Prerequisites to transformational brand change
There are a few things that need to be solidly in place before you can begin a transformational rebranding journey. This process is inherently interactive, delicate to manipulate, and hard to communicate.
Is there enough inertia for this? You’re going for cultural renewal and changing the conversation about your brand. Is everyone warmed up to this idea? They need to be.
Have you organized a Mars Team, or guiding group, to take this on? Have you created the conditions where everyone can do their most courageous thinking - together?
Does everyone understand the process and the level of commitment and perseverance this is going to take?
Do you have the right balance of leadership and management on board?
Let’s talk about inertia for a minute.
What I’m talking about is the status quo, the long shadows of the founder, and the ghosts in the hallways that restrict change. Don't let what you are stop you from being what you could be.
Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people. How much of the folklore can you eliminate?
Most organizations are filled with people who have been asked all their lives not to rock the boat.
If you have some of these complacency factors, you may not be quite ready for transformation brand change:
Too much happy talk from managers
No visible crisis
Low-performance standards
Employees with narrow functional goals
If you’re measuring the wrong KPIs
Insufficient performance feedback from customers
A kill the messenger or low candor culture
So, when you think about the organization… is the pain of your current reality GREATER than the fear of change?
Now, let’s talk about the Mars team. Metaphorically, this is a group of leaders and managers that are going to produce this new transformed brand on the planet Mars, and there are only so many seats on the spaceship. So who gets a seat?
Well, here are the four key characteristics you’ll want in those precious seats:
Powerful: Are enough key people onboard, especially mainline messengers, to keep those left out from blocking progress?
Experts: Are various points of view represented so that intelligent and informed decisions can be made?
Credible: Do the individuals in the spaceship destined for Mars have good enough reputations with their colleagues so the work will be taken seriously by others?
Leaders: Does the group include enough proven leaders who can drive this change?
The best Mars team is comprised of 3 parts leaders and 2 parts managers.
Leaders are defined as those who have deep expertise in vision and strategy
And managers are experts at plans and budgets.
This team isn’t writing authoritative decrees or micromanaging, though. There is no room for egos or underminers.
And, this isn’t a group of rubber stampers.
They create trust through carefully planned meetings with lots of talks and joint activities
You must develop a common goal that’s sensible to the head and appealing to the heart.
Because humans aren’t biologically equipped with the awareness or intellect to understand the whole universe, but they are fitted with a heart and imagination to try.
I can’t stress this enough, you have to touch the heart to move the mind.
So get as many managers as possible to view their daily events through the lens of the rebrand vision.
Not everyone can be on your Mars team.
Here are some common errors to avoid:
Failing to create a powerful Mars team
Underestimating the power of vision
Undercommunicating the vision
Permitting obstacles to block the vision
Failing to create short-term wins
Declaring victory too soon
Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture. In the end, you’ll need to ground the change in corporate culture for it to stick
Most organizations won’t make the change effort unless most managers believe that the status quo is unacceptable.
You’ll need a 75% majority of leaders to believe that this rebrand is essential.
And there will be barriers to empowering the culture. You know, culture happens without much conscious intent. Thus, it is difficult to challenge or even discuss. As they see culture eats strategy for breakfast.
The proverbs of your culture MUST be compatible with the rebrand and the changes being made; otherwise, the culture will effortlessly reassert itself.
Your Culture is the province of leadership. It’s norms of behavior PLUS shared values.
To a large degree, people are a product of their history. This new reality will likely not agree with the current reality - and that can be a large obstacle.
Additionally, your employees may understand the vision and want to bring it to life but feel boxed in. How can you eliminate that trepidation?
Only leadership can blast through the many layers of this corporate inertia.
This brings me to my final point:
There are three driving forces behind a transformational rebranding effort
Leadership
Leadership
Even more Leadership.
Strong leadership will define what the future looks like, align people with that vision and inspire them to make a go of it despite the difficulties.
It doesn’t take Churchill or Gandhi. Just many people to help with the task of modestly assisting with the leadership agenda in their sphere of influence.
This has to be committed to by leadership and modeled by executive behavior.
Because when it comes to CHANGE, even the brightest minds generate a few dozen questions.
