This will be the last in the series about message evolution and improving the relationships with the people we work with.  We started by thinking about being intentional with the desired feelings we want people who work with us to have.  Then, we talked about our reasons to believe, consistently executing these, and ensuring they ladder up to the beliefs we are trying to drive.  We’ll end this series by thinking about improving relationships and culture with consistent touchpoints.

I want you to imagine for a moment that you run a huge brand like Coke.  Now, I want you to imagine that you have identified what you want your audience to believe and you have figured out your reasons to believe.  You have pulled all of this together into a campaign to share the message and drive those beliefs.  Now you have to make a decision.  Would you rather have 1 big commercial for the Super Bowl with no other marketing support OR would you rather not have a presence at the Super Bowl and instead have a series of consistent touchpoints across channels throughout the year? 

For me, I’d choose the latter option.  While the Super Bowl commercial would be cool, I know that is just one touchpoint.  Also, I believe that while the commercial might boost some awareness, I’d assume my likelihood to move the audience with one commercial would be low.  Instead, I’d rather invest in multiple touchpoints throughout various channels, because I believe a story told consistently has a better chance of moving an audience than delivering the message once.

So what does this have to do with work?  I feel that we often treat culture change and relationship building like airing a commercial during a Super Bowl.  We treat it like a one-time event.  Often when we talk about culture, we talk about having some kind of offsite or some kind of meeting dedicated specifically to culture.  Then, we end up having 1 or maybe 2 of these sessions per year.  During these sessions we talk about the culture, get to know each other as a team, etc.  While we make progress during these sessions, how often do we follow-up and build off this progress?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve went through these kinds of meetings before and then asked myself, “Will anyone actually do anything with this?”  Imagine showing a Super Bowl commercial, and never doing any more marketing for the rest of the year.  It wouldn’t make any sense to do this, because it’s hard to move people with just one touchpoint.

In the Coke analogy, I made you choose one or the other.  In our work, we can have both.  I’d challenge us to think of culture evolution like a true campaign with various channels.  Some channels will be larger, like off sites and team meetings.  Some channels will be smaller, like in-person communication, emails, handwritten notes, small talk, and lunch with colleagues (I’m convinced there is something magical about eating with someone.  It’s a great way to get to know each other).  All of these channels are important, and all of these channels can accomplish different things.  The key is that all of the channels are consistently driving the feelings we want to drive.

The challenge: Are you treating building culture and relationships as one-time events or as things that require continual attention?  How are you leveraging the different channels available to you in order to drive the desired beliefs you want people to have?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry