“If you think your company’s strategy conversations should only take place at the most senior level, you could unknowingly be crippling your company’s bottom line. Research shows that companies whose employees have a clear understanding of where the organization is headed and how their daily activities contribute to the success of the organization consistently outperform the competition.”
— Forbes.com: “The Strategic Narrative”
In business today … words and actions are omnipresent.
How your business operates, what your organization believes in, the actions employees take and the words they use to describe what you do, the value you deliver and what makes you different, are now omnipresent. Ultimately, the (online and offline) interaction between your employees and customers create the overall experience stakeholders have with your company. Combined, business transparency and the customer experience have increased the importance of maintaining alignment between your company’s words and actions.
That means, words (story) and actions (strategy) matter more than ever.
Your message drives the storyline, and your strategy drives the actions that customers experience throughout their journey with your company. That’s why your story and strategy must be fully aligned. When they are not, the employee and customer experience breaks down. The perception of your brand is damaged. Employees and customers lose faith in your company. And worst of all, they leave and go to the competition.
Achieving clarity and connectivity between your story and strategy.
A recent article in the Journal of Business Strategy stated, “In its simplest sense, a corporate story is a narrative tool that tells the tale of a company’s strategy in action. It is a clear, structured, compelling articulation of ‘‘who we are’’ and ‘‘where we’re headed’’ that rallies emotional and rational support from stakeholders.”
The article goes on to say, “More than mere words, however, the corporate story’s strength lies in its ability to align leaders, drive decision making and mobilize the organization.”
That’s why every stakeholder involved in the customer experience must deeply understand how your story and strategy connect.
Getting stakeholders to “instinctively” activate your story and strategy.
What, when and how you communicate your story must be viewed as strategic at every level of the organization. This means every employee should be able to communicate with conviction … who your company is, what the company does, the value it delivers and why someone should do business with your organization instead of the competition. However, for this to happen, executives must lead the charge. They must instill a mindset across the organization that our story and strategy matter. Those same executives must commit dollars and resources toward internal organizational change initiatives that ensure employees can “instinctively” activate the company’s story and strategy as they communicate with customers and one another.
Alignment throughout the customer experience … improves financial performance.
Companies that make story and strategy alignment a priority deliver a superior employee and customer experience. They also reap significant financial rewards. In fact, Bain & Company states, “Great experiences produce great business results. Look at companies such as Apple, Costco, American Express, Philips and Allianz. Different industries, different business models. But they have one thing in common — large and growing groups of passionate customer advocates, earned by delivering an experience competitors can’t match.”
Bottom-line … companies that succeed in maintaining alignment between their corporate story and strategy win. They win because their words and actions align; creating a superior experience that increases employee and customer acquisition, retention and loyalty.
