qualities on the Mantra worksheet. Each word expressed an attitude, approach, intent etc. These intangibles, more than procedural or technical skills, represent the real impetus for anyone’s past successes and future growth.

This company’s intangibles, for example, included “innovation,” “nurturing,” “discernment,” “fun,” and “bonding.”

Step 2: Grouping Then they organized the 20 intangibles into four or five groups of words with shared characteristics–groups that we labeled “collaboration,” “passion,”  “synthesize,” etc.

Step 3: Instill rare meaning and relevance Next they chose the words from each group that really resonated, combining them into a new set of words or a phrase just three words long. This raw “mantra” would be polished and refined until it could become a word platform strong enough to support any new business, team, community or “tribe.”

Step 4:  Content Finally, the participants began making a plan for content that would be good enough to attract and persuade a new audience of coworkers, prospects or customers. These people are prime candidates to become steadfast members of the team, or of the company’s new quality-driven community.

And every piece of successful content will be rich with relevance, proof and value.

Of course, the ultimate power of communications is still hidden from us in the future. But one thing is certain: our old comfort zones have evaporated. New business models await the most evolved companies. And in your workplace, the individuals who can reduce your cost of quality are standing around you now. Begin building the quality culture, and they will come.