ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING OUR CORPORATE IDENTITY
October 2023
Who are we (corporately) at the deepest level?
Our business has an identity, and we must be intentional about maintaining it and if need be adjusting it.
Our deep corporate identity is exposed in all that we do, from our marketing to our connections, to our production of goods and/or services, and especially down to how we treat people. Our true identity has a way of showing up, sometimes when we least expect it, (a casual phone call to address a clients question, a text or an email from a vendor, or a careless promise made without thinking through the implications), it’s at those moments that we need it to be in alignment with who and what we say we are. Our clients and vendors need to experience that alignment in order to be ‘truly confident’ in our relationship.
Our identity is the foundation for all that we do and hope to become. It’s too easy to stray from our foundational principles when we add a new division or a new process. There’s pressure to stay ‘in the game’, or add this new product or application, and we can overlook or compromise for the sake of success.
So what does it look like?
Our corporate identity comes from those principles and practices that we hold sacred and non-negotiable. They become the ‘bedrock’ of who we are as a company, (and they always have their origin in our own personal non-negotiables). So, here’s what it looks like . . .
So what do we do about it?
If you haven’t established and written out your ‘Bedrock Non-negotiables’, it’s time to make that happen.
- Spend time sorting through what you want your company or franchise or division to ‘look like’, be known for, or be spoken of.
- If you already have those principles and practices established and written, it would be good to revisit them and see how well they align with what you truly believe, as well as how well they align with how you and your staff practice them in your daily activities.
This type of examination/evaluation should be done on a regular basis and possibly use a feedback process with your clients and vendors to get helpful information to make their experience the best it can be. However, if you do ask them, you need to be ready to respond and follow through.
This all aligns with the mandate from Paul to ‘Do all things to the glory of God’ (1 Cor 10:31) and “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord . . . “ (Col 3:31)