Preserving dignity
Regular readers amongst you know that I love a historical photo that tells a fascinating story, so here’s another one. What is this of? If I tell you it’s from the 1930s, does that give you a clue?
During the Great Depression, many farming women couldn’t afford to make, let alone buy, clothes for themselves and their families and the poorest of them made clothes from wheat bags.
So, the Kansas Wheat company had a brainwave. They printed their cotton wheat bags with floral and patterned motifs, so women could make dresses for themselves and their daughters.
They ensured their labels could wash off, and some bags even had dress patterns printed onto the inside. Like Hyundai offering a “no questions asked” return of cars to people who lost their jobs during the 2009 financial crisis, this was a marketing tactic that not only sensitively recognised that people were going through difficult times, but also created loyalty to a brand which lasted well beyond the Depression years.
Question: What win-win strategies can your organisation use to look after people who are undergoing hard times while benefiting the business?
Nimby
It’s rare that I agree with our former PM, Tony Abbott, but in a speech last year he said, “Where is the common sense? In Australia, for instance, we export coal to China and uranium to the world but refuse to use it ourselves.” Now, while we still do use coal power, we have committed to no new coal-fired plants.
But the point is this: why treat the outside world differently to what you do at home?
Recently, I worked on strategy with an aged care provider who created a detailed and compelling vision of ‘leading your best life’ for people in residential care, villages and receiving care at home. What immediately followed, though, was a profound discussion about staff: “Why aren’t we creating for our staff their best work life?”
This sentiment is backed up by a meta-study I read years ago which showed that the ONLY strong correlate of high customer satisfaction in human service industries (healthcare, aged care, disability support) was, in fact, staff satisfaction. (Yes, you read that right: customer satisfaction is NOT correlated with staff qualifications above minimum, nor years of experience, nor salary above average for the sector).
So, yes, this client’s strategy will absolutely ‘match’ what’s happening with staff ‘at home’ with what’s happening with customers ‘out in the world’.
Question: Is there a mismatch between what you do ‘at home’ vs what you ‘out in the world’?
Replacing the dominant narrative
A client organisation last year told me about a pervasive rumour that was doing the rounds: staff could only access a significant salary benefit if they had a form signed by the former Chief Executive.
Problem is, she left the organisation months before.
Did that fact stop the rumour? No.
We’ve always known that humans are susceptible to the ‘grapevine’. Sidebar: the term comes from the American Civil War in the 1860s, when telegraphy was in its infancy, and battle units communicated with wires strung up between trees, like ‘grapevines’. This primitive setup failed more often than it worked, leading to garbled communications which, of course, soldiers took as authoritative. Even today, some research cites that workers receive more than 50% of information about their employment from informal means.
What’s the solution?
In the absence of a sensible narrative, people fill the vacuum. So the answer is clear. Provide a replacement narrative. Then keep repeating it.
This organisation had to go out on the front foot spelling out that there is a new CEO. Her roles include all functions of the prior CEO. The prior CEO is no longer authorised to do anything, Period. Repeat.
Question: What stories do you need to displace in your organisation?
I’m on holidays for another week or two, so the above are a ‘summer edition’ of past 5 Minute Strategic Mindset segments that have been popular with readers. I look forward to being back with you shortly, however, if you’ve enjoyed reading, please click the ‘heart’ so it keeps the 5MSM pulse beating.
See you next Friday morning,
Andrew