I had a great meeting this week with a Digital Media specialist (Sera Cruickshank @Unleashingpotential).

​What was exciting was the way a business culture and branding go hand in hand, when they are done correctly. But too many organisations have a disjointed Culture/Brand strategy or no strategy at all.
Look at it this way. Our Culture is our internal values, vision and the personality of your organisation. The Brand is how we present our culture to the marketplace.
So most businesses have one of two problems - they either have no internal culture set and hence their Branding activities are disjointed, off message and confusing. Or they have a culture but have not linked it to their Branding strategy and so consumers don't know what the company stands for.
It is often quite easy to see this problem from the outside looking in. Erratic, uncoordinated promotions and advertising comes from a lack of a proper Culture/Brand awareness. Equally, we've all seen the advertising where we "cringe" knowing that the actual service does not match what is being promoted through branding.
It is not a quick fix but it can be an easy fix.
It starts with the development of a sound, agreed upon Culture Profile (and often a mission statement) that truly reflects both the vision and values of the company. Often, a small business starts with the culture of the founder but this can be diluted or changed when staff are introduced to the mix. Equally, a large organisation may have a vision and values its management believes in but it is no longer reflected in the actions of its staff because of rapid business growth and an ever changing workforce and leadership team.
Internal processes like recruitment, training, performance management, leadership style and teamwork are some of the areas that will need addressing to firstly change and then cement in a new culture.
Branding can then support this (when done correctly) by reinforcing to staff the agreed culture AND targeting customers that will be attracted to the Brand (which reflects the culture).
That's great but we have to sell something and Culture and Branding don't really sell things!
How totally wrong this attitude is.
The best product or service, delivered through the best process and the best people - targeted at the correct market segment results in sales to the best customers.
Ironically, in a digital world, correct Culture and Brand are becoming more important, not less. Before technology, an unhappy client could only tell their friends. Now they can tell the world!
A potential client would ask a few friends or family for recommendations about a product or service. Now consumers have the ability to ask literally thousands of people all over the world!
Ask anyone with a young son or daughter. Instead of listening to our advice they will search and research a product, brand or person and then "test" if the information they have is consistent with the service they received. ie Did the Delivery (reflection of the culture) match the Brand (promotion of the culture). If not then one negative post going viral can end it all for your business. The digital world is unforgiving - so get your internal Culture right AND communicate it correctly (Brand) if you want to build a sustainable, successful business.
Oh and you need to review and evolve your Brand ongoingly to respond to an ever changing market - this generation changes its "choices and preferences" faster than any other generation in history.
Kim White
Partner

​​Strategic Staffing is the process of targeting and attracting staff who have skills that will complement and help the business in achieving its strategic targets and goals.  

Unfortunately, embracing strategic staffing in its basic form may lead to major challenges within your business. If your strategic staffing goals focus only on skills, the person you recruit may not fit and embrace your company culture. Bringing someone into your business team who does not share the same values as you and your team almost always results in heartache.
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Whether you already have an amazing internal culture or are busy changing the existing one, when recruiting, value alignment should be on the top of your list. 

Creating a Winning Culture, is an ongoing process. Your business culture continually evolves over time. Culture includes your Values, Beliefs and Practices. In evaluating your business culture, it is always useful to begin by revisiting your company’s values, as set out in your vision, mission and values statements.

When using a recruitment company, make sure they understand your business values and culture. We recommend using behavioural profiling tools which enable you understand your candidates’ strengths, weaknesses, areas that need development, as well as what motivates and demotivates the candidate. It is important to remember that profiling tools are just a tool to aid the recruitment process.

Once you have selected your candidate and offered them the position, you need to ensure that you have a thorough induction process. This process needs to include an introduction to the business culture, as well as what is expected of team members and what they can expect in return. Consider that during the recruitment process both you and your prospective staff member choose each other. 
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For Strategic staffing to be successful, it needs to have equal emphasis on skill set and business culture.

So why not give me a call to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss how we can be of service to you and your business?

It's likely to be the best decision you will make this year!

​Well we are passionate about helping our clients rediscover their passion and their “mojo”. 
 
“We make your workplace fun again!” is not just a tagline, but a fundamental belief that you perform at your best when you are happy and having fun. 
 
We do this by embracing and sharing our core beliefs, which are:
 
We believe in people, their gifts and talents and their potential.
We believe in the power of building exceptional teams, maximizing each member’s contribution and recognizing their strengths.
We believe in developing enduring and personalized cultures that permeate every aspect of our businesses and organizations.
And we believe in having sound, long term strategies, developing your vision into obtainable, actionable plans and goals.
 
So why not give me a call to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss how we can be of service to you and your business?
 
It's likely to be the best decision you will make this year!

​For too long we have been told that its cool not to give a damn about our staff and colleagues personal lives and challenges.

​The problem is though this attitude is damaging your business, because contrary to this notion it is very important to care for your staff and customers. We have a duty to our business to care! We should be celebrating our staff’s successes both personal and professional. When was the last time you celebrated in some way, a staff members wedding anniversary with them? When I shared this thought the other day, it was met with initial scepticism, and it’s a none of my business response. Well it actually is, because supporting your staff in their personal endeavours, and helping them by supporting the successes in their lives actually increases staff engagement and morale.
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Furthermore by actively caring about your staff, you start to create a culture of trust. This trust culture, may be just what is needed for a staff member who is suffering from an anxiety or depression to open up an talk about it. A trust culture will help reduce workplace stress and has numerous benefits for you and your business.

​Call us now for a free consultation on how to grow and improve a trust culture within your organisation.

​At Winners Circle we bring your vision into focus with actionable, clear objectives.
A long journey begins with the first step.

​For all Auckland based businesses, a free 45 min business appraisal and an assessment on your business/needs. (You could always buy me a coffee) Your business may be eligible for a NZTE Capability Development Voucher. This is a subsidy to support business growth and skills development through partnering with us on your development plans - from business coaching to planning to some training.

Book your free consultation now:
info@wincirc.co.nz

​They used to say that there were only two certainties in life, death & taxes.

But in reality there are more and CHANGE is one of them.

Change in ourselves, in our circumstances and in our perceptions/attitude to these changes. 

If the world is changing around us, how can we stay the same?  If we are changing, then how can the world not be affected?

If we look at our past, there will be trends that emerge, patterns of behaviour that reoccur in most situations that can "define" our past and how we will respond today to change.

So how do we "change" so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.  How do we grow so that opportunities are taken in the future and not missed.

Firstly it is vital that we embrace change, even desire it for ourselves.  I remember a speaker many years ago at a conference stating "if you are green we grow but if we are ripe we rot!"  It was about our attitude  - if we consider ourselves to be learning  then we can grow and develop but if we consider we know it all (or enough) then we will only become less relevant in our changing world.

This is as appropriate for each one of us in our individual walks and well as in our workplace or communities.

When we adopt the attitude of "Always be Growing" we are on the path to succeeding in life and releasing positive change though what we do.

Another aspect of embracing change is to challenge our own thoughts and why we think the way we do.  We are to some degree a product of our upbringing/inputs but also of our inner "identity".  Knowing who we are really and not being controlled by what others think we are is a major driver in growing as a person and growing to our maximum potential.

And challenging those inputs into our lives is another key driver.  Social media is a good example of this.  We celebrate how many "likes" we get but seldom do we challenge opinions (in a healthy way).  It seems that the PC nature of society has robbed many of us of the ability to challenge other people and their opinions.  Sadly, without the ability to express and challenge ideas  we will never know our own viewpoint unless someone tell us!

Poor leadership models or insecure leadership is also a key factor in minimising challenge and therefore minimising the growth and contribution others can make.  This is especially true in the workplace.  There is a great deal of improvement to company performance and profitability that can be achieved through a culture of change, encouragement and exploration.  Managers need to grow, staff needs to grow, our shareholders need to grow - we should also include our clients and suppliers in this "culture of change" if we really want to embrace the full benefits of change.

Personal growth + team growth = company growth

At The Winners Circle we have started our own growth journey.  Patrick and I (and others to follow) have developed some tools to assist both individuals, companies and community groups to start their growth plans.  Finding out who we are, why we think things, how to process information and how to work better in teams are just the start of the assistance we can provide to our clients.

There will be more.

​Because just like you we also need to "always be growing."

​-Kim

Is success is all about the money? Is it all about the bottom line? What about the people in the business?

Whilst profits are important, they should only be one of the factors that determines success. Remember, if you only concentrate on the bottom line, your business could be really sick and you will be none the wiser. A healthy business is a profitable business, which has a healthy, honouring and thriving culture. Business is not all about money, one of the most important, if not the most important aspect of business is people, and people can be challenging!

It’s obvious that to build sales you need to concentrate on building your customer base. You need to find out what your customers are looking for, what makes them keep coming back and what it will take to create loyal customers. Longer term, you seek to turn your customers into your brand’s advocates and look at ways to reward loyalty. Some businesses actively contract companies to survey their customers so they can keep track of customer satisfaction rates, dealing promptly with any issues that arise that may negatively affect customer relations.

Whilst this is definitely wise business practice, have you considered your own internal brand ambassadors? How many businesses spend the same or more resources on their own internal brand ambassadors - i.e. their staff? There is a raft of processes and products, which we can offer, ranging from psychometric profiling to team building etc., which you can implement to improve your internal culture and communication. Change is always messy and true change takes time. During change, you may have reduced profits, but the long term gains and benefits for you, your stakeholders and your company make this worth it. You will be amazed at the amount of customer information your frontline staff possess, and how businesses can sustain mind-boggling business growth, once they have the correct internal culture that honours and empowers staff.

I attended an interesting three-day conference recently, regarding changing the culture within a not-for profit organisation. One of the many gems I learned was that it only takes 3 things to allow people to feel accepted, namely: they need to feel like they belong; they need to feel that they are significant; and finally they need to feel secure. Implementing strategies that allow all employees to feel these 3 things daily, will go a long way to start changing a business culture.

Remember, we all have choices; your customers choose you when they buy your product; your staff choose you when they apply for employment, and then again every morning by arriving at work. You choose your clients when you design your product, pricing and service levels. You also get to choose your staff when you employ them, and again every time you pay them, every morning when you grant them access to your workplace.
Why not choose to create a better culture within your workplace. Your customers will notice it, you and your shareholders will notice it and your staff will definitely appreciate it.
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The team at The Winners Circle are here to help you define what success looks like for your business

Patrick